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Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Could a 'Mediterranean' Diet Extend Your Life?

Published By Pro Navigators On 6:00 AM 0 comments

Researchers found that the regimen -- rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil -- appears to be associated with longer telomere length, which are indicators of slower aging.

Telomeres are located on the ends of chromosomes -- much like the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces. According to geneticists, telomeres prevent chromosomes from fraying and scrambling the genetic codes they contain. These bits of genetic material naturally shorten with age, but they tend to shorten more slowly in healthy people.

Shorter telomeres have long been associated with a greater risk of age-related diseases and a shorter life span, experts say.

The new study was led by Immaculata De Vivo, an associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston. Her team looked at data from more than 4,600 participants in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study, which has been tracking the health of U.S. nurses since 1976.

The participants were given a score of 0 to 9 on how closely they followed a Mediterranean diet, with a higher score indicating greater adherence to the regimen.

After adjusting for other factors, the researchers concluded that telomeres aged more slowly for every point a person went up on the scale.

However, the intake of individual food items in the Mediterranean diet was not associated with telomere length, which shows the importance of overall eating patterns on health, De Vivo's team said.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest population-based study specifically addressing the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and telomere length in healthy, middle-aged women," the researchers wrote. "Our results further support the benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet for promoting health and longevity."

According to De Vivo's team, prior research has linked the Mediterranean diet with better heart health, as well as a lowered risk for chronic disease and death.

The study, published Dec. 2 in the BMJ, was not designed to prove that the Mediterranean diet slowed the shortening of telomeres; it could only show an association.

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Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Weight Could Influence Rheumatoid Arthritis Relief

Published By Pro Navigators On 7:08 PM 0 comments

The study found that those who were heaviest had almost 65 percent reduced odds of disease remission. Being underweight also lowered the odds of remission.

"Medication for rheumatoid arthritis is not as effective on the overweight population," said Dr. Susan Goodman, the study's lead author and a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Findings from the new research were presented earlier this month at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Boston. Studies presented at meetings are generally considered preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

It's also important to note that while this study found a link between weight and rheumatoid arthritis remission, it wasn't designed to show whether or not weight was actually responsible for changes in remission status.

Almost 1.5 million Americans have rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic condition that causes painful joint swelling that can lead to joint deformity, according to the Arthritis Foundation. The disease is three times more common in women, and typically begins between ages 30 and 60, the Arthritis Foundation reported.

A major goal of treatment is to induce remission -- defined as no or low inflammation or no signs of active disease, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients who achieve remission experience a significant reduction in symptoms, according to Goodman. Patients have achieved remission when they no longer have fatigue, swelling in their joints and short-lived morning joint stiffness, she noted. Patients are significantly more likely to attain these results if they adhere to a specific plan to combat the disease, Goodman said.

The current study followed nearly 1,000 patients -- who developed the disease at an early age -- for three years.

The researchers found that people who were underweight had 45 percent lower odds of achieving remission than people of normal weight. And, people who were obese (a body mass index -- or BMI -- of 35 to 40) or morbidly obese (a BMI over 40) had about 50 to 60 percent lower odds of achieving remission of their rheumatoid arthritis, according to the study. BMI is a measurement that roughly estimates how much body fat a person has.

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Monday, December 01, 2014

Could Popular Heartburn Drugs Upset Your 'Good' Gut Bugs?

Published By Pro Navigators On 5:43 PM 0 comments

The research doesn't confirm that these changes make it more likely users will become ill, and study authors aren't recommending that anyone stop taking the so-called proton pump inhibitors.

However, these antacids "should be used at the lowest dose that provides adequate relief of symptoms, and attempts to discontinue their use should be considered periodically," said study co-author Dr. John DiBaise, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

According to Harvard Medical School, billions of dollars are spent annually on antacid drugs in an attempt to combat heartburn, ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD. Old standbys such as Maalox and Mylanta have been supplanted by more effective, more expensive drugs, including proton pump inhibitors. These include Prevacid (lansoprazole) and Protonix (pantoprazole) in addition to Prilosec (omeprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole).

"Despite years of safe and effective use, in recent years there have been an increasing number of reports suggesting potentially harmful effects and harmful associations with their use," DiBaise said.

Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors has been linked to infection with a germ called Clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhea, he said. Researchers have also connected the medications to vitamin deficiencies, bone fractures and pneumonia, among other conditions.

In the new study, researchers sought to understand what happens to the trillions of germs in the digestive system when people take omeprazole, the generic name for the drug best known as Prilosec.

Ten participants, aged 18 to 57, took 20 or 40 milligrams of the drug a day for 28 days. Researchers analyzed the study participants' stool samples to understand the germs in their guts.

"These microbes have evolved with us to participate in our normal development and metabolism, and perform certain functions that we would not be able to accomplish without their help," DiBaise said. Many scientists believe that people's risk of disease goes up when their normal germ makeup changes, he said.

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