Study: 1 in 10 men had overlapping sex partners, raising HIV risk

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A University of North Carolina study shows that one in every ten men observed in a 1-year period had overlapping sexual partnerships, which could be a contributing factor in the spread of HIV.

The UNC researchers also found that the prevalence of concurrent sexual partnerships was higher among black and Hispanic men than in other groups. Those men also are likely to have had sex with other men, and to have female sexual partners who also have concurrent sexual partnerships.

The findings were based on data collected from 4,928 men during a 2002 survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study is published in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Photo by ABC News

Vitamin D Won't Help Prevent Most Cancers

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High blood levels of vitamin D did not lower the overall cancer death rate in a long-term study, researchers report.
However, they did note a marked reduction in colorectal cancer deaths linked to the vitamin.

The findings, by a team from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, run counter to some earlier data suggesting that vitamin D might help prevent malignancy.

"Over the past several years, a number of publications have suggested that vitamin D can reduce deaths from various forms of cancer," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. "This is a further bit of evidence that leads us to call for further investigations before we make recommendations for the general population."

Even the finding that the vitamin might lower colon cancer risk merits further study, added Lichtenfeld, who was not involved in the research. "We have called for further research to see if vitamin D does or does not reduce deaths from cancer," he said. "We do not have sufficient evidence at this time to make a recommendation, for example, that people increase their intake of vitamin D to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer."

In their study, the NCI team looked at data on almost 17,000 participants in the third Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were followed for anywhere from six to 12 years. There were 536 deaths from cancer in the group during that time.

The study found no relationship between overall cancer deaths and circulating blood levels of vitamin D, said the report, published in the Oct. 30 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

However, people with higher levels of circulating vitamin D had a 72 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer mortality than those with lower levels, the report found.

These numbers can't be taken to mean that vitamin D prevents colorectal cancer because the study was not large enough and didn't run long enough to provide definitive information, said Cindy Davis, a program director in the NCI nutrition sciences research group and co-author of an accompanying editorial.

"Cancer is a very long process, and there is an even longer period between incidents of mortality," Davis said. "There was only a very small number of cancer deaths. If there is a relationship, this study is not large enough to show one."

Some other studies have given evidence that vitamin D may provide protection against colon cancer, but others have not, she noted.

In addition, Davis added, "We don't know what the optimum level of vitamin D is, we don't know whether genetics might affect the benefits, and we need to consider interactions with other dietary components. Some people may be put at risk. Evidence suggests an increase in kidney stones [with excess vitamin D], and while a kidney stone is not cancer, it is a problem."

The current recommendation for vitamin D is 200 International Units a day, Davis said, and "I believe that when possible, people are better off meeting their nutritional needs through diet rather than through supplements."

Some foods, such as milk, are fortified with vitamin D, and the nutrient can be found in some fish and fish oils, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The skin also manufacturers vitamin D upon exposure to sunlight.

D. Michal Freedman, the NCI epidemiologist who led the study, said its main finding "was the lack of a relationship between total cancer deaths and vitamin D levels." Freedman downplayed the colorectal cancer data as "a secondary finding."

"The study doesn't address the issue of the effects of vitamin D in the blood," Freedman said. "The issue of what people should be taking in terms of vitamin D involves a lot of other factors."

In a related study published in the same issue of the journal, a team at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, found that treatment with a derivative of vitamin A might help reduce former smokers' risk of developing lung cancer.

Patients who received the derivative, called 13- cis-retinoic acid, displayed reduced lung cell growth of the type that might later form cancers, the team reported.

Report: Heart Disease Patients Getting Younger

www.thepittsburghchannel.com

Medco Health Solutions said more young adults are now using cholesterol drugs and blood pressure drugs than ever.

Experts said there are a couple of reasons young people are using these medications, including obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

But doctors are much more aggressive these days in preventing heart attacks and stroke.

Not long ago, a heart attack nearly took Laura Younger's life.

"When I stood up to leave the room, that's when I collapsed, and my heart stopped," she said.

Paramedics got her heart beating again, and Younger got smart about diet and exercise.

New data show many young adults could benefit from her example.

According to Medco, between 2001 and 2006, the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs jumped 68 percent among its 20- to 44-year-old customers. The rates rose from 2.5 percent to more than 4 percent, or roughly 4.2 million Medco customers.

Blood pressure drugs increased in that age group from 7 percent to 21 percent in the same time period, totaling roughly 8.5 million.

Medco said they believe the epidemic of obesity and overweight young people is the reason more are using cholesterol and blood pressure medication.

Meanwhile, heart disease prevention experts are happy young adults are asking for the medications before they have a heart attack or stroke.

However, they said they should first work to increase their exercise, get a better diet and lose weight.

It's better to take action before you need medications. But experts said once patients start taking medications, they usually stay on them.

Israeli leader to have surgery for early-stage prostate cancer

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JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert revealed Monday that he had been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and would undergo surgery, but he said his condition was not life-threatening and he would stay on the job.

"According to what my doctors have told me, it is a matter of a microscopic growth that hasn't spread and can be removed by a short surgical procedure," Olmert said at a news conference.

He said he had been told there would be no need for radiation or chemotherapy.

Olmert said the surgery was planned "in the next few months," and an aide said it would not occur before U.S.-sponsored peace talks set to begin in November or December in Annapolis, Md.

Olmert, 62, said that while he was not legally obliged to disclose information about his medical condition, he wanted to bring it promptly to the public's attention on his own initiative.

Olmert had a biopsy on Oct. 19 and received the results about a week later, said Dr. Shlomo Segev, one of his physicians.

Olmert took office in January 2006 after his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, suffered a stroke. Sharon has remained in a coma ever since, and his case prompted demands for full medical disclosure by the prime minister.

Boiled Nuts Help Protect Against Illness

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By DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press Writer

For lovers of boiled peanuts, there's some good news from the health front. A new study by a group of Huntsville researchers found that boiled peanuts bring out up to four times more chemicals that help protect against disease than raw, dry or oil-roasted nuts.

Lloyd Walker, chair of Alabama A&M University's Department of Food and Animal Sciences who co-authored the study, said these phytochemicals have antioxidant qualities that protect cells against the risk of degenerative diseases, including cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

"Boiling is a better method of preparing peanuts in order to preserve these phytochemicals," Walker said.

The study will appear in Wednesday's edition of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The other co-authors in the study are A&M researchers Yvonne Chukwumah and Martha Verghese, as well as University of Alabama in Huntsville researcher Bernhard Vogler.

Walker said peanuts and other plants use phytochemicals for things such as helping avoid disease and insect attacks.

"These things are not nutrients; at the same time they have health benefits to humans," he told The Birmingham News. "The trick is to keep those health benefits, not to process them out of the foods."

According to Walker, water and heat penetrate the nuts, releasing beneficial chemicals to a certain point. Overcooking the nuts destroys the useful elements.

Alabama is third in the nation in the amount of peanuts produced with a crop valued at more than $67 million last year.

America Aims Having Smoke-free Workers to Save Medical Bills

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Several business houses in America are conducting help-programmes to encourage their workers to stop smoking in order to reduce their medical bills.

A recent survey indicated that one-third of companies with at least 200 workers offered smoking cessation as part of their employee benefits package.

The companies have to spend as much as 900 dollars to give a participant free nicotine patches and drugs to ease withdrawal.

Phone sessions with smoking addiction counselors can cost more than the estimated 16,000 dollars including the additional lifetime medical bills that a typical smoker generates, according to federal health data.

That federal figure does not count the costs of absenteeism or the drain on productivity when smokers periodically duck outside for a cigarette, New York Times newspaper reported.

With business employers accounting for about 650 billion dollars of the nation's 2 trillion dollar annual medical bill, companies have monetary incentive to get workers leave smoking.

United Parcel Service began offering a smoking cessation program in February to the estimated 13 percent of its employees who use tobacco.

''We decided this was the time to do this,'' said UPS health and productivity manager Judy Pirnie Smith.

The Union Pacific railroad adopted the program two years ago that helped cut the smoking rate to about 17 per cent of its work force.

''Tobacco cessation has been the hot topic for the last year,'' National Business Group on Health president Helen Darling said.

The programmes are another example, along with various other corporate wellness efforts like weight management and diabetes control, of how private employers are taking health care reform into their own hands.

There are more than 44 million smokers in the United States.

The habit is blamed for 435,000 premature deaths annually, and adds more than 75 billion dollars to annual spending on health care, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

''The number of people who enroll in the programs and then slip back into smoking in the first three months is high,'' said Watson Wyatt Worldwide benefits consulting firm executive Bruce C Kelley, adding that, ''people who quit for 12 months the recidivism rate is very low.''

Hypertension Drugs May Prevent and Treat Alzheimer’s, Study Finds

Drugs commonly used to treat hypertension, may be successful in preventing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In the study, researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that geriatric patients who are being treated for high blood pressure with hypertenstion drugs may cut their risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers studied more than 1,500 drugs currently available to treat other disorders to determine the effectiveness of the drugs in preventing Alzheimer’s. They found that of the 55 drugs studied, seven drugs used to treat hypertension were the most effective.

Researchers found that the drugs prevented beta-amyloid production, a fragment of protein in the brain that is usually eliminated but forms a kind of plaque, or blockage, in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

The drugs may also prevent further deterioration in those who are already afflicted with Alzheimer's, according to the study. One drug, Valsartan, was given to Alzheimer’s diseased mice, at a three or four times lower than the normal dosage for humans, and the drug still prevented further production of this blockage in the brain.

The effectiveness of hypertension drugs in preventing this blockage in the brain may help identify future treatments that can prevent cognitive deterioration and dementia in Alzheimer’s patients, according to researchers. However, studies on human patients is necessary.

"The use of these drugs for their potential anti-Alzheimer’s disease role is still highly experimental, and at this stage we have no clinical data beyond phenomenological observation in humans" said Dr. Pasinetti, director of the Center of Excellence for Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Alzheimer's disease at Mount Sinai. "We need to complete preventive and therapeutic clinical trials in the near future if we are to identify certain anti-hypertensive drugs with anti beta-amyloid antioligomeric activities, which will need to be prescribed at dosages that do not interfere with blood pressure in normotensive Alzheimer’s disease patients."

Girls to Get Cervical Cancer Jab

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Girls aged 12 to 13 are to be vaccinated to help protect against cervical cancer, the Scottish Government has said. A "catch-up" immunisation campaign for older teenage girls aged up to 18 is also planned to be launched from next September.

A Scottish Government spokesman said the vaccination campaign will extend over several years.

By the time it is completed, it is hoped around 120,000 girls in Scotland under 18 will have taken part. Some estimates of the cost of each jab have been put at ?250, resulting in a potential bill of ?30 million for the country.

Similar vaccination measures have been announced by the Department of Health in England, with a catch-up campaign starting for girls older than 13 from Autumn 2009. But health chiefs in Scotland are hoping to bring forward vaccinations for girls older than 13 a year in advance.

The Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are still looking at how this will work, but we want to move to the catch-up campaign as soon as possible. We are hoping to start it in the autumn of 2008, but it might be that it stretches out over a few years."

The girls will be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted infection human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV causes around 70% of cases of cervical cancer, which kills more than 1,000 women in the UK each year.

The jab, which is not compulsory and is most likely to be delivered in schools, is expected to revolutionise the approach to beating the disease. It is thought the vaccine will be given in three doses over a six-month period.

Earlier this year the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that vaccines should be introduced routinely for girls aged around 12 to 13 years. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon also committed the new government to introducing the HPV vaccine, subject to an independent review of the costs to the NHS.

In Scotland the lifetime risk of a woman developing cervical cancer is one in 124. During 2004, 282 new cases were diagnosed and 102 women died of cervical cancer in the country.

Study: Hypnosis Works to Treat Hospitalized Smokers

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Patients who are hospitalized may be more likely to quit smoking with the help of hypnotherapy, according to researchers.

A study, conducted by the North Shore Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital in Salem, Mass., found that more patients were likely to quit smoking after six months, compared to patients who used nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or those who wanted to quit on their own, which is known as going "cold turkey." Researhers also found that patients who were admitted to the hospital with cardiac disease were three times more likely to quit smoking than those with pulmonary (lung) problems.

Researchers studied 67 patients with cardio and pulmonary diseases who wanted to quit smoking. The patients were divided into four groups, based on their preferred method of treatment, including: 14 using hypnotherapy; 19 using an NRT; 18 using an NRT and hypnotherapy; and 16 who wanted to quit "cold turkey".

The control group received brief counseling while other groups received intensive counseling, which included a free supply of NRT and/or a free hypnotherapy session within seven days of discharge. Follow-up telephone calls at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 26 weeks after discharge were also made.

Those patients who received hypnotherapy were also taught to do self-hypnosis and were given special hypnosis tapes to play at the end of the session.

At the end of the 26 weeks, following discharge, 50 percent of the patients who were treated with hypnotherapy were nonsmokers, compared with 50 percent of nonsmokers in the NRT/hypnotherapy group, 25 percent in the control group, and 15.78 percent in the NRT group.

“Our results showed that hypnotherapy resulted in higher quit rates compared with NRT alone,” Faysal Hasan, MD, North Shore Medical Center said. “Hypnotherapy appears to be quite effective and a good modality to incorporate into a smoking cessation program after hospital discharge.”

Patient data, based on cardio or pulmonary diagnosis, showed that patients admitted with cardiac problems were more likely to quit smoking at 26 weeks (45.5 percent) than patients who were admitted with a pulmonary problem (15.63 percent).

“Patients admitted with coronary symptoms may have experienced ‘fear and doom’ and decided to alter a major health risk to their disease when approached about smoking cessation,” Dr. Hasan said. “In contrast, pulmonary patients admitted for another exacerbation may not have felt the same threat. They likely felt they can live for another day and continue the smoking habit.”

Another Bird Flu Death In Indonesia

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Bird flu has claimed another victim in Indonesia bringing the country's death toll from the deadly virus to 89.

The latest case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu was in a four-year-old girl who died on Monday after being admitted to hospital two days earlier.

A health ministry official says the child was from Tangerang, west of the capital Jakarta, and had been suffering from a fever; she died after being transferred to Persahabatan hospital in Jakarta.

Health officials are investigating the case, and reports from the health ministry's bird flu centre say four chickens had previously died in the child's neighbourhood.

Almost all cases of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu have been the result of contact with sick fowl and the virus is endemic in the bird populations in most parts of Indonesia.

Millions of Indonesians keep chickens in their backyards which live in close proximity with humans.

Authorities have struggled to impart the most basic precautionary measures to rural areas in particular where people are often reluctant to disclose or cull infected birds.

The vast archipelago has suffered 110 confirmed cases of the disease in humans, with more fatalities than any other country.

According to the World Health Organisation to date there have been 204 deaths and 332 cases globally since 2003.

Experts fear that if a mutation takes place in the virus enabling it to pass between humans, a pandemic affecting millions could be triggered and Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, at present appears the ideal location for that to happen.

The more the virus infects humans the more likely it is to mutate.

Whole Grain Cereal Reduces Heart Failure Risk

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Results of a new study find that eating whole grain cereals can reduce a person's risk of developing heart failure.

It has long been known that eating cereal with whole grains could reduce one's blood pressure and risk of having a heart attack, but now according to U.S. researchers they can also reduce the risk of heart failure.

For their study, Djousse and colleagues studied the breakfast habits of more than 21,000 male doctors with an average age of 53.7 years for nearly 20 years.

They found that men who ate 1 bowl of whole grain cereal per day, had a 28% reduced risk of developing heart failure compared to men who did not.

"Eating half a cup to a cup of whole grain breakfast cereal may help lower your blood pressure. It may help lower your risk of diabetes and heart disease," said Dr. Luc Djousse of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

"This study adds another piece to the puzzle. It may also lower your risk of heart failure," he added.

According to the CDC each year, an additional 550,000 cases of heart failure are reported in America.

The condition occurs when the heart becomes weak, and is unable to pump blood as efficiently as it is supposed too.

The Global Problem of Obesity

www.webmd.com

More Than Half of Those in Worldwide Study Overweight or Obese

By Salynn Boyles

The obesity epidemic is actually a worldwide pandemic that has global implications for health and disease, new research shows.

In one of the largest studies ever to examine obesity rates across the globe, researchers found that more than 60% of men and 50% of women were either overweight or obese.

They concluded that obesity is a growing problem in all regions of the world, even among traditionally lean Asian populations.

"The study shows that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," researcher Beverley Balkau, PhD, of the French health service INSERM, says in a news release.

Obesity Worldwide

The study involved 69,409 men and 98,750 women from 63 countries across five continents evaluated by their primary care doctors for body weight, height, cardiovascular disease (heart disease or stroke), diabetes, and waist circumference. The U.S. was not included in the study.

Waist circumference is now considered an important marker of obesity-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. A waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women is considered a risk factor for these diseases.

The people in the study had visited their doctor on one of two specially designated days in which detailed information on weight, height, waist circumference, and disease history were collected for the trial, providing a snapshot of the prevalence of obesity worldwide.

Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from the weight and height measurements. BMI looks at a person's weight in relation to height and is used to determine obesity and overweight. Forty percent of men and 30% of women met the criteria for being overweight, meaning they had a BMI of 25 to 29.9.

Fully a quarter of men and women met the BMI definition of obese (BMI of 30 or greater), but obesity rates did differ by region, ranging from a low of 7% among men and women living in southern and eastern Asian countries to a high of 36% among men and women living in Canada.

Just under one in three men and almost half of the women had waist circumferences of more than 40 and 35, respectively, putting them at higher risk for heart disease and diabetes.

The rate of diagnosed heart disease among male and female study participants was 16% and 13%, respectively. A total of 13% of men and 11% of women had known diabetes.

The men and women in the study with the largest waists were more than twice as likely as those with the smallest waists to have heart disease.

Diabetes risk was three times higher for the quarter of men with the biggest waists and almost six times higher for women, compared with the quarter of the study population with the smallest waists.

The study is published in the latest issue of the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation.

Reversing the Obesity Trend

While people living in southern and eastern Asia fared better than other populations in terms of obesity and waist circumference, the researchers point out that this is not necessarily reassuring because their rates of obesity are also rising.

American Heart Association spokesman Gerald Fletcher, MD, of the Jacksonville branch of the Mayo Clinic, tells WebMD that the study provides important confirmation of the global reach of obesity.

"We have known that obesity is a worldwide problem, but this is the largest study yet to actually show this," he says.

Balkau and colleagues conclude that unless the trend is reversed, the rise in obesity will result in major increases in sickness and death from related diseases like diabetes.

Fletcher agrees, adding that major public health initiatives are needed to address the problem.

"We have seen that such initiatives can work to reduce cigarette smoking," he says. “We have to have the same kind of commitment to make a difference in obesity rates."

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

New Blood Test Can Detect Cigarette Smokers Who Lie About Thier Habbit

www.allheadlinenews.com

Nidhi Sharma

People who hide a cigarette habit can easily be caught now. Researchers have found a new blood test that identifies levels of carbon monoxide in a person to determine whether someone is a smoker or not.

The device, pulse cooximeters detects levels of carbon monoxide in patients and firefighters, a U.S. study found. It can also be used to detect carbon monoxide levels in people who smoke, thus educating patients about the effects of smoking.

Study author Dr. Sridhar P. Reddy of St. Clair Pulmonary and Critical Care, St. Clair, Mich., said, "It starts a conversation to make people more and more aware of what smoking can do to them and to give them more information about why they should quit, instead of a boring sermon every time."

If smokers knew their blood carbon monoxide levels, they might be more motivated to quit smoking or never start in the first place. Reddy said.

Pulse oximeter is a device that's placed over the fingertip and measures oxygen levels in the blood by passing light waves into the skin. The device costs $4,000-$5,000 and measures the level of carbon monoxide in hemoglobin.

It accurately spotted up 95 percent of all smokers when Reddy looked only at those who had a 6 percent or higher level of carbon monoxide.

Though the device doesn't detect every smoker but Reddy said it can be used to detect light or heavy smokers.

The findings were presented at Chest 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.

Risk factors of breast cancer

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THE RISK of developing breast cancer should be of concern to women and men alike. There are several risk factors associated with breast cancer. You may be curious to know what a risk factor is. A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of developing diseases such as arthrosclerosis, diabetes and cancers.

Some risk factors, such as age, race and gender, cannot be changed as they are linked to the person. Other risks are linked to cancer-causing factors in the environment. Today, with the increase in lifestyle diseases, several risk factors for cancers are triggered by lifestyle and personal behaviour. These include diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and sedentary lifestyle.

Age

The breast cancer risk factors that you will not be able to change include age, race and gender. As you age, your risk of breast cancer increases. At age 55 and over, two of every three women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, five to 10 per cent of breast cancers are hereditary. The fact that mother or father had the disease increases the likelihood of getting breast cancer. By a process of mutation, genes change and when inherited from a parent the risk of breast cancer increases.

Abnormal genes

The most common inherited mutations are those of the BRCA1 or BRCA 2 genes. These are normally responsible for preventing cancer by making proteins that help the cells from growing abnormally. When these abnormal genes are inherited, they increase the risk of breast cancer in woman at a younger age by 80 per cent compared to those women who are not born with mutated genes.

Persons who are at risk of breast cancer through inheriting mutated genes may be anxious to have genetic testing done. However, it is important to weigh the risks and benefits of genetic testing. Consultations should be done with a genetic counsellor or a qualified doctor before genetic testing is done.

Late pregnancy

Women who have no children or had their first child after age 30 may have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. Early pregnancy and having multiple children reduces the risk of breast cancer in women.

The debate is on as to whether birth control pills increase the risk of breast cancer. Some studies have shown that the use or oral contraceptives may slightly increase breast cancer risk in women but the risk declines once the use of contraceptives is stopped. You should discuss the use of oral contraceptives and their risk factors for breast cancers with your doctor before you start to use them.

Menopause

Menopause brings changes in hormones and it may be necessary to resort to hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) to help relieve the symptoms associated with menopause and to prevent thinning of the bones (osteoporosis). For women who still have their uterus (womb), a combination of the hormones progesterone and estrogen is usually prescribed. Estrogen alone can increase the risk of uterine cancer so progesterone is combined to reduce this risk. For women who have had a hysterectomy and no longer have a uterus, estrogen alone may be prescribed in what is known as estrogen replacement therapy (ERT).

However, the American Cancer Society reports that large studies have found an increased risk of breast cancer in women on combined postmenopausal hormone therapy (PHT). Combined PHT also increases the likelihood of finding the cancer in a more advanced stage, possible because it reduces the effectiveness of mammograms.

Alcohol

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer and the risk increases with amount of alcohol consumed. Women who drink two to five alcoholic drinks daily have about one and a half times the breast cancer risk compared with women who drink no alcohol. In addition to cancer of the breast, alcohol consumption is known to increase the risk of cancers in the mouth, throat, esophagus and liver.

An overweight or obese woman increases her risk of breast cancer, especially after menopause when the ovaries stop making estrogen, leaving fat tissues to produce most of the estrogen. With more fat tissue from being overweight, estrogen levels increase as well as the likelihood of breast cancer. It is advisable to maintain a healthy weight throughout the life cycle balancing food intake with physical exercise.

Exercise

It is well established that exercise reduces the breast cancer risk. Studies have shown that as little at 1.25 to 2.5 hours per week of brisk walking will reduce a woman's risk of breast cancer by 18 per cent. It is recommended that to reduce your risk of breast cancer you engage in 45 to 60 minutes of intentional physical activity at least five days a week.

Though not conclusive among researchers, it is strongly believed that fat in the diet increases the risk of breast cancer. It has been found that the incidence of breast cancer is less in countries with a diet low in total fat and saturated fat. Further research is taking place to better understand the effect of the types of fat in the diet and the breast cancer risk. It is recommended that fats from plant sources be consumed and that the diet should include five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. Whole grains should be eaten over processed grains and the consumption of processed and red meats should be limited.

Unfounded theories

There are email rumours that underarm antiperspirants may cause breast cancer due to chemicals absorbed through the skin which interfere with lymph circulation causing toxins to build up in the breast and eventually results in breast cancer. Also unfounded, is another email rumour that under wire bras may cause breast cancer by obstructing lymph flow. Silicone breast implants do not pose a cancer risk, but scar tissue may develop in the breasts. Implants make it harder to see breast tissue in mammograms.

A fairly recent finding indicates that women, who work at nights, for example nurses on a night shift, are at greater risk for breast cancer. It is believed that this may be due to a disruption in melatonin, a hormone affected by light.

There is enough conclusive evidence of the risk factors that cause breast cancer. Your responsibility is to check your breasts each month. At the first sign of any abnormality, check with your doctor. A mammogram should be part of your annual medical examination.

FDA: Sudden Hearing Loss Linked To Erectile Dysfunction Drugs

money.cnn.com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it's approved new erectile dysfunction drug labels to more prominently display the potential risk of sudden hearing loss.

The labeling change - first reported by CNBC - applies to Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) Viagra, Eli Lilly & Co.'s (LLY) Cialis, Levitra marketed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) and Bayer AG (BAY). The agency said the change will also apply to Pfizer's Revatio, a drug with the same active ingredient as Viagra that's used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The FDA said it found a total of 29 reports of sudden hearing loss among patients taking the erectile dysfunction drugs. The agency said the search of its adverse-events database was prompted by a case report in medical literature of a patient with sudden hearing loss who was taking Viagra. Such adverse-event reports, which are filed to the FDA by drug companies, doctors and patients, does not mean a particular drug has caused a problem.

The FDA said hearing loss was also reported in a few patients in clinical trials of these drugs. The FDA said in most cases the sudden hearing loss occurred in one ear.

All of the drugs fall into a category of drugs known as PDE5 inhibitors.

"Though no causal relationship has been demonstrated, FDA believed that the strong temporal relationship between the use of PDE5 inhibitors and sudden hearing loss in these cases warranted revisions to the product labeling for the drug class," the FDA said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The agency noted that hearing loss is commonly reported in an aging population, especially in patients with risk factors for erectile dysfunction. "However, sudden hearing loss is an uncommon event at any age," the agency said.

Bicycle-Related Injuries a Big Concern for Kids

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New research reveals bicycle injuries are more common in children and adolescents than previously believed.

Researchers from Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio analyzed data from the 2003 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s Kids’ Inpatient Database. They looked at hospitalization for bicycle-related injuries according to patient demographics, type of injury, total hospital charges, and length of hospital stay.

Results show bicycle-related injuries lead to nearly $200 million a year in hospital inpatient costs. Gray Smith, M.D., Dr.PH., from The Ohio State University College of Medicine, was quoted as saying, “Bicycles are associated with more childhood injuries than any other consumer product except the automobile. The high rate of hospitalization and use of healthcare resources identified in our study supports the need for increased attention to bicycle-related injuries.”

Researchers report motor vehicles were involved in about 30 percent of bike-related hospitalizations, and the link with motor vehicles increased among older children. Researchers also found one-third of kids who landed in the hospital for a bicycle-related injury had a traumatic brain injury - a statistic that could be lowered by consistent use of bike helmets. Dr. Smith reports, “The findings from our study can be used to promote targeted prevention strategies to lessen the severity of injury and the number of deaths resulting from pediatric bicycle-related injuries. We know that bicycle helmets can reduce the risk of brain injury by up to 85 percent. We need to increase efforts to promote helmet use by children riding bicycles.”

The current study reveals about 10,700 children are hospitalized for a bicycle-related injury each year. Statistics show children and adolescents age 20 and younger make up more than 50 percent of approximately 85 million bicycle riders in the United States.

Amoeba Warning Signs To Be Posted

www.azcentral.com

Signs warning of the dangers of a rare amoeba will be posted at Lake Havasu, suggesting swimmers take precautions such as plugging their noses when they dive.

The City Council decided to take the action after last month's death of Aaron Evans, 14, who doctors believe was infected with the microscopic amoeba, Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye), while swimming at the lake.

"I'm happy with it," said Keith Evans, Aaron's grandfather. "It shows they're stepping up."

The city will post the signs 1 mile from the lakefront. Arizona and California share jurisdiction on the remaining lake frontage, along with county and state agencies and Indian tribes.

Mohave County also is considering posting signs and the Board of Health will take up the matter next month.

The signs the city plans to post will warn against dangers including "drowning, physical injuries and illnesses caused by amoebas and bacteria, which exist naturally," according to city staff.

The signs direct bathers not to inhale water through their mouth and nose, and to avoid diving into murky or shallow water.

Human infection by the amoeba is extremely rare but almost always fatal, with six deaths, including Evans, reported this year in the U.S. When inhaled, the single-cell creature at attaches itself to the olfactory nerve, then makes its way to the brain.

City Manager Richard Kaffenberger said Tuesday that he believes the city should take the lead role in encouraging a multistate educational campaign about the amoeba.

Besides posting signs, the city may also run public service announcements during periods when the amoeba becomes active, city spokesman Charlie Cassens said.

Parental Heart History Critical For Both Genders

www.chicagotribune.com

By Melissa Healy

When a man suffers a heart attack at a young age, klaxons sound and red flags flutter for his son. Pointing to a son's inherited risk of going down the same road, physicians probably will urge him to stay away from cigarettes, watch his weight and exercise regularly. And there's growing evidence that that advice prompts many men to take heed - especially the recommendation to exercise.

But do alarm bells sound for the female child of a premature heart attack victim - and does she hear them? A study in the September issue of the American Heart Journal suggests the answers are no and no. The study establishes that although the daughters of families with premature heart disease are at higher risk of developing heart disease themselves, they either are failing to get that message or not bothering to heed it.

Between ages 30 and 50, these women are more likely to be overweight and to smoke than are their female peers without a family history of heart disease. Further, they are only slightly more likely to exercise and, overall, appear less inclined than men are to shape up when an immediate blood relative is stricken with heart problems.

"Women seem to feel they have a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to heart disease," says Dr. Alexis Anvekar, a Pasadena, Calif.-based internist and American Heart Association spokeswoman. "They seem to feel that it's a man's disease."

The American Heart Journal study looked at data collected on 2,400 people as part of the Dallas Heart Study, which surveyed and examined about 6,000 Texas residents to track the incidence and development of heart disease. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center internal medicine specialist Dr. Amit Khera and colleagues looked at how men and women, with and without histories of heart disease, compared on measures of cardiovascular risk factors, arterial blockage as detected on scans, and their reports of exercise activity and tobacco use.

The data supported the long-held belief that women generally have lower levels of plaque and fatty buildup in their arteries. But closer inspection showed that among those women with a family history of premature heart disease, the concentration of arterial plaque and fatty deposits was twice that of women with no such family history. And these women's atherosclerosis was on par with that of men with no family history of heart disease. A family history of heart disease, in effect, wiped out the biological protection against heart disease most females enjoy.

"Having a family history kind of turned a woman into a man biologically," said Khera, the study's senior author.

Along with vulnerable genes, parents with heart disease tend to pass down to their children unhealthful habits. As a result, both men and women with a family history of heart disease were more likely than their same-sex peers without such a history to smoke, weigh too much and (for women but not men) to be sedentary.

But for men, the differences were typically narrow, suggesting that many men with family histories of heart disease had rejected unhealthful habits in an effort to reduce their risk.

There was little evidence that women in the same situation had made such changes.

Khera suggests that, with major public campaigns to educate women to heart disease risks, things might be a little different now than three to five years ago, when the Dallas snapshot was taken. But he said women with family heart disease history - as well as their doctors - still have far to go.

"People are finally getting the message, and women are often more compliant, " when told they must change their ways, Khera says. But if a woman is to be saved from her father's disease, he adds, she needs to get the message, get the treatment and make the changes that could make the difference.

Obesity linked to colon cancer in women

abclocal.go.com

Obesity causes a number of health problems. But now, researchers say, it's the biggest risk for a certain kind of cancer in women.

Researchers led by doctors at Stony Brook University in New York say obesity is the single biggest risk factor for colon cancer in women. They found that women with precancerous polyps in the colon were more likely to be obese than women without polyps. And obesity was better at predicting who would have these growths than smoking or having a family history of colon cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It will affect 153,000 Americans this year.

This study was presented to a meeting in Philadelphia of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Amylin drug suspected in pancreatitis cases: FDA

in.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc's and Eli Lilly and Co's diabetes drug Byetta may be linked to cases of acute pancreatitis in some patients, U.S. health officials said in an alert issued on Tuesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has reviewed 30 reports of pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta, known generically as exenatide.

"An association between Byetta and acute pancreatitis is suspected in some of these cases," an FDA alert said.

Amylin has agreed to add information about acute pancreatitis to the precautions section of Byetta's label, the FDA said.

Shares of Eli Lilly and Amylin were off 1.3 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, in afternoon trading after the FDA alert. Shares of Alkermes Inc, the drug-delivery technology of which is being used to develop a long-acting version of Byetta, were down about 5 percent.

Officials at Amylin were not immediately available for comment. A Lilly spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

The FDA said doctors should tell patients taking Byetta to seek prompt medical care if they develop unexplained, persistent severe abdominal pain, which may or may not be accompanied by vomiting.

Byetta should be discontinued should pancreatitis be suspected, the FDA said. Should pancreatitis be confirmed, Byetta should not be restarted unless an alternative cause is identified, the agency advised.

(Additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Ransdell Pierson in New York and Toni Clarke in Boston)

Take a siesta to reduce your blood pressure

www.dailyindia.com

A new study has found that expecting an afternoon nap could reduce blood pressure, consequently cutting down the risk of heart attacks.

Researchers at the Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, U.K., have discovered that the time just before one falls asleep in the afternoon is the most beneficial in reducing blood pressure and lessening the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Afternoon naps, or siestas are typically short naps or rest periods of no more than an hour that are taken in the afternoon.

While earlier studies on siestas have found that this practice may slightly increase the risk of heart attack, the new study has shown an inverse relationship between siesta taking and fatal heart attacks.

According to the researchers, change in blood pressure is the key factor linking afternoon naps to cardiovascular function. Some researchers hypothesize that the lower blood pressure reduces strain on the heart and decreases the risk of a fatal heart attack.

The current study provides a detailed description of changes in cardiovascular function of daytime sleep in healthy individuals, comparing napping with other daytime activities such as standing and lying down without going to sleep.

For the study, the researchers tested nine healthy volunteers (eight men, one woman) who did not routinely take afternoon naps. The volunteers wore equipment that checked blood pressure, heart rate, and forearm cutaneous vascular conductance (which determines dilation of blood vessels).

During one afternoon session, the volunteer spent an hour resting, lying face-up in bed. During another session, the volunteer spent an hour relaxed, but standing. And in one session, the volunteer was allowed an hour to sleep, lying face-up. During the sleep stage, the researchers measured the volunteer's different stages of sleep.

After analysis, researchers found a significant drop in blood pressure during the sleep trial, but not during the resting or standing trials. Besides, this drop in blood pressure occurred mostly after lights out, just before the volunteer fell asleep.

According to the John Moores team, this fall in blood pressure may be one explanation for the lower cardiovascular mortality that some studies have found among people who habitually take siestas. On the other hand, some studies of nocturnal sleep have shown that blood pressure rises when we awake and that more cardiac deaths occur in the mornings.

Hence, the team will next look at blood pressure during the waking portion of the afternoon nap to see if this period may also pose an increased danger of coronary mortality.

The study entitled, 'Acute Changes in Cardiovascular Function During the Onset Period of Daytime Sleep: Comparison to Lying Awake and Standing,' is published in the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, published by The American Physiological Society.

Sex Every Day is Prescription for Improving Sperm Quality

www.timesonline.co.uk

Men who suffer fertility problems because of low sperm quality may be able to improve their chances of fatherhood by having sex every day, research has suggested.

While those trying for a baby are often told to refrain from ejaculating too often to protect their sperm count, Australian scientists have shown that this can be counterproductive and may lower male fertility.

Among men whose fertility problems stem from genetic damage to their sperm rather than a low sperm count, abstaining from sex can make their difficulties worse, research led by David Greening, of Sydney IVF, has shown.

The pilot study of 42 men whose sperm showed significant DNA damage found that daily ejaculation reduced this by 12 per cent. While the results are preliminary and no direct effect on fertility has yet been measured, they suggest that certain men could benefit from having sex more often, or from abstaining less before providing semen for use in IVF.

Dr Greening, who presented his results at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Washington yesterday, said: “I’m convinced that ejaculating more frequently, ie daily, improves sperm DNA damage in most men by a decent amount.

“Prior to IVF, for example, men are abstaining a lot more than normal and perhaps sperm DNA increases more than usual. Men think if they abstain for longer times before, say, ovulation that their sperm will be better. [There may be] more volume and numbers but DNA damage may increase.”

Abstaining from sex does increase the number of sperm that are ejaculated, and this has led to advice that couples trying for a baby should have sex every two to three days.

Longer periods of abstinence, however, achieve little because while the quantity of sperm might increase, its quality declines. As sperm is produced, it is stored in the epididymis at the top of the testicle, but the longer it sits there the more damage it accumulates from exposure to free radicals.

Regular ejaculation empties this sperm reservoir, making sure that newly produced sperm of higher genetic quality can get out.

Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said that clearing the reservoir was more important when sperm had high levels of genetic damage. “If you get above 30 to 40 per cent damaged DNA, a man is highly likely to be infertile,” he said. “When you put people on a daily ejaculation regime, it reduces that figure for DNA damage. If you can go from 30 per cent down to 20 per cent that is quite a big shift, that should have implications for fertility.

“There is a trade-off between genetic damage and quantity, so when a couple are first trying to get pregnant a wait of two to three days is probably advisable. But if you are a guy who has high DNA damage and a decent sperm count, it is probably in your interest to ejaculate every day.

“I remember one couple in which the woman would only let the man ejaculate when she was in her fertile period, so the poor chap was going without for almost a month at a time.

“Even leaving aside the frustration that must have caused, it would have had no benefits.”

Is dieting or exercise better for weight loss?

www.boston.com

JUDY FOREMAN

It's a bit complicated, but basically, it's the net calorie deficit - expending more energy than you consume - that counts, said Eric Ravussin, a physiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.

In a small, randomized, controlled clinical trial, Ravussin divided three dozen overweight but healthy men and women into three groups. One group reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Another group cut calories by half as much (12.5 percent) while increasing energy output through exercise by 12.5 percent; and the third group made no diet or exercise changes.

The researchers looked at weight loss, body composition, and measures of superficial and deep fat. They found that it doesn't matter whether people lose weight by diet or by exercise or a combination, although exercise has the important benefit of improving cardiovascular health.

"So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat mass, and abdominal fat will all decrease the same way," said Ravussin, in an e-mail.

It's a good idea to include exercise in any weight control program, said William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

"When you exercise during weight loss, you lose more fat from the visceral stores - around the waist because this fat is very metabolically active and turns over more rapidly," he said in an e-mail. There's some evidence that this fat is used first by the body.

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

Why garlic is good for the heart

news.bbc.co.uk

Researchers have cracked the mystery of why eating garlic can help keep the heart healthy.

The key is allicin, which is broken down into the foul-smelling sulphur compounds which taint breath.

These compounds react with red blood cells and produce hydrogen sulphide which relaxes the blood vessels, and keeps blood flowing easily.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham research appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

However, UK experts warned taking garlic supplements could lead to side effects.

Hydrogen sulphide generates a smell of rotten eggs and is used to make stink bombs.

But at low concentrations it plays a vital role in helping cells to communicate with each other.

And within the blood vessels it stimulates the cells that form the lining to relax, causing the vessels to dilate.

This, in turn, reduces blood pressure, allowing the blood to carry more oxygen to essential organs, and reducing pressure on the heart.

The Alabama team bathed rat blood vessels in a bath containing juice from crushed garlic.

Striking results

This produced striking results - with tension within the vessels reduced by 72%.

The researchers also found that red blood cells exposed to minute amounts of juice extracted from supermarket garlic immediately began emitting hydrogen sulphide.

Further experiments showed that the chemical reaction took place mainly on the surface of the blood cells.

The researchers suggest that hydrogen sulphide production in red blood cells could be used to standardise dietary garlic supplements.

Lead researcher Dr David Kraus said: "Our results suggest garlic in the diet is a very good thing.

"Certainly in areas where garlic consumption is high, such as the Mediterranean and the Far East, there is a low incidence of cardiovascular disease."

Judy O'Sullivan, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This interesting study suggests that garlic may provide some heart health benefits.

"However, there remains insufficient evidence to support the notion of eating garlic as medicine in order to reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

"Having garlic as part of a varied diet is a matter of personal choice.

"It is important to note that large amounts in supplement form may interact with blood thinning drugs and could increase the risk of bleeding."

Obesity linked to elevated risk of esophageal cancer

FoodConsumer.org

By David Liu

Obese people are more likely to develop cancer of the gullet than those with a normal body weight, a new study finds. But the finding does not mean that obesity is the cause of the disease.

The study published in the British journal Gut looked at 793 people with esophageal cancer and 1,580 controls matched for age and residence location.

The study found people with a body mass index of 40 or higher were six times more at risk than those with a BMI between 18.5 and 25, which is normal by definition.

Those with obesity and acid reflux were 16 times more likely to have the disease.

The association was still significant even after other factor such as smoking and alcohol consumption were taken into account.

In obese people, high levels of insulin boost production of insulin-like growth factor which is known to stimulate cell growth and inhibits apoptosis, programmed deaths of cells. Both may increase the cancer risk.

But further research is needed to confirm the mechanism. The study per se could not reveal any causal relationship between obesity and esophageal cancer.

A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org, who was not part of the study team, said that obesity may be a marker. If the association turns out to be causal, then the risk factors for obesity may also be risk factors for the cancer also obesity in itself may also be a risk factor.

Esophageal cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 15,560 men and women and kills 13,940 in the United States this year.

Dietrine Carb Blocker to Lose Weight

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

Tea may prevent osteoporosis

www.sciencealert.com.au

New research by Australian scientists has shown that women between 70 and 85 who drink green or black tea have higher bone density in their hips than women who don't drink tea.

Tea drinkers also lost less bone density over a five year period than non tea drinkers.

The study confirmed previous research, which suggested that tea preserves hip structure in elderly women and may protect against osteoporosis, a condition that affects one in two Australian women over 60.

The results were published in the October edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers from the University of Western Australia studied 275 women between the ages of 70 and 85 over five years.

The authors said that more research was needed to uncover exactly how tea drinking affected bone density.

Chronic Work Stress May Trigger Second Heart Attack

www.foxnews.com

People who experience chronic job strain after a first heart attack double their risk of suffering from a second one, according to new research from the Universite Laval’s Faculty of Medicine in Quebec.

Previous research had linked work-related stress to a first coronary heart disease event. But this latest study, published in the Oct. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to find conclusive evidence that links stress to a second heart attack as well.

For the study, the research team followed a group of 972 participants, ages 35 to 59, who had suffered a heart attack. Participants were interviewed six weeks, two years and six years after returning to work in order to collect data on their health, lifestyles, socioeconomic status and levels of work stress.

A job was defined as stressful if it combined high psychological demands (heavy workload, intense intellectual activity and important time constraints) and little control over decision-making, including a lack of autonomy, creativity and opportunities to use or develop skills.

During the six-year follow-up period, 124 participants suffered a second heart attack and 82 experienced unstable angina for a total of 206 recurrent events.

People who had reported high levels of stress at work during the first two interviews were twice as likely to fall victim to another event. The risk remained the same even after taking into account factors such as severity of the first heart attack, other health conditions, family history, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, personality and other work-environment characteristics.

The study also found that during the first two years following a heart attack, job strain does not increase the probability of experiencing a second heart attack.

“Employers and occupational health service professionals must find ways to modify the psychological demands of a job or the level of control over decision-making for people returning to work after a heart attack,” concluded study author Chantal Brisson in a news release.

Surgery Best For Prostate Cancer Patients

www.dogflu.ca

A new study finds that prostate cancer surgery to remove the entire gland offers the best chance of male patients surviving the disease

A new study confirms that surgery is a really good choice for many men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The study finds that men have the best chance for long term survival if their prostate gland is removed after they are diagnosed with the disease.

For the study Dr. Arnaud Merglen and colleagues at Geneva University in Switzerland studied data from a registry containing 844 men diagnosed with the disease.

They found that within the initial 5 years of treatment the length of survival did not vary that much depending on what form of treatment men received.

But after 10 years, "patients treated with radiotherapy or watchful waiting had a significantly increased risk of death from prostate cancer compared with patients who underwent prostatectomy (removal of the gland)," the study said.

After 10 years, the survival rates were: 83% for prostate gland removal,75% for radiation, 72% for waiting, 41% for hormone therapy and 71% for other forms of treatment.

"There is growing evidence from observational studies that prostatectomy offers the best chance of long-term specific survival in men with localized prostate cancer, in particular younger patients and those with poorly differentiated tumors," the study concluded.

Low-fat Dietary Pattern May Lower Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

www.sciencedaily.com

A diet low in fat could reduce the risk of ovarian cancer in healthy postmenopausal women, according to new results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification Trial. Researchers found that after four years, women who decreased the amount of dietary fat they consumed were 40 percent less likely to develop ovarian cancer than women who followed normal dietary patterns. As expected, no effect was found during the first four years because preventive benefits on cancer often take many years to develop.

Ovarian cancer affects about 1 in 60 U.S. women in their lifetimes and has the highest mortality of all cancers of the female reproductive system.

“Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Invasive Cancer Incidence: Further Results from the Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial,” is published online October 9 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The WHI Dietary Modification Trial was conducted in 40 clinical centers throughout the United States and is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

The WHI Dietary Modification clinical trial followed 48,835 healthy, postmenopausal women for an average of 8.1 years to test whether a low-fat diet would reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Nearly 20,000 women in the intervention group were counseled to decrease fat intake to 20 percent of calories and to replace calories from fat with calories from vegetables, fruits, and grains. The control group (nearly 30,000 women) received diet-related education materials only.

Women in both groups started with average consumption of more than 35 percent of calories from fat when they joined the study. By the end of the first year, the low-fat diet group reduced average total fat intakes to 24 percent of calories from fat, about 11 percent less than the women in the usual diet group. By the end of the study, women in the low-fat diet group averaged 29 percent calories from fat, compared to 37 percent calories from fat in the usual diet group. The low-fat diet group also increased their consumption of vegetables, fruits, and grains.

Researchers found that women who started with the highest fat intake and who reduced their fat intake the most during the study lowered their risk of ovarian cancer the most. In addition, although no effect on rates of endometrial cancer were found, the new results suggest a small reduction in overall risk of cancer among the women who ate less fat, but this finding was not statistically significant.

In the study's primary findings published in the February 8, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, women in the low-fat diet group had a tendency toward reduced risk of breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and no reduction in risk of colorectal cancer. The overall 9 percent reduction in breast cancer was not statistically significant; however, like the results for ovarian cancer, the study found that women who started with the highest fat intake lowered their risk of breast cancer more markedly.

The WHI is the most comprehensive study to date of the causes and prevention of the major diseases affecting the health of older women. Over 15 years, the study’s findings on heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis have stimulated many changes in clinical practice. The WHI is also one of the largest studies of its kind ever undertaken in the United States and is considered a model for future studies of women’s health.

This study of low-fat dietary pattern is one of the three randomized clinical trials that make up the WHI. The others included trials of hormone therapy (estrogen plus progestin and estrogen alone). Both trials were stopped early because of increased risk of diseases like stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer, and because the hormones failed to reduce risk of heart disease. The third clinical trial studied the effects of calcium and Vitamin D supplementation on osteoporosis-related bone fractures and on colorectal cancer. As reported in February 2006, the study found that calcium and vitamin D supplements provide a modest benefit in preserving bone mass and prevent hip fractures in certain groups of healthy postmenopausal women, especially those over age 60, but do not prevent other types of fractures or colorectal cancer.

Happy relationships good for the heart

www.telegraph.co.uk

By Laura Clout

Some relationships can be bad for your health, say researchers.

A new study has found that people who lack emotional support and understanding from their partner, have a 34 per cent increased risk of heart disease than those in the most supportive relationships.

Scientists at University College London tracked more than 9,000 people for 12 years.

Participants were asked how far they felt able to confide in their partner, whether talking to them made problems worse, and to what extent the other person offered support.

Those in the most negative relationships were found to be 1.34 times more likely to suffer ailments such as a heart attack, angina or chest pain than those who rated their partner the most highly.

Of the 8,499 people who did not have coronary heart disease at the beginning of the study, 589 reported a heart disease event in this period. Those in the most unhappy relationships were found to have a 34 per cent higher chance of developing heart-related problems than those in the happiest relationships.

British Heart Foundation nurse Cathy Ross said it was important to identify groups least likely to receive emotional support.

A Bad Relationship Can Cause Heart Attack

Study: Sex OK for Men with Chronic Heart Failure

Sex may not be dangerous for men with chronic heart failure, despite fears that intercourse may place too much strain on their heart, a new review shows.

The problem, however, is that many men with chronic heart problems may lose interest in sex as a result of the fatigue, depression, and the prescription side effects they often experience, as well as from fear of damaging the heart, researchers say.

The literature review, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, compiled data from patient surveys and clinical trials on chronic heart failure, sexual activity and sexual dysfunction, and found that the patient’s peak heart rate during intercourse was lower than their heart rate during normal everyday activities like walking on level ground, climbing stairs or doing general housework.

Sixty to 70 percent of men with heart conditions also experience erectile dysfunction, the authors said. Erectile dysfunction often results from a decrease in exercise, as well as blood vessel and circulation abnormalities that may reduce blood flow into the penis.

The authors said that patients who cannot take erectile dysfunction medication may be able to remedy the problem by developing an exercise routine, which may help to enhance their sex drives and overall health.

Men with heart failure can have sex

How to Improve Sexual Performance

Obese Women Should Not Gain Weight During Pregnancy

www.ivanhoe.com

New research shows obese pregnant women need to stop eating for two. Researchers highlight the need for new guidelines and suggest obese and overweight women should gain very little weight during pregnancy and severely obese women should actually lose weight.

Obesity is a major public health crisis. Researchers from St. Louis University School of Medicine conducted the largest population-based study to look at the effects of weight gain during pregnancy in obese expectant moms. The study analyzed data on more than 120,000 obese pregnant women.

Researchers found limiting weight gain in obese women has many health benefits. Obese women who gain less than 15 pounds during a pregnancy are less likely to develop preeclampsia, less likely to need a cesarean delivery and more likely to have a baby of normal weight. Study authors go on to say that severely obese women should actually lose weight during pregnancy.

Investigators say pregnancy is a big factor in the obesity crisis. Study author Raul Artal, M.D., says, “Weight gain increases in subsequent pregnancies because women accumulate weight with each pregnancy and don’t lose it.” He says it really comes down to mom to control the rest of the family. They write, “This is a multi-generational problem. The behavior modification starts with mom. If mothers are overeating and not exercising, that’s how the rest of the family is likely to behave.”

Funny Diet and Weight Loss Stories

Smokers 'need more help to quit'

news.bbc.co.uk

Nicotine should be freely available in products which do not carry cigarettes' health risks, to help smokers who find it impossible to quit, say doctors.

Nicotine should be freely available in products which do not carry cigarettes' health risks, to help smokers who find it impossible to quit, say doctors.

Millions continue to smoke because they are addicted to nicotine, but it is the toxins in cigarette smoke that kill, said the Royal College of Physicians.

It called for the regulation of new cigarette substitute products to give the "nicotine hit" that smokers crave.

The Department of Health said it would consider the RCP report.

The RCP said its proposals could help to prevent millions of deaths and would particularly help the worst off, who tend to smoke more heavily and find it harder to stop.

'Safe sources'

Professor John Britton, report author and chairman of the RCP tobacco advisory group, said: "Smokers smoke because they are addicted to nicotine, but it isn't nicotine in cigarette smoke that kills - it's the hundreds of other toxic chemicals that come with it.

"The best thing that a smoker can do for his or her health is to quit all smoking and nicotine use completely.

"However, there are millions of smokers who can't quit, or else who are unlikely to quit, and those people need nicotine products that can satisfy their addiction without killing them."

Almost a quarter of adults in the UK currently smoke and fewer than 5% of smokers manage to quit every year, despite most saying they would like to.

Manufacturers should be encouraged to develop safe nicotine sources, which might be as addictive as cigarettes, for smokers, the RCP report concluded.

But current medicines regulation in the UK actively discourages the development, marketing and promotion of cigarette substitutes containing nicotine because it is addictive.

Current nicotine replacement therapy, such as chewing gum, delivers the drug at a much lower dose than in cigarettes to help wean people off their craving.

Controversy

More research should be done on the effectiveness and safety of other forms of tobacco as alternatives to smoking, the RCP also said.

Smokeless products such as snus, which is widely available in Sweden but banned in the EU, may be safer than smoking and be an acceptable alternative for smokers, although not without health risks, the RCP said.

Professor Britton, who is also an expert in epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said the concept was controversial as some saw it as "encouraging addiction".

"If lots of people stop smoking but switch to medicinal nicotine products, it would be no more harmful than the existing use of caffeine," he said.

Action on Smoking and Health and Cancer Research UK backed the report's recommendations.

Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, said: "If nicotine can be provided in a form and at a price that offers a far more attractive and accessible alternative to smoking than at present, many lives could be saved."

But Professor Martin McKee, an expert in European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said there should be a clear distinction between nicotine replacement therapy, which had been proven to be safe, and types of smokeless tobacco such as snus.

"What we're very concerned about is that tobacco companies have been pushing for legalisation of snus, which would undermine the impact of the smoking ban because it would keep people addicted rather than encourage them to quit."

The Department of Health said reducing rates of smoking remained a priority and with the support of the NHS, smokers greatly increased their chances of stopping smoking for good.

Body's Own Stem Cells Could Trigger Cancer Spread

www.medicalnewstoday.com

Written by: Christian Nordqvist

Your body's own stem cells could trigger alterations in cancer cells which facilitate their spreading around the body, say scientist from the Whitehead Institute, USA. They found that human breast cancer in mice have a higher chance of spreading if they are blended with bone marrow stem cells. Fortunately, say the scientists, it is perhaps feasible to reverse the process, undermining the deadliness of the cancer.

You can read about this study in the journal Nature.

When metastasis occurs it is much harder to treat the cancer. Metastasis is when the cancer invades other parts of the body and forms new tumors. In this study, the scientists intended to find out whether it was possible to stop this from happening - they wanted to find a means of isolating the cancer to one part of the body; stopping it from metastasizing (spreading, invading other parts).

The researchers have found an association with a specific type of stem cell, which encourages the breast cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body. They are found in the bone marrow, and are called Mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells generally turn into cartilage, bone fat and muscle.

Previous studies had indicated that these stem cells generally migrated in huge numbers to where tumors were situated, meaning they were probably involved in the spread of the cancer. The researchers mixed these stem cells with human breast cancer cells in mice and found they spread to the lungs at seven times their normal rate.

The scientists believe the stem cells alter the cancer cells so that they metastasize. However, they add that as soon as they had spread, those cancer cells returned to their original genetic make-up. The bad news here is that as they revert back to their original genetic make up they are hard to identify, the good news, say the researchers, is that it is most likely they can find a way of blocking the whole process.

Using testicles to fix the brain, heart and blood

Scientists Advise Pregnant Women to Eat Fish

www.sun-sentinel.com

By Sally Squires

In a major break with current U.S. health advice, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies plans to advise pregnant and breast-feeding women to consume at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week to ensure optimal brain development of their babies.

That recommendation, which will be announced at a news conference today, essentially is at odds with the standard government advice since 2001 that these groups should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood a week because of concerns about mercury contamination.

The new advisory comes from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, a nonprofit group with nearly 150 members, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Concerns over the impact of fish on the brain development of fetuses and infants, the most vulnerable groups, have been one of the more vexing nutritional dilemmas of recent years, causing widespread consumer confusion and fueling much scientific debate.

"It's been an important issue over the last decade or so," said Brown University professor Patricia Nolan, former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and one of the experts who drafted the new guidelines. "There is a big debate about what is safe. ... There are really complex questions. That is why we are doing this."

Concerns about mercury contamination prompted the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to issue warnings in 2001 and 2004. Pregnant and breast-feeding women, those who want to become pregnant and young children were advised to eat no more than 12 ounces weekly of seafood, based on theoretical calculations of the potential for contamination. Exposure of too much methyl mercury has been linked to neurological problems.

The FDA and EPA also recommended that these groups avoid eating shark, tilefish, king mackerel and swordfish because of their high mercury content and limit albacore tuna to no more than six ounces per week.

But recent studies have suggested that the health benefits of fish and seafood outweigh the potential health risks from mercury. Based on that evidence, a number of countries and governmental groups including the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Nordic Council of Ministers, already advise that pregnant women eat at least a couple of servings of fish weekly. Fish and seafood are the major dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, especially a substance called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that are key nutrients for brain and nervous systems in the developing fetus and in babies and young children.

7 ways to fight breast cancer

detnews.com

Carolyn Clifford

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is likely that we all will be hearing tips on preventing and treating breast cancer. Since some of the diet data is contradictory, you may not want to change your eating habits based on one study. But here are seven pieces of advice from the American Cancer Society you may want to consider.

1. Limit alcohol consumption. The research shows alcohol increases the risk of several kinds of cancer, including breast cancer. People who drink alcohol should limit consumption to no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Women at high risk of breast cancer may want to cut out alcohol altogether.
2. Eat more antioxidants. Antioxidant nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids and many other chemicals from plants. Studies show that people who eat more veggies and fruits may have a lower risk for some types of cancer.
3. Don't worry about coffee. While caffeine may heighten symptoms of fibrocystic breast lumps, a type of benign breast disease, there is no evidence it increases the risk of breast cancer.
4. Get your folate. Folate is a B vitamin found in many vegetables, beans, fruits, whole grains and fortified cereals. Since 1998, all grain products in the United States have been fortified with folate. Women who don't get enough folate may have an increased risk for breast cancer, especially if they drink alcohol.
5. Eat to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese is linked with an increased risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women. So avoiding excessive weight gain also to reduces the risk of other chronic diseases.
6. Use soy in moderation. Soy has been shown to protect against hormone-dependent cancers in animal studies. But high doses of soy could possibly increase the risk of estrogen-responsive cancers, such as breast cancer.
7. Don't smoke. Yes, I know, tobacco isn't food. But avoiding it is so important I just had to add it to the list.

Five Myths About Breast Cancer and Why You Shouldn't Believe Them

Five Myths About Breast Cancer and Why You Shouldn't Believe Them

www.foxnews.com

We’ve all heard the wives’ tales. Deodorant will give you breast cancer and so do microwaves and tight-fitting bras.

Alas, all of these tales are fictitious. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of other seemingly believable myths on breast cancer floating around, say doctors.

Many women, for example, have been told that women under the age of 40 should be getting mammograms and it’s the greedy insurance industry that is preventing them from doing so.

Mammograms, however, are ineffective for most young women, which is the real reason why they are discouraged from getting them, said Dr. Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

“Young women’s breasts are dense and if they get mammograms, their breasts show up very white on mammograms and cancer shows up as white,” she said. “But, as women get older, their breasts are less dense and show up gray on a mammogram, which makes it easy to identify the white cancer. If there is a family history, and women are worried, they can start earlier and in this case a digital mammography may work better than a traditional mammography.”

Here are five other myths about breast cancer:

— There’s no history of breast cancer in my family so I won’t get it.

“That’s not true,” said Dr. Marisa Weiss, an oncologist and the president of breastcancer.org. Although women with a family history are at a higher risk for the disease, environmental factors, drinking, smoking, medication and diet can all influence a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer.

Knowing the history of breast cancer on both sides of your family is also important. Just because a woman doesn’t have a history of breast cancer on her mother’s side, doesn’t mean she’s at a decreased risk. A paternal family history of breast cancer also increases a woman’s chances of getting it.

— I have breast cancer, so I have to get a mastectomy if I want to stop the spread and prevent the cancer from coming back.

Very few women diagnosed with breast cancer actually need a mastectomy, said Zuckerman. “In fact, most of the women who get mastectomies don’t need them,” she said. “And for women to lose their breasts, in addition to the normal emotional turmoil that they go through having breast cancer, is harmful emotionally and physically.”

Specifically, Zuckerman said that about 75 percent of the women who get breast cancer each year will not need mastectomies. Many women with stages 0, 1, or 2 breast cancer respond well to treatment that includes a lumpectomy, chemotherapy or a combination of both, she added.

— Young women are just as likely to get breast cancer as older women.

Both Weiss and Zuckerman agree that this also is not true. Women older than 50 are most at risk for this disease, explained Zuckerman. “Breast cancer in women younger than 30 is so rare, and this is one of the things that concerns me,” she said. “I think the media focuses on young women, because it’s so shocking when someone in their 20’s gets cancer. But what you end up with, are women in their 20’s and 30’s who are terrified that they're going to get cancer and women in their 50’s who think they don’t need to worry about it, when the opposite is true."

Of the nearly 200,000 women who will get breast cancer next year, half will be over the age of 61, said Weiss. About 25,000 women will be under the age of 40. “It’s still a significant number, but when you compare it to the overall number of women who get breast cancer, it’s a small percentage,” she said.

— Breast cancer is fatal.

“Breast cancer is not fatal in and of itself,” said Zuckerman. “What makes it fatal is if it goes into other parts of the body and gets into the lymph nodes, lungs and other organs,” she said. “Also if it gets into the blood or the bones, it can kill a person. That’s the risk of metastasized cancer. That means it has spread and once it hits the lymph nodes, it can become out of control.” Zuckerman said early detection is the best way to prevent cancer from spreading.

— Men don’t get breast cancer.

“This is certainly not true,” said Weiss. “Men do get it.” The American Cancer Society estimates that about 2,030 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men this year and about 450 men will die after getting the disease. Still, breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women and women whose fathers are diagnosed with breast cancer are at an increased risk for the disease just as they would be if their mothers are diagnosed with it, added Weiss.

7 ways to fight breast cancer

Panic Attacks May Increase Heart Risk

www.cbsnews.com

By Salynn Boyles

More Heart Attacks Seen In Older Women Who Experience Panic Attacks

Older women who experience panic attacks appear to have an increased risk for having heart attacks or heart-related death, new research suggests.

Postmenopausal women in the study who reported at least one full-blown panic attack within six months of being interviewed were four times as likely as other older women to have a heart attack or related death over the next five years.

They were three times as likely to have either a heart attack, heart-related death, or stroke, and nearly twice as likely to die from any cause.

Earlier studies have implicated depression as a risk factor for heart disease, but the new research is the first to suggest a direct link between anxiety-related panic attacks and heart attack and stroke risk.

Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychiatry Jordan W. Smoller, M.D., who led the study team, says more research is needed to confirm the finding.

"There is not a lot of previous evidence suggesting that panic attacks are in themselves dangerous (in terms of heart risk)," he tells WebMD. "Our study does not resolve the question. But it does suggest that older women with a recent history of panic attacks may warrant closer scrutiny for cardiovascular complications."

Panic Attacks and Heart Attacks

The study included 3,369 healthy postmenopausal women participating in the larger ongoing Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial examining risk factors for heart disease and other health outcomes among older women.

When they entered the study between 1997 and 2000, the women, whose average age was 66, were asked if they had recently experienced a panic attack. They were then followed for an average of 5.3 years.

At enrollment, one out of 10 women reported having had a full-blown panic attack within six months.

After adjusting for the impact of other established cardiovascular risk factors, a recent panic attack was associated with a fourfold increased risk of heart attack or heart-related death and a twofold increase in death from any cause.

The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

"Our study adds panic attacks to the list of emotional states and psychiatric symptoms that have been linked to excess risk of cardiovascular disease and death," the researchers wrote.

Impact on Heart Hard to Measure

Smoller says it is not clear if the anxiety that leads to panic attacks directly increases cardiovascular risk or if panic attacks are actually a symptom of undiagnosed heart and vascular disease.

"Shortness of breath, chest pain, and raised heartbeat are all symptoms of panic attack," he says. "It is possible that some women who reported these symptoms might have unrecognized cardiac problems."

It is also not clear if the findings apply to younger women and men, or if aggressive treatment of panic attacks with anti-anxiety drugs lowers heart attack and stroke risk.

Cardiologist Gerald F. Fletcher, M.D., tells WebMD that while there is growing evidence to suggest that depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions have an adverse impact on the heart, the impact remains difficult to measure.

Fletcher is a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.

"We have been able to show a direct link between heart disease and risk factors like hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, and smoking, "he says. "These are easily measurable, but the impact of depression and anxiety on heart risk is not."

Panic Attacks In Older Women Linked To Risk Of Cardiovascular Diseases