Archive for the ‘Health News’ Category

Is Social Smoking Okay for Your Health?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Often, casual smokers think that smoking a few cigarettes a week is no big deal. But, in the world of smoking, good news is hard to come by.

According to a new study, having an infrequent smoke or being exposed to secondhand smoke may be doing more harm than people may think. Researchers found that being exposed to even low levels of cigarette smoke may put people at risk for future lung disease, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their work is published in the “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine”.

Long-term studies have long shown that secondhand smoke is dangerous, but there have never been conclusive biological tests demonstrating what it does to the body’s genes — until now.

Even at the lowest rates of cigarette exposure, there are direct effects on the functioning of genes within cells lining the lungs. Genes, commonly activated in the cells of heavy smokers, are also turned on or off in those with very low-level exposure.

While the genetic effect is much lower than in those who are regular smokers, it doesn’t mean that there are no health consequences. Certain genes within the cells lining the airways are very sensitive to tobacco smoke, as it turns out. Changes in the function of these genes are the first evidence of disease in the lungs. It’s where the damage originally takes place, paving the road for cancer.

The study tested 121 people from three different categories: “nonsmokers,” “active smokers” and “low exposure smokers.” Researchers tested urine levels of nicotine and cotinine — markers of cigarette smoking within the body.

The research team then scanned each person to find which genes were either activated or deactivated in cells lining the airways. They found that there was no level of nicotine or cotinine that did not also correlate with genetic abnormalities.

That means that no level of smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, is safe. The researchers suggest that this is even more evidence to support smoking bans in public places, where non-smokers and employees of businesses that allow smoking are put at risk for future lung disease.

To those social smokers out there, it’s a little impetus to just plain quit.

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PPS: A Lingering Condition from a Forgotten Virus

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Post-polio syndrome, or PPS, is a condition that baffled the medical community until recently. Patients arrived at their doctors’ offices complaining of stiff and sluggish muscles, breathing difficulties, and an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Unable to trace the symptoms to other disease, eventually a link was made to the polio virus. It seems that survivors of polio can experience physical problems decades after their initial battle with the disease.

Symptoms of PPS can appear quietly, seemingly without cause. Sometimes physical or emotional trauma will trigger the symptoms. However they to choose to appear, here are the most common symptoms to watch out for:

–Overwhelming fatigue
–Muscle weakness
–Muscle and joint pain
–Muscle degeneration
–Sensitivity to cold
–Difficulty sleeping
–Difficulty swallowing
–Difficulty breathing
–Sensitivity to medications
–Lack of endurance

Since the discovery of PPS, researchers have figured out what might actually be happening in the body. Inside your spinal cord are special cells called “anterior horn cells.” These cells are responsible for transmitting nerve impulses to your muscles. When someone contracts the polio virus, some of these cells are damaged and some are destroyed. The body tries to cope with this in an ingenious way: the uninjured horn cells increase their connections to muscle fibers by splitting nerve fibers. This is a great way to cope with a powerful virus, but unfortunately it’s not a great long-term solution. Over the course of many years, these overworked anterior horn cells begin to wear out. Each cell, after all, is performing the duties of the many cells destroyed by the polio virus. Eventually, the horn cells die. And this, in turn, means that your muscle cells won’t receive any nerve impulses, leaving you feeling tired and weak.

If you think you or someone you know may be suffering from PPS, first of all see your doctor. Next, you might be heartened to know that a combination of therapies administered together can greatly improve the quality of life of someone afflicted with PPS. Therapies that have proved beneficial in clinical trials include physiotherapy, massage therapy, aerobics, and hydrotherapy. In particular, hydrotherapy appears to be effective in restoring energy and movement to polio survivors.

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A Bit of Alcohol May Actually Help Your Brain

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

On and on the wheel turns, feeding the huge stockpile of information regarding alcohol and human health. Is it good; is it bad? How much? Which kinds? Most experts at this point concede that no more than two glasses a day, particularly of red wine, can yield positive benefits in the body. But any more than that negates those benefits.

Here’s a new study that examined a link that doesn’t get as much attention as, say, wine being heart-healthy. No, this one focused further north — the brain, to be precise. And it pondered the question: could moderate drinking actually make the mind stronger?

Indeed, a large study of about 5,000 adults in Norway has reported that moderate wine consumption is associated with better performance on cognitive tests. The subjects were on average 58 years old and had not suffered a stroke. They were followed over seven years, during which time they were tested with a range of cognitive function tests.

They found that, in women, there was a lower risk of a poor testing score for those who consumed wine at least four or more times over two weeks in comparison with those who abstained. The study does acknowledge that any positive effects of wine could only be possible for those who keep a nutritious diet and avoid harmful lifestyle choices such as smoking and not exercising.

Still, in the study, not drinking was linked with a significantly lower cognitive performance in women. This held true after certain risk factors were accounted for, including age, education, weight, depression, and heart disease.

The results of this study support findings from previous research on the topic: In the last three decades, the association between moderate alcohol intake and cognitive function has been investigated in 68 studies comprising 145,308 men and women from various populations with various drinking patterns. Most studies show an association between light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and better cognitive function and reduced risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

What may be responsible are the antioxidant chemicals, polyphenols, which are present in many types of alcohol, most predominantly wine. Alcohol may help protect against hardened arteries, blood clotting, and inflammation, which can impair cognitive ability.

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The Big Pharmacy Cover-up

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

We’ve all had the experience when we’ve been prescribed a drug and then been given a pamphlet at the pharmacist’s explaining all the important things we should know about taking the drug. Unfortunately, these information leaflets can vary widely in their content, and may often be difficult to read and understand.

The information on prescription-drug labels is regulated by the FDA, but the information leaflets dispensed by pharmacies are not. Private publishing companies usually provide the content for the leaflets, and then pharmacies pick and choose what drug information to include or leave out.

As a result, leaflet information about the same drug, provided by the same publisher, can vary widely from pharmacy to pharmacy, as researchers found in a recent study.

Scientists at the University of Florida, Gainesville, looked at leaflets that ranged in word count from about 30 to 2,500. The longer leaflets were most likely to contain all the information that is recommended by the FDA. But even though the longer leaflets provided more information, few came close to meeting all of the FDA standards. Only three percent of one prescription drug came with leaflets that met at least 80% of the “usefulness criteria” the researchers adapted from the FDA standards.

The research team also found that important information was sometimes entirely absent. For example, although about 90% of the leaflets provided all the serious side effects of two particular drugs, when it came to a third drug, nearly one-third did not mention the potential for drug-drug interactions.

In general, the biggest shortcoming in the leaflets was readability. On average, leaflets from all pharmacies met less than half of the criteria for comprehensibility/legibility. For example, the content should be written at sixth- to eighth-grade reading level, but only 10% of one drug’s leaflets and six percent of another met that standard.

Too-small fonts, large blocks of text with little white space between lines, and general clutter — many leaflets also contained ads or store coupons, for example — were other issues with formatting, the study found.

The researchers are concerned that, when there is a lot of distracting information, it makes it more difficult for consumers to dig out the key points on the safe and effective use of the drug. They concluded that the findings point to a need for better and more consistent medication information — preferably regulated by the FDA.

For now, you can take your own steps to make sure you have the key information you need for any new prescription. Keep in mind that this may mean asking your doctor and/or pharmacist questions. At the very least, make sure you know what the drug is for, and how to take it. You should also know about possible interactions with other drugs/herbs that you are taking.

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Losing Your Cool Could Harm Your Heart

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

It might not be that stress is the biggest threat when it comes to good health. It may be that anger and hostility are far more harmful — especially when it comes to the heart.

A study performed this month at the National Institute for Aging has found that hostile people, especially those who are manipulative and aggressive, may be paying a price in terms of heart health.

For the study, a research team collected data on more than 5,600 people in four villages in Sardinia, Italy. The researchers found that those who had high scores for antagonistic traits had more thickening of the neck (carotid) arteries, compared with more agreeable people. Thickness of carotid artery walls is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

After three years, the research team noted that people who scored higher on antagonism or low on agreeableness, particularly those who were manipulative and quick to anger, continued to have thickening of their artery walls.

How much higher was the risk for angry people? People who scored in the lowest 10% of agreeableness and had the highest levels of antagonism had about a 40% heightened risk for thickened arterial walls. That’s quite significant!

In general, the researchers found that men had more thickening of the artery walls than women. But among women who were antagonistic, the risk quickly caught up with that of men. It seems that whereas women with agreeable traits had much thinner arterial walls than men with agreeable traits, antagonism had a much stronger association with arterial thickness in women.

Even though thickening of the artery walls is usually a sign of age, young people with antagonistic traits also showed thickening of the artery walls throughout the study.

So, the next time you worry about what stress is doing to your health, think instead about what anger and hostility might be doing. Remember that sometimes it’s how your personality interacts with stress that can have an impact on your health.

There are lots of reasons to conclude that chronic anger is bad for us. The challenge is how to make anger and hostility go away in a world of full of irritations and stressors. Get some help, if you need to, to resolve issues around anger and aggression. Not only will you improve your ability to interact with everything around you, but you’ll also be protecting your arteries and heart.

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Has a Cancer Vaccine Been Discovered?

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Cancer is a difficult and challenging disease to treat. When detected early, some cancers can be pushed into lengthy and sometimes permanent, remissions. With more aggressive cancers, however, these sorts of remissions are much more difficult to achieve.

What amazing news, then, that a team of scientists have recently figured out how to alter a virus genetically to create a potential cancer-fighting vaccine. This vaccine, the scientists say, appears to have the ability to attack a variety of advanced cancers.

The theory behind the cancer vaccine is that people with cancer tend to have defects in their immune system. This defective immune system compromises their ability to respond to tumors. The vaccine has to make up for this by activating immune cells that are capable of killing tumors. These newly activated immune cells also have to survive long enough to get to a tumor and destroy it.

For the study, 28 patients with advanced, recurrent forms of lung, colon, breast, appendix or pancreatic cancer were recruited. All the participants had already failed several rounds of standard chemotherapy. The researchers then administered a specially prepared vaccine multiple times over a period of three months. According to the researchers, five patients displayed a response to the therapy. Two patients who had already been in remission stayed in remission. Two patients saw their cancers stabilize, and a liver lesion in one patient with pancreatic cancer was no longer evident.

The research team noted that the responses tended to occur in patients with smaller tumors and in those receiving higher doses of the vaccine. The vaccine also managed to evade the immune systems T cells, which could have shut down the body’s immune response, the researchers said. And this happened even though T cell levels were elevated in some patients; it seems the vaccine was able to get around them.

The researchers caution that this is the first study in cancer patients with this type of vaccine, with a relatively small number of patients treated so far. So, while the immune response data are promising, further study in a larger number of patients will be needed to assess the clinical benefit of the vaccine.

One vaccine to treat prostate cancer was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, many other cancer vaccines have shown early promise and have not panned out, so caution is still needed when considering the potential of these vaccines to eliminate cancer.

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How a Tropical Fruit Could Stop Tumor Growth

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Papaya is an amazingly rich source of proteolytic enzymes. Proteolytic enzymes are chemicals that help with the digestion of proteins. One of these enzymes, papain, is dried as a powder and sold as a supplement in health food stores to promote digestion. Papain is also commercially used as a meat tenderizer.

Papaya could help manage pain. How does it do this? Simply because it aids in digestion. It is a subtle, but far-reaching potential cure for all kinds of pain. When you can’t digest your foods properly (something that can happen as we age or because of illness), you don’t absorb nutrients. And when you are not absorbing nutrients, you don’t absorb any of the natural pain-relieving ingredients in the foods you’re eating either. And, on a larger scale, you aren’t getting the protective ingredients that could prevent a condition like arthritis from affecting you in the first place. Those who find it impossible to digest anything, often find that taking papaya in tablet or juice form puts them back on the road to recovery and good health.

In some cultures, the leaves of the papaya plant have been traditionally used as natural medicine for a number of disorders, including cancer. There have been anecdotes of patients with advanced cancers going into remission after taking a tea extract made from papaya leaves.

Researchers at the Institute of Medical Science in Tokyo, Japan, recently studied the effect of papaya extract on tumor cell lines. They found that papaya extract halted the growth of the tumor cells. They concluded that papaya leaf extract may potentially provide the means for the treatment and prevention of cancer.

On a less serious note, papaya may be able to help with heartburn. Heartburn is a painful, nagging condition that creates burning sensations in the chest or esophagus. Eat either the fresh fruit (which can now be found year-round in most grocery stores), or drink a glass of juice slowly. You should notice your heartburn start to ease within a short period of time. Papaya could also help ease the pain associated with ulcers.

Papaya is especially high in vitamins A, C and E. It is also rich in calcium, phosphorus and iron. The next time you have a cold and experience sinus pressure pain from the build-up of mucus, try some fresh papaya. It is known to have a high mucus solvent action. One final note about papaya: use it topically as a poultice to treat skin wounds and ease pain while healing.

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Heart Failure Patients: Start Pumping Iron

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

A team of researchers has found one way patients with heart failure can live longer. And when it comes to longevity, there is no news more important.

The latest news comes from the University of Alberta in Canada. A study says that heart failure patients who have more muscle can potentially increase how long they will live. More muscle equals a longer life. Thus, it would seem like a little weight training is in order.

Researchers studied 140 patients with heart failure. Study participants underwent a special scan to measure their muscle mass and body fat. In these patients, they discovered that having more muscle was linked with better nutritional status and a less-severe case of heart failure. On the flip side, higher body fat was linked with increased inflammation and reduced exercise capacity.

This suggests that, in patients with heart failure, having more muscle mass and lower fat may be beneficial. The study appears this month in the “Mayo Clinic Proceedings.”

The study also discovered that testing just the body mass index (BMI) of heart failure patients doesn’t accurately measure their body fat status. This is another hit against a popular method of measuring fat. They found that 41% of people were inaccurately classified by BMI. Many who had a high body weight but not high body fat were mislabeled as obese and others who did not weigh a lot but had a high amount of body fat were mislabeled as normal by BMI.

This is important because there isn’t enough good evidence to help doctors in recommending weight loss to a patient with heart failure.

At the root of this study is the fact that muscle and fat levels in the body play important roles in survival of heart failure patients. There isn’t, as of yet, enough evidence to accurately make recommendations, but it’s clear that a little extra muscle can go a long way toward living longer. To add muscle, speak with your doctor and perhaps consult a physiotherapist to create an exercise program that is safe for your condition.

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Natural Tune-up Tips for Your Digestive System

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Every time you eat, food must be broken down and distributed throughout your body. Waste products must be eliminated in an efficient manner. The digestion system, like most systems in your body, has a lot of work to do every day of your life. When your digestion system breaks down, it can cause some pretty serious problems. Most of us, however, are fortunate in that we suffer from many of the less serious conditions that result when our digestive system is working less than optimally.

A rotation diet is probably the best way to begin the tune-up of your digestive system. Find out which foods give you problems such as gas, constipation, and stomach pains. For some people, it is dairy. For others, it is sulfurous foods like garlic and onion. Other culprits may be beans or vegetables from the cabbage family. If you take the time to find out which foods are causing you problems, you won’t have to worry about eliminating an otherwise healthy food from your diet.

Once you’ve taken that step, it’s now important to restore the friendly bacteria in your intestines. Eat plenty of yogurt with active bacterial cultures. These bacteria can help to break down food and cleanse the colon. Peppermint tea can help with flatulence, as can fennel tea. Ginger and cinnamon have also been thought to aid digestion and prevent excess gas.

Another way to tune up your digestive system is to drink aloe vera juice. Researchers recently discovered that the gel of the “Aloe vera” plant significantly reduced the growth of “Candida albicans” in mice. They also noticed that the mice had a greater number of “cytotoxic T lymphocyte cells,” which are responsible for killing viruses and tumor cells before they become harmful.

Remember to eat these foods in moderation: vinegar, raw onions, chilies, fried foods, alcohol, and coffee. All of these are high in acid. The rotation diet is useful here, too, for letting you know which acidic foods should really be taken off your dietary list. Chamomile, honey, peppermint tea, and yogurt are popular indigestion remedies that you can try.

And, finally, if you are constipated, tune up your elimination system by eating more fiber. Bananas, grapes, bran, prunes, oatmeal with raisins, and raspberries are all good foods to help relieve constipation. You can also try specially prepared fiber drinks to clear your bowels.

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Lower Dementia Risk with These Foods

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Chalk up some important, positive news to our old friend, the super antioxidant, vitamin E.

A new study has found that, if you eat more foods high in vitamin E, you appear to have a lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This news comes from the prestigious “Archives of Neurology” journal.

“Oxidative stress” is a clinical term that means damage to the cells from oxygen exposure. It is the operative phrase when talking about antioxidants, because it is the oxidative stress we are trying to prevent. This stress is believed to play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Early data suggest that antioxidants — nutrients that help repair this damage — may protect against the degeneration of nervous system cells. Thus far, antioxidant supplements have not proven effective in preventing Alzheimer’s disease in major studies. But, there is a wide variety of antioxidants in food that are not well-studied with regard to dementia.

It is there where we turn our attention. Researchers in the Netherlands assessed nearly 5,400 adults 55 years and older who did not have dementia between 1990 and 1993. These individuals were interviewed at home, did two clinical exams at the start of the study, and provided dietary information through a meal-based checklist and a food questionnaire.

The study targeted four antioxidants: vitamins E and C, beta-carotene, and flavonoids. The major food sources of vitamin E were margarine, sunflower oil, butter, cooking fat, soybean oil, and mayonnaise. The vitamin C came mainly from oranges, kiwi, grapefruit juice, grapefruit, cauliflower, red bell peppers, and red cabbage. The beta-carotene came from carrots, spinach, vegetable soup, endive, and tomato. And the flavonoids were from tea, onions, apples and carrots.

Over the next decade or so, 465 participants developed dementia; 365 of these had Alzheimer’s disease. They found that those who consumed the most vitamin E were 25% less likely to develop dementia than those who consumed the least. Meanwhile, levels of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and flavonoids were not linked to dementia risk.

The brain is especially vulnerable to oxidative damage. This damage, over time, is strongly thought to contribute to the development of dementia. Vitamin E is a strong fat-soluble vitamin that could help prevent the string of events that leads to the degeneration of neurons.

Other food sources of vitamin E include mustard greens, Swiss chard, spinach, sunflower seeds, almonds, kale, papaya, bell peppers, and olives.

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