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If you’re one of the millions of folks bent on racking up at least 10,000 steps a day, read on. A new study finds that heart health starts to improve with as few as 2,300 steps a day. The research also indicates your risk of dying from any disease starts to decrease with only about 4,000 daily steps. However, the more daily steps you get, the bigger the benefit becomes, the study also found. “Ten thousand steps per day is, in fact, still a correct way of thinking if we take into account the most pronounced [death] reduction,” said study author Dr. Maciej Banach. He is a professor of cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz in Poland, and an adjunct professor at the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Ten thousand steps equates to about 4-5 miles of walking, experts say. For the study, researchers analyzed 17 prior studies involving about 227,000 people. They were followed for roughly seven years. Adults over age 60 saw risk of death reduced by 42% if they clocked between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day. Among younger adults, there was a 49% reduction when they walked between 7,000 and 13,000 steps a day, the study showed. “Every increase of steps by 1,000 steps/day is associated with a 15% reduction in… read on > read on >

There are plenty of reasons to steer clear of sugary drinks, and new research highlights yet another one: Women who drink sodas and other sweetened drinks have a higher risk of developing liver cancer and chronic liver disease. Looking at data on nearly 100,000 women, researchers found that nearly 7% of women consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily. Those women had an 85% higher risk of liver cancer and 68% higher risk of chronic liver disease death compared to those who had fewer than three sugar-sweetened beverages a month. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality,” said study co-author Longgang Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way to a public health strategy to reduce risk of liver disease,” Zhao said in a hospital news release. Researchers used data on the postmenopausal women from the large Women’s Health Initiative study. Participants reported their usual consumption of soft drinks or fruit drinks (not fruit juice), and then reported artificially sweetened beverage consumption after three years. The study followed the women for a median of more than 20 years (half more, half less). The authors looked at self-reported liver cancer incidence as well as deaths… read on > read on >

A large new study challenges the long-held idea that depression makes people more vulnerable to cancer, finding no association between the mental health condition and most types of cancer. The study, of more than 300,000 adults, found that neither depression nor chronic anxiety were linked to increased odds of developing cancer in the coming years. And when researchers looked at specific types of cancer, the findings were largely the same. The one exception was a slightly increased risk of cancers that are strongly linked to smoking, including lung cancer. And the analysis suggests that smoking — as well as alcohol and heavy body weight — are the real culprits, rather than depression or anxiety themselves. Experts said the study, published online Aug. 7 in the journal Cancer, may offer reassurance to people who’ve blamed a cancer diagnosis on their mental health struggles. “Our findings show that there is no evidence for this,” said study leader Lonneke van Tuijl, a health psychology researcher at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, that kind of self-blame “comes up a lot,” said Dr. William Breitbart, chief of psychiatry at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “There are many patients who feel guilt, who say ‘I gave this to myself,’” said Breitbart, who was not involved in the study. The reality, he said, is that… read on > read on >

It seems obvious that texting and walking can be a dangerous duo, but now a new Australian study offers solid evidence of the dangers. Emergency room doctors Dr. Michael Levine and Dr. Matthew Harris, who were not involved in the study, weren’t surprised by the findings. “I think we’ve had, this summer, several people who either have been distracted while walking and have been hit by a car or been hit by a bicycle,” said Harris, from Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y. “I’ve definitely seen people stepping off curbs when they were not supposed to, not seeing cars come… because they were too busy looking at their phone when they should have realized where the sidewalk ended,” added Levine, from UCLA Health. “So, I’ve seen all different permutations of people getting injured from texting and walking across the street.” For the study, Australian researchers recruited 50 students from the University of New South Wales and had them go through four exercises. One was to text while sitting, another was to walk without texting, another was to have them walk and text, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” and the last one was to have students walk and text the same message while going through a walkway specifically designed by one of the scientists to have tiles slip out of place.… read on > read on >

It’s already known that the “healthy glow” of a tan actually represents damage to skin cells. But a new study of people on vacation has found that sunbathing also can disrupt the skin’s microbiome, altering the populations of bacteria that live on the skin in ways that could be harmful to health. The microbiome recovers within a month, but during that time a person will be more vulnerable to skin problems, said senior researcher Abigail Langton. She is a lecturer with the University of Manchester’s Center for Dermatology Research, in England. “During this 28-day post-holiday period of recovery skin may have reduced health, making it more susceptible to infection or irritation due to the loss of Proteobacteria [a type of bacteria that lives on the skin] and the overall change in skin microbiota balance,” Langton said. For this study, researchers analyzed the skin of 21 healthy volunteers prior to scheduled vacations in sunny locales. The team noted the makeup of the skin’s microbiota, specifically the three main bacterial communities found there. The research team then analyzed participants’ skin the day they got back, and at 28 and 84 days post-vacation. The investigators sorted the vacationers into groups based on sun exposure — eight “seekers” who picked up a tan while away, seven “tanners” who already had a tan before they left, and six “avoiders” who… read on > read on >

Patients being treated for ovarian cancer often experience peripheral neuropathy, a side effect from their chemotherapy that can cause both pain and numbness for months, or even years. Now, a new study suggests that six months of aerobic exercise may ease this unpleasant side effect. “The results from this trial hold the potential to transform supportive care for ovarian cancer survivors by offering a new approach to managing CIPN [chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy],” said senior study author Leah Ferrucci, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and a member of Yale Cancer Center. “These findings provide compelling evidence that a structured, home-based aerobic exercise program can significantly improve CIPN in ovarian cancer survivors who have completed chemotherapy,” Ferrucci said in a Yale news release. The structured aerobic exercise intervention in the study had already been found to improve physical health-related quality of life. For this new research on patients with ovarian cancer who received chemotherapy, the investigators evaluated the impact of the exercise program and compared it to a control group of patients not in the exercise program. Patients in the exercise intervention arm of the study had a reduction of 1.3 points in CIPN symptoms at the end of the six-month program. Those in the control group, who only received weekly health education phone calls, had a minor increase in… read on > read on >

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are living in an environment that contains higher levels of potentially harmful chemicals than seen in American homes, new research reveals. The discovery is important because it could guide the design of future spacecraft. “Our findings have implications for future space stations and habitats, where it may be possible to exclude many contaminant sources by careful material choices in the early stages of design and construction,” said study co-author Stuart Harrad, from the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. “While concentrations of organic contaminants discovered in dust from the ISS often exceeded median values found in homes and other indoor environments across the U.S. and western Europe, levels of these compounds were generally within the range found on Earth,” he explained in a university news release. Among the contaminants found in this “space dust” were polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), “novel” brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organophosphate esters (OPEs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). BFRs and OPEs are used in many countries to meet fire safety regulations in consumer and commercial applications, such as electrical and electronic equipment, building insulation, furniture fabrics and foams, according to the study. PAH can be found in hydrocarbon fuels and emitted from combustion processes. PCBs were used in building and window sealants and in electrical… read on > read on >

Patients with a type of multiple sclerosis (MS) known as relapsing-remitting MS could have less fatigue if they got more active and were in better physical shape, according to new research. The study also found that a lower disability rate was also associated with less fatigue. “The findings are interesting and support previous studies very well,” said corresponding author Marko Luostarinen, a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, in Kuopio. “Patients with MS should find a suitable form of exercise, taking into account their disability, which maintains their functional capacity and reduces fatigue.” In relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), patients experience periods of new symptoms or relapses that are followed by quiet periods of remission that can last months or even years. Fatigue is a common MS symptom. The aim of the study was to investigate the connection between fatigue and disability in patients with RRMS. The study used several methods to gauge this, including measures of fatigue, disability and physical activity. Patients whose level of disability, as assessed by a measure called the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), was moderately low (0 to 2.5) had a higher level of fatigue than healthy participants with whom they were compared, the study found. At the same time, they had less fatigue than patients whose disability was higher (EDSS of 3 to 5.5). The researchers found a… read on > read on >

A large clinical trial weighing the medical merits of the obesity drug Wegovy has unearthed a significant positive side effect. Taking the medication cut the risk of serious heart problems by 20%, drug maker Novo Nordisk announced Tuesday. “People living with obesity have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease but, to date, there are no approved weight-management medications proven to deliver effective weight management while also reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death,” Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo Nordisk, said in a company news release. According to Dr. Howard Weintraub, clinical director of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Heart, in New York City, “There is now a drug that is well-tolerated and safe from a cardiovascular perspective, that also lowers body weight in an effective manner. On top of all of this, there is significant reduction in the cumulative outcome of nonfatal MI [heart attacks], cardiac death and stroke.” “This is a very important study,” he added, “as no other weight loss medication has been shown to reduce cardiovascular events. It is likely that the beneficial impacts of this drug go above and beyond just weight loss. We were part of this important trial, and I think we all agree that this was a very important study.” However, Novo Nordisk did… read on > read on >

An investigation into a high number of cancers at a Montana nuclear missile base has led to the discovery of unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen. The hundreds of cancer cases appear to be connected to underground launch control centers at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Levels of PCBs, an oily or waxy substance that is considered a likely carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were higher than the agency’s recommended threshold. The finding “is the first from an extensive sampling of active U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile bases to address specific cancer concerns raised by missile community members,” Air Force Global Strike Command said Monday in a news release. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, has directed “immediate measures to begin the cleanup process for the affected facilities and mitigate exposure by our airmen and Guardians to potentially hazardous conditions.” At least nine current or former missileers at Malmstrom have been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer that uses the body’s lymph system to spread, according to a military briefing obtained by the Associated Press. A grassroots group of former missile launch officers and their surviving family members, the Torchlight Initiative, has said there are at least 268 people who served at the nuclear missile sites or their family members who have been diagnosed with cancer, blood diseases or other… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

How Many Daily Steps to Lengthen Your Life? Fewer Than You Might Think

Sugary Drinks Raise Women’s Odds for Liver Disease, Cancer

Stress, Depression Won’t Raise Your Odds for Cancer: Study

Study Confirms it: Texting While Walking Is Dangerous

Vacations in the Sun Aren’t Good for Your Skin’s Microbiome

Aerobic Exercise Might Ease Pain for Women Who’ve Survived Ovarian Cancer

Chemical Contamination on International Space Station Exceeds That Found Back Home

Fatigue Can Plague People With MS. Exercise May Help

Wegovy Lowered Users’ Heart Risks in New Trial

Carcinogens Found at Montana Nuclear Missile Base as Cancer Cases Rise Nearby