Health Related articles updated on daily Basis.

[Night_Hawk]

Coffee can lower uterine cancer risk

(Reuters)

23 November 2011
Women who drink four or more cups of coffee a day may have a reduced risk of developing cancer in the lining of their uterus, according to a US study.
Researchers who looked at more than 67,000 US nurses found that women who drank that much coffee were one-quarter less likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who averaged less than a cup a day, said the study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
The absolute risk that any one woman, coffee drinker or not, would develop the cancer was fairly small, with only 672 women — or one percent of the study group — being diagnosed with it over 26 years.
While researchers could also not say for certain that coffee was the reason for the lower risk among those who drank a lot of coffee, the study adds to several others with similar results.
Coffee itself may have some benefits, said senior researcher Edward Giovannucci, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
‘It can lower insulin levels and may lower levels of free estrogen circulating in the body,’ he added.
Higher concentrations of insulin and higher lifetime exposure to estrogen have both been linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer.
Researchers looked at a number of other factors, such as differences in women’s weight, since obesity is also linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer, but that did not account for the lower cancer risk seen among coffee drinkers.
Nor did differences in women’s childbirth history or hormone use, though birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy after menopause.
Of course, downing four cups of coffee a day may not be a good idea, especially for someone sensitive to the effects of caffeine. The researchers found that while caffeinated coffee was tied to a lower cancer risk, there was no statistically significant link with decaf — though there was a ‘suggestive’ trend in that direction.
In theory, adding sugar and cream to coffee could be bad for the waistline. With obesity also tied to a higher risk of the cancer, that could wipe out any potential benefit of coffee drinking.
‘It would be premature to make a recommendation that women drink coffee to lower their endometrial cancer risk,’ Giovannucci said.
The bottom line, he said, is that people who are already enjoying their coffee can probably continue to do so - but the biggest preventative for the cancer is maintaining a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/tFGByG

 

[Night_Hawk]

Low vitamin D linked to heart disease (Reuters) 26 November 2011 In people with low blood levels of vitamin D, boosting them with supplements more than halved a persons risk of dying from any cause compared to someone who remained deficient, in a large new study. Analyzing data on more than 10,000 patients, University of Kansas researchers found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D and they were at significantly higher risk for a variety of heart diseases. [TABLE="width: 350, align: right"]
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Dont depend only on sun for Vit D The sun should not be the only source of vitamin D, according to Dr Anwar Al Hammadi, Consultant and Head of Dermatology at the Dubai Health Authority and City Hospital, Dubai, People should consume more foods and supplements that can help them overcome the deficiency, he said. Many studies suggest that vitamin D deficiency is significantly higher in Arab women than those in western countries. The risk of obtaining the vitamin from the sun is more than that of taking supplements, so why take a risk? Vitamin D deficiency can lead to hair loss, fatigue and joint pains.[/TD]
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D-deficiency also nearly doubled a persons likelihood of dying, whereas correcting the deficiency with supplements lowered their risk of death by 60 percent. We expected to see that there was a relationship between heart disease and vitamin D deficiency; we were surprised at how strong it was, Dr. James L. Vacek, a professor of cardiology at the University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center, told Reuters Health. It was so much more profound than we expected. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a range of illnesses, but few studies have demonstrated the reversethat supplements could prevent those outcomes. Vacek and his team reviewed data from 10,899 adults whose vitamin D serum levels had been tested at the University of Kansas Hospital, and found that more than 70 percent of the patients were below 30 nanograms per milliliter, the level many experts consider sufficient for good health. After taking into account the patients medical history, medications and other factors, the cardiologists found that people with deficient levels of vitamin D were more than twice as likely to have diabetes, 40 percent more likely to have high blood pressure and about 30 percent more likely to suffer from cardiomyopathya diseased heart muscleas people without D deficiency. Overall, those who were deficient in D had a three-fold higher likelihood of dying from any cause than those who werent deficient, the researchers reported in the American Journal of Cardiology. Moreover, when the team looked at people who took vitamin D supplements, their risk of death from any cause was about 60 percent lower than the rest of the patients, although the effect was strongest among those who were vitamin D deficient at the time they were tested. The study does not prove that vitamin D is the cause of the effects seenother factors, like disease, could be responsible both for the differences in health and the differences in vitamin D levels, for instance. Previous research has indicated that many Americans dont have sufficient levels of vitamin D, however. The latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey estimated that 25 percent to 57 percent of adults have insufficient levels of D, and other studies have suggested the number is as high as 70 percent. Vacek said he believes so many people are deficient because we should get about 90 percent of our Vitamin D from the sun and only about 10 percent from our food. The human body makes vitamin D in response to skin exposure to sunlight. Certain foods, like oily fish, eggs and enriched milk products are also good sources of D. A sufficient amount of Vitamin D absorption from the sun would require at least 20 minutes of full-body exposure each day in warmer seasons, and most people arent outside enough, Vacek said. In the northern United States and throughout Canada, experts say the sun isnt strong enough during the winter months to make sufficient vitamin D, even if the weather was warm enough to expose the skin for a long time. It means that adults should consider getting their Vitamin D levels checked through a simple blood test, Vacek said, and take vitamin D supplements. Generally, Vacek recommends that adults take between 1,000 to 2,000 international units (IU) of Vitamin D each day. If youre not deficient, Vitamin D is not a magic pill that will make you live longer, Vacek said. Its benefit is in people who are deficient. If youre low, it makes sense to be put on replacement therapy and have a follow-up a couple months later to make sure your levels come up.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Diabetes drug reduces cancer risk
(IANS)

29 November 2011

Washington - A low-cost diabetes drug seems to beat the growth of breast cancer, especially by preventing a number of natural and man-made chemicals that promote it.
James Trosko from Michigan State University and a team from South Korea’s Seoul National University have thrown up evidence to show that use of metformin for Type-2 diabetes reduces risk of cancers.

‘People with Type-2 diabetes are known to be at high risk for several diabetes-associated cancers such as breast, liver and pancreatic cancers,’ said Trosko, pediatrics professor at Michigan’s College of Human Medicine.

‘While metformin has been shown in population studies to reduce the risk of these cancers, there was no evidence of how it worked,’ the journal Public Library of Science quoted him as saying.

Trosko and colleagues, using culture dishes, grew miniature human breast tumours or mammospheres that activated a certain stem cell gene, according to a Michigan University statement.

Then the mammospheres were exposed to natural estrogen - a known growth factor and potential breast tumour promoter - and man-made chemicals that are known to promote tumors or disrupt the endocrine system.

The team found that estrogen and the chemicals caused the mammospheres to increase in numbers and size. However, with metformin added, the numbers and size of the mammospheres were dramatically reduced.

While each of the chemicals enhanced growth by different means, metformin seemed to be able to inhibit their stimulated growth in all cases.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/display...ber/health_November69.xml&section=health&col=

 

[Night_Hawk]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Smartphone addicts start to feel the pain
(AFP)

3 December 2011
Users of smartphones and tablet computers are starting to get high-tech blues, as increasing numbers of the tech savvy are coming down with ailments from “text neck” to “text thumb injury”.
[FONT=&quot]Health experts in Britain have warned that the strain injuries stemming from long periods spent staring at small screens and tapping at tiny keys can be debilitating. And the injuries are becoming more common as high-tech gadgets grow ever more popular.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]More and more Britons use their smartphones — in effect tiny PCs that fit in a jacket pocket — for accessing the Internet rather than making phone calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I had a patient who developed inflamed tendons in her thumb from using her smartphone and was unable to use her hand for weeks due to pain,” said Tim Hutchful from the British Chiropractic Association.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sammy Margo of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy said that people’s bodies are “not designed to be used like this”.“The phones are far too small, with keys that are too small,” she said, noting that pain in the upper limbs forced one of her patients to stop texting. [/FONT]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Child abuse changes the brain
(Reuters)

5 December 2011
LONDON - Children exposed to family violence show the same pattern of activity in their brains as soldiers exposed to combat, scientists said on Monday.
In a study in the journal Current Biology, researchers used brain scans to explore the impact of physical abuse or domestic violence on children’s emotional development and found that exposure to it was linked to increased activity in two brain areas when children were shown pictures of angry faces. Previous studies that scanned the brains of soldiers exposed to violent combat situations showed the same pattern of heightened activity in these two brain areas — the anterior insula and the amygdala — which experts say are associated with detecting potential threats.

This suggests that both maltreated children and soldiers may have adapted to become “hyper-aware” of danger in their environment, the researchers said.
“Enhanced reactivity to a...threat cue such as anger may represent an adaptive response for these children in the short term, helping keep them out of danger,” said Eamon McCrory of Britain’s University College London, who led the study.
But he added that such responses may also be underlying neurobiological risk factor which increases the children’s susceptibility to later mental illness like depression. Depression is already a major cause of mortality, disability, and economic burden worldwide and the World Health Organisation predicts that by 2020, it will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages.
Childhood maltreatment is known to be one of the most potent environmental risk factors linked to later mental health problems such as anxiety disorders and depression.
A study published in August found that found that people who suffered maltreatment as children were twice as likely as those who had normal childhoods to develop persistent and recurrent depression, and less likely to respond well or quickly to treatment for their mental illness.
McCrory said still relatively little is known about how such early adversity “gets under the skin and increases a child’s later vulnerability, even into adulthood.”
In the study, 43 children had their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty of the children who were known to have been exposed to violence at home were compared with 23 who had not experienced family violence.
The average age of the maltreated children was 12 years and they had all been referred to local social services in London.
When the children were in the scanner they were shown pictures of male and female faces showing sad, calm or angry expressions. The researchers found that those who had been exposed to violence showed increased brain activity in the anterior insula and amygdala in response to the angry faces.
“We are only now beginning to understand how child abuse influences functioning of the brain’s emotional systems,” McCrory said. “This research...provides our first clues as to how regions in the child’s brain may adapt to early experiences of abuse.”

 

[Night_Hawk]

Vegetables, grain cut stroke risk
(IANS)

5 December 2011

Women eating an antioxidant-rich diet suffered fewer strokes independently of whether they had past history of cardiovascular disease or not, a new study reveals.
“Eating antioxidant-rich foods may reduce your risk of stroke by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation,” said doctoral student Susanne Rautiainen at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, who led the study.
“This means people should eat more foods such as fruits and vegetables that contribute to total antioxidant capacity,” she added.

Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of cell-damaging free radicals and the body’s ability to neutralize them. It leads to inflammation, blood vessel damage and stiffening, the Journal of the American Heart Association:Stroke reported.
Researchers categorized the women according to their total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels—five groups without a history of cardiovascular disease and four with previous cardiovascular disease, according to a university statement.
TAC measures the free radical reducing capacity of all antioxidants in the diet and considers mutually beneficial effects among these substances.
For women with no history of cardiovascular disease and highest TAC, fruits and vegetables contributed about 50 percent. Other contributors were whole grains (18 percent), tea (16 percent) and chocolate (five percent).
Higher TAC was related to lower stroke rates in women without cardiovascular disease.
Women without cardio disease with the highest levels of dietary TAC had a statistically significant 17 percent lower risk of total stroke compared to those in the lowest quintile.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Anxiety disorder weakens heart
(Staff Reporter)

3 December 2011
DUBAI - Sandwich in one hand, laptop in the other, a hurried search for the car keys, foot on the gas, hit the road with rage and impatient wait at the traffic jam, a classic weekday morning in the rat race.
E-mailing, Blackberries and cell phones, instead of making our lives simpler, have made it stressful. It all boils down to one thing — anxiety disorder leading to a weak heart. Is this fast pace killing us day by day is a question we all should ask ourselves.
There’s good news and bad news about this most common situation. The good news is that stress is good in right proportions, in the sense that it drives us to perform better, keeps us alert and out of danger. Left unchecked, it could limit our functions and stop us from leading a normal life.
“Body reacts when it perceives danger. There is a surge of energy in the body due to the release of certain hormones called adrenalin in the body, enabling it to fight or flee from any potential danger. However, if such hormone releases are excessive, it can create harmful effects in the body. Prolonged flow of adrenalin in the body could weaken our hearts”, said Dr Mohammed Yousuf, Consultant Psychologist, Aster Medical Centre of DM Healthcare.
Understanding that we have a problem is the first step towards cure. A consultation with a good health professional can help us cope with the problem to a great extent.
A doctor will be able to tell us that anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension and worry.
It leads to sleep disorders, exhaustion, tension headaches, constant worry, dark circles under the eyes, bowel disturbances, lowered immunity, irritability, lack of concentration etc, he added.
A healthy and light-minded approach towards life can lessen the harmful effects of anxiety. Laughing out aloud at adversities may sound impractical, but it sure does distract our minds.
Wearing a smile makes us feel better, not to mention enhancing our good looks and confidence.
[email protected]
Dr Mohammed yousuf, Consultant Psychologist, Aster Medical Centre

 

[Night_Hawk]

MRI scan a vital tool in diagnostics
(Staff Reporter)

16 December 2011
DUBAI — Technological advances in medical science have been a great boon to the field. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is at the cutting-edge of these latest techniques.
[FONT=&quot]MRI has now reached to such a stage of nanotechnology that the chemical and molecular constituents can be analyzed and almost histological diagnosis can be obtained without actually doing a biopsy (taking a bit of tissue for confirmatory diagnosis) in many lesions (abnormal tissue), says Dr Sivakumar Dhanaraj, Specialist Radiologist, Zulekha Hospital, Dubai.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MRI scan is superior to CT scan in brain imaging because of obtaining good soft tissue contrast with high sensitivity in multiple planes. The most important thing is that there is no radiation involved, making it completely safe.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MR Spectroscopy (MRS) is a technique in which the chemical composition of substances at the pathological site is determined by detecting the electromagnetic energy emerging from it; this is displayed in graphical form instead of an MR image, he said. With this technique, we can now identify different infections, discriminate the aggressiveness of a tumor, and so on.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]DIFFUSION-weighted MR imaging (DWI) is a technique included within the routine MR protocol which depends on the normal diffusibility of water molecules in a tissue. Following a stroke, in which tissue is damaged due to blockage of its blood supply, diffusion of the water molecule in that region is impaired, and this can be detected using this technique within 5-10 minutes of stroke onset.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]DWI has also been used in mapping the direction of nerve fibers to examine the connectivity of different regions in the brain (called “tractography”) as well as to examine areas of neural degeneration and demyelination in diseases like Multiple Sclerosis.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Functional MRI (fMRI) measures signal changes in the brain that occur while the person performs some action; patients have been examined while performing certain tasks or calculations while inside the scanner.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“When planning surgical removal of brain tumors, the radiologist can help the neurosurgeon by delineating the vital areas of the cerebral cortex controlling language, motor, and memory functions in relation to the tumor. The surgeon can then take extra care during the procedure or he can decide not to operate at all.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Patients should always keep the previous scan images and reports safely even for decades and should always take to the radiologist at the time of repeat scanning so that they can compare the size and nature of the lesion and give their comments about the progression or regression of the disease process.[/FONT]
[h=3][FONT=&quot]— [email protected][/FONT][/h] [FONT=&quot]Dr Sivakumar Dhanaraj Specialist Radiologist, Zulekha Hospital, Dubai[/FONT]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Low iron levels tied to blood clot risk

IANS

16 December 2011
People with low iron levels in their blood may have a higher risk of dangerous clots.
A study of clotting risk factors in patients with an inherited blood vessel disease suggests that treating iron deficiency could be instrumental in preventing potentially lethal clots.

Deep vein thrombosis—blood clots that form in the veins—can cause pain and swelling, but can also be fatal if the clot is dislodged and travels into the blood vessels of the lungs.
To look for new risk factors for blood clots, scientists at Imperial College London studied patients with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), the journal Thorax reports.
HHT is an inherited disease of the blood vessels, the main symptoms of which are excessive bleeding from the nose and gut, according to an Imperial College statement.
“Most of our patients who had blood clots did not have any of the known risk factors,” said Claire Shovlin, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who led the study.
Shovlin and team analysed blood from 609 patients reviewed at the HHT clinic at Imperial College’s Hammersmith Hospital from 1999 to 2011, to look for differences between the patients who had blood clots and those who did not.
Many of the patients had low iron levels because of iron lost through bleeding. The researchers found that low levels of iron in the blood were a strong risk factor for blood clots.
Patients who took iron supplements did not have higher risk, suggesting that treatment for iron deficiency can prevent blood clots.
“Our study shows that in people with HHT, low levels of iron in the blood is a potentially treatable risk factor for blood clots,” Shovlin said.

 

[Night_Hawk]

How to get better memory, thinner waist

(IANS)

22 December 2011
If you are one of those who always wished to have a strong memory power or remained worried due to increasing waistline, the solution lies in eating less and taking a cup of coffee in everyday life, a new study has suggested.
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Researchers have found eating less could help you remember more and skipping dessert and having an after-dinner coffee instead could also be good for your brain as well as the waistline, the Daily Mail reported.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The news comes from an Italian study into ‘calorific restriction’ - the idea that near-starvation rations boost health and extend life.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scientists have long known of the phenomenon, but struggled to work out just what it is about severely cutting calories that improves health.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For the study, it was decided to focus on a protein called CREB1 that is known to be important to memory and learning. While conducting experiments on mice, researcher Giovambattista Pani showed that cutting calories boosted learning if the animals could still make CREB1. Besides, he also showed that cutting calories boosts the amount of the protein made in the brain.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It was also found the animals’ calorie count was only cut by 25 to 30 percent but in human terms, this equates to about 600 calories a day.[/FONT]
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[Night_Hawk]

Ulcer bacteria may protect against diarrhea

(Reuters)

27 December 2011

People who harbor ulcer-causing bacteria in their stomachs may be protected against some diarrheal diseases, according to an Israeli study.
[FONT=&quot]Some previous studies had suggested that being infected with the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, increases the risk of diarrhea, while others have reported finding the opposite, said researchers from Tel Aviv University.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘Our findings suggest an active role of H. pylori in the protection against diarrheal diseases,’ wrote lead author Dani Cohen in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The bacterium is especially common throughout the developing world, but only causes symptoms in a minority of those it infects. People with chronic H. pylori infections are known to have an increased risk of stomach cancer and related diseases.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cohen’s team studied 595 male Israeli soldiers, close to one-third of whom visited a base clinic for diarrhea during their field training.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]All of the soldiers had their blood taken before the start of training, which researchers used to determine which men were chronically infected with H. pylori.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It turned out that between 32 and 36 percent of soldiers who had diarrhea due to different types of bacteria than H. pylori, or from unknown causes, had been infected with H. pylori before training.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]By contrast, up to 56 percent of soldiers who had been infected with H. pylori before training reported no diarrhea.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The researchers calculated that being infected with H. pylori meant solders were about 60 percent less likely to get diarrhea from Shigella bacteria.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They also had a lower chance of having diarrhea caused by Escherichia coli bacteria—although statistically, that particular finding could be due to chance.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]An H. Pylori infection may affect how acidic the gut is, and high acidity is known to keep disease-causing bacteria from settling there, Cohen said in an email.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Having an immune system in overdrive due to chronic H. pylori infection may also keep other bacteria in the digestive system at bay, the researchers wrote.[/FONT]
[h=3][FONT=&quot]SOURCE: bit.ly/sE7yOd[/FONT][/h]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Mediterranean diet helps you live longer
(IANS)

23 December 2011
Eating large amounts of vegetables and fish can make you live three years longer, experts say.
People on such a diet with low amounts of animal-based products like meat and milk have a 20 percent higher chance of living longer with an estimated average of two to three years, The Telegraph reports.

The health benefits have long been known, but now scientists have studied the effects on older people, using a unique study to compare thousands of 70-year-olds who eat the diet with others who have eaten more meat and animal products.
Known as the “H70” study, it has studied 70-year-olds for more than 40 years.
These results are supported by three further studies into Mediterranean diets and their health effects, one of which was on children, the newspaper said.
Gianluca Tognon, a scientist at the University of Gothenberg, Sweden, said: “This means in practice that older people who eat a Mediterranean diet live an estimated two to three years longer than those who don’t.
“The conclusion we can draw from these studies is that there is no doubt that a Mediterranean diet is linked to better health, not only for the elderly but also for youngsters.”
The study is published in the journal Age.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Teamwork reduces surgical mistakes

(Reuters)

24 December 2011

Hospitals that introduced a programme to boost communication and teamwork among doctors and nurses saw a decrease in surgery-related complications, according to a study.
The findings, based on nearly 120,000 operations and published in the Archives of Surgery, come a year after researchers reported a drop in patient death rates with the same programme.
Under the system, which is designed to catch medical errors before they lead to harm, the surgery team uses a checklist to discuss the patient and the procedure before starting surgery, then debriefs afterwards.
Patients may be involved in the briefings as well.
“Patients like it, staff like it, it is better for morale,” said Douglas Paull, a surgeon at the Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Patient Safety in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who worked on the study.
“(Doctors and nurses) work in teams, we care about one another and we care about the patient, and it shows and outcomes are better,” he told Reuters Health. Paull and his colleagues compared infections, blood clots and other complications in patients being treated at 42 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities that had implemented the so-called Medical Team Training programme, and another 32 that hadn’t.
In the year before surgical staff were trained in the communication and teamwork programme, hospitals in that group had 90 non-fatal complications out of every 1,000 surgeries, on average. That dropped to 75 in the year after the programme was established.
In comparison, there was a smaller drop from 81 complications to 76 for every 1,000 surgeries in facilities that hadn’t taken up the programme — which researchers said could have been due to chance. Specifically, facilities implementing the training saw a drop in surgery-related blood clots and both skin surface and deep wound infections.
In all, 37 of the 42 facilities with the new system improved their complication rates, versus 22 of 32 hospitals that didn’t have the extra focus on teamwork and communication.
“If you look at our training programmes, we’ve so much focused on tying knots and putting tubes in the right place — individual skills,” said Peter Pronovost, a critical care doctor who has studied surgical complications at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “But we’ve underfocused on teamwork and a lot of patients are suffering needlessly because of it,” he told Reuters Health.
Paull said that the system would work in hospitals outside the VHA system as well, noting that lack of communication can drive up costs and injure patients needlessly — and is highly preventable.
Pronovost urged patients and their families to be aware of the communications aspect of their care.
“If your clinician isn’t welcoming of your questions, isn’t welcoming of you being a partner on your team, that should be a red flag,” he said.
“If they’re welcoming not only your input but the nurses’ input and other members of the care team’s input, that’s a really positive sign that they’re likely to make wise decisions.”

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[Night_Hawk]

Diet patterns keep brain from shrinking

(IANS)

30 December 2011
WASHINGTON - People whose diets are rich in vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer’s disease, say experts.


Those whose diet is usually high in omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins C, D, E and B also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients, Xinhua reported quoting the study in the online issue of Neurology.

Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are primarily found in fish. The B vitamins and antioxidants C and E are primarily found in fruits and vegetables.

In another finding, the study showed that people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats.

Trans fats are primarily found in packaged, fast, fried and frozen food, baked goods and margarine spreads.

The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87.

Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant.

All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. Of the total participants, 42 had MRI scans to measure their brain volume. Overall, the participants had good nutritional status, but seven percent were deficient in vitamin B12 and 25 percent were deficient in vitamin D.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Heavy shopping bags cause stress
(IANS)

30 December 2011
LONDON - Something as simple as carrying heavy shopping bags can trigger depression, reveals a study.
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In the study, one group of participants were told to hold shopping bags full of goods before giving their opinion on an unrelated topic. Another group was left empty-handed and questioned.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Results showed the issue was more important to those carrying bags than those who were not weighed down, the Journal of Consumer Research reported.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Researcher Meng Zhang and Xiuping Li, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore, said their findings suggest physical weight influences a person’s psychological weight, according to the Daily Mail.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The study found that negative psychological impact was eliminated when participants who carried heavy loads were instructed to think about light objects, such as balloons and feathers.[/FONT]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Want a pet cat? Think again
(Reuters)

28 December 2011
Tempted by the playful antics of that adorable kitten in the pet shop? If you’ve never had a cat before you may want to think again, especially if you have other allergies, researchers warn.
[FONT=&quot]And if you do acquire a feline, keep it out of your bedroom.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While having a cat as a child may protect against future allergies, getting one in adulthood nearly doubles the chances of developing an immune reaction to it—the first step towards wheezing, sneezing and itchy eyes, a European study found.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The same study, which covered thousands of adults and was published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that people with other allergies were at extra high risk of reacting to a new feline in the house.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘Our data support that acquiring a cat in adulthood nearly doubles the risk of developing cat sensitization,’ wrote Mario Olivieri, from the University Hospital of Verona in Italy.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘Hence, cat avoidance should be considered in adults, especially in those sensitized to other allergens and reporting a history of allergic diseases.’[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For the study, researchers surveyed more than 6,000 adult Europeans twice over nine years, taking blood samples. None of the participants had antibodies to cats in their blood to start with, meaning they were not sensitized to the animal’s dander.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sensitization can be measured in a skin prick test. It does not necessarily lead to symptoms, but in many cases it is the harbinger of full-blown allergies.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]About three percent of people who did not have a cat at either time of the survey became sensitized over the course of the study, compared to five percent of those who acquired a cat during those nine years.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Four in 10 of the newly sensitized also said they experienced allergy symptoms around animals, four times the rate seen among people without antibodies against cats.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It also turned out that only people who let their pet into the bedroom became sensitized.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘If you are an adult with asthma and/or allergies, you should think twice about getting a cat and particularly, if you do so, letting it into your bedroom,’ said Andy Nish of the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Gainesville, Georgia, who wasn’t involved in the study.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The researchers did find, however, that people who had had a cat in childhood had a much smaller risk against becoming sensitized to it than those who were new cat owners.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘We thought that having a cat in early childhood may be protective against the development of cat allergy in childhood, but this study seems to indicate that protection extends into adulthood,’ Nish told Reuters Health in an email.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Noting that he always recommends keeping cats out of the bedroom, he added: ‘It is remarkable that none who did not allow the cat in the bedroom became sensitized.’[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For people who have a cat and have become allergic, he recommended finding a new home for the pet, followed by keeping the cat outdoors at all times.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘If it comes in even occasionally, its dander will remain in the house for months. If the cat needs to be indoors, at least keep it out of your bedroom, consider a HEPA filter for your bedroom, and consider washing the cat at least once a week,’ he added. SOURCE: bit.ly/vbZHAT[/FONT]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Black tea is beneficial for health

(IANS)

2 January 2012
LONDON - While many people prefer being cautious about taking too much tea at home or workplace, researchers now suggest that by taking three cups a day one can slash heart attack’s risk by 60 percent and dramatically reduce diabetes threat.
Researchers believe that the humble cuppa, packed with health-giving antioxidants, can help prevent the two killer conditions in a triple-pronged attack, the Daily Express reported.

The study found that in most cases black tea was found to produce a significant protective association.

Regular consumption of tea is claimed to prevent artery-blocking blood clots, control blood pressure and stop arteries from dangerously constricting and inhibiting blood flow. All three conditions can set off a killer heart attack as blood vessels feeding oxygen to heart muscles become blocked.

An extensive review of 40 research papers by Carrie Ruxton and Pamela Mason, and published in the UK Nutrition Bulletin, evaluated a raft of data linking black tea and disease prevention.

Ruxton and Mason estimate that people taking three to six cups of tea a day lower their risk of contracting heart disease by 30 to 57 percent compared with people who never drink it or who drink small amounts.

”Given the available evidence to date, regular black tea consumption is linked with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes,” Ruxton said.

”Though the amount required to produce such benefits should be the subject of further research, three to six cups of black tea daily appears to contribute to cardiovascular health.”

 

[Night_Hawk]

Fruits, veggies, and your weight
(Reuters)

31 December 2011
A large new European study finds that simply eating a lot of fruits and vegetables may not be enough to stave off the weight gain that often comes with age—except for people who recently quit smoking.
Researchers found that of nearly 374,000 adults in 10 European countries, who were followed for five years, those who ate the most fruits and vegetables were no less likely to gain weight once other factors—like calorie intake and exercise habits—were taken into account.
The results, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are not an excuse to skip the fruits and veggies, however.

Plant foods are full of nutrients that may help ward off chronic diseases like heart disease and some cancers, note the researchers, led by Anne-Claire Vergnaud of Imperial College London in the UK.

And in some past studies that assigned overweight people to eat more fruits and vegetables, the diet change has seemed to help.
But the current findings do point to the importance of overall lifestyle in maintaining weight as one ages.
For the study, Vergnaud’s team looked at diet and weight information collected from adults between 25 and 70 years old.
Over five years, the study participants gained about one pound per year, on average.
Among men, weight gain generally dipped somewhat as their fruit and vegetable intake rose. But that link disappeared when the researchers accounted for other factors, like the men’s daily calories, exercise habits and education levels.
Among overweight women, those who said they ate the most vegetables tended to gain more weight over the next five years.
That, the researchers speculate, could be because some of those women were on weight-loss diets that encourage eating a lot of vegetables. Many people who go on special diets notoriously see their weight yo-yo over time.
There was one group for whom higher fruit and vegetable intake was linked to less weight gain: people who quit smoking during the study period. The reasons are not clear, Vergnaud’s team says.
But they speculate that healthy eating habits may help prevent the weight gain that many smokers experience when they try to kick the habit.
If that’s true, they write, “this finding may have important public health implications because weight gain after smoking cessation is a frequent reason for relapse.”
In general, experts urge people to get plenty of fruits and vegetables for the good of overall health. The “DASH” diet recommended for lowering blood pressure and cholesterol suggests four to five servings of fruit and the same number of vegetable servings each day.
A half-cup of cooked vegetables or a medium-sized piece of fresh fruit would be examples of a serving.
Studies suggest that the average adult in the US gets only two or three servings of fruits and vegetables combined each day.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Use canola or olive oil for better health

(IANS)

11 January 2012
NEW DELHI - When a recipe calls for ghee or butter, substitute it with canola or olive oil for better health. Both these oils can help you to shed weight and reduce liver fat, lipids and triglycerides, says a study.


The study conducted by the Diabetes Foundation (India) (DFI) and the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (N-DOC) has found that consuming olive or canola oil can help in decreasing weight, waist circumference and reduce liver fat, lipids and triglycerides.

A group of 90 people in Fortis Hospital study, for over a period of three years from June 2007 to 2010, were divided into three groups and asked to use one type of cooking oilolive, canola or any other oil.

After a period of six months itself, we found that those who used olive or canola significantly reduced there weight, liver fat and triglycerides, said Seema Gulati, head of nutrition research group at N-DOC.

The group which used olive oil significantly reduced the body weight, waist circumference and liver fat. As for the 30 people who used canola oil, they reported a decrease in waist circumference and a significantly improved insulin and blood glucose.

The group which used other oils, except the soybean or sunflower oilwhich have a high content of mono-unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) -- as cooking medium had not showed any significant changes.

If the different traditional Indian oils used across the country are replaced by olive or canola oil, it can lead to multiple health benefits, said Anoop Misra, director and head of department of diabetes and metabolic diseases at Fortis.

Misra also said that the study has important implications for Indians who are at heightened risk for diabetes and heart disease.

By switching over to metabolic friendly oil, one could avert several chronic and lethal diseases, he added.