Exercise can help adults better cope with ADHD symptoms

Exercise, even a small amount, can help alleviate symptoms of ADHD in adults, according to a new study by University of Georgia researchers.

The study, released this month in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, found a single bout of exercise has psychological benefits for adults with these elevated ADHD symptoms. About 6 percent of American adults report symptoms consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which lead to anxiety, depression, low energy and motivation, poor performance at work or school and also increased traffic accidents.

"Exercise is already known as a stress reducer and mood booster, so it really has the potential to help those suffering with ADHD symptoms," said the study's senior author Patrick O'Connor, professor in the UGA College of Education's kinesiology department. "And while prescription drugs can be used to treat these symptoms, there's an increased risk of abuse or dependence and negative side effects. Those risks don't exist with exercise."

The study tested 32 young men with elevated ADHD symptoms who cycled at a moderate intensity for 20 minutes on one day, and on another day sat and rested for 20 minutes as a control condition. The participants were asked to perform a task requiring focus both before and after the different conditions, and researchers noted leg movement, mood, attention and self-reported motivation to perform the task.

As a result, researchers found that it was only after the exercise when the participants felt motivated to do the task; they also felt less confused and fatigued and instead felt more energetic. Interestingly, leg movements and performance on the task did not change after the exercise--rather, the exercise helped the young men feel better about doing the task.

These findings are consistent with prior research that shows a single bout of exercise helps people feel more energetic, said O'Connor, who is also co-director of the UGA Exercise Psychology Laboratory. The results suggest that young men who have symptoms of ADHD can benefit psychologically from the short workouts, similar to the benefits enjoyed by typical adults who work out.

"The reduced feelings of confusion and increased motivation to perform a cognitive task suggest that other types of acute exercise also may benefit cognitive performance," added study co-author Kathryn Fritz, a UGA doctoral student who completed the study as part of her master's thesis. "We speculate that a different mode or duration or intensity of exercise, other than a boring cycle ride in a sterile lab, may show larger cognitive effects for those suffering from ADHD symptoms."

Effect may stem from anti-inflammatory properties

A Washington State University researcher has found that statin drugs can dramatically lower the risk of infections in stroke patients.

Doug Weeks, an adjunct professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and director of research at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute, analyzed the records of more than 1,600 hospitalized patients who suffered an ischemic stroke and found statins reduced the risk of infection by 58 percent. Ischemic strokes are due to blockage of a vessel that supplies blood to the brain. His findings appear online this month in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

"If patients had statins before there was evidence of an infection, there was a reduced risk that they would actually develop an infection," said Weeks.

Statins are typically used to lower cholesterol levels to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But in the past decade, said Weeks, researchers have noticed that they also have anti-inflammatory properties in humans that can benefit the body's response to infection.

Weeks analyzed data of hospitalized stroke patients and saw that those on statins upon admission or early in their stay had significantly lower risk for developing infections than those put on statins later in their hospitalization or not at all. Weeks controlled for other possible influences like the severity of strokes, age and the presence of other conditions like diabetes.

He and his colleagues also noticed that the timing of the drug was a major factor.

"The administration of statins relative to infection is critically important," he said. "We've been able to establish that if statins are given early, before infection can occur, the risk of infection is substantially reduced. However, this relationship needs to be tested in more rigorous placebo-controlled studies to see if this benefit with statins is maintained."

Estimates vary, but one-third to almost one-half of stroke patients develop infections, he said. The infections could be introduced through tubes or catheters. There are also indications that stroke subdues the body's immune system, making a patient more prone to infection.

15 minutes of physical activity a day was associated with a 22 percent lower risk of death

Fifteen minutes of daily exercise is associated with a 22% lower risk of death and may be a reasonable target for older adults, reveals research presented today at the EuroPRevent 2016 meeting by Dr David Hupin, a physician in the Department of Clinical and Exercise Physiology, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne in Saint-Etienne, France.1

"Age is not an excuse to do no exercise," said Dr Hupin. "It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment. But less than half of older adults achieve the recommended minimum of 150 minutes moderate intensity or 75 minutes vigorous intensity exercise each week."

He continued: "We wanted to find out whether lower levels of exercise could be beneficial and even reduce mortality in older adults."

The authors studied two cohorts. A French cohort of 1011 subjects aged 65 in 2001 was followed over a period of 12 years. An international cohort of 122 417 subjects aged 60 was included from a systematic review and meta-analysis using PubMed and Embase databases, with a mean follow up of 10 years.2

Physical activity was measured in Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes per week, which refers to the amount of energy (calories) expended per minute of physical activity. One MET minute per week is equal to the amount of energy expended just sitting. The number of MET minutes an individual clocks up every week depends on the intensity of physical activity. For example, moderate intensity activity ranges between 3 and 5.9 MET minutes while vigorous intensity activity is classified as 6 or more.

The recommended levels of exercise equate to between 500 and 1000 MET minutes every week. The authors looked at the associated risk of death for four categories of weekly physical activity in MET minutes, defined as inactive (reference for comparison), low (1-499), medium (500-999) or high (?1000).

During the follow up there were 88 (9%) and 18 122 (15%) deaths in the French and international cohorts, respectively. The risk of death reduced in a dose response relationship as the level of exercise increased. Compared to those who were inactive, older adults with low, medium and high activity levels had a 22%, 28% and 35% lower risk of death, respectively.

Dr Hupin said: "These two studies show that the more physical activity older adults do, the greater the health benefit. The biggest jump in benefit was achieved at the low level of exercise, with the medium and high levels bringing smaller increments of benefit."

"We found that the low level of activity, which is half the recommended amount, was associated with a 22% reduced risk of death in older adults compared with those who were inactive," said Dr Hupin. "This level of activity equates to a 15 minute brisk walk each day."

He concluded: "We think that older adults should progressively increase physical activity in their daily lives rather than dramatically changing their habits to meet recommendations. Fifteen minutes a day could be a reasonable target for older adults. Small increases in physical activity may enable some older adults to incorporate more moderate activity and get closer to the recommended 150 minutes per week."

Healthy plant-based diet linked with substantially lower type 2 diabetes risk

Consuming a plant-based diet--especially one rich in high-quality plant foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes--is linked with substantially lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"This study highlights that even moderate dietary changes in the direction of a healthful plant-based diet can play a significant role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes," said Ambika Satija, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Nutrition, lead author of the study. "These findings provide further evidence to support current dietary recommendations for chronic disease prevention."

The study will be published online June 14, 2016 in PLOS Medicine.

While previous studies have found links between vegetarian diets and improved health outcomes, including reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, this new study is the first to make distinctions between healthy plant-based diets and less healthy ones that include things like sweetened foods and beverages, which may be detrimental for health. The study also considered the effect of including some animal foods in the diet.

The researchers followed more than 200,000 male and female health professionals across the U.S. for more than 20 years who had regularly filled out questionnaires on their diet, lifestyle, medical history, and new disease diagnoses as part of three large long-term studies. The researchers evaluated participants' diets using a plant-based diet index in which they assigned plant-derived foods higher scores and animal-derived foods lower scores.

The study found that high adherence to a plant-based diet that was low in animal foods was associated with a 20% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes compared with low adherence to such a diet. Eating a healthy version of a plant-based diet was linked with a 34% lower diabetes risk, while a less healthy version--including foods such as refined grains, potatoes, and sugar-sweetened beverages--was linked with a 16% increased risk.

Even modestly lowering animal food consumption--for example, from 5-6 servings per day to about 4 servings per day--was linked with lower diabetes incidence, the study found.

"A shift to a dietary pattern higher in healthful plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in animal-based foods, especially red and processed meats, can confer substantial health benefits in reducing risk of type 2 diabetes," said Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study.

The researchers suggested that healthful plant-based diets could be lowering type 2 diabetes risk because such diets are high in fiber, antioxidants, unsaturated fatty acids, and micronutrients such as magnesium, and are low in saturated fat. Healthy plant foods may also be contributing to a healthy gut microbiome, the authors said.

Limitations of the study include possible measurement errors because the data was self-reported, although the authors noted that because the study cumulatively measured diet over time, it reduced such errors. The authors also said that their findings need to be replicated in other populations.

Glass of cranberry juice a day reduces symptomatic urinary tract infections

According to a new study, recently published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, drinking an 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cranberry juice a day reduces symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTIs) by nearly 40 percent in women with recurrent UTIs - reducing the burden of UTIs and reducing the antibiotic use associated with treating recurrent UTIs.

"Currently the primary approach to reducing symptomatic events of UTI is the use of chronic antibiotics for suppression, an approach associated with side effects and development of antibiotic resistance. This study shows that consuming one 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cranberry juice a day reduces the number of times women suffer from repeat episodes of symptomatic UTI and avoids chronic suppressive antibiotics," said Dr. Kalpana Gupta, infectious disease specialist and Professor of Medicine at Boston University's School of Medicine.

An author on the study and panelist at today's session, Dr. Gupta believes that cranberries can help to reduce the worldwide use of antibiotics and significantly improve the quality of life for women who suffer from recurrent UTI symptoms.

Single Largest Clinical Trial on Cranberries of its Kind

The 24-week study of 373 women, conducted by researchers at Boston University, Biofortis Innovation Services (a division of Merieux Nutrisciences) and 18 clinical sites throughout the US and France, is the largest clinical trial of its kind examining the effects of cranberry juice consumption on UTIs. This trial adds to more than 50 years of cranberry research and supports the cranberry's ability to support urinary tract health and reduce symptomatic UTIs among chronic UTI sufferers.

Researchers set out to find whether recurrent (or repeat) UTI sufferers could be protected from repeat infections by drinking cranberry juice. Participants were all healthy women, with an average age of 40, who had experienced at least two UTIs within the past year. During the study, participants were randomly chosen to drink a daily dose of eight ounces (240 ml) of either cranberry juice or a "placebo" beverage without cranberries.

The rate of UTIs decreased significantly among the cranberry drinkers, with just 39 diagnoses during the six-month study compared with 67 in the placebo group.

Compared to some other studies, this trial had greater statistical power to detect differences than others due to its larger sample, use of incidence density to account for the tendency of clinical UTIs to cluster in time within an individual, a high average level of compliance (98%), and a comparatively large percentage of subjects in each group completing the treatment period (86%).

What's in a Symptom?

Women with symptomatic UTIs experience all the discomforts of a UTI, such as a strong, persistent urge to urinate or a burning sensation when urinating, but may or may not test positive for a bacterial infection upon a consult with a physician. In many instances, women are treated with antibiotics for symptom relief whether bacteria is found or not. According to Gupta, the key to avoiding the situation altogether may very well lay with the cranberry.

"The key to cranberry's benefit is consuming a glass daily to help avoid the infection altogether," said Gupta. "Most people wait to drink cranberry juice until they have a UTI, but once the symptoms start they'll likely need a course of antibiotics."

The Correlation between UTIs and Antibiotic Resistance

UTIs are among the most common bacterial infections in women worldwide. Up to 60 percent of all women suffer a UTI in their lifetime,(1) and up to 25 percent experience a recurrence within six months.(2) Some 150 million UTIs occur annually worldwide, according to the American Urological Association, resulting in $6 billion in annual health care costs.(3)

Antibiotics are usually the first line of treatment for urinary tract infections, and women who have frequent UTIs may be prescribed low-dose antibiotics. Unfortunately, chronic overuse of these drugs has increased antibiotic resistance at an alarming rate globally. So much in fact, that the World Health Organization (WHO) cites a 50 percent resistance rate to one of the most widely used antibiotics to treat UTIs.(4)

How Cranberries Work

Luckily, cranberries contain a unique combination of compounds including Type-A PACs (or proanthocyanidins) that prevent bacteria from sticking and causing infection. In addition to PACs, new studies have revealed a new class of compounds, xyloglucan oligosaccharides, which have similar anti-bacterial properties against E. coli as PACs.(5) This means there are multiple, unique elements within cranberries working hard for your health.

These unique compounds can be found in a variety of products, including cranberry juice cocktail, 100% cranberry juice, light cranberry juice, dried cranberries and cranberry extract; however most of the research surrounding cranberries and UTIs has been conducted using juice.

Eating more whole grains linked with lower mortality rates

Eating more whole grains may reduce the risk of premature death, according to a new meta-analysis by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that people who ate the most whole grains (70 grams/day, about 4 servings), compared with those who ate little or no whole grains, had a lower risk of dying during the study period.

"These findings further support current dietary guidelines that recommend at least 3 daily servings (or 48 grams) of whole grains to improve long-term health and prevent premature death," said Qi Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and senior author of the study.

The study will appear online June 13, 2016 in Circulation.

Previous studies have found that whole grains may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, and poor gut health, among other conditions.

The meta-analysis combined results from 12 published studies, in addition to unpublished results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III and NHANES 1999-2004. The studies were conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, or in Scandinavian countries between 1970 and 2010. Health information from 786,076 participants was included in the analysis.

The results showed that people who ate 70 grams/day of whole grains, compared with those who ate little or no whole grains, had a 22% lower risk of total mortality, a 23% lower risk of CVD mortality, and a 20% lower risk of cancer mortality.

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a particular population for a specific period of time.

The researchers note that multiple bioactive compounds in whole grains could contribute to their health benefits, and that high fiber content may lower cholesterol production and glucose response and increase satiety.

The researchers recommend that people choose foods that are high in whole grain ingredients--such as bran, oatmeal, and quinoa--that have at least 16 grams per serving, while reducing consumption of unhealthy refined carbohydrates.

One limitation of the meta-analysis was that some of the studies used were carried out before a more consistent definition of whole grains became available; therefore, lists of whole grain foods varied substantially among individual studies. In addition, as most of the studies were from the U.S. and Scandinavian countries, it is not known whether these findings can be generalized to other populations.

Midlife fitness is linked to lower stroke risks later in life

The more fit you are in your midlife, the less likely you are to have a stroke after age 65, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke.

"We all hear that exercise is good for you, but many people still don't do it. Our hope is that this objective data on preventing a fatal disease such as stroke, will help motivate people to get moving and get fit," said Ambarish Pandey, M.D., the first author of the study and a cardiology fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

In a prospective observational study consisting of 19,815 adults ages 45 to 50, (79 percent men, 90 percent Caucasian) researchers measured participants' heart and lung exercise capacity-cardiorespiratory fitness-and categorized them as having either a high, middle or low level of fitness.

The study found that those with the highest level of fitness had a 37 percent lower risk of stroke after age 65, compared to their counterparts with the lowest level of fitness. This inverse relationship between fitness and stroke risks existed even after researchers considered stroke risk factors: high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and atrial fibrillation.

"These findings support the unique and independent role of exercise in the prevention of stroke," said senior study author Jarett Berry, M.D., an associate professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern.

Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious long-term disability. The information on the effects of fitness on stroke risk, independent of other factors, is limited, researchers noted.

The study reinforces the benefits of being physically fit throughout life.

"Low fitness is generally ignored as an actual risk factor in clinical practice," Pandey said. "Our research suggests that low fitness in midlife is an additional risk to target and help prevent stroke later in life."

The study was performed in collaboration with the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. The investigators used data from the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study, collected between 1999 and 2009, that measured exercise tolerance with a standardized treadmill test when participants were age 45 to 50.

"In this study we see an association between fitness and reduced risk of the serious health event of stroke even in the presence of other chronic conditions," said Benjamin Willis, M.D., coauthor of the study and epidemiologist at The Cooper Institute.

The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly. As a rule of thumb, exercise thirty minutes a day, five times a week, for better overall cardiovascular health.