Statin Warning for Women

Pregnant women or those hoping to start or extend a family should avoid using the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins, say scientists.

Current clinical guidelines already recommend that women who are pregnant should stop taking statins but the advice is based on the knowledge that cholesterol is essential for normal fetal development.

Indeed, a 2007 study examining the risk of congenital anomalies in children of pregnant women using statins suggested that the detrimental effects of the drugs may be restricted to fat-soluble or 'lipophilic' statins only.

But new research from The University of Manchester has shown that even water-soluble or 'hydrophilic' statins, such as pravastatin, can affect placental development leading to worse pregnancy outcomes.

"The rapid rise in obesity and type-2 diabetes is a major health issue and affected individuals are often treated with statins to lower circulating cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease," said Dr Melissa Westwood, a Senior Lecturer in Endocrinology based at the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester.

"Given the evolving demographic profile of these conditions, such drugs are increasingly prescribed to women of reproductive age but the actions of statins are not limited to the regulation of cholesterol levels, as they can affect the production of other chemicals in the body too.

"Our study examined the effects that both lipophilic and hydrophilic statins had on a key biological system that is crucial for maintaining the normal function of the placenta, which acts as the nutrient-waste exchange barrier between mother and fetus."

The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), used a placental-tissue model that could be maintained in a viable state outside the body for several days and tested the effects of two different statins – one water-soluble and one that dissolves in fat.

As expected, the fat-soluble statin, cerivastatin, affected the placenta resulting in reduced growth but the researchers also found that pravastatin – the water-soluble statin thought to be potentially compatible for use in pregnancy – had the same detrimental effect.

"These results clearly show that the effect of statins on the placenta is not dependent on their lipophilicity as had previously been suggested," said Dr Westwood, whose findings are published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

"While hydrophilic statins have not been reported to increase the incidence of fetal malformations, our research suggests that they will have a detrimental effect on placental growth, which is likely to result in poor pregnancy outcome.

"Healthcare professionals should continue to advise women to avoid the use of any type of statin once they plan to start a family or when a pregnancy is suspected or confirmed."

Four in Ten Adults Use Unconventional Medicine

About four in 10 U.S. adults and one in nine children are turning to unconventional medical approaches for chronic pain and other health problems, health officials said on Wednesday.

Back pain was the leading reason that Americans reported using complementary and alternative medicine techniques, followed by neck and joint pain as well as arthritis, according to the survey by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 38 percent of adults used some form of complementary and alternative medicine in 2007, compared to 36 percent in 2002, the last time the government tracked at the matter.

For the first time, the survey looked at use of such medicine by children under age 18, finding that about 12 percent used it, officials said. The reasons included back pain, colds, anxiety, stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the survey.

The risks for children using these are unclear, they said.

Complementary medicine is used together with conventional treatment, while alternative medicine is used instead. This includes such things as herbal medicines and other natural products, chiropractic techniques, acupuncture, massage, meditation and others.

Many people feel these may work better for them than typical medical approaches, with fewer bad side effects. And so-called natural products have become big business, too, with various herbal medicines and others emerging as lucrative products.

"As I look at this data, what I'm most struck with is how much people are turning to CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) approaches as part of the management of chronic pain conditions, particularly chronic back pain, but also neck pain and musculoskeletal pain and headache," said Dr. Josephine Briggs, director of the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the NIH.

"And from my days as an internist seeing patients in my office, I know that these are conditions that are hard to manage and tough to treat," Briggs told reporters.

Chiropractic care, acupuncture and massage therapy are among the complementary and alternative medicine techniques used for chronic pain, NIH researcher Richard Nahin said.

The survey results were based on responses from about 23,000 adults and 9,500 children nationwide.

Overall, the most common category of complementary and alternative medicine used was natural products such as herbal medicines and certain other types of dietary supplements other than vitamins and minerals.

Among these natural products used by adults, fish oil was the most commonly used. Nahin said it is used for such reasons as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Nahin said use of complementary and alternative medicine seems to be remaining at a significant but stable level, with most of the recent increases among those age 60 and up.

Deep breathing exercises, meditation and massage therapy all showed significant increases among adults. Overall, women and people with higher levels of education were more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine techniques.

Echinacea, a medicinal plant sometimes used to treat or prevent colds, was the most common of the natural products used by children, according to the survey. Echinacea use dropped among adults from 2002 to 2007, Nahin said.

Exercise Suppresses Appetite Hormones

A vigorous 60-minute workout on a treadmill affects the release of two key appetite hormones, ghrelin and peptide YY, while 90 minutes of weight lifting affects the level of only ghrelin, according to a new study. Taken together, the research shows that aerobic exercise is better at suppressing appetite than non-aerobic exercise and provides a possible explanation for how that happens.

This line of research may eventually lead to more effective ways to use exercise to help control weight, according to the senior author, David J. Stensel of Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.

The study, “The influence of resistance and aerobic exercise on hunger, circulating levels of acylated ghrelin and peptide YY in healthy males,” appears in the online edition of The American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, published by The American Physiological Society. The authors are David R. Broom, James A. King and David J. Stensel of Loughborough University, and Rachel L. Batterham of University College, London.

There are several hormones that help regulate appetite, but the researchers looked at two of the major ones, ghrelin and peptide YY. Ghrelin is the only hormone known to stimulate appetite. Peptide YY suppresses appetite.

Ghrelin was discovered by researchers in Japan only about 10 years ago and was originally identified for its role as a growth hormone. Only later did its role in stimulating appetite become known. Peptide YY was discovered less than 25 years ago.

In this experiment, 11 male university students did three eight-hour sessions. During one session they ran for 60 minutes on a treadmill, and then rested for seven hours. During another session they did 90 minutes of weight lifting, and then rested for six hours and 30 minutes. During another session, the participants did not exercise at all.

During each of the sessions, the participants filled out surveys in which they rated how hungry they felt at various points. They also received two meals during each session. The researchers measured ghrelin and peptide YY levels at multiple points along the way.

They found that the treadmill (aerobic) session caused ghrelin levels to drop and peptide YY levels to increase, indicating the hormones were suppressing appetite. However, a weight-lifting (non-aerobic) session produced a mixed result. Ghrelin levels dropped, indicating appetite suppression, but peptide YY levels did not change significantly.

Based on the hunger ratings the participants filled out, both aerobic and resistance exercise suppressed hunger, but aerobic exercise produced a greater suppression of hunger. The changes the researchers observed were short term for both types of exercise, lasting about two hours, including the time spent exercising, Stensel reported.

“The finding that hunger is suppressed during and immediately after vigorous treadmill running is consistent with previous studies indicating that strenuous aerobic exercise transiently suppresses appetite,” Stensel said. “The findings suggest a similar, although slightly attenuated response, for weight lifting exercise.”

In a nutshell: Eat more nuts to reduce heart risks

CHICAGO (AP) — Scientists have come across a nutty risk reducer: Eating a handful of nuts a day for a year — along with a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish — may help undo a collection of risk factors for heart disease.

Spanish researchers found that adding nuts worked better than boosting the olive oil in a typical Mediterranean diet. Both regimens cut the heart risks known as metabolic syndrome in more people than a low-fat diet did.

BETTER LIFE: News and studies on heart health

HEART ATTACKS, FAILURE: See which hospital near you has the lowest death rate

"What's most surprising is they found substantial metabolic benefits in the absence of calorie reduction or weight loss," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

In the study, appearing Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the people who improved most were told to eat about three whole walnuts, seven or eight whole hazelnuts and seven or eight whole almonds. They didn't lose weight, on average, but more of them succeeded in reducing belly fat and improving their cholesterol and blood pressure.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Spain | Harvard | Mediterranean | Women | Valencia | Heart Association | Spaniards | Type | Brigham | Archives of Internal Medicine | Dr. JoAnn Manson | Reus | E. They | Spanish Ministry of Health | University of Rovira | Virgili

Manson, who wasn't involved in the study, cautioned that adding nuts to a Western diet — one packed with too many calories and junk food — could lead to weight gain and more health risks. "But using nuts to replace a snack of chips or crackers is a very favorable change to make in your diet," Manson said.

The American Heart Association says 50 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, a combination of health risks, such as high blood pressure and abdominal obesity. Finding a way to reverse it with a diet people find easy and satisfying would mean huge health improvements for many Americans, Manson said.

Nuts help people feel full while also increasing the body's ability to burn fat, said lead author Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvado of the University of Rovira i Virgili in Reus, Spain.

"Nuts could have an effect on metabolic syndrome by multiple mechanisms," Salas-Salvado said in an e-mail. Nuts are rich in anti-inflammatory substances, such as fiber, and antioxidants, such as vitamin E. They are high in unsaturated fat, a healthier fat known to lower blood triglycerides and increase good cholesterol.

More than 1,200 Spaniards, ranging in age from 55 to 80, were randomly assigned to follow one of three diets. They were followed for a year. The participants had no prior history of heart disease, but some had risk factors including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.

At the start, 751 people had metabolic syndrome, about 61%, distributed evenly among the three groups.

Metabolic syndrome was defined as having three or more of the following conditions: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol (HDL), high blood sugar and high blood pressure.

The low-fat group was given basic advice about reducing all fat in their diets. Another group ate a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts. The third group ate a Mediterranean diet and was told to make sure they ate more than four tablespoons of olive oil a day.

Dietitians advised the two groups on the Mediterranean diet to use olive oil for cooking; increase fruit, vegetable and fish consumption; eat white meat instead of beef or processed meat; and prepare homemade tomato sauce with garlic, onions and herbs. Drinkers were told to stick with red wine.

After one year, all three groups had fewer people with metabolic syndrome, but the group eating nuts led the improvement, now with 52% having those heart risk factors. In the olive oil group, 57% had the syndrome. In the low-fat group, there was very little difference after a year in the percentage of people with the syndrome.

The nut-rich diet didn't do much to improve high blood sugar, but the large number of people with Type 2 diabetes — about 46% of participants — could be the reason, Salas-Salvado said. It's difficult to get diabetics' blood sugar down with lifestyle changes alone, he said.

To verify that study volunteers ate their nuts, researchers gave some of them a blood test for alpha-linolenic acid found in walnuts.

The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health and the government of Valencia, Spain.

Salas-Salvado and another co-author disclosed in the publication that they are unpaid advisers to nut industry groups. Salas-Salvado said all of their research "has been conducted under standard ethical and scientific rules" and that peer-review journal editors determined the study results were not influenced by food industry ties.

Cabbage, an Inexpensive Nutritional Powerhouse

An article last month by Tara Parker-Pope about the challenges of eating fresh food on a tight budget got me thinking about cabbage. It is a very economical vegetable that is easy to find in any supermarket and it gives you a huge nutritional bang for your buck. This humble food has always been a mainstay for the poor and in cold climates people of all classes have relied on it to feed themselves through many a winter. (The vegetable is at its best during the fall and winter months, when it is in season, and it stores well for weeks).


ARTICLE

Pomegranates taste good and are good for you

Chasing a youthful glow never tasted so good. The pomegranate, an ancient "super" fruit, is packed with antioxidants and a bounty of health benefits. Not only does it taste good, it's good for you. And it can also be a fun decoration for the holiday.

Throughout history, the pomegranate has been held in high esteem. According to POM Wonderful, one of the largest producers in the United States, Buddha believed it was one of the three blessed fruits. Early Christians used it to symbolize God's bountiful love — its red juice, the blood of martyrs. Pomegranates also appeared in ancient Greece, symbolizing winter and the holidays. In one New Year's Eve tradition, the Greeks would smash a silver-foil-wrapped pomegranate against the threshold of a home to spread the seeds of good luck.

A fruit fit for decorating or dining

There are many uses for pomegranates, and they don't all involve eating.

Decor: With its ruby-red exterior and ornamental appearance, the pomegranate would make a festive holiday centerpiece.

Simply fill a glass bowl with pomegranates, surrounded by greens, and listen to your guests ooh and ahh as they walk in the door.

If you want more ideas on decorating with pomegranates, go to www.pomwonderful.com.

Dining: For a new twist on your holiday table:
• Try using the arils from the pomegranate on top of warmed brie and toasted bread.
• Use the juice in fancy cocktail drinks.
• Freeze the arils in ice trays to make fun ice cubes for drinks.
• Garnish salads.
• Use arils in marinades and sorbets.
• Add a tart taste to basic dishes by using the arils.

Symbolism: Not only do pomegranates add festive flavor and a colorful touch to your holiday gathering, they are a symbol of hope, healing and fertility.

— Brenda Junkin

ARTICLE

Gout

Gout is an arthritic type of pain in your joints; typically, about 75 percent of people will experience it as an excruciating pain in their big toe. (Hence, if you ever experience sudden, severe pain in your big toe, you’ll want to go get checked for gout.) The symptoms of gout -- the stiff, swollen and painful joints -- are due to excess uric acid forming crystals in your joints, and the pain is caused by your body’s inflammatory response to these crystals. Besides gout, elevated uric acid is related to a variety of other health conditions, including: Diabetes High cholesterol High blood pressure Kidney disease Heart disease Many people suffering from gout end up taking some type of pain reducing medication, typically an anti-inflammatory. Drugs like Allopurinol and Cholchicine work by either lowering your uric acid levels, which decrease crystal formation, or by simply blocking your body’s natural inflammatory response. But these drugs also have very dangerous, long-term side effects, and gout is frequently a lifelong condition, so you may end up staying on these drugs for very long periods of time, which can wreak havoc with your health. Folks, you don’t need to take a dangerous drug to deal with this painful condition. You CAN address the underlying cause of excess uric acid formation via all natural means. Change Your Diet -- Reduce Inflammation Naturally Any time we’re talking about reducing inflammation, please remember that your diet is your number one priority. Why? Because the REAL underlying problem causing the inflammation, and subsequent damage, is likely due to having chronically elevated blood sugar. (The sugar molecule causes far more damage than any other molecule.) And, your number one way of normalizing your blood sugar and insulin levels is through your diet. But what constitutes an optimal diet? Well, first of all, you should know by now that there is no one diet that is right for everyone. This is why I always recommend you go through my nutritional typing process to find out which type of diet is right for you, based on your personal biochemistry and metabolism. Some people thrive on a high carb-low fat/low protein diet. Others need more fat and protein, and far less carbs. Others may fall somewhere in between. However, regardless of your nutritional type, drastically reducing or eliminating sugar is essential if you’re dealing with gout, or any other condition caused by inflammation in your body. Recent research shows you can lower your risk of gout by an impressive 85 percent, simply by reducing your intake of sugar. What this means for most people is: eliminate the soft drinks and fruit juices. It never ceases to amaze me that the number one source of calories for Americans is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the form of soda. This is so tragic because soda can be one of the easiest dietary modifications to make. Instead, drink plenty of pure water, as the fluids will help to remove uric acid from your body. Another important diet modification is to reduce or eliminate alcohol, as it is clearly a risk factor in gout. Other Natural Tips for Treating Gout Exercise, just like optimizing your vitamin D levels, is an all-around health booster that helps improve your health no matter what your problem is. In this case, exercise helps normalize your insulin and hence your uric acid levels, naturally. As far as using supplements, tart cherries have been found to offer excellent benefits in the treatment of gout. Tart cherries contain two powerful compounds, anthocyanins and bioflavonoids, which are known to have similar activity to aspirin and ibuprofen. Both of these compounds slow down the enzymes Cyclo-oxyygenase-1 and -- 2, which helps to relieve and prevent arthritis and gout in your body. A handful of fresh cherries in the summertime are a natural gourmet delight, but if you want to harness the antioxidant power of cherries on a routine basis--and you definitely should, as they are one of nature’s true "healing foods"--then you should seriously consider taking a red tart cherry juice concentrate. Cherry juice concentrate can contain about 55 to 60 tart cherries in every ounce. That’s a single recommended serving, so in other words, you’d have to eat 55 to 60 cherries to get the same health benefit (and I don’t recommend eating 55 to 60 cherries, as that is too much sugar ... But with a concentrate, you can get the health benefit of the cherries without all the sugar). Last but not least, just in time for the Christmas holiday season, consider spicing up your dishes with plenty of nutmeg, as this common spice is also useful for gout.

Related Articles:

VIDEO

Nuts Help Cut Metabolic Syndrome Risk

Here's a health tip in a nutshell: Eating a handful of nuts a day for a year — along with a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish — may help undo a collection of risk factors for heart disease.

Spanish researchers found that adding nuts worked better than boosting the olive oil in a typical Mediterranean diet. Both regimens cut the heart risks known as metabolic syndrome in more people than a low-fat diet did.

"What's most surprising is they found substantial metabolic benefits in the absence of calorie reduction or weight loss," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

In the study, appearing Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the people who improved most were told to eat about three whole walnuts, seven or eight whole hazelnuts and seven or eight whole almonds. They didn't lose weight, on average, but more of them succeeded in reducing belly fat and improving their cholesterol and blood pressure.

Manson, who wasn't involved in the study, cautioned that adding nuts to a Western diet — one packed with too many calories and junk food — could lead to weight gain and more health risks. "But using nuts to replace a snack of chips or crackers is a very favorable change to make in your diet," Manson said.

The American Heart Association says 50 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, a combination of health risks, such as high blood pressure and abdominal obesity. Finding a way to reverse it with a diet people find easy and satisfying would mean huge health improvements for many Americans, Manson said.

Nuts help people feel full while also increasing the body's ability to burn fat, said lead author Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvado of the University of Rovira i Virgili in Reus, Spain.

"Nuts could have an effect on metabolic syndrome by multiple mechanisms," Salas-Salvado said in an e-mail. Nuts are rich in anti-inflammatory substances, such as fiber, and antioxidants, such as vitamin E. They are high in unsaturated fat, a healthier fat known to lower blood triglycerides and increase good cholesterol.

More than 1,200 Spaniards, ranging in age from 55 to 80, were randomly assigned to follow one of three diets. They were followed for a year. The participants had no prior history of heart disease, but some had risk factors including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity.

At the start, 751 people had metabolic syndrome, about 61 percent, distributed evenly among the three groups.

Metabolic syndrome was defined as having three or more of the following conditions: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol (HDL), high blood sugar and high blood pressure.

The low-fat group was given basic advice about reducing all fat in their diets. Another group ate a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts. The third group ate a Mediterranean diet and was told to make sure they ate more than four tablespoons of olive oil a day.

Dietitians advised the two groups on the Mediterranean diet to use olive oil for cooking; increase fruit, vegetable and fish consumption; eat white meat instead of beef or processed meat; and prepare homemade tomato sauce with garlic, onions and herbs. Drinkers were told to stick with red wine.

After one year, all three groups had fewer people with metabolic syndrome, but the group eating nuts led the improvement, now with 52 percent having those heart risk factors. In the olive oil group, 57 percent had the syndrome. In the low-fat group, there was very little difference after a year in the percentage of people with the syndrome.

The nut-rich diet didn't do much to improve high blood sugar, but the large number of people with Type 2 diabetes — about 46 percent of participants — could be the reason, Salas-Salvado said. It's difficult to get diabetics' blood sugar down with lifestyle changes alone, he said.

To verify that study volunteers ate their nuts, researchers gave some of them a blood test for alpha-linolenic acid found in walnuts.

The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health and the government of Valencia, Spain.

Salas-Salvado and another co-author disclosed in the publication that they are unpaid advisers to nut industry groups. Salas-Salvado said all of their research "has been conducted under standard ethical and scientific rules" and that peer-review journal editors determined the study results were not influenced by food industry ties.

Selenium May Prevent Bladder Cancer

By Silvia Booth Hubbard

A new study reported by the American Association for Cancer Research found that selenium, a non-metallic trace mineral found in grains, nuts, and meats may help prevent bladder cancer, especially in those patients at high risk.

Researchers from the Dartmouth Medical School also found a significant reduction in the incidence of bladder cancer in women, smokers and people with cancer related to a specific gene—p53.

Lead researcher Margaret Karagas measured the selenium levels in the toenails of 767 people recently diagnosed with bladder cancer and 1,108 people from the general population. They found that higher rates of selenium were related to a reduction in bladder cancer in women (34 percent), moderate smokers (39 percent) and in those with p53 tumors (43 percent).

“Ultimately, if it is true that selenium can prevent a certain subset of individuals, like women, from developing bladder cancer, or prevent certain types of tumors, such as those evolving through the p53 pathway, from developing, it gives us clues about how the tumors could be prevented in the future and potentially lead to chemopreventive efforts,” Karagas said.

Diabetes Updates - Links

Depression linked to poorer diabetes control
Depression may make it harder for people with diabetes to keep their blood sugar levels in check, researchers have found.
more >>

Psychotherapy may help with diabetes control
Integrating motivational enhancement therapy with cognitive behavioral therapy may help people with type 1 diabetes better manage their disease, British researchers report.
more >>

Heart problems often worse in diabetic women
Women younger than 65 with diabetes tend to have worse heart problems than diabetic men of the same age, leading to higher death rates following a heart attack, the results of a Swedish study indicate.
more >>

Diabetes control doesn't normalize menstruation
Good metabolic control and intensive insulin treatment doesn't normalize the onset of menstruation, which is usually delayed in girls with type 1 diabetes compared with girls without the disease, study findings confirm.
more >>

Eating fish may prevent kidney decline in people with diabetes
Eating fish at least twice a week seems to reduce the incidence of kidney disease in patients with diabetes, according to findings from a large British study.
more >>

Periodontal disease linked to metabolic syndrome
In middle-aged adults, gum disease goes hand in hand with the metabolic syndrome, UK researchers report.
more >>