Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

If it’s tomato season, it’s cucumber season, too – a time to think about light summer salads, garlicky chilled soups, even cooked cucumber dishes.

Their high water content makes cucumbers especially refreshing during the months when they’re at their best. Cucumbers also are a very good source of vitamin C  and caffeic acid, compounds that seem to help prevent water retention (which may be why cucumber rounds have long been favored as remedies for swollen eyes and sunburned skin). Cucumber juice also is used in natural skin care products because it contains silica, an important component of connective tissue and healthy skin.

Seek out unwaxed cucumbers, so you won’t need to peel them; the skin is a rich in fiber and a good source of potassium and magnesium. You won’t have to remove seeds if you’re able to use Persian or European cucumbers.

Some heart patients not getting treatment: study

(Reuters) – Some patients with congestive heart failure are not receiving recommended medicines that could keep them alive longer and out of the hospital, a trend that may be adding to the nation’s health costs, U.S. researchers say.

A team at Stanford University School of Medicine in a study conducted over 15 years found that patients got prescriptions for drugs that would help their condition in fewer than half of doctor visits, and that number was falling.

“There are some recommended medications for heart failure that have been proven to be effective against mortality and morbidity, to lower hospitalizations and improve death rates,” said Dr. Dipanjan Banerjee, a cardiologist at Stanford who worked on the study released on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Scientists use salmonella bug to kill cancer cells

(Reuters) – Treating tumors with salmonella bacteria can induce an immune response that kills cancer cells, scientists have found — a discovery that may help them create tumor-killing immune cells to inject into patients.

Researchers from Italy and the United States who worked with mouse and human cancer cells in laboratories said their work might help in developing a new drug in a class of cancer treatments called immunotherapies or therapeutic vaccines, which harness the body’s immune system to fight disease.

“We did experiments first in mice and then in cancer cells and immune cells from human patients, and found that the salmonella was doing exactly the same job,” Maria Rescigno of European Institute of Oncology in Milan, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. “Now we are ready to go into (testing on) humans, but we are waiting for authorization.”

Stem cells may hold key for fatal skin disease

(Reuters) – High-risk bone marrow transplants partially cured five children with a potentially deadly genetic defect in which proteins that hold layers of skin together are absent, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

But one other child died from side effects of a drug used to prepare for a transplant and a second died from a post-transplant infection.

People with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB, are plagued by painful blisters on the skin, mouth and throat, caused by the slightest trauma that can expose the body to infection and, in some cases, an aggressive form of cancer.

With the new treatment, “there was improved healing, fewer blisters, and their quality of life was positively affected. They could do things they couldn’t do before, like ride a bicycle or go on a trampoline,” said Dr. John Wagner of the University of Minnesota, who worked on the study.

It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New Way to Classify Rheumatoid Arthritis

Experts Say New System Could Lead to Earlier Treatment of Some RA Patients

Aug. 11, 2010 — A new way of classifying rheumatoid arthritis should lead to earlier identification of the disease, which, in turn, should help investigators explore new therapies to prevent its ravages, researchers say.

The revised classification, announced this week by the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism, will allow researchers to recruit patients for clinical trials earlier in the disease process, says Boston University associate professor of medicine and epidemiology Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD.

It may also lead to earlier treatment of some patients with suspected rheumatoid arthritis (RA), she says, although that was not the purpose of the revision.

The new criteria appear in the September issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Brain Waves Show Why Some Sleep Through Noise

Research May Lead to New Approaches in Treating Sleep Disorders

Aug. 9, 2010 — The brains of people who can sleep through the night undisturbed may be better wired to block out noise, according to a small study.

Understanding who has an easier time sleeping than others may help researchers develop more targeted approaches to treating sleep disorders. Environmental noises can affect sleep quality, which can ultimately impact overall health. According to a 2009 survey by the CDC, about one in 10 Americans report difficulty sleeping. Only 30% say they get enough sleep; more than 50 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders, such as insomnia.

CDC: Flu Vaccine Arriving, Get Yours ASAP

Aug. 12, 2010 — It may still be late summer, but this year’s flu vaccine already is arriving — and the CDC wants you to get yours right away.

That “you” means “everybody.” For the first time, the seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for all men, women — including pregnant women — and children over age 6 months. Exceptions include only those allergic to eggs or those with other health issues that make vaccination unwise.

And there will be plenty of vaccine out there. Manufacturers tell the CDC they’ll have 170 million doses on hand. They’ve already begun shipping the vaccine across the nation.

FDA Warns Lamictal Can Cause Meningitis

FDA Revising Drug Label to Include Information About Meningitis Risk

Aug. 12, 2010 — The FDA warned today that the prescription drug Lamictal, which is used to treat seizures and bipolar disorder, can cause aseptic meningitis.

Aseptic meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord and is not caused by bacterial infection.

The FDA says it is warning consumers about the potential problem and working with the drug’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, to update prescribing information to include a discussion of risks of Lamictal.

Diseases intensify risks in Pakistan flood crisis

Pakistan (Reuters) – Disease outbreaks pose grave risks to victims of Pakistan’s worst floods in decades, aid agencies said on Friday, causing fresh concern about already complicated relief efforts.

The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have engulfed Pakistan’s Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population.

At a hospital in Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, an official who asked not to be named told Reuters one case of cholera was confirmed. A German humanitarian organization said there were also six suspected cases there.

The most important world issue is clean water.

Swine Flu Pandemic Over, WHO Declares

But H1N1 Flu Bug Still Here, Becoming Seasonal Virus

July 10, 2010 — The H1N1 swine flu pandemic is over, the World Health Organization declared today.

The world has now entered the “post-pandemic period” in which the H1N1 virus has begun acting like — and circulating with — other flu bugs.

“The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, said at a news teleconference. Her decision follows the advice of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, which met this morning.

In the U.S., the pandemic emergency declaration expired June 23. But before officially ending the pandemic, the WHO waited to see what the winter flu season would look like in the Southern Hemisphere and whether there would be unusual summer swine flu outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere.

I will be removing “H1N1” from this header next week.

Scientists find new superbug spreading from India

(Reuters) – A new superbug from India could spread around the world — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.

Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.

U.S. health officials said on Wednesday there had been three cases so far in the United States — all from patients who received recent medical care in India, a country where people often travel in search of affordable healthcare.

NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems. Experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.

“It’s a specific mechanism. A gene that confers a type of resistance (to antibiotics),” Dr. Alexander Kallen of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said in a telephone interview.

MRSA Infections Decline in Hospitals

Latest CDC Data Indicate Infection-Control Procedures Are Having an Impact

Aug. 10, 2010 — There has been a dramatic decline in hospital-acquired and other health care-related MRSA infections, the CDC reports.

From 2005 to 2008, the rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections dropped by almost 28% among hospitalized patients and 17% among people who were not hospitalized but acquired the infection following medical procedures like dialysis.

Extremely Drug-Resistant Infections Spreading Fast

Common Bacteria Are Picking Up New Antibiotic-Resistant Gene

July 10, 2010 — Is this the beginning of the end of the antibiotic era?

NDM, a gene that makes germs impervious to many antibiotics, is spreading worldwide among bacteria in the gut that most commonly cause infections. The gene lives on a DNA strand called a plasmid that is easily swapped among different species of harmful gut bacteria.

The gene evolved in India — NDM stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase — but is widespread in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well. It’s been isolated all across the U.K., prompting a national alert. It’s also popped up in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the Netherlands.

The bad news comes from a sobering report by Timothy R. Walsh, PhD, professor of infection, immunity, and biochemistry at Wales’ Cardiff University, and colleagues.

FDA OKs new “morning-after” pill

Reuters) – Health officials on Friday approved a new, longer-lasting “morning-after” pill to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.

The prescription drug, called ella, is made by French company HRA Pharma and will be sold in the United States by Watson Pharmaceuticals.

It is the first emergency contraceptive approved since a five-year battle under the Bush administration ended with limited over-the-counter sales and age checks by pharmacists for a rival pill.

Ella has been shown to prevent pregnancy for up to five days after unprotected sex.

Estrogen-only therapy may not up lung cancer deaths

(Reuters Health) – Women who use estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy don’t appear to be at increased risk of dying from lung cancer.

That’s according to a new analysis of earlier data from postmenopausal women who had had their uterus removed (hysterectomy).

Previous studies of women with intact uteruses had shown that taking combined estrogen and progestin — a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone — raised the chances of dying from lung cancer (see Reuters Health story of September 21, 2009).

Obesity linked to lower risk of glaucoma in women

(Reuters Health) – A recent study found that heavier women were less likely to get one type of glaucoma than their thinner peers – the first time this association has been shown, the authors report.

The finding doesn’t mean that anyone at risk for the disease should try to pack on the pounds, they say, but it could be a first step toward learning more about why people develop glaucoma and how it progresses.

Stress May Affect Chances of Getting Pregnant

Study Shows Women With High Levels of Stress-Related Hormone Less Likely to Conceive

Aug. 12, 2010 — There is now scientific evidence to back up the widely held belief that stress can interfere with fertility.

Women in a newly published study were less likely to conceive when they exhibited higher levels of a stress-related enzyme known as alpha-amylase.

The research is the first of its kind to suggest a biological basis for the long-held notion that stress can reduce a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant.

Menstrual Cycle Affects Cholesterol Levels

Researchers Say Timing of Women’s Cholesterol Screening Should Take Menstrual Cycle Into Account

Aug. 12, 2010 — Blood cholesterol levels ebb and flow according a woman’s menstrual cycle, and screening tests should be timed accordingly for the most accurate results, National Institutes of Health researchers report online in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Menstrual Cramps May Affect the Brain

n Study, Women With Painful Periods Had Abnormal Brain Changes

Aug. 11, 2010 — Menstrual cramps may actually change the structure of women’s brains, according to new research in the journal Pain.

Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) — menstrual pain in otherwise healthy women — affects between 20% to 90% of adolescent girls, researchers say. It is marked by cramps in the lower abdomen that start with menstruation and can last up to 72 hours.

ED supplement causes ‘worrisome’ heartbeat changes

(Reuters Health) – Enzyte, a popular dietary supplement marketed for “male enhancement,” causes electrical abnormalities in the heart that could be potentially fatal in some people, new research suggests.

Doctors should tell their patients not to use the product until more safety information is available, Dr. Brian F. McBride of Loyola University Chicago in Maywood, Illinois, and his colleagues conclude. Vianda, the Cincinnati-based company that makes Enzyte, did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment.

According to Vianda’s Web site, Enzyte promotes “firmer, stronger, fuller-feeling erections.” The company also states that “over 5 million men worldwide” use the supplement.

Because Enzyte is regulated as a dietary supplement, the company is not required to provide data to back up claims of its effectiveness.

Heh Tantra Yoga

Obesity linked to lower sperm count in young men

(Reuters Health) – Young men who are obese may have a lower sperm count than their normal-weight counterparts, a new study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to evidence tying obesity to relatively poorer quality sperm.

A number of recent studies have found that compared with leaner men, obese men tend to have lower sperm counts, fewer rapidly mobile sperm and fewer progressively motile sperm, which refers to sperm that swim forward in a straight line rather than moving about aimlessly.

Acetaminophen tied to childhood wheezing and allergies

(Reuters Health) – A pair of studies suggests that the common painkiller acetaminophen — better known as Tylenol in the U.S. — may be fueling a worldwide increase in asthma.

According to one study out Thursday, acetaminophen could be responsible for as many as four in 10 cases of wheezing and severe asthma in teens.

While no one knows if the drug causes asthma by itself, another report — published along with the first study — shows for the first time that many toddlers took acetaminophen before they developed asthma symptoms such as wheezing.

Study: Girls Entering Puberty Earlier

By Age 7, Breast Development More Common Than Reported 10 to 30 Years Ago

Aug. 9, 2010 — The age of puberty is declining for girls, with more girls developing breasts by age 7 than in years past, according to a new study.

Ethnicity plays a role in earlier puberty, says researcher Frank M. Biro, MD, director of the division of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati. So does body composition.

“We found that girls who are African-American matured before whites, and that’s been shown in several studies,” Biro tells WebMD. “White girls are maturing earlier than they had before, compared to 20 years earlier.”

TV, Texting Interfering With Parent-Child Talks?

Parents Say It’s Difficult to Broach Serious Subjects When Their Teens Are Distracted by TV, Cell Phones, Social Networking Sites

Aug. 10, 2010 — Parents whose teenagers spend a lot of time watching TV or using computers are worried that their youngsters’ tube and digital time may interfere with important parent-child conversations, new research indicates.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America cites a survey that finds that 38% of parents are concerned that too much TV viewing by their children may make it harder to talk to them, 37% fret that their teens’ time on computers may interfere with communication, and 33% say video games get in the way of serious conversations.

The parents say such activities make it harder for them to talk to their teens about alcohol and drug use and other risky behaviors.

Colder Weather May Trigger Heart Attacks

Study Links Drop in Temperature With Higher Risk of Heart Attacks

Aug. 10, 2010 — A significant drop in temperatures may trigger heart attacks in elderly people, new research indicates.

Scientists in the U.K. say they found that each drop in ambient temperature of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) was associated with a 2% increase in the risk of a heart attack. The risk persisted for 28 days after exposure but was highest within the first two weeks after a temperature decline.

Although the absolute increase in risk may be relatively small, an estimated 146,000 heart attacks occur every year in the U.K., so even a small increase in risk translates to a substantial number of additional heart attacks — about 200 extra for every reduction of 1 degree Celsius per day.

Spinal Fluid Test May Diagnose Alzheimer’s

Study Shows Proteins Could Help Identify Cases of Alzheimer’s Disease

Aug. 9, 2010 — Researchers have identified a protein “signature” in the spinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which could represent an important advance in its diagnosis.

The signature was found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 90% of people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and 72% of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — a disorder that often progresses to Alzheimer’s.

Eye Damage Common in Older Diabetes Patients

CDC Estimates That More Than a Fourth of Older Diabetes Patients Have Diabetic Retinopathy

Aug. 10, 2010 — Diabetes has increased in the United States and so, too, has the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy, according to a new CDC study.

CDC researchers estimate that 28.5% of U.S. diabetes patients over age 40 have diabetic retinopathy, an eye disorder in which the blood vessels of the retina are damaged by diabetes. CDC researchers also reported that 4.4% of the U.S. population is estimated to have vision-threatening retinopathy, which, if left untreated, can lead to blindness.

The findings suggest a need for more comprehensive eye care, particularly among patients with diabetes who are at risk for retinopathy, the researchers report. Their study results are published in the Aug.  11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Supplement may help people with depression

(Reuters Health) – A small study suggests that a nutritional supplement sold over-the-counter may help some people with depression who haven’t gotten better with any other drugs.

Researchers found that adding the supplement, called S-Adenosyl Methionine, or SAMe, to a patients’ antidepressant treatment helped more people with major depression improve their symptoms than those that took an inactive placebo on top of their normal medication.

The supplement also had fewer side effects than medications that are approved by the FDA for people with depression who don’t respond to antidepressants.

Depression on the Rise in Colleges?

Among College Students, Depression and Use of Psychiatric Medicines Have Increased in the Past 12 Years, Study Finds

Aug. 12, 2010 — Some mental health problems, including moderate and severe depression, are more common among college students today than in the past, according to a study that looked back 12 years.

But other problems, such as having thoughts of suicide, are less common among today’s students, says researcher John Guthman, PhD, director of counseling services at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

With his colleagues, he looked at the records of 3,256 college students who sought college counseling support between September 1997 and August 2009 at a mid-sized private university. He presented the findings today at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Burger and a statin to go? Or hold that, please?

(Reuters Health) – Fast food outlets should hand out free cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to their customers to “neutralize” the heart risks of eating fatty foods like burgers and fries, British scientists suggested on Thursday.

But a few experts say you might want to ask your server to hold the statin at this point.

In a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, scientists from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London calculated that the reduction in heart disease risk offered by a statin could offset the increase in risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

Baking the White House Snack Bars

Ever since I stumbled across a cookbook at the Nixon presidential library, I’ve been enthralled by the culinary secrets of the White House.

I’ve whipped up the same roast turkey and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes that Mamie Eisenhower served the Khrushchevs. Working late into the night is always easier, I find, with a few of President Lyndon Johnson’s favorite macaroons by the bed.

So it was with much excitement that I recently read about the fruit and oat bars now being served at the White House. At the behest of the first lady, Michelle Obama, the White House pastry chef, Bill Yosses, created the bars as a healthier alternative to cookies and other snacks. Loaded with hearty ingredients, the homely-looking treat that Mr. Yosses created was featured at the latest White House Easter egg roll and got almost as much attention as the event’s A-list entertainment: Justin Bieber and J.K. Rowling.

The Recipe: White House Fruit and Oat Bars