Exercise lowers the risk of colon cancer

An ambitious new study has added considerable weight to the claim that exercise can lower the risk for colon cancer. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University combined and analyzed several decades worth of data from past studies on how exercise affects colon cancer risk. They found that people who exercised the most were 24 percent less likely to develop the disease than those who exercised the least."What's really compelling is that we see the association between exercise and lower colon cancer risk regardless of how physical activity was measured in the studies," says lead study author Kathleen Y. Wolin, Sc.D., a cancer prevention and control expert with the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University. "That...

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Vigorous Exercise May Help Prevent Vision Loss

There's another reason to dust off those running shoes. Vigorous exercise may help prevent vision loss, according to a pair of studies from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The studies tracked approximately 31,000 runners for more than seven years, and found that running reduced the risk of both cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. The research, which is among the first to suggest that vigorous exercise may help prevent vision loss, offers hope for people seeking to fend off the onset of eye disease. "In addition to obtaining regular eye exams, people can take a more active role in preserving their vision," says Paul Williams, an epidemiologist in Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division who conducted the research. "The studies suggest...

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Prostate cancer screening has yet to prove its worth

The recent release of two large randomized trials suggests that if there is a benefit of screening, it is, at best, small, says a new report in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Authored by Otis W. Brawley, M.D. of the American Cancer Society and Donna Ankerst, Ph.D. and Ian M. Thompson, M.D. of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the review says because prostate cancer is virtually ubiquitous in men as they age, it is clear that a goal of "finding more cancers" is not acceptable. Instead, public health principles demand that screening must reduce the risk of death from prostate cancer, reduce the suffering from prostate cancer, or reduce health care costs when compared with a non-screening scenario. The authors suggest prostate cancer screening has yet to reach...

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Exercise Reduces Migraine Suffering

While physical exercise has been shown to trigger migraine headaches among sufferers, a new study describes an exercise program that is well tolerated by patients. The findings show that the program decreased the frequency of headaches and improved quality of life. The study is published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain.The study used a sample of migraine sufferers who were examined before, during and after an aerobic exercise intervention. The program was based on indoor cycling (for continuous aerobic exercise) and was designed to improve maximal oxygen uptake without worsening the patients’ migraines.After the treatment period, patients’ maximum oxygen uptake increased significantly. There was no worsening of migraine status at any time during the study period and, during...

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Exercise Fights Breast Cancer: 2 Studies

Physically Fit Women Less Likely to Die from Breast CancerPhysically fit women are less likely to die from breast cancer, according to a study by researchers at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health.The findings are published in the April issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise®, the official scientific journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.The study of more than 14,000 women found that those with moderate or high aerobic fitness levels were much less likely to die from breast cancer, said Dr. Steve Blair, an Arnold School researcher and a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine.“Women in the study’s lowest fitness category were nearly three times more likely to die from breast cancer than women in the most fit group,”...

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Exercise keeps the brain young

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine finds that aerobic activity may keep the brain young.In the study published July 9 in the American Journal of Neuroradiology, physically active elderly people showed healthier cerebral blood vessels. Researchers led by Elizabeth Bullitt, M.D., Van L. Weatherspoon Distinguished Professor of neurosurgery, used non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR) angiography to examine the number and shape of blood vessels in the brains of physically active elderly people, 7 men and 7 women, ages 60 to 80. The study subjects were equally divided into 2 groups. The high activity group reported participating in an aerobic activity for a minimum of 180 minutes per week for the past 10 consecutive years, and the low activity group...

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Latest Health Research Summary

There's an awful lot of interesting new health research published this week –the most exciting to me was the news that Overweight People Live Longest! My weight has always been pointed out as an increased health risk, and is probably the reason I try to do everything possible to protect my health (except lose weight, which I simply cannot seem to do, and even if I could, I am convinced that I would gain it back soon anyhow.) It’s great to know that it’s not such a problem after all – now if I could only convince my life insurance company.Other new, not such good news: eating white bread and other high glycemic products can give you a heart attack.Selenium can prevent prostate cancer, or make it worse, confirming other research that has suggested that antioxidants could be protective if you...

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Vitamin D Is The New Wonder Supplement

Scientific evidence shows vitamin D may go beyond its traditionally known role in maintaining bone integrity, according to new research presented at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo® earlier this month. It may play a role in preventing autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, some types of cancer (breast, ovarian, colorectal and prostate).Advancing technologies to add vitamin D to natural cheese, fruit juice, and other beverages and foods create offerings that provide excellent sources of both vitamin D and calcium which can help consumers achieve dietary adequacy of these largely under-consumed nutrients.Recent headlines tout vitamin D as the new wonder supplement, with claims ranging from its ability to reduce cancer risk to...

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Selenium intake may worsen prostate cancer

Higher selenium levels in the blood may worsen prostate cancer in some men who already have the disease, according to a study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute the University of California, San Francisco.A higher risk of more-aggressive prostate cancer was seen in men with a certain genetic variant found in about 75 percent of the prostate cancer patients in the study. In those subjects, having a high level of selenium in the blood was associated with a two-fold greater risk of poorer outcomes than men with the lowest amounts of selenium. By contrast, the 25 percent of men with a different variant of the same gene and who had high selenium levels were at 40 percent lower risk of aggressive disease. The variants are slightly different forms of a gene that instructs cells to make...

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Quercetin Increases Endurance w/o Exercise

Quercetin may not be a household word -- yet.But a study by researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health shows that the powerful antioxidant/anti-inflammatory compound found in fruits and vegetables significantly boosts endurance capacity and maximal oxygen capacity (VO2max) in healthy, active but untrained men and women.The findings of the study – one of the first in humans to examine the energy-boosting effects of quercetin – are reported in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, published online Wednesday (June 24).Dr. Mark Davis, the study’s lead author and a professor of exercise science, said the fatigue-fighting and health properties of quercetin – found in the skins of red apples, red onions, berries and grapes – have...

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Green tea fights prostate cancer

According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in green tea demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression."The investigational agent used in the trial, Polyphenon E (provided by Polyphenon Pharma) may have the potential to lower the incidence and slow the progression of prostate cancer," said James A. Cardelli, Ph.D., professor and director of basic and translational research in the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport.Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world, and some epidemiological studies have shown health benefits with green tea, including a reduced...

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Statins can protect against Alzheimer's disease

High cholesterol levels are considered to be a risk factor not only for cardiovascular disease including stroke, but also for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, many cholesterol lowering drugs, including statins, have been developed in recent years. In addition to the cholesterol reducing effect of statins Amalia Dolga, PhD, of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and her co-investigators have demonstrated that statins can protect nerve cells against damage which we know to occur in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. The results are published in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.How nerve cells die in Alzheimer's disease is complex but we know that nerve cells eventually die because they are strongly overstimulated, a process called excitotoxicity....

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Longer life = specific foods in Mediterranean diet

Some food groups in the Mediterranean diet are more important than others in promoting health and longer life according to new research published on bmj.com.Eating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, pulses and olive oil, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, while not consuming a lot of meat or excessive amounts of alcohol is linked to people living longer.However, the study also claims, that following a Mediterranean diet high in fish, seafood and cereals and low in dairy products were not indicators of longevity.While several studies have concluded that the Mediterranean diet improves chances of living longer, most recently the study described here, this is the first to investigate the importance of individual components of the diet.Professor Dimitrios Trichopoulos at the Harvard School...

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Overweight People Live Longest!

Underweight people and those who are extremely obese die earlier than people of normal weight—but those who are overweight actually live longer than people of normal weight. Those are the findings of a new study published online in Obesity by researchers at Statistics Canada, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, and McGill University."It's not surprising that extreme underweight and extreme obesity increase the risk of dying, but it is surprising that carrying a little extra weight may give people a longevity advantage," said David Feeny, PhD, coauthor of the study and...

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Coffee W/O Milk Fights Bad Breath

We all know why Starbucks puts boxes of breath mints close to the cash register. Your morning latte can create a startling aroma in your mouth, strong enough to startle your co-workers too.But intriguing new research from Tel Aviv University by renowned breath specialist Prof. Mel Rosenberg of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine finds that a coffee extract can inhibit the bacteria that lead to bad breath. New laboratory tests have shown that the extract prevents malodorous bacteria from making their presence felt — or smelt."Everybody thinks that coffee causes bad breath," says Prof. Rosenberg, "and it's often true, because coffee, which has a...

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High Glycemic (Like White Bread) Cause Heart Attacks

Doctors have known for decades that foods like white bread and corn flakes aren't good for cardiac health. In a landmark study, new research from Tel Aviv University now shows exactly how these high carb foods increase the risk for heart problems."Looking inside" the arteries of students eating a variety of foods, Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and the Heart Institute of Sheba Medical Center — with collaboration of the Endocrinology Institute — visualized exactly what happens inside the body when the wrong foods for a healthy heart are eaten. He found that foods with a high glycemic index distended brachial...

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Omega-3 Supplements Protect Eyes

Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon may protect against progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but the benefits appear to depend on the stage of disease and whether certain supplements are taken, report researchers at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research (LNVR), Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University.The researchers calculated intakes of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from dietary questionnaires administered to 2,924 men and women, aged 55 to 80 years, participating in an eight-year supplement trial, the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) of the National Eye Institute (NEI). The AREDS trial results suggest taking supplements of antioxidants plus zinc prevents...

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Jon's Health Tips - Red Yeast Rice

I wrote a while ago about my secret desire to take a statin so I could eat lot more Egg McMuffins. One of my correspondents replied with a warning about muscle pain from statins, which I was not aware was as much of a problem as it appears to be. But an alternative has just appeared - and I am seriously thinking of trying it - although Egg McMuffins won't become a regular thing even so.Red Yeast Rice Helps Reduce CholesterolRed yeast rice -- it's been a staple of some Asian countries for more than 1,000 years. As food coloring, it gives Peking Duck its signature red glow. And as herbal medicine, it lowers cholesterol levels."It works much the...

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Young adults not drinking enough milk

Consumption of dairy products decreases as teens reach their 20sCalcium and dairy products play major roles in health maintenance and the prevention of chronic disease. Because peak bone mass is not achieved until the third decade of life, it is particularly important for young adults to consume adequate amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D found in dairy products to support health and prevent osteoporosis later in life. In a study in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, researchers report that young people actually reduce their intake of calcium and dairy products as they enter their twenties.Drawing data from Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), a prospective, population-based study designed to examine determinants of dietary intake and weight status,...

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Jon's Health Tips - Red Wine Update

A red-wine polyphenol called resveratrol demonstrates significant health benefits• Resveratrol shows therapeutic potential for cancer chemoprevention as well as cardioprotection.• • Resveratrol may aid in the prevention of age-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.• The benefits of alcohol are all about moderation. Low to moderate drinking – especially of red wine – appears to reduce all causes of mortality, while too much drinking causes multiple organ damage. A mini-review of recent findings on red wine's polyphenols, particularly one called resveratrol, will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. "Reports on the benefits of red wine are almost two centuries old," said Lindsay...

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Apples

An Apple Peel a Day Could Keep Cancer at BayAn apple peel a day might help keep cancer at bay, according to Rui Hai Liu, Cornell associate professor of food science, who has identified a dozen compounds -- triterpenoids -- in apple peel that either inhibit or kill cancer cells in laboratory cultures. Three of the compounds have not previously been described in the literature."We found that several compounds have potent anti-proliferative activities against human liver, colon and breast cancer cells and may be partially responsible for the anti-cancer activities of whole apples," says Liu, who is affiliated with Cornell's Institute of Comparative...

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