September 18th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Middle-aged women who drink alcohol moderately yet regularly throughout the week may age more healthfully, according to data from the Nurses’ Health Study.
After adjusting for variables such as smoking, women who drank light or moderate amounts of alcohol had a modestly increased chance of successful ageing compared to nondrinkers. For example, compared to nondrinkers, women who drank 5 to 15 g of alcohol per day (between one-third and one drink per day) at middle age had about a 20% higher chance of successful ageing, defined as being free of 11 major chronic diseases and having no major cognitive, physical or mental health limitations at age 70.
Independent of total alcohol intake, women who drank alcohol regularly had a better chance of successful ageing than occasional drinkers. Thus, compared to nondrinkers, women who drank five to seven days a week had nearly a 50% greater chance of successful ageing whereas women who drank only one or two days a week had a similar likelihood of successful ageing.
Researchers measured alcohol consumption at midlife using Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 18th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Opinion, Research
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MSNBC reported recently that a shot of carbon dioxide gas into the nose can help with allergies based on preliminary findings funded by Capnia, a company that makes the product.
Upside:
Symptoms of nasal allergies improved within 30 minutes.
No liquid is involved… just carbon dioxide gas.
Downside: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
September 14th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Research
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The idea that heart disease mortality rises dramatically at menopause has been one of the truisms of medicine that spawned a generation of hormone use by women and led to the rise and subsequent fall of Prempro in the Women’s Health Initiative, the end-all-be-all study that failed to prove the truism. The truism is still so strongly believed that research to prove it right continues, using different hormone formulations and different cohorts of women, in the hopes that the hormonal fountain of youth was just misbranded and given to the wrong aged cohort.
Now comes a landmark study that suggests that what we’ve thought all along about heart disease and menopause may actually be wrong.
Dhananjay Vaidya and colleagues at Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama have re-analyzed mortality data on men and women in the UK and US and concluded that, contrary to popular belief, heart disease rates and mortality do not increase dramatically with menopause, but rather rise more gradually as a function of age in both men and women.
“Our data show there is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
September 5th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Eating a lot of chocolate was associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 29% reduction in stroke compared eating less, researchers reported. But, people are trending toward record obesity by the year 2030, which is a cardiometabolic risk in its own right.
Willie Wonka’s factory wasn’t the only risky place for those with a sweet tooth.
In the first study, to evaluate the association of chocolate with the risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders, researchers performed a meta-analysis of randomized trials, six cohort and one cross-sectional, which reported the association between chocolate and the risk of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease and stroke), diabetes, and metabolic syndrome for about 114,000 people.
Because the studies reported chocolate consumption differently, researchers Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
September 5th, 2011 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Research
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Several questionable sources are spreading alarms about the possible dangers of prenatal ultrasound exams (sonograms). An example is Christine Anderson’s article on the ExpertClick website. In the heading, it says she “Never Liked Ultrasound Technology.”
[She] has never been sold on the safety using Ultrasounds for checking on the fetuses of pregnant women, and for the last decade her fears have been confirmed with a series of studies pointing to possible brain damage to the babies from this technology.
Should We Believe Her?
Should we avoid ultrasounds because Anderson never liked them? Should we trust her judgment that her fears have been confirmed by studies? Who is she?
“Dr.” Christine Anderson is a pediatric chiropractor in Hollywood who believes a lot of things that are not supported by science or reason. Her website mission statement includes
We acknowledge the devastating effects of the vertebral subluxation on human health and therefore recognize that the spines of all children need to be checked soon after birth, so they may grow up healthy.
It also states that “drugs interfere… and weaken the mind, body, and spirit.” Anderson is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
After adjusting for variables such as smoking, women who drank light or moderate amounts of alcohol had a modestly increased chance of successful ageing compared to nondrinkers. For example, compared to nondrinkers, women who drank 5 to 15 g of alcohol per day (between one-third and one drink per day) at middle age had about a 20% higher chance of successful ageing, defined as being free of 11 major chronic diseases and having no major cognitive, physical or mental health limitations at age 70.
