How should a person eat in middle age to protect their health as they grow older? One diet came out a clear winner in a 30-year study involving more than 105,000 men and women and eight diets, researchers reported in the journal Nature Medicine. People whose dietary pattern more closely stuck to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) in middle-age had the greatest likelihood of good health in their 70s, researchers say. Those with the highest AHEI score had 86% better odds of healthy aging at 70, and were 2.2 times more likely to be healthy at 75, results show. The AHEI centers on a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes and healthy fats, and low in red and processed meats, sugary drinks, sodium and refined grains, researchers said. “Our findings suggest that dietary patterns rich in plant-based foods, with moderate inclusion of healthy animal-based foods, may promote overall healthy aging and help shape future dietary guidelines,” co-senior researcher Marta Guasch-Ferré, an associate professor of public health at the University of Copenhagen and adjunct associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release. Harvard researchers created the AHEI in 2002 as an alternative to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Eating Index, which measures how well people’s diets stick to the federal Dietary…  read on >  read on >

A rare red meat allergy, usually linked to a bite from the lone star tick, may also be caused by other tick species found in different parts of the U.S., a new report shows. “Alpha-gal syndrome is relatively rare, but those who have it can have a full-on anaphylactic shock,” Douglas Norris, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a report from NBC News. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates nearly 450,000 people in the U.S. have this condition. Most cases are linked to the lone star tick, which is common in the Southeast and lower Midwest.  But new case reports from Maine and Washington state found two women who developed alpha-gal syndrome after being bitten by ticks in places where lone star ticks aren’t common. This suggests that other types of ticks, like the black-legged tick (also called deer tick) that transmits the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, and the western black-legged tick, may also cause the condition. “We do believe the lone star tick is still responsible for most of the cases of alpha-gal syndrome in the U.S.,” Dr. Johanna Salzer, a veterinary medical officer and epidemiologist with the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, told NBC News. In the Washington case, a 61-year-old woman went into anaphylactic shock…  read on >  read on >

Tool is an online, searchable database that provides a consolidated list of contaminant levels  read on >

Lowering the volume on earbuds or wearing earplugs in noisy environments is known to reduce a person’s risk of tinnitus. Now, new research suggests that eating more fruit and fiber or drinking more milk and coffee may also stave off the vexing and persistent buzzing that can drive folks to distraction. Simple dietary changes appear to reduce people’s risk of developing tinnitus, researchers reported in The BMJ. “Diet-based strategies for tinnitus prevention are anticipated to play a significant role in chronic tinnitus management,” the research team led by senior researcher Qinxiu Zhang with the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Sichuan, China, concluded. “Existing evidence suggests that consuming fruit, dietary fiber, caffeine and dairy may be associated with a reduced incidence of tinnitus,” researchers wrote. About one in every six (14%) adults has tinnitus, researchers said in background notes. Although exposure to loud noise is a key risk factor for the hearing problem, “the origins of tinnitus remain elusive and involve a range of factors,” researchers wrote. For the evidence review, researchers pooled data from eight previous studies that looked at potential links between tinnitus and diet. The studies involved more than 300,000 people. Results showed that increased consumption of certain foods reduced tinnitus risk: Fruits by 35% Dairy by 17% Caffeine by 10% Fiber by 9%. These foods might influence tinnitus risk by…  read on >  read on >