Twin Study Shows Mediterranean-Style Diet Improves Heart Function
A study of twins shows that even with genes that put them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, eating a Mediterranean-style diet can improve heart function, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.
Using data from the Emory Twins Heart Study, researchers found that men eating a Mediterranean-style diet had greater heart rate variability (HRV) than those eating a Western-type diet. Heart rate variability refers to variation in the time interval between heart beats during everyday life – reduced HRV is a risk factor for coronary artery disease and sudden death.
“This means that the autonomic system controlling someone’s heart rate works better in people who eat a diet similar to a Mediterranean diet,” said Jun Dai, M.D., Ph.D., study author and assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Eating a Mediterranean-style diet — one characterized by low saturated fats and high in fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, cereals and moderate alcohol consumption — reduces a person’s heart disease risk. But until now, the way the diet helps reduce the risk of coronary disease remains unknown. Read more
Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Safe For Pregnant Women And Their Babies
Women who discover they have breast cancer while they are pregnant can be treated with chemotherapy without endangering the health of their unborn baby, according to research to be presented at the seventh European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7) in Barcelona today (Friday).
Dr Sibylle Loibl, Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, and a member of the German Breast Group, will tell the conference that pregnant breast cancer patients can be treated as close as possible to standard recommendations because chemotherapy delivered while babies were in the womb did not appear to cause the babies significant problems at or after birth.
“Until now, the evidence upon which we based our decisions about how to treat pregnant women with breast cancer has been largely limited to case studies and retrospective investigations. For this reason doctors have tended to be cautious in their approach to treatment because of fears about the effect it might have on the fetus, even though it meant that women did not necessarily receive the best treatment for their cancer,” said Dr Loibl. “Therefore, the German Breast Group set up a registry to collect data both retrospectively and prospectively from patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy. It is the only international registry to focus on the outcomes of both the mother and the baby.”
The researchers entered details of 235 patients prospectively (119) and retrospectively (116) to the registry between April 2003 and October 2009. The ages of the women ranged between 23 and 46 with an average (median) age of 33. Breast cancer was diagnosed, on average, at 23 weeks into the pregnancy. Not all the data are complete yet, but out of 151 women, 91 received an average of two cycles of chemotherapy while they were pregnant.
The average gestational age of the babies at the time of delivery was 36 weeks, ranging between 28 and 42 weeks. Babies that were exposed to chemotherapy during pregnancy were born slightly lighter than babies who were not: an average of 2636mg, compared to 2791mg.
Of the 91 babies exposed to chemotherapy, three were born bald (alopecia), one was small for gestational age, one had trisomia 18 (a chromosomal disorder) and died one week after birth, one had necrotic enterocolitis (a severe bacterial infection of the intestine) and died three weeks after birth, one developed sepsis (blood infection), one developed neutropenia (low white blood cell count) and two had anemia. Of the 60 babies who were not exposed to chemotherapy, one had temporary apnea (breathing interruption), one had an increase in C reactive protein (a protein that appears in response to inflammation or infection) and one had gastroenteritis.
Dr Loibl said: “Most of the problems described in the babies exposed to chemotherapy were not related to the treatment but were most probably due to other circumstances (for instance, necrotic enterocolitis due to preterm delivery or trisomia 18). Normally, in nature, there is a risk of malformations of between one and two percent, and other problems such as infection can happen. The fetal outcomes of these babies that received chemotherapy were not significantly different from those who did not.
“Therefore, this study suggests that pregnant breast cancer patients can be treated as close as possible to standard recommendations and receive chemotherapy, if it is indicated, while they are pregnant. Ideally, this should take place in the care of specialized, multidisciplinary teams. We would like to generate more robust data to confirm this and so the registry is continuing and we are updating and completing the data.”
In addition to the data on outcomes for mothers and babies, Dr Loibl and her colleagues are also collecting tumor specimens and placenta material from the women who are being followed prospectively, and these are sent to the German Breast Group’s biomaterial bank. The researchers hope that this will give them important information in the future about the effects of pregnancy and chemotherapy on outcomes for mothers and babies. redOrbit
Drink Up Girls: Wine Isn’t Fattening
WOMEN who like a glass of wine after work can relax: they are likely to gain less weight than those who stick to mineral water.
Moderate female drinkers also have a lower risk of obesity than teetotallers, according to new research. The findings, from a study of more than 19,000 women, is at odds with most dietary advice: that alcohol consumption leads to weight gain.
The research suggests that a calorie from alcohol has less impact on weight than a calorie from other foods and that the way the body deals with alcohol is more complex than realised. One theory is that in regular drinkers the liver develops a separate metabolic pathway to break down alcohol, with surplus energy turned mainly into heat, not fat.
In the study, Lu Wang, a medical instructor at Brigham and Women’s hospital, Boston, and colleagues asked 19,220 American women aged 39 or older with a healthy body weight to describe their drinking habits in a questionnaire. About 38% drank no alcohol.
Over the next 13 years the researchers found that all the women tended to gain weight but the non-drinkers gained the most. The women’s overall weight gain decreased as alcohol intake increased.
There was also a difference according to the type of alcohol: red wine was associated with the lowest weight gain; beer and spirits were linked to the highest weight gain.
The report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, seems to confirm that there is no clear connection between alcohol consumption and weight gain. By Jonathan Leake, The Times
Arthritis Too Is A Lifestyle Disease
Diabetes and hypertension are not the only lifestyle diseases, but possibly the most high profile. Arthritis is also a lifestyle disease, orthopaedicians insist.
While degenerative arthritis is essentially wear and tear of the joints, more manifest in the knees in India, it is also true that those affected are not necessarily people over 65 years.
Mrs. Al Saeed Nada Ali Kadhim is only 54. But she was suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis which affected both her knees for the last 20 years. For two years now, she has not been able to walk. At Apollo Speciality Hospital, surgeons put in a new generation Ceramic Coated Knee that will now ease her pain.
Even younger is Anjana Devi, 50, from Vijayawada. She too has benefitted from a ceramic joint and is now able to walk. “With these patients, conventional metal total knee replacement was not possible due to their relative youth. The advantage with the ceramic knee is that it would last twice as long as the conventional device,” says Vijay C.Bose, joint reconstructive surgeon, Apollo Speciality Hospital. “Arthritis is also a lifestyle disease. All of us, if we live to a 100, may develop arthritis, that is normal, as it is wear and tear. However, a lot of people are developing the condition much earlier, it is more common now,” Dr. Bose explained
Prithvi Mohandas, consultant hip surgeon, MIOT Hospitals, says a lot of young males with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, are reporting early these days. “It is very common in India, occurs among 16-17 year old males and initially manifests as early morning stiffness. The natural progression is low back pain and stiffness of joints, really crippling movements,” he explains. However, if picked up early, it can be easily treated with a bunch of drugs. “Weight is a certain factor in degenerative arthritis,” Dr. Bose says. The heavier you are, the greater the wear and tear. Avoid becoming overweight and obese, the aggravating factors such as stress and make sure you get adequate exercise, complimented by a healthy diet, he advices.
“ Suppose you have an auto immune joint disease, once cartilage wear and tear has set in, it will damage the joint. The idea, therefore is to prevent the joint from becoming stiff, with exercises, and avoid putting on weight” Dr. Prithvi says. Kannan Pugazhendhi, sports physician, adds that most people ignore the fact that muscular strength provides integrity for the joint. “We can avoid arthritic manifestations by increasing muscular strength, especially for the lower body.” “The biggest misconception is that the knee will wear out with exercise. Exercise will strengthen the muscles, all you have to do is choose the right kind of terrain – non concrete surfaces, including beach sands,” Dr. Pugazhendi explains. By Ramya Kannan, The Hindu
Why Your Body Isn’t That Thirsty At Night
Brain cells collude to keep animals hydrated while they sleep, which prevents nightly dehydration or trips to the toilet, according to researchers.
Neurophysiologists Eric Trudel and Charles Bourque at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada, suggest the body’s internal clock helps to regulate a water-storing hormone
They insist the mechanism regulates the body’s circadian system, or internal clock and controls water regulation.
The body regulates its water content mainly by balancing water intake through thirst with water loss through urine production.
Scientists had the knowledge that low water levels excite a group of cells called osmosensory neurons, which direct another set of neurons to release vasopressin, a hormone that instructs the body to store water, into the bloodstream.
Vasopressin levels increase during sleep; clock neurons, meanwhile, get quieter.
Trudel and Bourque wanted to test the idea that lower clock-neuron activity might allow osmosensory neurons to more easily activate vasopressin-releasing neurons, which would mean more water retention and less urine production during sleep.
For this, they isolated thin slices of rat brain containing intact sensory, vasopressin-releasing and clock neurons. Even when removed from the brain, clock neurons continue to mark time.
The pair then stimulated the sensory neurons and recorded any electrical activity in the vasopressin-releasing neurons to monitor communication between the two cell groups.
They then moved on to look at the effect of the clock cells on this pathway. When they did not activate the clock cells during the ‘sleep’ part of their cycle, it was easier for the sensory ells to communicate with vasopressin-releasing cells.
Conversely, when they activated the clock cells, this communication decreased markedly.
The results indicate that clock cells function as a dimmer switch for water control. When their activity is high, they prevent sensory cells from instructing secretory cells to release vasopressin. Then, when clock cells are less active, sensory cells can easily instruct secretory cells to release vasopressin, ensuring that the body holds on to its water reserves.
Colwell points out that despites rats, are nocturnal, the vasopressin cycle and clock-neuron activity are similar in rats and humans.
“We show this for this one circuit, but it’s possible that clock neurons regulate other circuits in a similar manner and this remains to be studied,” Nature quoted Bourque, as saying. Newstrack India