Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Study finds that many baby boomers are binge drinkers

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Jana
on August 22, 2009
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It has been discovered that there is a notable percentage of people over the age of 50 who are binge drinkers. This concerns experts who are afraid that this could cause health problems for these boomers in the future if they keep drinking heavily. A new study performed by Duke University Medical Center researchers shows this to be true.

In the survey, twenty-two percent of men and 9 percent of women from age 50 to 64 reported drinking 5 or more drinks at one time during the past month. The survey will be published in an online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The study revealed 19 percent of men and 13 percent of women in the same age group drank heavily or had two or more drinks a day. Researchers found that in the 65 -and- older age group, 14 percent of men and 3 percent of women were binge drinking. The research, called “National Survey on Drug Use and Health”, is one of the largest significant surveys using people older than 50.

Dr. Dan Blazer, the study’s lead author and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke Medical Center, says that drinking is more prone to make health problems worse for older people because their body’s natural immunities are already weakened. He said that things such as their driving, anxiety or blood pressure medication could all be adversely affected. Additional health problems could arise and cause them to be at an increased risk.

Unfortunately Blazer claimed that this trend is not only likely to continue but to even get worse, because younger people use and abuse alcohol even more than the age groups that were studied. The current findings reveal that drinking doesn’t slow down or stop when people get older. He said, “people need to know that sitting down and drinking five cocktails or seven or eight beers is not without consequence.” He believes this troubling trend has not been recognized much because doctors are not asking enough specific questions.

This study did not go into the causes for this drinking trend.

Weightlifting may benefit breast cancer patients

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Jana
on August 22, 2009
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In the past, doctors would often warn those who had survived breast cancer that lifting anything heavy, let alone weightlifting, could cause painful arm swelling. Now, startling new research proves that weight training could even prevent this problem from happening.

Kathryn Schmitz, an exercise scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, led this new study. The results are in the August 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

This is great news for the more than 2.4 million Americans who are survivors of breast cancer, because the study could make a huge difference in their quality of life.

Lymph-edema can occur in women who have had radiation treatment in the armpit or have had their lymph nodes removed to check for cancer. It is a buildup of fluids causing painful and unattractive swelling of the arms or hands.

Up until now, weight lifting was thought to be detrimental to them. Lifting weights has many benefits such as a boost in mood, muscle mass, bone strength and helping with weight control.

Schmitz performed a small study a couple of years ago and found that weight training did not make lymph-edema worse. Her latest study is the first one that is big and extended enough to indicate that this is definitely true. It even demonstrates that weightlifting can actually help sufferers of lymph-edema.

The study consisted of 141 breast cancer survivors who had suffered from lymph-edema. Half of the participants were told no to exercise at all. The other half took 90-minute weightlifting classes two times a week for 13 weeks at gyms in their communities. A custom-fitted compression garment was worn on their affected arm. They slowly worked towards more challenging weights and repetitions. Then for the next 39 weeks, they did the exercises on their own.

After a year, there were less weightlifters who had lymph-edema flare-ups – a 14 percent versus 29 percent. Only 77 visits to doctors or physical therapists, concerning lymph-edema flare-ups, were made by the group of weightlifters against 195 visits for the group that didn’t lift weights.

This said, Kathryn Schmitz warns breast cancer patients to not rush into a weight training program, suggesting patients start slowly and progress gingerly.  She recommends getting a certified fitness expert to teach how to do the exercises correctly. She also stresses the importance of wearing a well-fitted compression garment during workouts.

Artificial sweeteners may raise the risk for weight gain

Published
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Jana
on August 19, 2009
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A new study has discovered that people who drink diet sodas and consume other products that contain artificial sweeteners may not lose weight but actually gain instead.

A study from Purdue University that was released August 9 in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience reported that rats who were on diets that contained the artificial sweetener saccharin surprisingly gained more weight that rats that were given food containing real sugar. This disturbing news has cast a dark cloud on the benefits of low-calorie sweeteners.

Dr. Marie Savard, ABC News’ medical contributor, said that she thinks there is a component in diet foods that seems to change metabolic limit and brain chemistry. Although Savard admits that more research is needed to discover additional information concerning these findings, this recent study gives a glimpse into the notion that a person’s metabolism can be changed by these sweeteners. She also said that there was another study performed recently on more than 18,000 people which found that healthy adults who drank one diet drink per day might increase their chance for gaining weight.

The Purdue study found that the rats with diets containing artificial sweeteners seemed to have a physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, causing them to overeat.

Savard explains that “the taste buds taste sweet, but there’s no calorie load that comes with it. There’s a mismatch here. It seems it changes your brain chemistry in some way. Anything you put in your mouth, your body has a strong reaction to it. It’s much more than counting calories. It seems normally with sweet foods that we rev up our metabolism.”

According to a consumer survey from the Calorie Control Council, diet drinks are the second most popular low-calorie, sugar-free product in the U.S., so this may come as a big shock to the 59 percent of Americans who drink them.

Since there are lots of foods that now have artificial sweeteners in them, the results of this latest study may extend beyond just diet drinks. Savard warns that “we need to rethink what this artificial stuff does to us.”

This year, 3 flu shots are recommended

Published
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Jana
on August 7, 2009
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This fall flu season is going to be quite different than previous ones in the past, so get ready to possibly feel the sting 3 times. The majority of people should get one shot for the usual seasonal flu and two more to help protect against the swine flu.

If you are lucky enough to find it – experts are saying that you should get your first shot this month.

There are five vaccine manufacturers which supply the U.S. and they are finishing their seasonal flu vaccine earlier than normal. Health officials are expecting around half of the more than 120 million doses of seasonal vaccine to be ready by the end of August. The rest should be out by the end of September. There are some manufacturers claiming that distributors are rapidly buying supplies.

These five companies are the same ones that are making the new swine flu vaccine. One of them makes a nasal spray version. They should begin dropping off the first batches in September, although most of it won’t be expected until the end of October or November, according to health officials.

Scientists think the swine flu vaccine will be the most successful against the swine flu if it is given in two doses, about three weeks apart. Testing is still being done to determine this.

Although it is too late to do it this year, combining the swine flu and seasonal flu into one shot is possible. Last winter decisions were made concerning what flu strains to use in this year’s seasonal vaccine ,and production was too advanced when the swine flu hit to change the formula. This is the reason that multiple shots will be needed.

Unfortunately supplies will be limited, so the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created two different lists for the first to get the seasonal flu shot and the first to get the swine flu shot. Elderly people, health care workers and pregnant women are the first on the regular flu vaccine list. For the swine flu vaccine, the first in line will be health care workers and pregnant people. Older people are not on the first on this list, because they seem to have some immunity to the swine flu. Because of this discrepancy, some confusion is expected.

Scientists are just now starting to test the safety and effectiveness of the new swine flu vaccine. This is expected to take several months. The government is planning on the vaccines to be given with three shots, over three separate visits. If the seasonal and swine flu vaccines were given at the same time, it would be too difficult to determine which vaccine was to blame, if people developed health problems after receiving their shot.

The recommended three shots is a concern to the government because the public has not been very diligent about getting just one flu shot. Last year, just one in three U.S. adults got their flu shots according to CDC data.

The autumn vaccine campaign against seasonal flu is usually starts in late September or October with a news conference, but this year it has been set for September 10. Some health officials are saying that the push for seasonal vaccinations will begin even sooner. Carol Schriber, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, says that “as soon as it becomes available, we’ll be encouraging people to get it.”

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Volunteers of all ages will be used to test swine flu shots

Published
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Jana
on August 5, 2009
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Many volunteers will be rolling up their sleeves soon to get the swine flu shot so it can be tested to see if it will really protect against this new virus before it comes back strong this fall. The government health researchers and vaccine makers are looking for volunteers from every age to participate so they can prepare for the fall, which is expected to bring a new surge of cases. It is important to test all ages, because this new flu seems to prey on school-age children, teenagers and young adults. The regular flu is more dangerous for those over 65 and under 2.

On July 22, the National Institutes of Health contacted medical centers in the U.S. to start a series of studies. The first shots will be for healthy adults. If there are no instantaneous health concerns, like allergic reactions, testing will begin on children as young as 6 months. One of the chosen places for the research is Duke University Medical Center in Durham.

The government will be using the tests and vaccine manufacturer’s research to help it decide if the swine flu vaccine should be given to millions of Americans beginning in mid-October. Hopefully there will be enough produced by then. That is still not certain because the vaccine is getting harder to manufacture.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says he’s afraid that it is going to be extremely close. Dr. Karen Kotloff of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is helping to pilot the NIH study. She said “we are racing to provide them as much information as we possibly can.”

The fall will probably be a very perplexing time as doctors try to give the vaccine for the winter flu and inform patients to be patient and wait and see if they can return for their swine flu shots.

The new swine flu strain comes form the H1N1 influenza viruses, but because it is a distinct H1N1 strain, scientists fear that it might be more difficult for the vaccine to provide the right protection.

The plan for the test is for all the volunteers to get 2 swine flu shots, which will be given 21 days apart. In early September, blood tests will hopefully reveal how much immune protection the first dose provided and if a low-dose shot worked or a higher dose is needed. Then another month will be needed to retrieve information on the second shot.

Many American children lack vitamin D

Published
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Jana
on August 3, 2009
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It has been discovered that millions of children in the U.S. have alarmingly low levels of vitamin D. According to two new studies that gave the first national assessment of the important nutrient in young Americans, this could potentially raise their risk for heart disease, bone problems, diabetes and other illnesses.

There is about 9 percent or 7.6 million adolescents and young adults, ranging in age from 1 to 21, who have such low vitamin D levels that they are considered deficient. Also, 61 percent – 50.8 million – have higher levels, but they are still too low, as stated by the analysis of federal data that was recently released.

Girls, adolescents and darker skin people are especially susceptible to low vitamin D levels. This was found after an analysis of a study on 6,000 children. One of the studies found that 59 percent of black teenage girls were deficient in vitamin D.

Some of the researchers believe the low levels are due to a combination of things. These include things such as children spending more time watching T.V. and playing video games instead of playing outside, using sunscreen and covering up whenever they go outside, and drinking soda and other drinks instead of milk and not consuming enough foods with vitamin D.

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