Dietary Zinc for Diabetes Prevention Not Backed by Evidence
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Despite laboratory evidence that zinc helps promote the production and action of insulin - and widespread marketing of zinc supplements for this purpose - no randomized clinical trials show that zinc supplementation prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that zinc doesn’t have a role in diabetes prevention. Rather, eligible studies are lacking, according to authors of a new systematic review of clinical studies, led by Vania Beletate of the Federal University of Sao Paola in Brazil.
Quitting Smoking May Be Harder If Mom Smoked During Pregnancy
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Quitting smoking may be more difficult for individuals whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to animal research conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.
Prenatal exposure to nicotine is known to alter areas of the brain critical to learning, memory and reward. Scientists at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research have discovered that these alterations may program the brain for relapse to nicotine addiction. Rodents exposed to nicotine before birth self administer more of the drug after periods of abstinence than those that had not been exposed.
Learning slows physical progression of Alzheimer’s disease
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Learning appears to slow the development of two brain lesions that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists at UC Irvine have discovered. The finding suggests that the elderly, by keeping their minds active, can help delay the onset of this degenerative disease.
This study with genetically modified mice is the first to show that short but repeated learning sessions can slow a process known for causing the protein beta amyloid to clump in the brain and form plaques, which disrupt communication between cells and lead to symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Learning also was found to slow the buildup of hyperphosphorylated-tau, a protein in the brain that can lead to the development of tangles, the other signature lesion of the disease. Scientists say these findings have large implications for the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as it is already known that highly educated individuals are less likely to develop the disease than people with less education.
Smart way of living for people with dementia
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A groundbreaking home that uses the latest smart technology to give people with dementia and other serious long-term health conditions greater independence will be showcased for the first time in Bristol tomorrow.
The technology, which has been developed by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering (BIME) in the School for Health at the University of Bath, has been designed to help people readjust to living on their own after a stay in hospital, and aims to reduce the risk of users being readmitted to hospital or going into long term care.
Exercise helps stoke fat-burning fires
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It may be easier for active people to stay slim after a few days of eating too much fat, a new study shows.
Given that eating lots of fat over short stretches likely leads to accumulation of excess body fat over time, Dr. Kent C. Hansen of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and his colleagues write, regular exercise may help people maintain a healthy weight even if they do indulge occasionally.
While the body can adjust fairly rapidly to excess carbohydrate intake by boosting the rate at which it burns calories from carbs, it takes several days to adjust in a similar way to an increase in fat intake, Hansen and his team note in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. However, there is evidence that exercise can help the body adapt more quickly, they add.
Depression drugs weaken bones in elderly
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Older adults who take the most popular class of anti-depressant drugs worsen their risk of developing fragile bones, a study has shown.
Tests on a group of Canadians aged 50 or older found those taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had 4 percent less bone mineral density in their hip bones.
Millions of people take the anti-depressants commonly called SSRIs that include Eli Lilly’s Prozac.
Anger linked to women’s heart problems
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Some women who make a habit of venting their anger may be more likely to develop blockages in the heart arteries, new research suggests.
Past studies have linked anger and hostility to a greater risk of heart disease, but most of those have focused on men.
These latest findings, published in the Journal of Women’s Health, suggest that there is a relationship between anger and heart health in women, but it’s complex.
Radiation Therapy Reduces Cancer Recurrence in Older Women
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Radiation therapy after lumpectomy and five years of treatment with the drug tamoxifen can dramatically reduce the risk of both cancer recurrence and new tumors in older women with early breast cancer, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues.
“While these treatments are standard care for younger patients, it is has been shown that older women are less likely to receive them,” said lead author Ann M. Geiger, M.P.H., Ph.D., an associate professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest and formerly of Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “Our results provide strong evidence of the importance of providing high quality care to all patients, regardless of age.”
Can’t Cure Common Cold, But Coffee Benefits Perk
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Its caffeine can bring jitters and its color can stain teeth, yet moderate consumption of coffee—an all-world beverage if ever there was one—is being shown to have generally positive and protective effects on the emergence of disease conditions according to this month’s issue of Food Technology magazine.
In its regular Food, Medicine & Health column, Food Technology reports that recent studies of coffee in combination with reviews of research gathered over the past 30 years reveal that consumption improves glucose regulation and lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, among other favorable effects.
Cholesterol decline may signal early dementia
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A decline in total cholesterol levels may precede the diagnosis of dementia by at least 15 years, according to a study reported in the Archives of Neurology.
“Studies like this are extremely valuable because they can provide a ‘window’ on to processes going on early in dementia, allowing researchers to look back in time at people’s health and other characteristics and compare these between people who develop dementia and those who do not,” Dr. Robert Stewart from King’s College London, told Reuters Health.
World’s oldest woman dies in Canada -media reports
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Julie Winnefred Bertrand, the world’s oldest woman, died early on Thursday at the age of 115 in a Montreal nursing home, CanWest News Service reported.
Bertrand, who was born on Sept. 16, 1891, in the Quebec town of Coaticook, passed away in her sleep, CanWest reported, citing Bertrand’s 73-year-old nephew, Andre.
Last month, Bertrand was proclaimed the world’s oldest living woman and its second oldest person by Guinness World Records after the death of Tennessee woman Elizabeth Bolden, who was born Aug. 15, 1890.
Newer blood-pressure drugs pose less diabetes risk
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More recent blood pressure treatments are less likely to be associated with diabetes than are older medicines, researchers said on Friday.
Their conclusions are based on a systematic review of 22 clinical trials involving 143,000 patients who did not have diabetes when they were started on the different high blood pressure medicines.
Birth defects big cause of infant death
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Birth defects, including heart problems, rather than illnesses associated with premature births are a leading cause of death in very young babies in the United States, according to a report issued on Thursday.
Birth defects, such as a heart condition called pulmonary valve stenosis, are also the most common reason babies are hospitalized, said study researchers, from the University of Arkansas, who examined data on babies under 10 days old.
Texas study finds link between pollution, cancer
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A University of Texas study found a possible link between childhood leukemia and living close to the city’s refinery row along the Houston Ship Channel, one of the study’s co-authors said on Thursday.
The study found that living within two miles of elevated levels of 1,3-butadiene around the ship channel’s petrochemical complex was associated with a 56 percent increased incidence of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia compared with those living more than 10 miles away, according to a statement from the city of Houston, which financed the study.
Long-term narcotics use for back pain may be ineffective and lead to abuse
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Narcotic drugs (opioids) are commonly prescribed for short-term relief of chronic back pain, but their effectiveness long-term has been questioned in a review article by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, who also found that behaviors consistent with opioid abuse was reported in 24 percent of cases.
“Patients with chronic back pain commonly request pain medication, and opioid medications are used despite the concerns clinicians have with patients developing an addiction to these medications,” said first author Bridget Martell, M.D., assistant clinical professor of general internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine. “Our findings suggest that clinicians should consider other treatments with similar benefits but fewer long-term adverse effects.”
