Study: Cherries Fight Gout

A pair of cherries from the same stalk. Prunus avium 'Stella'. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cherries may no longer be for just topping off ice cream sundaes; in a new study of people with gout, eating the fruit was linked with a 35 percent to 75 percent lower risk of having an attack. 

While adopting a cherry regimen sounds pleasant enough, the study's lead author warns that the new study does not prove cherries prevent gout attacks, and he said patients should stick with their current gout medications. 

"They can go out and eat the cherries, but they shouldn't abandon their medical treatment at all," said Yuqing Zhang, a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine.

Read more: Study: Cherries Fight Gout
Important: At Risk For A Heart Attack? Find Out Now.

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New Supplement Provides Energy Shot to the Brain

of (cytidine diphosphate choline). Created using ACD/ChemSketch 10.0 and . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It sounds almost too good to be true: a dietary supplement that makes people feel more energetic and alert, boosts memory and mood, and has almost no side effects. 

Those are the reports from scientists about citicoline, a naturally occurring compound in the body that scientists believe enhances the brain’s ability to make brain cell membranes and the neurotransmitters involving attention, memory, alertness, and sense of well-being. Citicoline is a new ingredient in supplement drinks and is being sold in capsules.

Read more: New Supplement Provides Energy Shot to the Brain
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Six cups of coffee a day 'cuts risk of both womb and prostate cancer'

Women who drink four to six cups of coffee a day are less likely to suffer from womb cancer, while men who drink this amount are less likely to suffer prostate cancer, according to a study using 117,000 volunteers.

The effects were seen regardless of whether they drank regular or decaffeinated coffee, suggesting the effects are not linked to caffeine.

Although many people limit the amount of coffee they consume because it can cause a spike in blood pressure, recent studies suggest the drink may also offer health benefits.

Regular coffee drinkers also appear to have a lower risk of Type-2 diabetes, gallstones, colon cancer and even Parkinson’s disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2217230/Coffee-cancer-Six-cups-day-cuts-risk-womb-prostate-cancer.html#ixzz29IcfOKU6
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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A heart surgeon tells all... including the patient who woke up and tried to move with her chest open

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Or perhaps a far-fetched Halloween spook-fest blockbuster. 

Waking up half way through major surgery, inadequate amounts of anesthetic having been administered.

In a candid Ask Me Anything question-and-answer Reddit feed a heart surgeon openly discussed some of his most harrowing experiences, including one when a woman awoke on the operating table, her chest wide open.
Asked by user 'MechaLincoln' to describe the strangest thing to have happened during his medical career, 'eternal_wait' wrote: 'A patient waking up and trying to move with her chest opened, a really bad mistake from the anesthesiologist that day.

Casual attitude: The unnamed surgeon posted a photograph of himself giving the thumbs-up as he gets ready to assist in a bypass operation

'Cardiac surgery patients are at the highest risk of waking up during surgery because of the use of the artificial heart-lung machine, their drug distribution volume get really big so they need much more drugs to remain sleep.

 

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'I've had other interesting moments,' the doctor added, 'but its really impressive to see a person with no heart trying to move.'
Fortunately for the patient in question she had no memory of the botched surgery after it was through, but others have been less lucky, as Reddit users were quick to point out.
In response the surgeon went onto explain that a drug named Midazolam is given in cases such as the woman's, 'that causes amnesia so the patient doesn't remember this traumatic experience.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2217575/I-killed-people-resentment-A-heart-surgeon-tells--including-patient-woke-tried-chest-open.html#ixzz29IbKp7Q5
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Mediterranean, low-carb diets show long-term benefits

(LifeNews) Even if people have regained some weight several years after going on a healthful Mediterranean or low-carbohydrate diet, they can enjoy lasting beneficial effects, according to a follow-up study at Dimona’s Nuclear Research Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.

The study, published last week as a peer-reviewed letter in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, updates the landmark diet study carried out on 322 moderately obese personnel in the workplace over a period of two years, and followed up four years after the end of the intervention. The original study was called DIRECT, for Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial.
Dr. Dan Schwarzfuchs of the Dimona center, where employees were put on diets and the results observed, said: “Our follow- up subsequent data shows lasting, positive effects of Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets six years later.”

Read the full story ›

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Excess exercise 'hurts the heart' and cause dangerous long-term harm, say scientists

Extreme exercise such as marathons may permanently damage the heart and trigger rhythm abnormalities, warn researchers.
They say the safe ‘upper limit’ for heart health is a maximum of an hour a day - after which there is little benefit to the individual.
A review of research evidence by US physicians says intensive training schedules and extreme endurance competitions can cause long-term harm to people’s hearts.

Damage: Excessive endurance exercise can do long-term harm to the cardiovascular system, U.S. scientists say

Activities such as marathons, iron man distance triathlons, and very long distance bicycle races may cause structural changes to the heart and large arteries, leading to lasting injury.
Lead author Dr James O’Keefe, of Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, said exercise was generally beneficial for health but could tip into becoming harmful when taken to excessive lengths.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2154267/Excess-exercise-hurts-heart-cause-dangerous-long-term-harm-say-scientists.html#ixzz1wv0D9dQL

Swedes Lob Dynamite Into a Controversy: High-Fat Diet Improves Blood Sugars

Diabetes Health Staff

May 20, 2012

The slow backlash against low-fat, relatively high-carb diets as the ideal for everyone with type 2 diabetes has received a boost from a team of Swedish researchers at Linkoping University, about 100 miles southwest of Stockholm.
In a study that involved 61 patients, the Swedish scientists concluded that high-fat, low-carb foods had a better effect on blood sugar and blood lipids than foods in traditional low-fat diets. Their findings run counter to an almost 60-year-old theory that says dietary fat is the major culprit in the development of cardiovascular disease-a disease that people with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing.
For the one-year study, the patients, all with type 2 diabetes, were randomly divided into two groups. One group went on a low-carb, high-fat diet, while the other went on a low-fat diet.
Patients in both groups lost an average of four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of weight. However, the group on the high-fat diet enjoyed a drop in blood sugar levels, going from 58.5 mmol/mol to 53.7 mmol/mol (mmol/mol stands for millimoles per mole, a unit of measure often used outside the United States to express blood sugar volumes.) The low-fat group did not register a statistically certain improvement in blood sugar levels.
While both groups experienced similar weight loss, the high-fat group saw their "good" cholesterol levels go up and their lipoproteins stay stable. The low-fat group saw no improvement in lipoprotein counts.
In the high-fat/low-carb diet, 50 percent of caloric intake came from fat, 30 percent from protein, and 20 percent from carbohydrates. The low-fat diet derived 55 to 60 percent of its energy intake from carbohydrates, 30 percent from fat, and 15 to 20 percent from protein. The latter diet was based on recommendations of the Swedish National Food Agency and was similar to diets currently recommended in United States for type 2 patients.
While high fat intake has long been regarded as a big factor in the development of heart disease, more recent research-including this Swedish study-has challenged that theory. Some scientists now conclude that carbohydrates are a greater threat to cardiovascular health than fat. Their reasoning is that high carb intake leads to high blood sugar, which has an inflammatory effect that damages blood vessels and heart tissue.
The Swedish results were published in the journal Diabetologia.

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Categories: ACCORD/Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, Body Weight, Cardiovascular, Cholesterol, Cholesterol Control, Cholesterol Levels, Diabetes, Diabetes, Diabetes Health, Food, Health Research, Low Carb, Low Carb Diet, Research, Type 2 Issues, Weight Loss, Weight Loss/Lose Weight

Eat Fish Everyday to Keep the Doctor Away?

Left: A sketch of Red Sockeye Salmon. Right: Bald Eagle viewed through a telescope near the Chilkoot Lake camp site feeding on a seal carcass. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eating more fish can protect your heart, a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests.

Researchers recently looked at why middle-aged Japanese men have far less heart disease than American men.

"The death rate from coronary heart disease in Japan has always been puzzlingly low," said Akira Sekikawa, a leader of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Our study suggests that the very low rates of coronary heart disease among Japanese living in Japan may be due to their lifelong high consumption of fish," Sekikawa said.

The study included 281 Japanese men, 306 white American men, and 281 Japanese-American men.

Even though a series of blood samples found that the Japanese and Japanese-American men smoked more, had higher blood pressure, and a higher rate of diabetes --- all factors that contribute to heart disease --- they had significantly less calcification and build up in their arteries.

"Fish is an important factor in keeping the Japanese healthy," said William Harris, director of the Metabolism and Nutrition Research Center.

The Japanese eat about three ounces of fish a day, while the typical American eats fish only about twice a week.

The American Heart Association recommends eating oily fish like tuna, salmon, and sardines, which are high in omega 3 fatty acids and protect against clogged arteries.

Sources: Reuters, Health Day News

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Drug Industry Pays out $10 Billion in Fraud Settlements in less than 2 Years

Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of GSK during its worst abuses

The rate at which the pharmaceutical industry is settling lawsuits continues to soar, with the last two years witnessing a 50% increase in payouts compared to the previous two decades.

From 1991 to 2010, drug companies forked over $20 billion to resolve various civil and criminal allegations. But in less than two years (from November 2010 to July 2012), the industry shelled out another $10 billion in settlements, according to Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog organization.

This year alone has seen more than $6 billion in deals between Big Pharma and the government. State governments have been driving many of the recent cases against drug makers, generating nearly 60% of settlements.

Twenty-seven states have concluded at least one settlement with drug companies since 1991. The state with the most deals to date is Kentucky, with 17, followed by Idaho with 12.

The most common violations brought against drug manufacturers have been overcharging government health insurance programs and illegal marketing of medications.

The biggest settlements were:   Read the list>>>>>>>>>

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