26th March  2007

Don't Be Fooled By Certain 'Health' Foods
If you're one of the millions of Americans hoping to lose weight by buying fat-free, cholesterol-free, or all-natural products, you may be surprised. Experts say it's those so-called "healthy" foods that often sabotage diets.
     "These are the foods we naturally look to as we try to lose extra pounds; however, they  are the ones that we need to be careful about," says Dee Rollins, PhD, R.D., dietitian with Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.
 

Case and point-granola.
"Everyone thinks granola bars are wonderful and yet if you turn it over and look at the ingredients you'll see that it has high fructose corn syrup and a lot of sugars," adds Dr. Rollins. In fact, the average granola bar contains more than 300 calories and 10 grams of fat-not a healthy snack at all.

Now what about some of those bran cereals?
"You'll find that there's a lot of hidden sugar, perhaps even some hidden salt, even  a little fat in those cereals that you don't anticipate finding," says Dr. Rollins. The meat aisle is no safer-a pound of ground turkey can really ruffle a dieter's feathers, sometimes containing more fat grams than a pound of ground beef.
        "If you flip that label over and read the ingredients, you'll see that it's high salt, maybe they added some fat, maybe they added some sugar and those products might not be as healthy as you think they are," explains Dr. Rollins. And don't look down the bread aisle for any less deceptive packaging. "Multi-grain, honey  wheat, seven-grain...we're looking at all of those  names and inside that brown bread wrapper we think it's going to be a really good product," adds Dr. Rollins.

But experts say it's actually 'whole grain' that's the only indication that it's a truly healthy buy. And the ultimate in diet deception-"low-fat." "When they take the fat out they almost always put the sugar in so check the calorie count. There's probably more calories in a low-fat or low-carbohydrate product than in a regular product," says Dr. Rollins.
 

And here are some other "healthy" foods to watch out for:

*        100 percent fruit juice-it's still full of calories

*        all-natural potato chips-made from real potatoes, but still loaded with fat and sodium

*        'cholesterol-free' anything-if it's not an animal product it doesn't have cholesterol in it at all so keep in mind that usually when you see the label 'cholesterol-free' it means nothing.

So what exactly should you look for when reading labels? According to Dr. Rollins,

concentrate on three things-sodium, fat and total calories. Then read through the ingredients and make sure things like salt, sugar and corn syrup aren't at the top.
 

26th March  2007

Physical Activity Reduces Hypertension Risk In Young Adults

Young adults who devote more time to physical activity have a reduced risk of developing high blood pressure in the next 15 years, according to new research. "This is reassuring and confirming evidence that physical activity is actually causally related to hypertension,"  participants who increased their total physical activity from the start of the study actually decreased their risk of high blood pressure by 11 percent for every 1,500 calories they burned through exercise weekly. The study offers "one more reason to follow existing recommendations to increase physical activity - not only for healthy weight and overall cardio health, but to prevent the incidence of high blood pressure as we go from young adulthood to middle age,"

26th March  2007

Mother Nature's Medicine Cabinet

When it comes to stocking pharmacy shelves with drugs to treat human ills, Mother Nature still is the ultimate medicinal chemist, a study scheduled for the March 23 issue of ACS' Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication, suggests. In the study, the National Cancer Institute's David J. Newman and Gordon M. Craig conclude that only 30 percent of the critically important "new chemical entities (NCEs)" introduced between 1981 and mid-2006 were synthetic and not based on a naturally-occurring compound. NCEs are totally new drugs, never before available, rather than modified versions of existing medications sometimes termed "me-too" drugs. The remaining 70 percent of the NCEs introduced during the last 25 years were natural products - medicines obtained from sources such as plants and animals, derived from natural products or chemically designed to mimic natural products. Natural products range from aspirin (originally obtained from the willow tree) to taxol, the anti-cancer drug discovered in the Pacific yew tree. About half of all anti-cancer drugs introduced since the 1940s are either natural products or medicines derived directly from natural products, the study notes. The new review of natural products' role as sources of new drugs is an expanded and updated version of reports published in 1997 and 2003. "We strongly advocate expanding, not decreasing, the exploration of Nature as a source of novel active ingredients that may serve as the leads and scaffolds for elaboration into desperately needed efficacious drugs for a multitude of disease indications," the study concludes.

26th March  2007

Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits And Vegetables, According To Studies Science Daily - "Eat your vegetables" has been heard at the dinner tables of America for a long time. Has the message gotten through? Since 1990 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has recommended consuming at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables daily. However, two studies published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine clearly show that Americans are not meeting the mark. This is a serious public health concern because consuming a diet high in fruits and vegetables is associated with decreased risk of obesity and certain chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers. Fresh cut fruits and vegetables.  Approximately 62% did not consume any whole fruit servings and 25% of participants reported eating no daily vegetable servings. There was no improvement in Americans¡¯ fruit consumption during this period and there was a small decrease in vegetable intake.

26th March  2007

Heart Disease In A Marathon Runner: Is Too Much Exercise A Bad Thing? Science Daily - Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center had a mystery on their hands. A 51-year-old physician colleague who looked the picture of health-no cardiovascular risks, a marathon runner who had exercised vigorously each day for 30 years-had just flunked a calcium screening scan of his heart.

The researchers conclude that the physician's intense, long-term exercise regime, coupled with a predisposition toward a type of hypertension, contributed to his cardiovascular disease. "In this particular individual, we think that oxidative stress was an important contributor," says the study's senior author, Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "But we also found that this individual has exercise-induced hypertension, which I think is vastly under-diagnosed."

26th March  2007

Organic Is Healthier: Kiwis Prove That Green Is Good

 Science Daily - In one of the most comprehensive and definitive studies of its kind to date, a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis have proven that organically grown kiwifruit contain more health-promoting factors than those grown under conventional conditions. The research is reported in the SCI's magazine Chemistry & Industry. The debate over the relative health benefits of organic versus conventional food has raged for years, with UK environment secretary David Miliband declaring in January that buying organic is just a lifestyle choice.

 The Davis scientists, led by Drs. Maria Amodio and Adel Kader, showed that organically grown kiwifruit had significantly increased levels of polyphenols, the  healthy compounds found in red wine and coloured berries. They also had a higher overall antioxidant activity, as well as higher levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and important minerals compared with their conventionally grown counterparts (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2820). Their work differed to previously inconclusive studies, as they were able to compare like-for-like with kiwis grown next to each other on the same farm at the same time, in the same environmental conditions. Kader added: "[previous] studies did not include phenolic compounds in the comparison."

 The two categories of kiwifruit showed other differences which Kadel believes are most likely due to the fruits having to be able to survive against pests in the absence of pesticides. For example, organic kiwis had thicker skins, which could help the fruits resist insects, and higher antioxidant activity which is thought to be a natural by-product of stress.

Also of interest in C&I issue 6 2007: Grapefruit diet has hearty perks Compounds in  grapefruit and oranges have been shown to lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Two

flavanones, hesperidin and naringin, were extracted from citrus fruits and fed to rats split into groups with some receiving high levels of cholesterol in their diet. Shela Gorinstein of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem found that after 30 days cholesterol levels in rats' blood reduced by around 20-25% in those fed a cholesterol-rich diet (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2834). David Bender, Sub-dean at the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, believes that the results show a significant reduction in the increase in plasma lipids caused by cholesterol feeding. "This is potentially beneficial to health with regards to heart disease", he added.

26th March  2007

 Toddlers Engage In 'Emotional Eavesdropping' To Guide Their Behavior

 Science Daily - Little children never cease to amaze. University of Washington  researchers have found that 18-month-old toddlers engage in what they call "emotional eavesdropping" by listening and watching emotional reactions directed by one adult to another and then using this emotional information to shape their own behavior.

26th March  2007

 Black raspberries show promise for preventing cancer of the esophagus, colon  Using animal models (rodents) of cancer development, researchers at Ohio State University showed that animals whose diets were supplemented with black raspberries had a 60 percent reduction in tumors of the esophagus and up to an 80 percent reduction in colon tumors. Clinical trials are now underway to determine whether the berries will prevent the development of esophageal and colon cancer in humans, says study leader Gary D. Stoner, Ph.D., a researcher and professor of internal medicine at the university.

26th March  2007

Blueberries contain chemical that may help prevent colon cancer

 A compound found in blueberries shows promise in animal studies of preventing colon cancer, according to a joint study by scientists at Rutgers University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The compound, pterostilbene, is a potent antioxidant that could be developed into a pill with the potential for fewer side effects than some commercial drugs that are currently used to prevent the disease, according to study leader Bandaru Reddy, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Chemical Biology at the university.

26th March  2007

Grape seed compounds may prevent skin cancer by boosting immune system

   Chemicals obtained from grape seed extract show promise in animal studies as a way to prevent sunlight-induced skin cancer when used as a dietary supplement, according to researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. In studies using mouse models of ultraviolet-light-induced (non-melanoma) skin cancer, mice that were fed diets supplemented with the grape seed compounds, a group of antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, showed a reduction in tumor number (up to 65 percent fewer) and size (up to 78 percent smaller) in comparison to control animals that did not receive the compounds, the researchers say. The compounds appear to work by  inhibiting suppression of the immune system caused by ultraviolet light exposure, says Santosh Katiyar, Ph.D., an associate professor in the university's department of dermatology. 

26th March  2007

Compound found in high-fiber foods shows promise against prostate cancer

      A dietary component found in most whole grain foods, beans, nuts and other high-fiber items shows promise in animal studies as a potent weapon for preventing prostate cancer. The compound, inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), was fed to animal models of prostate cancer and resulted in up to a 66 percent reduction in tumor size in comparison to control animals that were given water instead, the researchers say. The compound, which is sold in stores as a dietary supplement, adds to a growing number of products -- including lycopene, milk thistle extract, vitamin E and selenium -- that also have shown promise against prostate cancer, says Rajesh Agarwal, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. 

26th March  2007

Drinking cloudy apple juice daily may help prevent colon cancer

  Researchers in Germany say that drinking two to three glasses of cloudy apple juice (unfiltered) per day may help keep colon cancer at bay. In a ten-week study using a mouse model for colon cancer, animals that were fed either cloudy apple juice or a potent extract of the juice showed a 38 percent and 40 percent reduction (respectively) in benign tumors of the small intestine, an indicator of its potential to fight colon cancer, in comparison to control animals that were given water instead of juice, according to Clarissa Gerhäuser, Ph.D., a researcher with the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. The anticancer effect is likely due to a potent class of antioxidants called procyanidins, the researcher says. A widely publicized recent study by a group of researchers in Poland found that cloudy apple juice also is richer in antioxidants -- up to four times higher -- than clear apple juice.

26th March  2007

Practicing Tai Chi Boosts Immune System In Older Adults

 Science Daily - Tai chi chih, the Westernized version of the 2,000-year-old Chinese martial art characterized by slow movement and meditation, significantly boosts the immune systems of older adults against the virus that leads to the painful, blistery rash known as shingles, according to a new UCLA study.

26th March  2007

Antibiotics Appear To Be Overprescribed For Sinus Infections

 Science Daily - Antibiotics are prescribed for approximately 82 percent of acute sinus infections and nearly 70 percent of chronic sinus infections, despite the fact that viruses are by far the most frequent cause of this condition, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Otolaryngology--Hea d & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

   Rhinosinusitis, an inflammation of the sinus cavities (adjacent to the nasal passages) and commonly referred to as a sinus infection, is a common and expensive medical condition in the United States, according to background information in the article. In 2002, rhinosinusitis accounted for 21 percent of all antibiotic prescriptions for adults and 9 percent of those for children. The infection is considered acute when symptoms last up to four weeks, and chronic when symptoms persist for 12 weeks or longer. Acute rhinosinusitis is usually thought to be caused by infectious agents, while allergies, facial anatomy and hormonal changes may contribute to chronic cases.

26th March  2007

Plant Compound In Diet Associated With Decreased Risk Of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

 Science Daily - Postmenopausal women whose diet contains high amounts of lignans,

estrogen-like chemical compounds found in plants, may have a reduced risk of breast

cancer, according to a study in the March 21 issue of the Journal of the National

Cancer Institute.

        Lignans, which are found in flaxseed and a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole

grains, belong to a family of compounds called phytoestrogens. Because of their hormone-like properties, phytoestrogens can bind to estrogen receptors, and some have suggested they may play a role in preventing breast cancer. Studies of Asian populations have found that women whose diets contain many foods made of soy, which are rich in another type of phytoestrogen, have a lower breast cancer risk.

26th March  2007

 Childhood Leukemia Survivors At Risk For Second Tumors In Adulthood

 Science Daily - Results from the longest follow-up study ever done of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors show the importance of long-term monitoring of former patients to identify complications they are at risk for developing later in life and to modify current treatments to reduce those risks, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. ALL is the most common cancer in children and adolescents--with about 3,000 new cases diagnosed yearly in the United States.

      The St. Jude study showed that adults who had received treatment for ALL during

childhood are at increased risk for developing a secondary neoplasm during the next 30 years. Secondary neoplasms are new tumors that develop after successful treatment of an initial cancer.

26th March  2007

 Cancer Researchers Add Spice To Research Against Rare Neuromuscular Disease

 Science Daily - Scientists who focus on the molecular signaling that underlies prostate cancer have discovered a compound that shows promise against a debilitating neurodegenerative condition known as Kennedy's disease, which is caused by a mutant 

gene. Currently there is no treatment for the inherited disorder, which resembles a slowly progressive form of Lou Gehrig's disease and affects only men.

       The compound, a distant chemical relative of a component of the spice curry, dramatically slowed the progression of the disease in mice that carried the mutant human gene that causes the disease. The mice were able to walk much more normally, their muscles were much stronger, and they had near-normal levels of a vital molecule crucial for keeping nerve cells healthy.

       In their search for new treatments for prostate cancer and other diseases, Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D., and his colleagues have taken a few cues from centuries of Asian tradition, where curcumin -- the bright yellow spice found in curry powder -has been used to treat a variety of ills. In the last decade, Western medicine has been putting curry to the test, finding that the spice offers promise against breast cancer, melanoma, Alzheimer's disease and the blisters that come with radiation treatments for cancer.

      Chang notes that ginger, a family of spices that includes curcumin, is widely used in China as a folk medicine to treat male-pattern baldness. That condition is caused largely by the activity of the androgen receptor, the protein that is central to the action of testosterone and other male hormones. Chang's laboratory, in collaboration with San Diego-based AndroScience Corp., has screened hundreds of compounds for their activity involving the androgen receptor, which is also involved in prostate cancer, acne, and enlarged prostate, as well as Kennedy's disease.

     Among the compounds tested is ASC-J9, a synthetic chemical compound that is loosely based on a compound found in curcumin. Significantly, however, ASC-J9 has been

chemically modified compared to its natural counterpart to make it much more powerful. Despite the promise it offers for Kennedy's disease, Chang notes that ASC-J9 must be rigorously screened for side effects and effectiveness, through clinical studies in people, before it can be considered as a possible treatment for any disease.

"The compound we are studying has been significantly modified from the original ingredient found in food like curry or ginger," said Chang, a faculty member in the departments of Urology and Pathology and the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. "It still must be tested in people. We certainly don't want to mislead people to think these foods themselves have any benefit for Kennedy's disease."

Chang's work has led to an understanding of the genetic basis of Kennedy's disease, which affects the motor neurons that go from the spine to certain muscles, causing muscle weakness and wasting throughout body. Symptoms typically include difficulty speaking and swallowing, and weakness in the arms and legs. Patients are often diagnosed in their 30s and 40s, and while most live a normal life span, many patients end up using a wheelchair and have serious health difficulties. Currently there is no way to slow the progression or prevent the disease, which is estimated to affect a few thousand Americans, perhaps 4,000 or so.

9th March  2007

Charting Our Health By The Stars?

  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Peter Austin and three other researchers at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto have just completed a survey of hospital visits in Ontario, showing that, compared to people born under other astrological signs, Virgos have an increased risk of vomiting during pregnancy, Pisces have an increased risk of heart failure, and Libras have an increased risk of fracturing their pelvises.

 In fact, each of the 12 astrological signs had at least two medical disorders associated with them, thus placing people born under a given sign at increased risk compared to those born under different signs. The study, which used data from 10,000,000 Ontario residents in 2000, was conducted with tongue firmly in cheek.

"Replace astrological signs with another characteristic such as gender or age, and immediately your mind starts to form explanations for the observed associations," says Austin. "Then we leap to conclusions, constructing reasons for why we saw the results we did. We did this study to prove a larger point -- the more we look for patterns, the more likely we are to find them, particularly when we don't begin with a particular question."

Austin will discuss his results at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Conference in San Francisco, which runs from Feb. 15 to 19, 2007. What he found was that even though each astrological sign had its own unique disorders, his initial results were not reproduced when they were explicitly tested in a second population.

"Scientists take pains to make sure their clinical studies are conducted accurately," says Austin, "but sometimes erroneous conclusions will be obtained solely due to chance." Statistical chance means that 5 per cent of the time, scientists will incorrectly conclude that an association exists, when in reality no such association exists in the population

that the scientists are studying.

One way to reduce the chances of drawing a wrong conclusion is to try and reproduce unexpected results in further studies.

"There is a danger in basing scientific decisions on the results of one study, particularly if the results were unanticipated or the association was one that we did not initially decide to examine," says Austin. "But when several studies all arrive at similar conclusions, we reduce the risk of arriving at an incorrect outcome."

9th March  2007

Programmed For Obesity: Early Exposure To Common Chemicals Can Permanently Alter Metabolic System

 Obesity is generally discussed in terms of caloric intake (how much a person eats) and energy output (how much a person exercises). However, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist, environmental chemicals found in everyday plastics and pesticides also may influence obesity. Frederick vom Saal, professor of biological sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science, has found that when fetuses are exposed to these chemicals, the way their genes function may be altered to make them more prone to obesity and disease.

"Certain environmental substances called endocrine-disrupting chemicals can change the functioning of a fetus's genes, altering a baby's metabolic system and predisposing him or her to obesity. This individual could eat the same thing and exercise the same amount as someone with a normal metabolic system, but he or she would become obese, while the

other person remained thin. This is a serious problem because obesity puts people at risk for other problems, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension," vom Saal said.

Using lab mice, vom Saal has studied the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including bisphenol-A, which recently made news in San Francisco, where controversy has ensued over an ordinance that seeks to ban its use in children's products. In vom Saal's recent study, which he will present at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), he found that endocrine-disrupting

chemicals cause mice to be born at very low birth weights and then gain abnormally large amounts of weight in a short period of time, more than doubling their body weight in just seven days. Vom Saal followed the mice as they got older and found that these mice were obese throughout their lives. He said studies of low-birth-weight children have shown a similar overcompensation after birth, resulting in lifelong obesity.

"You inherit genes, but how those genes develop during your very early life also plays an important role in your propensity for obesity and disease. People who have abnormal metabolic systems have to live extremely different lifestyles in order to not be obese because their systems are malfunctioning," vom Saal said. "We need to figure out what

we can do to understand and prevent this."

9th March  2007

Treatment For Gum Disease Could Also Help The Heart

Science Daily — Scientists at University College London (UCL) have conducted the first clinical trial to demonstrate that an intensive treatment for periodontitis (gum disease) directly improves the health of blood vessels.

Periodontitis is a common inflammatory disease of the gums, affecting up to 40 per cent of the world's adult population. It is a bacterial infection of the tissue that supports the teeth in the mouth. If untreated, it can cause progressive bone loss around the teeth, and eventual tooth loss.
 

Eating whole-grain breakfast cereals seven or more times per week was associated with a lower risk of heart failure, The analysis shows that those who ate a whole-grain breakfast cereal seven or more times per week were less likely (by 28 percent) to develop heart failure over the course of the study than those who never ate such cereal. The risk of heart failure decreased by 22 percent in those who ate a whole-grain breakfast cereal from two to six times per week and by 14 percent in those who ate a whole-grain breakfast cereal up to once per week.

According to researchers, if this data is confirmed by other studies, a healthy diet including whole-grain breakfast cereals along with other measures may help reduce the risk of heart failure.

"There are good and powerful arguments for eating a whole-grain cereal for breakfast," said Luc Djoussé, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Aging at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "The significant health benefits of whole-grain cereal are not just for kids, but also for adults. A whole-grain, high-fiber breakfast may lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol and prevent heart attacks."

Djoussé urges the general public to consider eating a regular whole-grain, high fiber breakfast for its overall health benefits.
 

9th March  2007

Use Of Common Pain Relievers Associated With Increased Risk Of Blood Pressure In Men
Science Daily — Men who regularly take commonly available and widely used pain relievers may have an increased risk of high blood pressure compared with those who do not use these medications, according to a report in the Feb. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Acetaminophen, ibuprofen and aspirin are among the most commonly used drugs in the United States, according to background information in the article. Two large studies have recently suggested that pain-relieving medications (analgesics) may be associated with an increased risk of hypertension (high blood pressure) in women.

9th March  2007

Unique Tomatoes Tops In Disease-fighting Antioxidants
Science Daily — Deep red tomatoes get their rich color from lycopene, a disease-fighting antioxidant. A new study, however, suggests that a special variety of orange-colored tomatoes provide a different form of lycopene, one that our bodies may more readily use.

Researchers found that eating spaghetti covered in sauce made from these orange tomatoes, called Tangerine tomatoes, caused a noticeable boost in this form of lycopene in participants' blood.

“While red tomatoes contain far more lycopene than orange tomatoes, most of it is in a form that the body doesn't absorb well,” said Steven Schwartz, the study's lead author and a professor of food science and technology at Ohio State University.

9th March  2007

Use Of Some Antioxidant Supplements May Increase Mortality Risk
Science Daily — Contradicting claims of disease prevention, an analysis of previous studies indicates that the antioxidant supplements beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase the risk of death, according to a meta-analysis and review article in the February 28 issue of JAMA.
Many people take antioxidant supplements, believing they improve their health and prevent diseases. Whether these supplements are beneficial or harmful is uncertain, according to background information in the article.

9th March  2007

Stress

All vertebrates respond to stressful situations by releasing hormones, such as adrenalin and glucocorticoids, which instantaneously increase the animal's heart rate and energy level. "The stress response is incredibly ancient evolutionarily," Sapolsky said. "Fish, birds andreptiles secrete the same stress hormones we do, yet their metabolismdoesn't get messed up the way it does in people and other primates."

To understand why, he said, "just look at the dichotomy between what your body does during real stress--for example, something is intent on eating you and you're running for your life--versus what your body does when you're turning on the same stress response for months on end for purely psychosocial reasons."

In the short term, he explained, stress hormones are "brilliantly adapted" to help you survive an unexpected threat. "You mobilize energy in your thigh muscles, you increase your blood pressure and you turn off everything that's not essential to surviving, such as digestion, growth and reproduction," he said. "You think more clearly, and certain aspects
of learning and memory are enhanced. All of that is spectacularly adapted if you're dealing with an acute physical stressor--a real one."

But non-life-threatening stressors, such as constantly worrying about money or pleasing your boss, also trigger the release of adrenalin and other stress hormones, which, over time, can have devastating consequences to your health, he said: "If you turn on the stress response chronically for purely psychological reasons, you increase your risk of adult onset diabetes and high blood pressure. If you're chronically shutting down the digestive system, there's a bunch of gastrointestinal disorders you're more at risk for as well."

In children, the continual release of glucocorticoids can suppress the secretion of normal growth hormones. "There's actually a syndrome called stress dwarfism in kids who are so psychologically stressed that growth is markedly impaired," Sapolsky said.

Studies show that long-term stress also suppresses the immune system, making you more susceptible to infectious diseases, and can even shut down reproduction by causing erectile dysfunction and disrupting menstrual cycles.

"Furthermore, if you're chronically stressed, all sorts of aspects of brain function are impaired, including, at an extreme, making it harder for some neurons to survive neurological insults," Sapolsky added. "Also, neurons in the parts of the brain relating to learning, memory and judgment don't function as well under stress. That particular piece
is what my lab has spent the last 20 years on."

The bottom line, according to Sapolsky: "If you plan to get stressed like a normal mammal, you had better turn on the stress response or else you're dead. But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, like a Westernized human, then you are more at risk for heart disease and some of the other leading causes of death in Westernized life."

"We've found that baboons have diseases that other social mammals generally don't have," Sapolsky said. "If you're a gazelle, you don't have a very complex emotional life, despite being a social species. But primates are just smart enough that they can think their bodies into working differently. It's not until you get to primates that you get
things that look like depression." The same may be true for elephants, whales and other highly intelligent mammals that have complex emotional lives, he added.

"The reason baboons are such good models is, like us, they don't have real stressors," he said. "If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don't mess with you much. What that means is you've got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop. So the baboon is a wonderful model for living well enough and long enough to pay the price for all the social-stressor nonsense that they create for each other. They're just like us: They're not getting done in by predators and famines, they're getting done in by each other."

It turns out that unhealthy baboons, like unhealthy people, often have elevated resting levels of stress hormones. "Their reproductive system doesn't work as well, their wounds heal more slowly, they have elevated blood pressure and the anti-anxiety chemicals in their brain, which have a structural similarity to Valium, work differently," Sapolsky said. "So they're not in great shape."

Coping with stress

What can baboons teach humans about coping with all the stress-inducing psychosocial nonsense we encounter in our daily lives?
"We are capable of social supports that no other primate can even dream of," he said. "For example, I might say, 'This job, where I'm a lowly mailroom clerk, really doesn't matter. What really matters is that I'm the captain of my softball team or deacon of my church'--that sort of thing. It's not just somebody sitting here, grooming you with their own hands. We can actually feel comfort from the discovery that somebody on the other side of the planet is going through the same experience we are and feel, I'm not alone. We can even take comfort reading about a fictional character, and there's no primate out there that can feel better in life just by listening to Beethoven. So the range of supports
that we're capable of is extraordinary."

But many of the qualities that make us human also can induce stress, he noted. "We can be pained or empathetic about somebody in Darfur," he said. "We can be pained by some movie character that something terrible happens to that doesn't even exist. We could be made to feel inadequate by seeing Bill Gates on the news at night, and we've never even been in the same village as him or seen our goats next to his. So the realm of space and time that we can extend our emotions means that there are a whole lot more abstract things that can make us feel stressed."

Pursuit of happiness

The Founding Fathers probably weren't thinking about health when they declared the pursuit of happiness to be an inalienable right, but when it comes to understanding the importance of a stress-free life, they may have been ahead of their time.

"When you get to Westernized humans, it's only in the last century or  two that our health problems have become ones of chronic lifestyle issues," Sapolsky said. "It's only 10,00 0 years or so that most humans have been living in high-density settlements--a world of strangers jostling and psychologically stressing each other. But being able to
live long enough to get heart disease, that's a fairly new world."

According to Sapolsky, happiness and self-esteem are important factors in reducing stress. Yet the definition of "happiness" has less to do with material comfort than Westerners might assume, he noted: "An extraordinary finding that's been replicated over and over is that once you get past the 25 percent or so poorest countries on Earth, where the only question is survival and subsistence, there is no relationship between gross national product, per capita income, any of those things, and levels of happiness."

Surveys show that in Greece, for example, one of Western Europe's poorest countries, people are much happier than in the United States, the world's richest nation. And while Greece is ranked number 30 in life expectancy, the United States--with the biggest per capita expenditure on medical care--is only slighter higher, coming in at 29.

"The United States has the biggest discrepancy in health and longevity between our wealthiest and our poorest of any country on Earth," Sapolsky noted. "We're also ranked way up in stress-related diseases."

Japan is number one in life expectancy, largely because of its extremely supportive social network, according to Sapolsky.

From a neuroscience perspective, Sapolsky pointed to several exciting new areas of research. "It's becoming clear that in the hippocampus, the part of the brain most susceptible to stress hormones, you see atrophy in people with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression," he  said. "There's a ton of very exciting, very contentious work as to whether stress is causing that part of the brain to atrophy, and if so, is it reversible. Or does having a small hippocampus make you more vulnerable to stress-related traumas? There's evidence for both sides."

He also cited new studies suggesting that chronic stress causes DNA to age faster. "Over time, the ends of your chromosomes fray, and as they fray your DNA stops working as well, and eventually that could wind up doing in the cell," he said. "There are now studies showing that chromosomal DNA aging accelerates in young, healthy humans who experience something incredibly psychologically stressful. That's a huge finding."

However, there is evidence about development beginning with fetal life--prenatal stress, stress hormones from the mom getting through fetal circulation--having all sorts of
long-term effects.

19th February 2007

Natural Family Planning Method As Effective As Contraceptive Pill, New Research Finds
Science Daily — Researchers have found that a method of natural family planning that uses two indicators to identify the fertile phase in a woman's menstrual cycle is as effective as the contraceptive pill for avoiding unplanned pregnancies if used correctly, according to a report published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction today (21 February). [1]

The symptothermal method (STM) is a form of natural family planning (NFP) that enables couples to identify accurately the time of the woman's fertile phase by measuring her temperature and observing cervical secretions. In the largest, prospective study of STM, the researchers found that if the couples then either abstained from sex or used a barrier method during the fertile period, the rate of unplanned pregnancies per year was 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. Out of all the 900 women who took part in the study, including those who had unprotected sex during their fertile period, 1.8 per 100 became unintentionally pregnant.

 "For a contraceptive method to be rated as highly efficient as the hormonal pill, there should be less than one pregnancy per 100 women per year when the method is used correctly. The pregnancy rate for women who used the STM method correctly in our study was 0.4%, which can be interpreted as one pregnancy occurring per 250 women per year. Therefore, we maintain that the effectiveness of STM is comparable to the effectiveness of modern contraceptive methods such as oral contraceptives, and is an effective and acceptable method of family planning."

"To be able to make an informed choice when selecting a family planning method, couples need to know the efficacy of a method when used both perfectly and imperfectly," said Prof Frank-Herrmann.
STM identifies the beginning and end of a woman's fertile period using two measurements (body temperature and cervical secretions) in order to have a double-check system. The first fertile day is when the woman first identifies either: 1) first appearance or change of appearance of cervical secretion, or 2) the sixth day of the cycle. After 12 cycles, this second guideline is replaced by a calculation that subtracts seven days from the earliest day to show a temperature rise in the preceding 12 cycles, in order to identify the first fertile day. The woman is then in her fertile period. The fertile phase ends after the woman has identified: 1) the evening of the third day after the cervical secretion peak day, and 2) the evening when the woman measures the third higher temperature reading, with all three being higher than the previous six readings and the last one being 0.2 degrees C higher than the previous six.

Prof Frank-Herrmann said: "The women or couples who want to learn the method have to buy a book, or attend an NFP course, or get some teaching by a qualified NFP teacher. Learning STM is usually no problem. There are precise rules that work. However, in contrast to the oral contraceptive pill or other family planning methods, STM needs more engagement and time to learn it."

Every month the women in the study sent charts to the researchers that showed their cycles, their observations of temperature and cervical secretions, and that recorded their sexual behaviour and family planning intentions for the next cycle.

Of the 900 women, 322 used only STM and 509 women used STM with occasional barriers during the fertile time. Sixty-nine women did not document their sexual behaviour. Out of the women who documented their sexual behaviour and abstained from sex during their fertile period ("perfect use") the unintended pregnancy rate was 0.4 per 100 women and 13 cycles [2], and 0.6 for women who used STM plus a barrier if they had sex during their fertile period. For cycles in which couples had unprotected sex during the fertile phase, the pregnancy rates rose to 7.5 per 100 women and 13 cycles. The drop-out rate from using STM for reasons such as dissatisfaction or difficulties with the method was 9.2 per 100 women and 13 cycles, and compared well with the drop-out rates from other methods of family planning, which can be as high as 30%, although direct comparisons are difficult due to methodological problems. "This demonstrates a fairly good acceptability for this particular FAB method," said Prof Frank-Herrmann.

The authors were surprised by the relatively low rate of unintended pregnancies (7.5%) among women who had unprotected sex during their fertile period. "If people are trying for pregnancy you expect a pregnancy rate of 28% per cycle," said Prof Frank-Herrmann. "Therefore, we think that some of the couples were practising conscious, intelligent risk-taking, and were having no unprotected sex during the few highly fertile days, but had unprotected intercourse on the days at the margins of the fertile time when the risk of pregnancy was lower."

Some studies have suggested that women's libido is higher during their fertile period, and this could be one of the reasons why NFP methods traditionally have had a reputation for being less effective than other methods of family planning. However, Prof Frank-Herrmann said: "There are studies that suggest that this is only the case for a small proportion of women, and that, in fact, women also identify other parts of their cycle with increased sexual desire. Most women who use FAB do not find this a problem. It's possible that the increased libido may be one of the reasons that some of the couples in our study used a barrier, such as a condom, in the fertile phase.

"This is the first time that a large, prospective STM database has been established with sufficient detailed information on sexual behaviour. It enables the true method effectiveness for STM to be calculated and we found this was 0.4% per year when there was no intercourse during the fertile phase. The user-effectiveness of STM, in other words the total number of unintended pregnancies that were due to both method and user failure, was 1.8% after 13 cycles of use, and this compares very well with results from other European studies of FAB methods of family planning. The markedly good user-effectiveness rate may be explained partly by the motivation of the couples and their teachers who agreed to participate in the study," she concluded.

[1] The effectiveness of a fertility awareness based method to avoid pregnancy in relation to a couple's sexual behaviour during the fertile time: a prospective longitudinal study. Human Reproduction. doi:10.1093/humrep/dem003. [2] This assumes a woman has 13 cycles in a year.
 

19th February 2007

Take More Breaks To Avoid Back Injury At Work, Study Says

Science Daily - Workers who lift for a living need to take longer or more frequent breaks than they now do to avoid back injury, according to a new study at Ohio State University .

The oxygen level indicated how hard the muscles were working, and whether they were becoming fatigued, explained William Marras, professor of industrial welding and systems engineering at Ohio State. His research and others' has shown that muscle fatigue is linked to back injury.

Despite the fact that the study participants were performing the same job at the same pace all day, their back muscles needed more oxygen as the day went on. Taking a half-hour lunch break helped their muscles recover from the morning's exertion, but once they started working again, their oxygen needs rose steeply and kept climbing throughout the afternoon.

"That was alarming to us, because it means that their muscles were becoming fatigued  much faster during the afternoon, and we know that fatigue increases the risk of  back injury," Marras said.
 
 Two 15-minute breaks, one mid-morning and the other mid-afternoon, helped muscles  recover a little, but not as much as the half-hour lunch.
 
 "This tells us two things," Marras said. "First, rest is good -- a half-hour break  does a good job of helping muscles recover. But it also tells us that people are  especially at risk for back injury at the end of the day, and the only way to  counteract that effect is with more breaks as the day goes on."
 
 "Because the oxygen demand at the end of the day was so much higher, that's when
 we'd expect people to get hurt on the job," Marras said. "And the data I see coming
 out of industry bear that out -- people tend to hurt their back toward the end of a
 shift."
  
 Tensing muscles prevents proper blood flow, so the muscles are even further deprived
 of oxygen. And using different muscles to lift may lessen pain at first, but it
 increases the stress on the joints and the spine, and increases risk of serious
 injury in the long run.
 
 "When that happens, it's like the muscles fight each other," Marras said. "You have
 back muscles that fight the abdominal muscles, and when they both contract, it's
 like a seesaw effect, except you're pulling down on both ends, and your spine is in
 the middle."
 
 The researchers found that participants who had never lifted for a living let their
 muscles tense up during the study. Their muscles also needed more oxygen than the
 experienced lifters, who generally relaxed their muscles and used the proper muscles
 for lifting.
 
 

19th February 2007

Exercise Pivotal In Preventing And Fighting Type II Diabetes

 Science Daily - One in three American children born in 2000 will develop type II
 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A
 new study at the University of Missouri-Columbia says that acute exercise - as
 little as 15 minutes a day - can have a profound influence on preventing and
 fighting the disease.
 
 "Many people can fight type II diabetes through diet and exercise alone," said John
 Thyfault, professor in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences' Department of
 Nutritional Sciences. "It is important to ward off diabetes early. Exercise has
 proven to be effective at all levels. At any stage of type II diabetes, from an
 obese child to a person dependent for 20 years on insulin injections, exercise could
 have a dramatic effect on improving insulin sensitivity."
 
 Type II diabetes results from a lack of insulin production and insulin resistance in
 skeletal muscle cells. Insulin is necessary to help drive glucose out of the blood
 and into the tissues of the body. As a result of insulin resistance, cells do not
 respond appropriately to insulin, causing more insulin to be released to have a
 measurable effect and ultimately causing insulin and glucose to build up dangerously
 in the blood.
 
 Thyfault's study found that relatively short periods of acute muscle exercise in
 diabetic Zucker rats significantly increased insulin sensitivity in the previously
 insulin resistance skeletal muscles. Since 80 to 90 percent of all glucose goes into
 muscle after a meal, it is reasonable that more active muscles on a day- to-day
 basis will result in increased insulin sensitivity, Thyfault said.
 
 

19th February 2007

Mind-set Matters: Why Thinking You Got A Work Out May Actually Make You Healthier

  Science Daily - As the commitment to our New Year's resolutions wanes and the trips
 to the gym become more infrequent, new findings appearing in the February issue of
 Psychological Science may offer us one more chance to reap the benefits of exercise
 through our daily routine. Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer and her
 student Alia Crum found that many of the beneficial results of exercise are due to
 the placebo effect.
 
  The surgeon general recommends 30 minutes of daily exercise to maintain a healthy
 lifestyle. While this may be harder for those who are required to sit behind a desk
 for eight hours, other jobs are inherently physical, like a hotel housekeeper. On
 average, they clean 15 rooms per day, each taking 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
 According to the study, the housekeepers might not perceive their job as exercise,
 but if their mind-set is shifted so that they become aware of the exercise they are
 getting, then health improvements would be expected to follow.
 
 The researchers studied 84 female housekeepers from seven hotels. Women in 4 hotels
 were told that their regular work was enough exercise to meet the requirements for a
 healthy, active lifestyle, whereas the women in the other three hotels were told
 nothing. To determine if the placebo effect plays a role in the benefits of
 exercise, the researchers investigated whether subjects' mind-set (in this case,
 their perceived levels of exercise) could inhibit or enhance the health benefits of
 exercise independent of any actual exercise.
 
 Four weeks later, the researchers returned to assess any changes in the women's
 health. They found that the women in the informed group had lost an average of 2
 pounds, lowered their blood pressure by almost 10 percent, and were significantly
 healthier as measured by body-fat percentage, body mass index, and waist-to-hip
 ratio. These changes were significantly higher than those reported in the control
 group and were especially remarkable given the time period of only four weeks.
 
 Langer writes, "Whether the change in physiological health was brought about
 directly or indirectly, it is clear that health is significantly affected by
 mind-set." This research shows the moderating role of mind-set and its ability to
 enhance health, which may have particular relevance for treating diseases associated
 with a sedentary lifestyle
 
 

19th February 2007

Sedentary Teens More Likely To Have Higher Blood Pressure

  Science Daily - Teenagers who spend a lot of time planted in front of the TV are
 more likely to have higher blood pressure, regardless of whether they are
 overweight. "This is the first research to show a direct and independent connection
 between TV watching and higher blood pressure among adolescents," said study leader
 Nicolas Stettler, M.D., M.S.C.E., a pediatric nutrition specialist at The Children's
 Hospital of Philadelphia
 
 

19th February 2007

Risk Of Preterm Birth Appears To Vary By Season; Women Who Conceive In Spring Are Most Vulnerable

 Science Daily - Women who become pregnant in spring are more vulnerable to preterm
 birth than those who conceive in other seasons, according to researchers at the
 University of Pittsburgh. Results of a large study of such seasonal variation in
 preterm birth, or birth prior to 37 weeks gestation, are being presented at th
 e 27th annual meeting of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, being held today
 through Saturday at the Hilton San Francisco and Towers in California.
 
 

19th February 2007

Garlic Hope In Infection Fight

 Science Daily - Garlic has been hailed a wonder drug for centuries and has been used
 to prevent gangrene, treat high blood pressure, ward off common colds and is even
 believed by some to have cancer-fighting properties.
 
  Dr Alan Smyth of the University's School of Human Development, who is leading the
 project, said: "The garlic components inhibit a bacterial communication system
 called quorum sensing (QS). This is responsible for the germ forming tenacious
 colonies in the lungs called 'biofilms'. The QS molecules also switch on bacterial
 weapons such as 'elastase', an enzyme which breaks down elastic tissue in the lung.
 
 "The beauty of this approach is that we may be able to render the germ harmless
 without killing it. If we use a conventional antibiotic which kills the Pseudomonas,
 there will always be some survivors, some of which may develop antibiotic
 resistance. The trick is not to allow Pseudomonas to use natural selection as a
 weapon against us."
 
 

19th February 2007

How Exercise Can Help Prevent Recurring Gestational Diabetes

 Science Daily - Lisa Chasan-Taber, associate professor of epidemiology at the
 University of Massachusetts Amherst, is launching a study of the effects of exercise
 programs on pregnant women with a history of gestational diabetes -- a condition
 triggered by pregnancy that puts them at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes
 later in life.
 
 

19th February 2007

Lifestyle Changes Effective In Protecting Against Type II Diabetes

 Science Daily - Changing to a healthier lifestyle appears to be at least as
 effective as taking prescription drugs in reducing the risk of developing Type 2
 diabetes, says a new British Medical Journal study.
 
 They found that lifestyle changes, e.g. switching to a healthier diet and increasing
 exercise to be at least as effective as taking prescription drugs. On average,
 lifestyle changes helped to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by around
 half. Lifestyle changes were also less likely to have adverse side-effects.
 
 

19th February 2007

Training Breathing Muscles Improves Swimming Muscles' Performance

 Science Daily - Swimmers and scuba divers can improve their swimming endurance and
 breathing capacity through targeted training of the respiratory muscles, researchers
 at the University at Buffalo have shown.
 
 "Typically, we think it's the muscles that move the body that are fatigued when we
 tire," he noted. "However, the increased work load of the breathing muscles is very
 important, particularly underwater during prolonged or high intensity exercise such
 as swimming.
 
 "As shown by other studies, when breathing muscles become fatigued, the body
 switches to survival mode and "steals" blood flow and oxygen away from the locomotor
 muscles and redirects it to the respiratory muscles to enable the diver to continue
 breathing. Deprived of oxygen and fuel, the locomotor muscles become fatigued.
 
 "Increasing the strength and endurance of the respiratory muscles prevents their
 fatigue during sustained exercise, enabling divers and swimmers to sustain their
 effort longer without tiring," Lundgren said.
 
 "These data are in agreement with previous studies in cyclists, rowers and runners.
 They suggest that athletes in most sports could improve their performance by
 undergoing respiratory muscle training. It is also clear that the greater the stress
 on the respiratory system, the larger the improvement in performance."
 
 

19th February 2007

Link Found Between Periodontal Disease And Pancreatic Cancer

 Science Daily - Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the
 U.S.; more than 30,000 Americans are expected to die from the disease this year. It
 is an extremely difficult cancer to treat and little is known about what causes it.
 One established risk factor in pancreatic cancer is cigarette smoking; other links
 have been made to obesity, diabetes type 2 and insulin resistance.
 
 Periodontal disease is caused by bacterial infection and inflammation of the gums
 that over time causes loss of bone that supports the teeth; tooth loss is a
 consequence of severe periodontal disease. Two previous studies had found a link
 between tooth loss or periodontitis and pancreatic cancer, but one consisted of all
 smokers and the other did not control for smoking in the analysis, and therefore no
 firm conclusions could be drawn from these studies.
 
 Data for the new study came from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which
 began in 1986 and includes 51,529 U.S. men working in the health professions.
 Participants respond to questionnaires about their health every two years. After
 analyzing the data, the researchers confirmed 216 cases of pancreatic cancer between
 1986 and 2002; of those, 67 reported periodontal disease.
 
 The results showed that, after adjusting for age, smoking, diabetes, body mass index
 and a number of other factors, men with periodontal disease had a 63% higher risk of
 developing pancreatic cancer compared to those reporting no periodontal disease.
 "Most convincing was our finding that never-smokers had a two-fold increase in risk
 of pancreatic cancer," said Michaud.
 
 One possible explanation for the results is that inflammation from periodontal
 disease may promote cancer of the pancreas. "Individuals with periodontal disease
 have elevated serum biomarkers of systemic inflammation, such as C-reactive protein,
 and these may somehow contribute to the promotion of cancer cells," she said.
 
 Another explanation, according to Michaud, is that periodontal disease could lead to
 increased pancreatic carcinogenesis because individuals with periodontal disease
 have higher levels of oral bacteria and higher levels of nitrosamines, which are
 carcinogens, in their oral cavity. Prior studies have shown that nitrosamines and
 gastric acidity may play a role in pancreatic cancer.
 
 

9th February 2007

Cloudy Apple Juice Four Times Healthier Than Clear

 Science Daily - Cloudy apple juice is four times healthier than the clear variety,
 reports Sarah Scoffield in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.
 
  Jan Oszmianski, leading a team at the Agricultural University of Wroclaw, Poland,
 compared clear and cloudy varieties of apple juice, and found that cloudy juice
 contains four times the concentration of polyphenols. Polyophenols are also found in
 dark chocolate, red wine and are widely reported to have anti-caner activity. The
 research published this month in the SCI's Journal of the Science of Food and
 Agriculture (DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2707).
 
 Lucy Ede, Head of Products at the juice company Innocent, said they already use
 cloudy apple juice in their products. "Cloudy juices taste better and have amazing
 body, which is important for us," she said. "But the fact that cloudy juices have
 more health benefits is extra exciting and definitely encourages us to use them."
 
 Clear juice far outsells cloudy juice because of the perception by consumers that is
 purer. But it is the process of clarification that removes the beneficial compounds
 locked away in the apple pulp. Retailers also tend to favour clear juice because it
 has a longer shelf life than cloudy juice.
 
 Adding orange fibre to the mix allows scientist to make tasty sausages with 60% less
 fat. The orange fibre not only improves flavour but could also provide health
 benefits of fruit, which helps fight several conditions such as, colon cancer and
 heart disease. (JSFA DOI: 10.1002/jsfa)
 
 

9th February 2007

Eastern Philosophy Promises Hope For Western Women With Eating Disorders

 A psychological technique based on Buddhist philosophy and practice may provide a
 solution for women who struggle with binge eating and bulimia.
 
  The technique known as 'mindfulness' is being taught to Queensland women to help
 them understand and deal with the emotions that trigger their binges.
 
 Unlike many therapies for eating disorders, there is less focus on food and
 controlling eating and more on providing freedom from negative thoughts and
 emotions.
 
  Griffith University psychologists Michelle Hanisch and Angela Morgan said women who
 binged were often high-achievers and perfectionists.
 
 When such women perceived they didn't measure up to self-imposed standards or were
 not in control of situations, they indulged in secretive eating binges. A typical
 late-night binge could involve four litres of icecream and a couple of packets of
 chocolate biscuits, Ms Hanisch said.
 
 "Many women develop elaborate methods of hiding the evidence of their binges and
 some feel so guilty afterwards they also induce vomiting, overuse laxatives or
 exercise excessively to counteract the effects of the binge," she said.
 
 "Binge eating is largely a distraction -- a temporary escape from events and
 emotions that nevertheless can cause long-term physical problems including
 electrolyte imbalances. Instead, women need to learn how to react in a different
 way."
 
 Mindfulness involves exercises similar to meditation that could help people live
 more in the moment, develop a healthy acceptance of self and become aware of
 potentially destructive habitual responses.
 
  "Women who have been through the program report less dissatisfaction with their
 bodies, increased self-esteem and improved personal relationships," Ms Morgan said.
 
 "They learn that thoughts and emotions don't have any power over us as they are just
 passing phenomena and aren't permanent."
 
 Mindfulness has already been shown to be effective as a treatment for anxiety and
 depression, substance abuse, and the stress associated with physical conditions such
 as trauma, chronic pain or cancer.
 
  The eight-week program is being offered at no charge at Griffith University campuses
 on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. Women who binge eat and are interested in
 participating in the program can phone 07 3735 3324.
 
  Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Griffith University.
 
 

9th February 2007

A Curry A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?

 Science Daily - The chemical that gives spicy food its kick could hold the key to
 the next generation of anti-cancer drugs that will kill tumours with few or no side
 effects for the patient, say academics at The University of Nottingham.
 
 A study by the scientists, published online in the journal Biochemical and
 Biophysical Research Communications, has proven for the first time that the chemical
 compound capsaicin -- which is responsible for the burning sensation when we eat
 chillies -- can kill cells by directly targeting their energy source.
 
 It could mean that patients could control or prevent the onset of cancer by eating a
 diet rich in capsaicin and that existing products to treat conditions such as
 psoriasis and muscle strain, which contain the compound and are already approved for
 medical use, could be adapted to tackle this more serious disease.
 
 The Nottingham study has shown that the family of compounds to which capsaicin
 belongs, vanilloids, can kill cancer by attacking the mitochondria of the tumour
 cell, commonly known as its 'powerhouse', which produces ATP, the major
 energy-containing chemical in the body. By binding proteins in the cancer cell
 mitochondria the compound triggers apoptosis, or natural cell death, without harming
 the healthy surrounding cells.
 
 Dr Timothy Bates, the study's leader, is a member of the Medical Research Council
 (MRC) College of Experts and an internationally-renowned researcher in the areas of
 mitochondrial research and anti-cancer drug development. He said: "This is
 incredibly exciting and may explain why people living in countries like Mexico and
 India, who traditionally eat a diet which is very spicy, tend to have lower
 incidences of many cancers that are prevalent in the western world."
 
 "It's also possible that cancer patients or those at risk of developing cancer could
 be advised to eat a diet which is richer in spicy foods to help treat or prevent the
 disease."
 
 

9th February 2007

Why Doesn't The Immune System Attack The Small Intestine? New Study Provides
 Unexpected Answer

 Science Daily - Answering one of the oldest questions in human physiology,
 researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why the body's immune
 system - perpetually on guard against foreign microbes like bacteria -- doesn't
 attack tissues in the small intestine that harbor millions of bacteria cells.
 
 In a study in the February issue of Nature Immunology, and which is currently
 available on the journal's Web site as an advanced online publication, investigators
 led by Shannon Turley, PhD, of Dana-Farber identify an unlikely group of
 peacemakers: lymph node cells that instruct key immune system cells to leave healthy
 tissue alone. The finding, which illuminates a previously unknown corner of the
 human immune system, may lead to new forms of treatment for autoimmune diseases such
 as Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
 
 "We've discovered that cells not generally thought of as part of the immune system
 actually play an important role in protecting the intestine from immune system
 attack," says Turley. "Because the cells are found in lymph nodes throughout the
 body, they may offer a way of suppressing a variety of autoimmune diseases," which
 result from immune system assault on healthy tissue.
 
 The immune system distinguishes between normal and foreign agents by small proteins,
 called antigens, on the cell surface. In parts of the body, such as the pancreas,
 that are sheltered from the outside environment, cells known as dendritic cells
 display the antigens of their normal neighbors in a way that puts the immune system
 "at ease." By reading those antigens without being on alert, the immune system's T
 cells learn that such cells are off-limits to attack.
 
 For years, scientists have wondered whether the same mechanism is at work in tissues
 that come in regular contact with bacteria and other microbial organisms. The small
 intestine, for example, which absorbs essential nutrients from food and drink and
 protects the body from invasive microbes, is literally teeming with bacteria, which
 help break down waste. The presence of so many bacteria is a potential trigger for
 an immune system response. Why do T cells almost always ignore the small intestine,
 leaving this vital tissue unharmed?
 
  "It's obvious that T cells must be able to ignore -- or become 'tolerized' to --
 normal intestinal tissue," states Turley, who is also an assistant professor of
 pathology at Harvard Medical School. "But it has been unclear how dendritic cells,
 which are extremely sensitive to microbial agents such as bacteria, teach T cells to
 resist attacking healthy intestinal cells."
 
 In the new study, Turley and her colleagues found that, in fact, dendritic cells
 aren't essential in creating tolerance in T cells. Instead, and unexpectedly,
 tolerance is produced by stromal cells from nearby lymph nodes. Although they aren't
 classified as "professional antigen-presenters," as dendritic cells are, the stromal
 cells serve the same purpose: exhibiting normal-cell antigens to the immune system.
 
 "Our study points to a previously unknown mechanism of immune system tolerance,"
 Turley explains. "When you think of the conditions in the small intestine, with so
 many millions of bacteria cells and so much opportunity for dendritic cells to
 stimulate an immune attack, it's remarkable that intestinal tissue is so rarely the
 target of an immune attack. Our findings demonstrate that the immune system has
 features that remain to be discovered."
 
 

9th February 2007

Milk Eliminates Cardiovascular Health Benefits Of Tea, Researchers Warn

 Science Daily - Research published online in the European Heart Journal has found
 that the protective effect that tea has on the cardiovascular system is totally
 wiped out by adding milk.
 
 Tests on volunteers showed that black tea significantly improves the ability of the
 arteries to relax and expand, but adding milk completely blunts the effect.
 Supporting tests on rat aortas (aortic rings) and endothelial (lining) cells showed
 that tea relaxed the aortic rings by producing nitric oxide, which promotes dilation
 of blood vessels. But, again, adding milk blocked the effect.
 
 The findings, by cardiologists and scientists from the Charité Hospital,
 Universitätsmedizin-Berlin, Germany, are bad news for tea-drinking nations like the
 British, who normally add milk to their beverage. The results have led the
 researchers to suggest that tea drinkers who customarily add milk should consider
 omitting it some of the time.
 
 Their study showed that the culprit in milk is a group of proteins called caseins,
 which they found interacted with the tea to decrease the concentration of catechins
 in the beverage. Catechins are the flavonoids in tea that mainly contribute to its
 protection against cardiovascular disease.
 
 She said their findings could also have implications for cancer, against which tea
 has also been shown to be protective. "Since milk appears to modify the biological
 activities of tea ingredients, it is likely that the anti-tumour effects of tea
 could be affected as well.
 
 Said Dr Lorenz: "It is important to bear in mind that green tea is almost
 exclusively drunk without milk. So we are talking only about those countries and
 regions where black tea is consumed and where milk is added. We certainly don't want
 to dismiss the consumption of black tea: the results of our study merely attempt to
 encourage people to consider that, while the addition of milk may improve its taste,
 it may also lower its health-protective properties."
 
 She said that the team was now in the process of comparing the effects of green and
 black tea on vascular function. "It's an ongoing question whether green tea, with
 its higher catechin content, is superior to black tea in regard to endothelial
 function. In addition, because of the antiatherogenic potential of tea ingredients,
 we want to investigate the effects of the ingredients on chronic cardiovascular
 processes such as the development of restenosis (re-narrowing of arteries) after
 catheter procedures."
 
 

9th February 2007

Sugars In Liver Found To Clear Fats From The Bloodstream

 In work with mice, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
 School of Medicine discovered a factor that could be responsible for many
 unexplained cases of elevated triglyceride levels.
 
 In humans, this condition can be diabetes-related, diet-induced, or caused by drug
 interactions or chronic alcohol consumption. The problem can also run in families.
 But it turns out that another important factor is sugar -- a complex one produced by
 all cells in the body called heparan sulfate, which is related to the anti-coagulant
 heparin.
 
 

9th February 2007

Maternal Diet During Pregnancy Can Impact Offspring For Generations, Study Shows

 Science Daily - A new study by scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland Research
 Institute (CHORI) is the first to show that a mother's diet during pregnancy
 influences the health of her grandchildren by changing the behavior of a specific
 gene. The study was conducted using mice of an unique strain called "viable yellow
 agouti" also known as Avy in scientific terms. These mice possess a gene that
 influences the color of their coats as well as their tendency to become obese and
 develop diabetes and cancer. The new research shows that the diet consumed by a
 pregnant Avy mouse affects the health of not only her pups, but also their pups --
 her grandchildren.
 
  In their experiments, the scientists fed some Avy mice a standard lab diet based on
 common foods consumed by humans. Other mice were fed this same diet supplemented
 with common nutritional supplements including folate, choline, betaine, vitamin
 B12, zinc and methionine.
 
 The supplements were fed to the mice for a week during mid-pregnancy. The offspring
 were examined for their coat color, and female offspring were themselves mated again
 (without a supplemented diet) to produce a third generation of "grandchildren." The
 results showed that the supplements changed the behavior of the agouti gene in the
 first generation of pups, shifting their coats towards a brown color, and had the
 same effect on pups born in the next generation to mice that were not exposed to the
 supplemented diet.
 
 "Although researchers have long known that there is a connection between a mother's
 diet and her children's health this is the first case in which the relationship
 between a mother's diet and the biology of her grandchildren has been mapped to a
 single gene and a defined diet," said David Martin, M.D., Scientist at CHORI. "Our
 work provides convincing evidence of complex transgenerational effects of nutrition
 on health, and provides an experimental model for exploring these relationships in
 detail."
 
 

9th February 2007

Pregnant women who suffer from diabetes are more likely to have a child with memory problems, according to a new study.

 The researchers believe the children's poor memories are the result of inadequate
 levels of iron and oxygen reaching the brain's memory centre during its crucial
 developmental phase. However, they stress that diabetics who properly control their
 condition during pregnancy avoid risking damage to their child's memory.
 
  Diabetic mothers who had widely fluctuating blood sugar levels during pregnancy had
 children who performed worse than children in a control group in a series of memory
 tests at 12 months of age (Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, vol 47, p
 525) - and the effects are still significant at age three-and-a-half, says DeBoer.
 
 

9th February 2007

Plastics In Common Household Items May Cause Fertility Defects

 The contaminant bisphenol-A (BPA)--widely used to make many plastics found in food storage containers and dental products--can have long-term effects in female development, according to a recent study by Yale School of Medicine researchers.
 
If pregnant women are exposed to the estrogen-like properties found in BPA, it may impact female reproductive tract development and the future fertility of female fetuses the mother is carrying.
 
"The net effect is concerning," said Taylor. "We are all exposed tomultiple estrogen-like chemicals in industrial products, food and pollutants."
 
BPA is found in plastics, including baby bottles, epoxy resins used in canned goods and dental sealants. In addition to this new link to fertility and reproductive health, previous findings by Csaba Leranth, M.D., also in Yale Ob/Gyn, found that low doses of BPA in female rats inhibited estrogen induction in the brain.
 
This can lead to learning impairment and, in old age, the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
 
The FASEB Journal (Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) Vol. 21, 239-246 (January 2007)
 
 

9th February 2007

Study To Explore Using Magnets To Correct 'Sunken Chest'

 Sunken chest, which is known medically as pectus excavatum, is a
 deformity of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the breastbone. The
 deformed cartilage pulls the breastbone inward, making the chest look
 caved in or sunken.
 
 A UCSF team developed the new procedure, in which a magnet attached to
 the child's breastbone is coupled with a second one outside the chest
 that creates a steady, controlled, outward pull on the internal magnet
 to reshape the bone, cartilage and chest wall.
 
 "We needed to apply a force to gradually remodel the chest wall without
 piercing the skin," Harrison said. "Magnets do it."
 
  The research team named the new technique the "Magnetic Mini-Mover
 Procedure," known as 3MP. The 3MP uses a device that includes two parts:
 a titanium-encased magnet about the size of a quarter that is surgically
 attached to the child's breastbone and a second magnet embedded in a
 lightweight plastic brace that the child wears under clothing. The
 attraction between the two magnets holds the brace in place.
 
More information about the medical condition is available at
http://www.pedsurg.ucsf.edu/pectus/

and about the Magnetic Mini-Mover Procedure at
http://www.pedsurg.ucsf.edu/m3p/.
 
Interested persons also can contact the UCSF Division of Pediatric Surgery at 415/476-2538.
 
 

9th February 2007

Lifestyle Changes Can Improve Male Sexual Function, According To New Study

 In a study published in the February 2007 issue of The American Journal of Medicine, researchers report that erectile dysfunction was significantly and independently associated with age, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and lack of physical activity. There was an especially high prevalence of erectile dysfunction among men with hypertension and diabetes, suggesting that screening for erectile dysfunction in these patients may be warranted.
 
 Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Hospital analyzed data from 2126 men who participated in the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
 
 As many as 18 million men may be affected with erectile dysfunction in the United States. The recent development of effective oral medications to treat erectile dysfunction has raised awareness and furnished treatment options, however lifestyle changes like increase of physical activity, stricter dietary control and other measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes may prevent decrease in erectile function.
 
  These data suggest physical activity and other measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes may prevent decrease in erectile function."

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