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Getting more of the "Sunshine vitamin" may make you brighter later in life, according to a study that bolsters evidence vitamin D may help older people stay mentally fit.
The findings also raise the prospect that people who do not get enough of the vitamin could use supplements to keep the brain fully functioning as they age, David Lee and colleagues at the University of Manchester reported in their study, published Thursday in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that older adults who eat diets rich in citrus fruits, leafy greens and fish oil, but low in "glycemic index," may have a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration -- the leading cause of vision loss among older U.S. adults.
AMD, also known as "age-related macular degeneration" refers to gradual damage to the macula, a structure in the retina that allows for seeing fine detail. The condition affects more than 1 million Americans, usually after the age of 65.
A number of studies have suggested that individual nutrients, including the antioxidants lutein, vitamin C and vitamin E, can help protect against AMD. This latest study, published in the journal Ophthalmology, looked at the overall diet patterns of 4,000 older adults and the links to AMD risk.
Australian researchers have found that a traditional preparation of the South Pacific herbal medicine Kava, an ancient drug long used for treating stress and insomnia, is safe and effective. A University of Queensland research team conducted a placebo-controlled, world-first clinical trial. It showed that Kava prepared by the traditional method, which uses water, is safe for treating anxiety and improving mood, while the modern European method of preparation, which uses acetone and ethanol, may be responsible for the ill side effects associated with it. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>
Offering clues to why smokers often gain weight after quitting, a new study suggests that smoking enhances the activity of a gene that helps break down body fat.
Researchers found that compared with non-smokers, a group of healthy smokers showed greater activity in a gene called AZGP1 in cell samples taken from their airways.
Because the gene is thought to be important in breaking down fat and controlling weight, the findings point to one possible reason that smokers tend to weigh less than non-smokers -- and why people often put on pounds after quitting. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Industrial workers who are exposed to the chemical formaldehyde may have a significantly higher risk of dying from blood and lymphatic cancers, U.S. government researchers said on Tuesday.
A study of more than 25,000 workers at industrial plants that produced formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin found workers with the highest exposures had a 37 percent increased risk of death compared to those with the lowest exposure levels, they reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. MORE>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An extract made from broccoli sprouts can help protect skin from the sun’s damaging rays, according to researchers at the John Hopkins School of Medicine.
Although a commercial product is still in the early stages of development, it would have definite advantages over sunscreens:
Spending more time in the sunshine could help older people reduce their risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
Older people are more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency because of the natural aging process and changes in lifestyle, but exposure to sunlight stimulates vitamin D in the skin.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated significantly with metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical and metabolic disorders that increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to researchers at the University of Warwick near Coventry, England.
US scientists say they have successfully reversed the effects of Alzheimer's with experimental drugs.
The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation.
In mice, the treatment helped restore long-term memory and improve learning for new tasks, Nature reports.
The same drugs - HDAC inhibitors - are currently being tested to treat Huntington's disease and are on the market to treat some cancers.
They reshape the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the brain.
"If women in your family give birth at older ages, you may well have a chance of living longer than you would otherwise," says the study's lead author, demographer Ken R. Smith, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah. "If you have a female relative who had children after age 45, then there may be some genetic benefit in your family that will enhance your longevity."
For descendants of the Utah and Quebec pioneers studied, "you may be able to look at the ages when your female ancestors gave birth - rather than just their longevity - in estimating how long you may live," says Smith, whose study will be published online May 4 and in the June 10 print issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.
The researchers examined high-quality genealogical records from the Utah Population Database at the University of Utah with its records of 1.6 million Utah Mormon pioneers and their descendants. They also used the University of Montreal's Program on Demographic History Research, which has records on 400,000 people who lived in heavily Catholic Quebec between 1608 and 1850.
Specifically, the study involved the records of 11,604 Utah men who were born between 1800 and 1869 and who had at least one sister who lived at least to age 50; and the records of 6,206 Quebec men who lived between 1670 and 1750, and had at least one sister who lived to 50 or older. The key findings:
Experts have been warning of a worldwide outbreak of a horrific influenza ever since 1997, when the first human cases of so-called H5N1 avian influenza were reported in Hong Kong. Read more...
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
 Logo for Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
A research and development company has announced a new treatment for cancer patients that has been shown in trials to reduce dramatically the hardship from side effects of chemotherapy, allowing a more normal life while the body engages cancer in a war.
Officials for Pro-Pharmaceuticals Inc. told WND that some patients given their Davanat product have seen significant improvements even during treatments that otherwise had been marred by side effects such as weakness, mucositis, low blood counts and other typical secondary problems.
"Our goal is to improve the clinical benefit for patients by extending their survival, improving their quality of life and reducing the rising costs of health care. The data from the cancer patients in our clinical trials indicates Davanat improves efficacy and reduces the side effects associated with chemotherapy regimens," company CEO Theodore Zucconi said in a recent statement about a clinical trials update.
George Macricostas, a businessman and company investor, told WND his wife benefitted greatly from the treatment before she eventually succumbed to cancer last year.
Macricostas, whose financial involvement with the company started before his wife began treatments with Davanat and expanded later, said she had had difficulties with traditional chemotherapy treatments because they caused her blood count to plummet.
She discontinued a low dose of chemotherapy in late 2007 because her blood work was so bad, he reported.
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Another attempt at the treatment was begun in February 2008, but after two days at a 20 percent dose of the Insulin Potentiated Therapy his wife, Beth, needed two units of blood.
Then permission was obtained to use the Davanat in combination with chemo, and he reported on the sudden change.
"Beth did not need any more blood transfusions after March 2008, and she was able to discontinue her Procrit shots in June 2008, as her body was able to tolerate the treatment thanks to the Davanat protecting her health cells," he said in a report.
She also was able to discontinue use of painkillers, and even though one tumor had caused a hairline fracture in her hip socket, creating considerable pain and requiring her to use a walker, the fracture healed. She was able to walk without even a cane within weeks of beginning the treatment.
The hospital bed was returned to the rental company, and "Beth was able to take Advil for slight pain and discomfort," Macricostas reported.
She even drove to go shopping and to visit relatives 120 miles away, he said.
Beth eventually succumbed to a new cancer in her liver that had been undetected earlier, he said.
The company says Davanat works by using carbohydrates to bind to lectins on tumor cells, but not lectins on surrounding healthy tissue, and carry with it the lethal chemicals that attack the cancer in chemotherapy.
"Proteins on the surface of all cells, including cancer cells, are able to attach to certain kinds of carbohydrates. These carbohydrate receptors, known technically as 'lectins,' are very specific: a given lectin will bind only a particular kind of carbohydrate," the company explains.
"Davanat is formulated to attach to lectins on tumor cells rather than the lectins on surrounding healthy tissue," it says.
Since 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted permission for some patients to use the investigational drug under special cases.
Macricostas told WND as a result of the chemotherapy treatment, possible because of the minimization of the side effects, he and his wife saw "the scans all going in the right directions. … Anything visible was shrinking, a number of them had disappeared completely."
In a company announcement just days ago, Pro-Pharmaceuticals said a review of data from Phase One and Two clinical trials revealed no mucositis or serious adverse events from among 100 patients treated with Davanat in combination with chemo.
Up to 40 percent of cancer patients being treated with the 5-FU type of chemotherapy get the side effect, which is characterized by intestinal tissue destruction throughout the GI tract, including painful mouth ulcerations and severe gastrointestinal symptoms interfering with nutrition and treatment.
Since there are no currently effective treatments, patients suffering debilitating mouth sores may need morphine or other narcotics to deal with it.
But with Davanat, there were no "events," even in patients with more than 100 cycles of treatments with 5-FU and Davanat.
A statement a month earlier from the company said a trial revealed that the combination of treatments for end-stage colorectal cancer patients extended median survival by 29 weeks after all other treatments were exhausted.
Board chairman Jim Czirr told WND the basic procedure of the treatment puts more of the treatment chemicals in the tumor and less in the liver, kidney or lungs.
"The incredible irony here is after keeping a hideously toxic chemical in a patient's blood three times longer, there are huge decreases in side effects," he said.
Dr. Peter Traber, president emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told WND he joined the board of Pro-Pharmaceuticals only recently, at least partly because of the potential he sees for the treatment.
Since chemo treatments address rapidly dividing cells, they frequently attack the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, which is lined with the cells. The result is side effects ranging from mouth sores to nausea to vomiting and diarrhea.
"It's a significant problem in cancer patients," he told WND. "There's a lot of discomfort."
A treatment that reduces the impact on the GI tract, he said, "can be very beneficial with more chemo targeting the cancer while protecting the tissues."
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Results from DURATION-2, a 26-week test comparing the diabetic drugs Januvia, Actos, and experimental long-acting Byetta (Byetta LAR) show that Byetta produced lower A1c's and more weight loss than the other two drugs.
Sponsored by Byetta's co-manufacturers, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Eli Lilly and Co., the randomized, double-blind study tracked 491 type 2 patients over a six-month period. Patients received either Byetta LAR (exenatide), Januvia (the brand name for Merck & Co., Inc.'s sitagliptin), or Actos (the brand name for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd's pioglitazone).
Patients taking Byetta LAR reduced their baseline A1c by 1.7%, compared to 1.4% for patients on Actos and 1.0% for those on Januvia.
Over the 26 weeks, Byetta LAR recipients lost an average of 6.2 pounds, versus a 1.9-pound loss for Januvia patients. Those on Actos experienced a weight gain that averaged 7.4 pounds.
Researchers conducting the study said that in general, the patients were not obese, a factor that made the weight loss associated with Byetta impressive.
The most common adverse responses for both Byetta LAR and Januvia patients were nausea and diarrhea. Actos users reported upper respiratory tract infection and peripheral edema as the most common side effects.
One crucial result was that there were no reported cases of pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas among Byetta LAR patients in the study. Among the estimated 700,000 users of the current version of Byetta, a twice-daily drug that has been on the market for four years, there have been 30 reported incidents of pancreatitis, including six fatalities. Although there is no evidence that the drug caused the disease, the FDA made Amylin and Lilly rewrite the warning labels on the drug.
The possible connection between Byetta use and pancreatitis has also made FDA scrutiny of Byetta LAR more intense. The drug, which is now before the agency for marketing approval, uses injectable time-release capsules to provide a continuous does of the drug over a seven-day period.
Byetta's makers are hoping that the long-acting form of the drug will nudge sales, which have been flat over the past year, by appealing to users who want the convenience of once-a-week injections instead of having to remember to inject the drug every morning and evening at mealtimes.
Welcome to Diabetes Health's new column on sex and diabetes, by David Spero RN and Aisha Kassahoun. Once a month, we'll publish questions submitted by our readers, along with David and Aisha's responses. Send your questions to love@diabeteshealth.com and watch for their answers to appear in this column.
Dear David and Aisha,
My husband was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes seven years ago and put on oral medication. We've had some sexual problems since then, and lately there has been no sex at all. He says that he doesn't want it or need it. We had a very good sex life before this. What can I do? I think we all need intimacy in our lives. At least I do. I don't feel that it is fair to me to be left high and dry, and I want to do something to help him.
High and Dry in Tennessee
Dear H and D,
Yours is a sad and very common story. Diabetes can impact our sex and love lives physically and emotionally. But there are ways of maintaining and even improving sex and intimacy with diabetes.
Here are some possibilities to consider:
New York-based EB Brands has recalled about 3 million fitness balls because they may suddenly burst while being used after overinflation, and that can cause people using a ball to fall and injure themselves, the Associated Press reports. Forty-seven incidents have been logged so far of the balls bursting unexpectedly, resulting in one fracture and many bruises. The balls are 55, 65, and 75 centimeters in diameter and come in various colors. They are labeled with a Bally Total Fitness, Everlast, or Valeo logo, according to the AP. The balls were sold by department stores and fitness retailers from May 2000 to February 2009 for between $15 and $30. Consumers who own the balls can get updated safe inflation instructions online or can call EB Brands at (800) 624-5671 in order to have a copy of the instructions sent to them.
Here's something that has gotten lost in the drive to institute universal health insurance: Health insurance doesn't automatically lead to health care. And with more and more doctors dropping out of one insurance plan or another, especially government plans, there is no guarantee that you will be able to see a physician no matter what coverage you have.
Consider that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported in 2008 that 28% of Medicare beneficiaries looking for a primary care physician had trouble finding one, up from 24% the year before. The reasons are clear: A 2008 survey by the Texas Medical Association, for example, found that only 38% of primary-care doctors in Texas took new Medicare patients. The statistics are similar in New York state, where I practice medicine.
Vitamin D deficiency, already blamed for retarding immune function and cardiovascular health and increasing cancer risk, also may be tied to inflammation, a negative response of the immune system, in healthy women.
Increased concentrations of serum TNF-?, an inflammatory marker, were found in women who had insufficient vitamin D levels, according to a University of Missouri nutritional sciences researcher has found that vitamin D deficiency. This study is the first to find an inverse relationship between vitamin D levels and concentrations of TNF-? in a healthy, non-diseased population. This may explain the vitamin's role in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases, including heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
A spray can help men with premature ejaculation problems prolong the length of time they have sex by six times.
Men who used the treatment five minutes before having intercourse extended their love-making from half a minute to almost four minutes, trials showed.
The spray, developed at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, contains local anaesthetics that numb the penis.
A British Journal of Urology International study says it could be available in the next couple of years.
Up to 40% of men experience premature ejaculation at some time in their lives, experts estimate.
The incidence of tonsil cancer has tripled in the city of Stockholm since the 1970s and doctors at the world-famous Karolinska Institute there think they know why.
Oral sex. Or perhaps French kissing. And changes in sexual behavior that took place 20 or 30 years ago, says Tina Dalianis, a professor of tumor virology at Karolinska.
Her research has directly linked the increase in tonsil cancers to the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are more than 100 different types of HPV, some of which cause cancer. One, for example, is responsible for 99.7% of all cervical cancers.
The study found that patients with HPV in their mouths are much more likely to get tonsil cancer than patients who don’t have it. In fact for patients who are HPV-positive, the rate of tonsil cancer has gone up seven times since the '70s, Dalianis says. It takes between 20 and 30 years for an HPV infection to result in cancer, so the people getting sick now were infected in the '70s and '80s.
“It’s an epidemic,” she says.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested infant formula for traces of perchlorate because of concerns that the chemical can damage thyroid function. Their findings were published last month in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
Perchlorate has been found in the drinking water of at least 35 states and the District of Columbia. The chemical can inhibit the thyroid gland's iodine uptake, interfering with fetal development.CHICAGO – Doctors are puzzling over what seems to be an increase in the number of children with kidney stones, a condition some blame on kids' love of cheeseburgers, fries and other salty foods.
Kidney stones are usually an adult malady, one that is notorious for causing excruciating pain — pain worse than childbirth. But while the number of affected children isn't huge, kids with kidney stones have been turning up in rising numbers at hospitals around the country.
At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the number of children treated for kidney stones since 2005 has climbed from about 10 a year to five patients a week now, said Dr. Pasquale Casale.
Johns Hopkins Children Center in Baltimore, a referral center for children with stones, used to treat one or two youngsters a year 15 or so years ago. Now it gets calls about new cases every week, said kidney specialist Dr. Alicia Neu.
WEDNESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Despite its proven health benefits, a vegetarian diet might in fact be masking an underlying eating disorder, new research suggests.
The study, in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that twice as many teens and nearly double the number of young adults who had been vegetarians reported having used unhealthy means to control their weight, compared with those who had never been vegetarians. Those means included using diet pills, laxatives and diuretics and inducing vomiting to control weight.
There's a dark side to vegetarianism, said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. He had no role in the research.
"Adolescent vegetarians [in the study] were more prone to disordered eating and outright eating disorders," Katz said. "This is not due to vegetarianism but the other way around: Adolescents struggling to control their diets and weight might opt for vegetarianism among other, less-healthful efforts."
Vegetarianism, or a mostly plant-based diet, can be recommended to all adolescents, Katz said. "But when adolescents opt for vegetarianism on their own, it is important to find out why because it may signal a cry for help, rather than the pursuit of health," he said.
Stimulant drugs like Ritalin that are used to treat ADHD don't improve children's symptoms long term, according to new research published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. That may come as a surprise to parents, but ADHD researchers have been arguing for the past 10 years over the findings of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD. Called the MTA study, it is the largest study conducted to compare the benefits of medication to behavioral interventions.
This latest report from the MTA study tracked 485 children for eight years and found those still taking stimulant medication fared no better in the reduction of symptoms such as inattention and hyperactivity or in social functioning than those who hadn't. Most of the children who had taken medication for the first 14 months were no longer taking it. This, the researchers wrote, raises "questions about whether medication treatment beyond two years continues to be beneficial or needed at all." Earlier reports found that children taking stimulants alone or combined with behavioral treatment did better in the first year than children who got no special care or who got behavioral treatment alone.
Amanda Steel is flicking through last year's diary, trying to pinpoint when this nightmare began. It was the summer holidays when she first noticed that Carly, her eldest daughter, was seriously out of sorts.
'Anyone who knew Carly before will tell you what a chatterbox she was. She had so much energy she drove us mad. But suddenly, she was a different girl. It was heartbreaking to watch,' says Amanda.
'I struggled to wake her in the mornings and she barely spoke all day.'
Carly Steel, 13, has aching joints and suffers from blackouts. She has not attended school since September
By August, 13-year-old Carly, was barely ever awake. Consumed with exhaustion and complaining of dizziness, she was confined to the bed or the sofa, and had to grip the furniture to steady herself whenever she took a few steps.
A technique thought to be a promising cancer treatment is also being investigated as the basis for a Taser-like weapon that stuns for longer, New Scientist has learned.
The technology involves short, nanosecond-long pulses of extreme voltage.
Microsecond pulses have been used for years to punch temporary holes in cell membranes, to shove genes or drugs into cells. But the nanosecond pulses have similar effects on individual organelles inside a cell, such as the nucleus.
For reasons as yet unknown, this can cause a cell to destroy itself in a process known as apoptosis, something being investigated as a cancer treatment. But the nanosecond pulses are also being researched as a way to temporarily disable human muscles.
Forest said Lexapro, its biggest product with annual sales of more than $2 billion, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat major depressive disorder in adolescents aged 12 to 17 and as a maintenance therapy, meaning to maintain control of symptoms. It is already approved for adults.
But federal prosecutors have said that Lexapro and Celexa have long been used improperly to treat depression in children.
Foodies and environmentalists are thrilled about the Obamas' plans to break ground today on a new White House vegetable garden in their yard.
"A garden like this is one of those small gestures that is powerfully symbolic," Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivores Dilemma" and vocal advocate for agricultural reform, told ABC News.
From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar.
ConAgra uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Kraft Foods recently removed the corn sweetener from its salad dressings, and is working on its Lunchables line of portable meals and snacks.
The turnaround comes after three decades during which high-fructose corn syrup had been gaining on sugar in the American diet. Consumption of the two finally drew even in 2003, according to the Department of Agriculture. Recently, though, the trend has reversed. Per capita, American adults ate about 44 pounds of sugar in 2007, compared with about 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup.
Getting old already? 27-year-old singer Beyonce Knowles is already past her mental peak according to new research
Old age is often blamed for causing us to misplace car keys, forget a word or lose our train of thought.
But new research shows that many well-known effects of ageing may start decades before our twilight years.
According to scientists, our mental abilities begin to decline from the age of 27 after reaching a peak at 22.
The researchers studied 2,000 men and women aged 18 to 60 over seven years. The people involved – who were mostly in good health and well-educated – had to solve visual puzzles, recall words and story details and spot patterns in letters and symbols.
Similar tests are often used to diagnose mental disabilities and declines, including dementia.
The research at the University of Virginia, reported in the academic journal Neurobiology Of Aging, found that in nine out of 12 tests the average age at which the top performance was achieved was 22.
The first age at which performance was significantly lower than the peak scores was 27 – for three tests of reasoning, speed of thought and spatial visualisation. Memory was shown to decline from the average age of 37. In the other tests, poorer results were shown by the age of 42.
Professor Timothy Salthouse said the results suggested that therapies designed to prevent or reverse age-related conditions may need to start earlier, long before people become pensioners.
Dr David Walker said chocolate used to be a treat, but has become a harmful addiction, causing weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and back pain.
Consumers are often eating more than half a day's worth of calories when they polish off a bag of chocolates in front of the television, he claimed.
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 | Bite From Brown Recluse Spider Helps Paraplegic to Walk for First Time in 20 Years 03-14-2009 7:42 am - KOVR-TV "When they zapped my legs, I felt the current, I was like 'whoa' and I yelled." |
CHICAGO (AP) - Living to 100 is easier than you might think.
Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.
"It has been generally assumed that living to 100 years of age was limited to those who had not developed chronic illness," said Dr. William Hall of the University of Rochester.
Hall has a theory for how these people could live to that age. In an editorial in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, he writes that it might be thanks to doctors who aggressively treat these older folks' health problems, rather than taking an "ageist" approach that assumes they wouldn't benefit.
For the study, Boston University researchers did phone interviews and health assessments of more than 500 women and 200 men who had reached 100. They found that roughly two-thirds of them had avoided significant age-related ailments.
WASHINGTON - Scientists have unraveled the genetic code of the common cold — all 99 known strains of it, to be exact. But don't expect the feat to lead to a cure for the sniffling any time soon. It turns out that rhinoviruses are even more complicated than researchers originally thought.
In fact, the genetic blueprints showed that you can catch two separate strains of cold at the same time — and those strains then can swap their genetic material inside your body to make a whole new strain.
It's why we'll never have a vaccine for the common cold, said biochemist Ann Palmenberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the three teams that assembled the family tree of the world's rhinoviruses.
"No vaccine, but maybe a drug," she said.
Why? The outside of these viruses — the part your body's immune system must recognize — are hugely variable, making it hard to envision a vaccine that would work against very many strains. But the inside components, what Palmenberg calls the guts of the virus, are remarkably similar from strain to strain, offering targets for therapy.
Adults typically get two to four colds a year, while schoolchildren may get as many as 10. But they do more than cause a runny nose. Rhinoviruses can trigger asthma attacks and play a role in sinusitis, certain ear infections and pneumonia.
Yet these viruses are remarkably mysterious for such a common bug. It was only in the past two years that scientists discovered there aren't two main groups of the viruses but three_ and this new "Group C" collection is nasty, tending to lodge deep in the lungs, Palmenberg said.
Wisconsin researchers paired with teams at the University of Maryland and J. Craig Venter Institute to decipher the genetic sequences of all known Group A and B rhinovirus strains and see how they're related to the newer Group C strains.
The resulting cold family tree, reported online Thursday by the journal Science, organizes human rhinoviruses into 15 distinct branches that evolved over time. Now the hunt is on to define the viral commonalities on each branch, in the quest for anti-cold drugs.
Advertisements with tantalizing promises of improved health, prevention of cancer and heart disease, and greater energy have lured millions of Americans to spend billions of dollars on the purchase of multivitamins.
An article in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reported that multivitamin use did not protect the 161,808 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Study from common forms of cancer, heart attacks, or strokes. And the numbers of deaths during the 8 years of the study were the same in vitamin users as in non-users. Still, it is important to recognize that this was an observational study, not a more meaningful clinical trial. Although these findings apply only to women, other studies have failed to show benefits of multivitamins in older men.
These results are not at all surprising for several reasons. No large study has shown that multivitamins significantly benefit healthy men and women. In addition, for some years physicians prescribed folic acid and vitamins B12 and B6 in the hopes of preventing heart attacks and strokes by lowering blood levels of homocysteine. (High blood levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of coronary and other vascular diseases.) A number of recent studies, however, have shown that, while these vitamins do lower homocysteine levels, they do not prevent heart attacks or strokes.
Many doctors have also prescribed the antioxidants vitamin E and beta-carotene to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Alas, studies have now proven that these supplements are not protective--and may even be harmful.
No one denies that an adequate intake of vitamins is essential; however, vitamins can and should be obtained from eating enough healthy foods rather than from swallowing vitamin supplements.
Then what about vitamins being a great source of energy? Some multivitamin ads do indeed claim that their supplements boost energy; and some professional athletes gobble handfuls of vitamin pills to increase their energy and strength. But researchers proved long ago that energy comes from calories, not vitamins. The highly touted cholesterol-lowering effects of substances added to some multivitamin supplements? Still unproven.
All this is not to say that specific vitamins supplements are never desirable. Vitamins can be valuable in certain situations:
And multivitamins are beneficial for some entire groups of people:
I also agree with a comment made by one of the coauthors of the Archives of Internal Medicine article about postmenopausal women mentioned above. An 8-year follow-up period may not be long enough to show that multivitamins protect against cancers that take many years to develop.
All the same, the results of the studies on vitamins so far point to one conclusion: Healthy people who eat enough calories from a varied diet do not benefit from multivitamin supplements.
Thanks to politicians, self-interested health organizations, and biased doctors, most of us probably don’t fully understand the many advantages of tobacco. It may surprise you to learn that smoking cigars poses some serious health benefits. That’s right. Benefits.
The letter, which likely dates back to 2004 when Dr. Douglass’ The Health Benefits of Tobacco was published, says the author is not on Big Tobacco’s payroll and does not advocate smoking in excess. But he does say “mountains of evidence” suggest smoking and health are not necessarily at odds.
According to Dr. Douglass, smoking can:
• Slash your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
• Improve your memory and concentration
• Help prevent thyroid, breast, and skin cancer
• Produce new blood vessel growth around blocked arteries
The federal government will subsidize 65 percent of the cost of health insurance through COBRA for workers who lost their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009.
The provision was included in the economic stimulus package signed into law Feb. 17. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, enacted in 1985, currently allows individuals to retain their company insurance coverage for up to 18 months after they leave their employer. Individuals who elect COBRA coverage pay both the employee’s and the employer’s share of the premiums, plus a 2 percent administrative charge.
Business groups are relieved the final stimulus bill didn’t include a broader expansion of COBRA. The original House bill would have allowed former employees who are 55 or older, or who have been with a company for 10 years, to receive health coverage through COBRA until they are eligible for Medicare at 65.
Business groups said covering this age group through COBRA would have cost employers more than what the former employees would have paid for it, especially since individuals 55 and over tend to have more serious health issues than younger workers.
For more information about COBRA, see www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm .
FRIDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The drug fampridine improves walking ability in some people with multiple sclerosis.
In a phase III study that included 301 patients, aged 18 to 70, the participants were randomly assigned to receive either 10 milligrams of fampridine or a placebo twice a day for 14 weeks. The patients' walking speed was assessed after two weeks, six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks.
The number of timed walk responders -- those who achieved a faster walking speed in at least three of the four assessments while on treatment compared to when they weren't on treatment -- was 78 out of 224 (35 percent) in the fampridine group and six out of 72 (8 percent) in the placebo group. The patients in the fampridine group also showed greater improvement in leg strength.
Eleven patients (5 percent) in the fampridine group had to withdraw from the study due to adverse events, but only two serious adverse events (focal seizure and severe anxiety) were considered to be connected with the drug, according to Andrew Goodman, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and colleagues. But they added that the risk of seizure noted in previous studies seems to increase in a dose-dependent way with fampridine.
"Treatment with fampridine produces clinically meaningful improvement in walking ability in some people with multiple sclerosis, irrespective of disease course type or concomitant treatment with immunomodulators," the researchers concluded.
The study was published in this week's edition of The Lancet.
MS patients suffer a progressive decline in mobility, but there are few treatment options available to complement physiotherapy. While it has been suggested that fampridine may improve visual function, strength, walking ability, fatigue and endurance in MS patients, there are questions about the drug's efficacy and safety.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about multiple sclerosis.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Internal AstraZeneca reports and e-mails written by company officials show they knew a decade ago that their psychiatric drug Seroquel caused diabetes and major weight gain, plaintiffs' lawyers said Friday after releasing dozens of the previously sealed documents.
"They not only failed to warn about the risk of diabetes, but they marketed it as not having that risk," said Houston attorney Ed Blizzard, one of the lead attorneys representing roughly 15,000 plaintiffs suing the British drugmaker.
The plaintiffs claim Seroquel, approved for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, caused diabetes, weight gain and related health problems, from kidney failure and heart attacks to amputations and damage to the pancreas, which makes insulin.
AstraZeneca spokesman Tony Jewell said plaintiffs' lawyers are "mischaracterizing that we knew that it caused diabetes." He said it remains unresolved whether Seroquel causes diabetes, and that AstraZeneca PLC has shared all relevant and required data with the Food and Drug Administration, both before and after the FDA approved Seroquel as safe and effective in 1997.
Results from a new study may make it easier for heart patients and their doctors to decide on a surgical treatment for dangerously blocked arteries. Researchers compared two groups: people who had bypass surgery and those who had angioplasty with stenting. While interpretations of the study results differ, some experts say the pros and cons of the procedures balance out, suggesting that the ultimate choice is up to the patient.
By Dr. Mercola
For more than 5,000 years, turmeric has been an important part of Eastern cultural traditions, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Valued for its medicinal properties and warm, peppery flavor, this yellow-orange spice has more recently earned a name for itself in Western medicine as well.
Turmeric comes from the root of the Curcuma longa plant, which is native to Indonesia and southern India, and is widely used as an ingredient in curry dishes and yellow mustard. As research into this powerful spice has increased, it has emerged as one of nature’s most powerful potential healers.
Said Dr. David Frawely, founder and director of the American Institute for Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico:
“If I had only one single herb to depend upon for all possible health and dietary needs, I would without much hesitation choose the Indian spice Turmeric. There is little it cannot do in the realm of healing and much that no other herb is able to accomplish.
Turmeric has a broad spectrum of actions, mild but certain effects, and is beneficial for long term and daily usage. Though it is a common spice, few people, including herbalists know of its great value and are using it to the extent possible. It is an herb that one should get to know and live with.”
Turmeric’s Beneficial Effects in a Nutshell
Strengthens and improves digestion
Supports healthy liver function and detox
Purifies your blood
Contains curcuminoids that fight cancer, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s
Curcumin: Turmeric’s Active Anti-Inflammatory “Ingredient”
Most notably turmeric is known for its potent anti-inflammatory properties, which come from curcumin -- the pigment that gives turmeric its yellow-orange color, and which is thought to be responsible for many of its medicinal effects. There are an estimated three to five grams of curcumin in 100 grams of turmeric.
Curcumin has been shown to influence more than 700 genes, and it can inhibit both the activity and the synthesis of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX), as well as other enzymes that have been implicated in inflammation.[3]
Turmeric’s Cancer-Fighting Properties
In India where turmeric is widely used, the prevalence of four common U.S. cancers -- colon, breast, prostate and lung -- is 10 times lower. In fact, prostate cancer, which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in U.S. men, is rare in India and this is attributed, in part, to turmeric.
Numerous studies have looked into this potential cancer-fighting link, with promising results. For instance, curcumin has been found to:
As for the results of research studies, a study in Biochemical Pharmacology found that curcumin can slow the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs in mice.[4]
"Curcumin acts against transcription factors, which are like a master switch," said lead researcher, Bharat Aggarwal. "Transcription factors regulate all the genes needed for tumors to form. When we turn them off, we shut down some genes that are involved in the growth and invasion of cancer cells."
A second study in Biochemical Pharmacology also found that curcumin inhibits the activation of NF-kappaB, a regulatory molecule that signals genes to produce a slew of inflammatory molecules (including TNF, COX-2 and IL-6) that promote cancer cell growth.[5]
Turmeric’s Essential Role for Your Liver
Your liver’s primary role is to process and remove toxins carried in your bloodstream. When functioning at its peak, it can filter up to two liters of blood per minute and easily break apart toxic molecules to reduce their toxicity. Your liver is also a crucial part of vitamin, mineral, protein, fat, carbohydrate and hormonal metabolism.
However, poor diet, allergens, pollution and stress can cause your liver to become sluggish, and this can impair its vital functions. This is where turmeric can be a very useful part of your liver support system. Studies have shown that it:
Turmeric is also a natural cholagogue, a medicinal agent that promotes the discharge of bile from your system. Increased bile flow is important to help your liver detoxify and to help your body digest fats.
Turmeric for Your Heart, Brain and Overall Health
Turmeric inhibits free radical damage of fats, including cholesterol. When cholesterol is damaged in this way, or oxidized, it can then damage your blood vessels and lead to a heart attack or stroke. Therefore, research suggests that turmeric’s ability to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol may be beneficial for your heart. It’s also rich in vitamin B6, high intakes of which are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease.
Meanwhile, turmeric appears to be highly protective against neurodegenerative diseases. In fact, in India levels of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s are very low, and studies have shown that curcumin can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice. The compound has also proven capable of blocking the progression of multiple sclerosis.
Further, Professor Moolky Nagabhushan from the Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, who has been studying turmeric for the last 20 years, believes that turmeric can protect against harmful environmental chemicals, and in so doing protect against childhood leukemia. The research showed that curcumin in turmeric can:[7]
Turmeric's volatile oils also have external anti-bacterial action. As such, they may help prevent bacterial wound infections and accelerate wound healing. Johnson & Johnson even sells a curcumin-containing Band-Aid in India!
And the therapeutic potential of turmeric and curcumin do not end there. Evidence suggests the spice may also be beneficial for:
Which Type of Turmeric is Best?
For use in cooking, choose a pure turmeric powder, rather than a curry powder. At least one study has found that curry powders tend to contain very little curcumin, compared to turmeric powder. Turmeric is also available in supplement form and for many this is a more convenient method to obtain these health benefits discussed above, especially if they are from a high-quality organic source and if one doesn’t particularly enjoy the taste of curry.
On my recent trip to India I was able to find a company called Organic India that produces probably some of the best Indian herbs on the planet.
For the first time in more than forty years there's a new medication receiving FDA approval for the treatment of gout.
That often affects one joint, which is most often the big toe, but can happen with many joints in the body.
It's the most common inflammatory arthritis is men over age 40.
The medicine is called Uloric.
It's a once daily oral medication that works by blocking an enzyme which helps prevent uric acid production, lowering uric acid levels.
Wrinkles are not due to genetics alone but also to stressful environmental factors, such as a divorce, abnormal weight loss and use of antidepressants, according to a study published Tuesday.
"A person's heritage may initially dictate how they age -- but if you introduce certain factors into your life, you will certainly age faster. Likewise, if you avoid those factors, you can slow down the hands of time," said study author Bahaman Guyuron, an American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) member. MORE.....
