Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Analysis of US life expectancy

JAMA
Bottom Line: Examining life expectancy in the United States over nearly 60 years and identifying factors that contributed to recent increases in mortality were the focus of this expansive report. Researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Mortality Database to analyze changes in life expectancy and mortality rates, and they reviewed epidemiologic literature to add context to the vital statistics and explore explanations for the trends. Life expectancy increased almost 10 years, from 69.9 years in 1959 to 78.9 years in 2016, but the pace slowed over time and life expectancy decreased in the U.S. for three consecutive years after 2014. Contributing to that decrease, the researchers report, was an increase in deaths among working-age adults, those ages 25 to 64, from causes such as drug overdoses, suicides, and a long list of organ system diseases. The report includes an analysis at the state level, showing that the trend was more concentrated in certain regions, notably the Industrial Midwest and northern New England. The authors discuss potential explanations for rising mortality, among them drugs, obesity, the health care system, mounting stress and the economy. Limitations of the report include mortality data that can be subject to errors such as an inaccurate determination of cause of death, race misclassification and undercounting.

Playing board games may help protect thinking skills in old age



People who play games - such as cards and board games - are more likely to stay mentally sharp in later life, a study suggests.
Those who regularly played non-digital games scored better on memory and thinking tests in their 70s, the research found.
The study also found that a behaviour change in later life could still make a difference.
People who increased game playing during their 70s were more likely to maintain certain thinking skills as they grew older.
Psychologists at the University of Edinburgh tested more than 1000 people aged 70 for memory, problem solving, thinking speed and general thinking ability.
The participants then repeated the same thinking tests every three years until aged 79.
The group were also asked how often they played games like cards, chess, bingo or crosswords - at ages 70 and 76.
Researchers used statistical models to analyse the relationship between a person's level of game playing and their thinking skills.
The team took into account the results of an intelligence test that the participants sat when they were 11 years old.
They also considered lifestyle factors, such as education, socio-economic status and activity levels.
People who increased game playing in later years were found to have experienced less decline in thinking skills in their seventies - particularly in memory function and thinking speed.
Researchers say the findings help to better understand what kinds of lifestyles and behaviours might be associated with better outcomes for cognitive health in later life.
The study may also help people make decisions about how best to protect their thinking skills as they age.
Dr Drew Altschul, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said: "These latest findings add to evidence that being more engaged in activities during the life course might be associated with better thinking skills in later life. For those in their 70s or beyond, another message seems to be that playing non-digital games may be a positive behaviour in terms of reducing cognitive decline."
Professor Ian Deary, Director of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), said: "We and others are narrowing down the sorts of activities that might help to keep people sharp in older age. In our Lothian sample, it's not just general intellectual and social activity, it seems; it is something in this group of games that has this small but detectable association with better cognitive ageing. It'd be good to find out if some of these games are more potent than others. We also point out that several other things are related to better cognitive ageing, such as being physically fit and not smoking."
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said: "Even though some people's thinking skills can decline as we get older, this research is further evidence that it doesn't have to be inevitable. The connection between playing board games and other non-digital games later in life and sharper thinking and memory skills adds to what we know about steps we can take to protect our cognitive health, including not drinking excess alcohol, being active and eating a healthy diet."
The participants were part of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 study, a group of individuals who were born in 1936 and took part in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947.
Since 1999, researchers have been working with the Lothian Birth Cohorts to chart how a person's thinking power changes over their lifetime. The follow-up times in the Cohorts are among the longest in the world.

Aerobic exercise and heart-healthy diet may slow development of memory problems J



Cognitive impairment without dementia (CIND), or mild cognitive impairment, is a condition that affects your memory and may put you at risk for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. According to the U.S. National Library for Medicine, signs of mild cognitive impairment may include frequently losing things, forgetting to go to events and appointments, and having more trouble coming up with words than other people of your age.
Some experts believe that risk factors for heart disease also are risk factors for dementia and late-life cognitive decline and dementia. Recently, researchers examined two potential ways to slow the development of CIND based on what we know about preventing heart disease. They published the results of their study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The research team had a theory: That the healthy lifestyle behaviors that slow the development of heart disease could reduce heart disease risk and also slow cognitive decline in older adults with CIND. These behaviors include regular exercise and a heart-healthy diet, such as the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet.
In order to investigate their theory, the researchers designed a study titled "Exercise and NutritionaL Interventions for coGnitive and Cardiovascular HealTh EnhaNcement" (or ENLIGHTEN for short). The goal of the study was to examine the effects of aerobic exercise (sometimes known as "cardio" or "cardiovascular" exercise because it involves activities that increase the circulation of oxygen through the blood) and the DASH diet on cognitive functioning in older adults with CIND.
The ENLIGHTEN study examined 160 adults 55-years-old or older. The study participants were older adults who didn't exercise and had memory problems, difficulty thinking, and making decisions. They also had at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, such as high blood pressure (also known as hypertension), high cholesterol, diabetes, or other chronic conditions.
Participants took a number of tests to measure their heart disease risk factors and cognitive ability. Researchers also assessed participants' dietary habits and ability to perform daily activities. The participants were then randomly assigned to one of four groups: a group doing aerobic exercise alone, a group following the DASH diet alone, a group doing aerobic exercise and following the DASH diet combined, or a group receiving standard health education.
People in the exercise group did 35 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise (including walking or stationary biking) three times per week for six months. They were supervised for three months and then exercised unsupervised at home for three months. Participants in the exercise group did not receive any counseling in the DASH diet and were encouraged to follow their usual diets for six months.
People in the DASH eating plan group received instruction about how to meet DASH guidelines in a series of weekly sessions for three months and then bi-weekly for the remaining three months. Participants in the DASH group were asked not to engage in regular exercise until the completion of the six-month study.
People in the exercise and DASH group followed the exercise and DASH programs for six months. The participants who were enrolled in the health education group received weekly educational phone calls for three months and then bi-weekly calls for three months. Phone calls were conducted by a health educator on health topics related to heart disease. Participants were asked to maintain their usual dietary and exercise habits for six months until they were re-evaluated.
At the conclusion of the six-month intervention and assessment, participants were free to engage in whatever activity and dietary habits they desired, with no restrictions.
The results of the research team's study showed that exercise improved the participants' ability to think, remember, and make decisions compared to non-exercisers, and that combining exercise with the DASH diet improved the ability to think, remember, and make decisions, compared to people who didn't exercise or follow the diet--even though they didn't perfectly follow the programs they were assigned to during the six-month interventions.
The researchers concluded that their findings are promising proof that improved ability to think, remember, and make decisions can last one year after completing a six-month exercise intervention. They suggested that further studies would be needed to learn more.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Salt, sugar, frying in oil bad; Ketogenic diet good


Mice fed a very high-salt diet showed accumulation of a protein in the brain linked with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias

Ketogenic diet helps tame flu virus 



A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet like the Keto regimen has its fans, but influenza apparently isn't one of them.
Mice fed a ketogenic diet were better able to combat the flu virus than mice fed food high in carbohydrates, according to a new Yale University study published Nov. 15 in the journal Science Immunology.
The ketogenic diet -- which for people includes meat, fish, poultry, and non-starchy vegetables -- activates a subset of T cells in the lungs not previously associated with the immune system's response to influenza, enhancing mucus production from airway cells that can effectively trap the virus, the researchers report.
"This was a totally unexpected finding," said co-senior author Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The research project was the brainchild of two trainees -- one working in Iwasaki's lab and the other with co-senior author Visha Deep Dixit, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Comparative Medicine and of Immunobiology. Ryan Molony worked in Iwasaki's lab, which had found that immune system activators called inflammasomes can cause harmful immune system responses in their host. Emily Goldberg worked in Dixit's lab, which had shown that the ketogenic diet blocked formation of inflammasomes.
The two wondered if diet could affect immune system response to pathogens such as the flu virus.
They showed that mice fed a ketogenic diet and infected with the influenza virus had a higher survival rate than mice on a high-carb normal diet. Specifically, the researchers found that the ketogenic diet triggered the release of gamma delta T cells, immune system cells that produce mucus in the cell linings of the lung -- while the high-carbohydrate diet did not.
When mice were bred without the gene that codes for gamma delta T cells, the ketogenic diet provided no protection against the influenza virus.
"This study shows that the way the body burns fat to produce ketone bodies from the food we eat can fuel the immune system to fight flu infection," Dixit said.

Frying oil consumption worsened colon cancer and colitis in mice


Foods fried in vegetable oil are popular worldwide, but research about the health effects of this cooking technique has been largely inconclusive and focused on healthy people. For the first time, UMass Amherst food scientists set out to examine the impact of frying oil consumption on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer, using animal models.
In their paper published Aug. 23 in Cancer Prevention Research, lead author and Ph.D. student Jianan Zhang, associate professor Guodong Zhang, and professor and department head Eric Decker showed that feeding frying oil to mice exaggerated colonic inflammation, enhanced tumor growth and worsened gut leakage, spreading bacteria or toxic bacterial products into the bloodstream.
"People with colonic inflammation or colon cancer should be aware of this research," says Jianan Zhang.
Guodong Zhang, whose food science lab focuses on the discovery of new cellular targets in the treatment of colon cancer and how to reduce the risks of IBD, stresses that "it's not our message that frying oil can cause cancer."
Rather, the new research suggests that eating fried foods may exacerbate and advance conditions of the colon. "In the United States, many people have these diseases, but many of them may still eat fast food and fried food," says Guodong Zhang. "If somebody has IBD or colon cancer and they eat this kind of food, there is a chance it will make the diseases more aggressive."
For their experiments, the researchers used a real-world sample of canola oil, in which falafel had been cooked at 325 F in a standard commercial fryer at an eatery in Amherst, Massachusetts. "Canola oil is used widely in America for frying," Jianan Zhang says.
Decker, an expert in lipid chemistry performed the analysis of the oil, which undergoes an array of chemical reactions during the frying process. He characterized the fatty acid profiles, the level of free fatty acids and the status of oxidation.
A combination of the frying oil and fresh oil was added to the powder diet of one group of mice. The control group was fed the powder diet with only fresh oil mixed in. "We tried to mimic the human being's diet," Guodong Zhang says.
Supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the researchers looked at the effects of the diets on colonic inflammation, colon tumor growth and gut leakage, finding that the frying oil diet worsened all the conditions. "The tumors doubled in size from the control group to the study group," Guodong Zhang says.
To test their hypothesis that the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which occurs when the oil is heated, is instrumental in the inflammatory effects, the researchers isolated polar compounds from the frying oil and fed them to the mice. The results were "very similar" to those from the experiment in which the mice were fed frying oil, suggesting that the polar compounds mediated the inflammatory effects.
While more research is needed, the researchers hope a better understanding of the health impacts of frying oil will lead to dietary guidelines and public health policies.
"For individuals with or prone to inflammatory bowel disease," Guodong Zhang says, "it's probably a good idea to eat less fried food."

Cannabis reduces headache and migraine pain by nearly half


Inhaled cannabis reduces self-reported headache severity by 47.3% and migraine severity by 49.6%, according to a recent study led by Carrie Cuttler, a Washington State University assistant professor of psychology.
The study, published online recently in the Journal of Pain, is the first to use big data from headache and migraine patients using cannabis in real time. Previous studies have asked patients to recall the effect of cannabis use in the past. There has been one clinical trial indicating that cannabis was better than ibuprofen in alleviating headache, but it used nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid drug.
"We were motivated to do this study because a substantial number of people say they use cannabis for headache and migraine, but surprisingly few studies had addressed the topic," said Cuttler, the lead author on the paper.
In the WSU study, researchers analyzed archival data from the Strainprint app, which allows patients to track symptoms before and after using medical cannabis purchased from Canadian producers and distributors. The information was submitted by more than 1,300 patients who used the app over 12,200 times to track changes in headache from before to after cannabis use, and another 653 who used the app more than 7,400 times to track changes in migraine severity.
"We wanted to approach this in an ecologically valid way, which is to look at actual patients using whole plant cannabis to medicate in their own homes and environments," Cuttler said. "These are also very big data, so we can more appropriately and accurately generalize to the greater population of patients using cannabis to manage these conditions."
Cuttler and her colleagues saw no evidence that cannabis caused "overuse headache," a pitfall of more conventional treatments which can make patients' headaches worse over time. However, they did see patients using larger doses of cannabis over time, indicting they may be developing tolerance to the drug.
The study found a small gender difference with significantly more sessions involving headache reduction reported by men (90.0%) than by women (89.1%). The researchers also noted that cannabis concentrates, such as cannabis oil, produced a larger reduction in headache severity ratings than cannabis flower.
There was, however, no significant difference in pain reduction among cannabis strains that were higher or lower in levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), two of the most commonly studied chemical constituents in cannabis, also known as cannabinoids. Since cannabis is made up of over 100 cannabinoids, this finding suggests that different cannabinoids or other constituents like terpenes may play the central role in headache and migraine relief.
More research is needed, and Cuttler acknowledges the limitations of the Strainprint study since it relies on a self-selected group of people who may already anticipate that cannabis will work to alleviate their symptoms, and it was not possible to employ a placebo control group.
"I suspect there are some slight overestimates of effectiveness," said Cuttler. "My hope is that this research will motivate researchers to take on the difficult work of conducting placebo-controlled trials. In the meantime, this at least gives medical cannabis patients and their doctors a little more information about what they might expect from using cannabis to manage these conditions."

Extra virgin olive oil staves off multiple forms of dementia in mice



Boosting brain function is key to staving off the effects of aging. And if there was one thing every person should consider doing right now to keep their brain young, it is to add extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to their diet, according to research by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM). EVOO is a superfood, rich in cell-protecting antioxidants and known for its multiple health benefits, including helping put the brakes on diseases linked to aging, most notably cardiovascular disease. Previous LKSOM research on mice also showed that EVOO preserves memory and protects the brain against Alzheimer's disease.
In a new study in mice published online in the journal Aging Cell, LKSOM scientists show that yet another group of aging-related diseases can be added to that list - tauopathies, which are characterized by the gradual buildup of an abnormal form of a protein called tau in the brain. This process leads to a decline in mental function, or dementia. The findings are the first to suggest that EVOO can defend against a specific type of mental decline linked to tauopathy known as frontotemporal dementia.
Alzheimer's disease is itself one form of dementia. It primarily affects the hippocampus - the memory storage center in the brain. Frontotemporal dementia affects the areas of the brain near the forehead and ears. Symptoms typically emerge between ages 40 and 65 and include changes in personality and behavior, difficulties with language and writing, and eventual deterioration of memory and ability to learn from prior experience.
Senior investigator Domenico Praticò, MD, Scott Richards North Star Foundation Chair for Alzheimer's Research, Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Microbiology, and Director of the Alzheimer's Center at Temple at LKSOM, describes the new work as supplying another piece in the story about EVOO's ability to ward off cognitive decline and to protect the junctions where neurons come together to exchange information, which are known as synapses.
"EVOO has been a part of the human diet for a very long time and has many benefits for health, for reasons that we do not yet fully understand," he said. "The realization that EVOO can protect the brain against different forms of dementia gives us an opportunity to learn more about the mechanisms through which it acts to support brain health."
In previous work using a mouse model in which animals were destined to develop Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Praticò's team showed that EVOO supplied in the diet protected young mice from memory and learning impairment as they aged. Most notably, when the researchers looked at brain tissue from mice fed EVOO, they did not see features typical of cognitive decline, particularly amyloid plaques - sticky proteins that gum up communication pathways between neurons in the brain. Rather, the animals' brains looked normal.
The team's new study shows that the same is true in the case of mice engineered to develop tauopathy. In these mice, normal tau protein turns defective and accumulates in the brain, forming harmful tau deposits, also called tangles. Tau deposits, similar to amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease, block neuron communication and thereby impair thinking and memory, resulting in frontotemporal dementia.
Tau mice were put on a diet supplemented with EVOO at a young age, comparable to about age 30 or 40 in humans. Six months later, when mice were the equivalent of age 60 in humans, tauopathy-prone animals experienced a 60 percent reduction in damaging tau deposits, compared to littermates that were not fed EVOO. Animals on the EVOO diet also performed better on memory and learning tests than animals deprived of EVOO.
When Dr. Praticò and colleagues examined brain tissue from EVOO-fed mice, they found that improved brain function was likely facilitated by healthier synapse function, which in turn was associated with greater-than-normal levels of a protein known as complexin-1. Complexin-1 is known to play a critical role in maintaining healthy synapses.
Dr. Praticò and colleagues now plan to explore what happens when EVOO is fed to older animals that have begun to develop tau deposits and signs of cognitive decline, which more closely reflects the clinical scenario in humans. "We are particularly interested in knowing whether EVOO can reverse tau damage and ultimately treat tauopathy in older mice," Dr. Praticò added.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Lack of sleep may explain why poor people get more heart disease


Insufficient sleep is one reason why disadvantaged groups have more heart disease. That's the finding of a study published today in Cardiovascular Research, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1
People with lower socioeconomic status sleep less for a variety of reasons: they may do several jobs, work in shifts, live in noisy environments, and have greater levels of emotional and financial stress.
This was the first large population-based study to examine whether lack of sleep could partly explain why poor people have more heart disease. It found that short sleep explained 13.4% of the link between occupation and coronary heart disease in men.
Study author Dusan Petrovic, of the University Centre of General Medicine and Public Health (unisanté), Lausanne, Switzerland, said: "The absence of mediation by short sleep in women could be due to the weaker relationship between occupation and sleep duration compared to men."
"Women with low socioeconomic status often combine the physical and psychosocial strain of manual, poorly paid jobs with household responsibilities and stress, which negatively affects sleep and its health-restoring effects compared to men," he said.
He said: "Structural reforms are needed at every level of society to enable people to get more sleep. For example, attempting to reduce noise, which is an important source of sleep disturbances, with double glazed windows, limiting traffic, and not building houses next to airports or highways."
The study was part of the Lifepath project, and pooled data from eight cohorts totalling 111,205 participants from four European countries. Socioeconomic status was classified as low, middle, or high according to father's occupation and personal occupation. History of coronary heart disease and stroke was obtained from clinical assessment, medical records, and self-report. Average sleep duration was self-reported and categorised as recommended or normal sleep (6 to 8.5), short sleep (6), and long sleep (more than 8.5) hours per night.
The contribution of insufficient sleep was investigated using a statistical approach called mediation analysis. It estimates the contribution of an intermediate factor (sleep) to an association between the main exposure (socioeconomic status) and the main outcome (coronary heart disease or stroke).

HPV vaccines & vaccine schedules in adolescent girls and boys Wiley



New evidence published in the Cochrane Library today provides further information on the benefits and harms of different human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and vaccine schedules in young women and men.

HPV is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract in both women and men globally (WHO 2017). Most people who have sexual contact will be exposed to HPV at some point in their life. In most people, their own immune system will clear the HPV infection.

HPV infection can sometimes persist if the immune system does not clear the virus. Persistent infection with some 'high-risk' strains of HPV can lead to the development of cancer. High-risk HPV strains cause almost all cancers of the cervix and anus, and some cancers of the vagina, vulva, anus, penis, and head and neck. Other 'low risk', HPV strains cause genital warts but do not cause cancer.

Development of cancer due to HPV happens gradually, over many years, through a number of pre-cancer stages, called intra-epithelial neoplasia. In the cervix (neck of the womb) these changes are called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). High-grade CIN changes have a 1 in 3 chance of developing into cervical cancer, but many CIN lesions regress and do not develop into cancer. HPV-related cancers accounted for an estimated 4.5% of cancers worldwide in 2012 (de Martel 2017).

Vaccination aims to prevent future HPV infection and the cancers caused by high-risk HPV infection.
HPV vaccines are mainly targeted towards adolescent girls because cancer of the cervix is the most common HPV-associated cancer. For the prevention of cervical cancer, the World Health Organization recommends vaccinating girls aged 9-14 years with HPV vaccine using a two-dose schedule (0, 6 months) as the most effective strategy. A three-dose schedule is recommended for older girls ?15 years of age or for people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or other causes of immunodeficiency (WHO 2017).

Three HPV vaccines are currently in use: a bivalent vaccine that is targeted at the two most common high-risk HPV types; a quadrivalent vaccine targeted at four HPV types, and a nonavalent vaccine targeted at nine HPV types. In women, the bivalent and quadrivalent vaccines have been shown to protect against pre-cancer of the cervix caused by the HPV types contained in the vaccine if given before natural infection with HPV (Arbyn 2018).

This Cochrane Review summarizes the results from 20 randomized controlled trials involving 31,940 people conducted across all continents. In most studies, the outcome reported was the production of HPV antibodies by the vaccine recipient's immune system. HPV antibody responses predict protection against the HPV-related diseases and cancers the vaccines are intended to prevent.

Antibody response is often used as a surrogate in HPV vaccine studies because it takes many years for pre-cancer to develop after HPV infection, so it is difficult for studies to follow participants over such long periods of time. Moreover, because trial participants were tested for HPV infection and offered treatment, if HPV-related precancer was found, progression to cervical cancer in this group would be expected to be very low, even without vaccination.

Four studies compared a two-dose vaccine schedule with a three-dose schedule in 2,317 adolescent girls and three studies compared different time intervals between the first two vaccine doses in 2,349 girls and boys. Antibody responses were similar after two-dose and three-dose HPV vaccine schedules in girls. Antibody responses in girls and boys were stronger when the interval between the first two doses of HPV vaccine was longer.

There was evidence from one study of 16 to 26-year old men that the quadrivalent HPV vaccine reduces the incidence of external genital lesions and genital warts compared with a group who did not receive the HPV vaccine.

There was also evidence from a study of 16 to 26-year old women that compared the nonavalent and quadrivalent vaccines that they provide a similar level of protection against cervical, vaginal, and vulval pre-cancerous lesions.

Evidence suggested that up to 90% of males and females who received an HPV vaccine experienced local minor adverse events such as redness, swelling and pain at the injection site. Due to the low rates of serious adverse events in quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccine groups, and the broad definition of these events used in the trials, we cannot really determine the relative safety of different vaccine schedules.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Diet pills, laxatives used for weight control linked with later eating disorder diagnosis


Among young women without an eating disorder diagnosis, those who use diet pills and laxatives for weight control had higher odds of receiving a subsequent first eating disorder diagnosis within one to three years than those who did not report using these products, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston Children's Hospital. "We've known that diet pills and laxatives when used for weight control can be very harmful substances. We wanted to find out if these products could be a gateway behavior that could lead to an eating order diagnosis," said senior author S. Bryn Austin, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School and director of STRIPED (Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders). "Our findings parallel what we've known to be true with tobacco and alcohol: starting harmful substances can set young people on a path to worsening problems, including serious substance abuse disorder."
The study will be published online November 21, 2019 in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH).
Use of over-the-counter diet pills or laxatives is not recommended by health care providers as a healthy way to manage weight and can have severe health consequences, including high blood pressure and liver and kidney damage.
The researchers analyzed data from 10,058 women and girls ages 14 to 36 who participated in the U.S.-based Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) from 2001 to 2016.
They found that among participants without an eating disorder, 1.8% of those who used diet pills during the past year reported receiving a first eating disorder diagnosis during the next one to three years compared to 1% of those who did not use the products. They also found that among these participants, 4.2% of those who used laxatives for weight control received a subsequent first eating disorder diagnosis compared to 0.8% of those who did not use these products for weight control.
The researchers called for policies that restrict access to these products, including banning the sale of diet pills to minors. They write that use of these products for weight control may serve as a "gateway" to further disordered eating practices by dysregulating normal digestive function and fostering dependence on unhealthy and ineffective coping methods.
"Our findings are a wake-up call about the serious risks of these products. Instagram took a step in the right direction recently by banning ads to minors for over-the-counter diet pills and 'detox' teas, which are often laxatives," said first author Jordan Levinson, clinical research assistant, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital. "It's time for retailers and policymakers to take the dangers of these products seriously and take steps to protect youth."

Science underestimated dangerous effects of sleep deprivation

Michigan State University's Sleep and Learning Lab has conducted one of the largest sleep studies to date, revealing that sleep deprivation affects us much more than prior theories have suggested.
Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, the research is not only one of the largest studies, but also the first to assess how sleep deprivation impacts placekeeping - or, the ability to complete a series of steps without losing one's place, despite potential interruptions. This study builds on prior research from MSU's sleep scientists to quantify the effect lack of sleep has on a person's ability to follow a procedure and maintain attention.
"Our research showed that sleep deprivation doubles the odds of making placekeeping errors and triples the number of lapses in attention, which is startling," Fenn said. "Sleep-deprived individuals need to exercise caution in absolutely everything that they do, and simply can't trust that they won't make costly errors. Oftentimes - like when behind the wheel of a car - these errors can have tragic consequences."
By sharing their findings on the separate effects sleep deprivation has on cognitive function, Fenn - and co-authors Michelle Stepan, MSU doctoral candidate and Erik Altmann, professor of psychology - hope that people will acknowledge how significantly their abilities are hindered because of a lack of sleep.
"Our findings debunk a common theory that suggests that attention is the only cognitive function affected by sleep deprivation," Stepan said. "Some sleep-deprived people might be able to hold it together under routine tasks, like a doctor taking a patient's vitals. But our results suggest that completing an activity that requires following multiple steps, such as a doctor completing a medical procedure, is much riskier under conditions of sleep deprivation."
The researchers recruited 138 people to participate in the overnight sleep assessment; 77 stayed awake all night and 61 went home to sleep. All participants took two separate cognitive tasks in the evening: one that measured reaction time to a stimulus; the other measured a participant's ability to maintain their place in a series of steps without omitting or repeating a step - even after sporadic interruptions. The participants then repeated both tasks in the morning to see how sleep-deprivation affected their performance.
"After being interrupted there was a 15% error rate in the evening and we saw that the error rate spiked to about 30% for the sleep-deprived group the following morning," Stepan said. "The rested participants' morning scores were similar to the night before.
"There are some tasks people can do on auto-pilot that may not be affected by a lack of sleep," Fenn said. "However, sleep deprivation causes widespread deficits across all facets of life."

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Legumes boost heart health, according to new review study


Consuming beans, lentils, peas, and other legumes reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and high blood pressure, according to a review published in Advances in Nutrition.
Researchers reviewed prospective cohort studies that assessed consumption of legumes on the risk for cardiometabolic diseases and related markers. The study found that those who consumed the most legumes reduced incidence rates for cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and hypertension by as much as 10 percent when compared to those with the lowest intakes.
"Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading--and most expensive--cause of death, costing the United States nearly 1 billion dollars a day," says study co-author Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "This study shows that an inexpensive, accessible, and common pantry staple could help change that: beans."
Beans and other legumes benefit cardiovascular health because they are high in fiber, plant protein, and other micronutrients, but low in fat, free of cholesterol, and low on the glycemic index, according to the study authors.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans says that Americans are not eating enough legumes and recommends eating about three cups per week. The average American consumes less than a cup a week.
"Americans eat less than one serving of legumes per day, on average," adds Dr. Kahleova. "Simply adding more beans to our plates could be a powerful tool in fighting heart disease and bringing down blood pressure."

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., responsible for approximately 1 in every 4 deaths. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults suffer from hypertension.



Sesame allergy common among children with food allergies


Sesame allergy is one of the ten most common childhood food allergies. Reactions to sesame can be severe among children with the allergy. Only an estimated 20% to 30% of children with sesame allergy outgrow it. The Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether to include sesame in the list of allergens that must be disclosed on food labels. Currently, Europe, Australia, and Canada do so.
Diagnosing sesame allergy has been challenging. Standard allergy tests—skin prick tests and blood tests of sesame antibody levels—have yielded inconsistent results in past studies. These studies have often included only children who were already suspected of having sesame allergy.
Researchers from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by Dr. Pamela A. Frischmeyer-Guerrerio, set out to determine how common sesame allergy is among U.S. children with other food allergies. They also asked whether sesame antibody tests could reliably predict allergic reactions to the seeds.
The research was funded by NIAID and NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI). Findings were published on October 28, 2019, in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.
The research team enrolled 119 children with documented food allergies. Some had recently had an allergic reaction to sesame or were known to tolerate sesame products, such as tahini or hummus, in their diet. Those whose allergic status to sesame was unknown were offered an oral food challenge, considered the gold standard for diagnosing food allergy. This involves eating gradually increasing amounts of sesame under medical supervision and seeing if an allergic reaction occurs.
Overall, 17% of the 88 children whose allergic status could be confirmed had a sesame allergy. The children with sesame allergy often had peanut and tree nut allergies as well.
The scientists then measured the amount of an antibody called sesame-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) in the blood of these 88 children. People with a food allergy will produce immunoglobulin E in response to the allergen.
Using this information, the researchers developed a mathematical model for predicting the probability that a child with a food allergy is allergic to sesame. They were able to identify a threshold of sIgE over which a child has a greater than 50% chance of being allergic to sesame. While more tests will be needed to validate this model, it’s a promising step in diagnosing sesame allergy.
“It has been a challenge for clinicians and parents to determine if a child is truly allergic to sesame,” says NIAID Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. “Given how frequently sesame allergy occurs among children who are allergic to other foods, it is important to use caution to the extent possible when exposing these children to sesame.”

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Healthful diet tied to lower risk of hearing loss



Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital have found that eating a healthy diet may reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss. Using longitudinal data collected in the Nurses' Health Study II Conservation of Hearing Study (CHEARS), researchers examined three-year changes in hearing sensitivities and found that women whose eating patterns more closely adhered to commonly recommended healthful dietary patterns, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, the Alternate Mediterranean (AMED) diet, and the Alternate Healthy Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), had substantially lower risk of decline in hearing sensitivity. The team's findings are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology
"A common perception is that hearing loss is an inevitable part of the aging process. However, our research focuses on identifying potentially modifiable risk factors -- that is, things that we can change in our diet and lifestyle to prevent hearing loss or delay its progression," said lead author Sharon Curhan, MD, a physician and epidemiologist in the Brigham's Channing Division of Network Medicine. "The benefits of adherence to healthful dietary patterns have been associated with numerous positive health outcomes and eating a healthy diet may also help reduce the risk of hearing loss."
Previous studies have suggested that higher intake of specific nutrients and certain foods, such as the carotenoids beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin (found in squash, carrots, oranges and other fruits and vegetables), folate (found in legumes, leafy greens, and other foods), long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (found in seafood and fish), were associated with lower risk of self-reported hearing loss. These findings revealed that dietary intake could influence the risk of developing hearing loss, but investigators sought to further understand the connection between diet and hearing loss by capturing overall dietary patterns and objectively measuring longitudinal changes in hearing sensitivities.
To do so, the researchers established 19 geographically diverse testing sites across the U.S. and trained teams of licensed audiologists to follow standardized CHEARS methods. The audiologists measured changes in pure-tone hearing thresholds, the lowest volume that a pitch can be detected by the participant in a given ear, over the course of 3 years. An audiologist presented tones of different frequencies (0.5, 1 and 2 kHz as low-frequencies; at 3 kHz and 4 kHz as mid-frequencies; and at 6 kHz and 8 kHz as higher frequencies) at variable "loudness" levels and participants were asked to indicate when they could just barely hear the tone.
Using over 20 years of dietary intake information that was collected every four years beginning in 1991, the researchers investigated how closely participants' long-term diets resembled some well-established and currently recommended dietary patterns, such as the DASH diet, the Mediterranean diet, and Alternate Healthy Index-2010 (AHEI-2010). Greater adherence to these dietary patterns has been associated with a number of important health outcomes, including lower risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and death as well as healthy aging.
The team found that the odds of a decline in mid-frequency hearing sensitivities were almost 30 percent lower among those whose diets most closely resembled these healthful dietary patterns, compared with women whose diets least resembled the healthful dietary patterns. In the higher frequencies, the odds were up to 25 percent lower.
"The association between diet and hearing sensitivity decline encompassed frequencies that are critical for speech understanding," said Curhan. "We were surprised that so many women demonstrated hearing decline over such a relatively short period of time. The mean age of the women in our study was 59 years; most of our participants were in their 50s and early 60s. This is a younger age than when many people think about having their hearing checked. After only three years, 19 percent had hearing loss in the low frequencies, 38 percent had hearing loss in the mid-frequencies, and almost half had hearing loss in the higher frequencies. Despite this considerable worsening in their hearing sensitivities, hearing loss among many of these participants would not typically be detected or addressed."
The study included female health care professionals, which enhanced the validity of the health information collected and reduced the variability in educational achievement and socioeconomic status, but the study population was limited to predominantly middle-aged, non-Hispanic white women. The authors note that further research in additional populations is warranted. The team hopes to continue to longitudinally follow the participants in this study with repeated hearing tests over time and is investigating ways to collect research-quality information on tens of thousands of participants for future studies across diverse populations. 


Latest Health Research

Medicine and Supplements

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High-protein diets may harm your kidneys

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Soft drinks found to be the crucial link between obesity and tooth wear

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General Health

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Living in a noisy area increases the risk of suffering a more serious stroke

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 2 weeks ago
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Exercise

Take a yoga class and depression, anxiety improve

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 5 days ago
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by Else... more »

Association between physical activity, lower risk of fracture

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 1 week ago
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Physical activity may protect against new episodes of depression

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 1 week ago
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Is physical activity always good for the heart?

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 2 weeks ago
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Bicycle-related injuries have increased significantly among older riders

Jonathan KantrowitzatHealth News Report - 2 weeks ago
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