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Getting essential vitamins and minerals during pregnancy can help a woman maintain healthy blood pressure into middle age, new research suggests. High levels of the minerals copper and manganese in pregnant women were associated with lower blood pressure decades later, as well as a reduced risk of high blood pressure, researchers reported. Higher levels of vitamin B12 also were associated with lower blood pressure in later life, according to findings published March 6 in the journal Hypertension. “Optimizing these essential metals, minerals and vitamins — particularly copper, manganese and vitamin B12 — during pregnancy may offer protective benefits against hypertension in midlife, an especially critical time period for women’s future cardiovascular risk in later life,” lead researcher Mingyu Zhang, an epidemiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in a news release. For the study, his team analyzed data from an ongoing long-term study of nearly 500 pregnant women recruited between 1999 and 2002. The women underwent blood testing during their pregnancy for their levels of healthy essential minerals, such as copper, magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc, researchers said. They also were tested for levels of folate and vitamin B12. After nearly 20 years of follow up, researchers checked in again with the women, who’d now reached an average age of 51. The women’s blood pressure was tested during this check in, and… read on > read on >

Teens who sleep fewer than 7.7 hours are more likely to have high blood pressure, a new study suggests. Likewise, those suffering from both insomnia and a lack of sleep are five times more likely to have high blood pressure exceeding 140 systolic, according to research presented Thursday at an American Heart Association (AHA) meeting in New Orleans. (Systolic pressure is the force of your blood against artery walls when your heart beats.) High blood pressure in teen years could set these kids up for a lifetime of heart health problems, researchers warn. “While we need to explore this association in larger studies on teens, it is safe to say that sleep health matters for heart health, and we should not wait until adulthood to address it,” said senior researcher Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, director of behavioral sleep medicine at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Penn. “Not all teens who complain of insomnia symptoms are at risk for cardiovascular issues,” he continued in an AHA news release. “However, monitoring their sleep duration objectively can help us identify those who have a more severe form of insomnia and are at-risk for heart problems.” For the study, researchers recruited 421 students at three school districts in and around Harrisburg, Penn. The kids told researchers whether or not they suffer from insomnia, and then stayed overnight in… read on > read on >

It’s a cook’s maxim that everything’s better with butter. Except your health, a new study suggests. People who eat loads of butter have a higher risk of premature death, while those who use mostly plant-based oils like canola or olive oil have a lower-than-average risk, researchers found. What’s more, swapping butter out for plant-based oils like canola or olive oil causes a person’s risk of premature death to drop dramatically, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. Substituting 10 grams of butter a day — less than a tablespoon — with plant-based oils could lower by 17% a person’s risk of death from any reason and from cancer specifically, results show. “What’s surprising is the magnitude of the association that we found — we saw a 17% lower risk of death when we modeled swapping butter with plant-based oils in daily diet. That is a pretty huge effect on health,” lead investigator Yu Zhang, a research assistant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release. The findings are based on diet and health data from more than 220,000 people followed for more than three decades as part of three long-term studies of health professionals. Every four years, participants answered questions about their diets. Total butter intake included butter and margarine blends, spreadable butter and butter used for baking and frying at home.… read on > read on >

Breastfeeding can promote lower blood pressure among children, a new study says. Longer-term breastfeeding appears to populate a baby’s gut with diverse bacteria that could help lower blood pressure, researchers found. Children who were breastfed for at least six months had lower blood pressure at age 6, researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “Our findings suggest a potential significance of early-life gut microbiota on cardiovascular health in early childhood,” concluded the research team led by senior investigator Noel Mueller, an associate professor of epidemiology with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. For the study, researchers reviewed data on 526 children enrolled in a Danish study of childhood asthma. As part of the study, stool samples were collected from each child at 1 week, 1 month and 1 year of age. These samples were analyzed to determine the content of their gut bacteria. The study also checked the children’s blood pressure at 3 and 6 years of age. Researchers found that children with more diverse gut bacteria at 1 month had lower blood pressure at age 6. The blood pressure-lowering effect of diverse gut bacteria was further amplified among children who were breastfed for at least six months, results show. Children with highly diverse gut bacteria had systolic blood pressure about two points lower than average at age 6 if they… read on > read on >

Chronic stress can increase young women’s risk of stroke, a new study says. Moderate stress increases risk of stroke by 78% in women but not in men, researchers reported in the journal Neurology. “More research is needed to understand why women who feel stressed, but not men, may have a higher risk of stroke,” said senior researcher Dr. Nicolas Martinez-Majander, a neurologist at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland. “In addition, we need to further explore why the risk of stroke in women was higher for moderate stress than high stress,” Martinez-Majander added in a news release. “Knowing more about how stress plays a role could help us to create better ways to prevent these strokes.” For the study, researchers examined health data for 426 Europeans between 18 to 49 who’d suffered a stroke with no known cause, and compared them to 426 healthy people who hadn’t suffered a stroke. All participants completed a 10-question survey about their stress levels, and stroke patients were asked to recall the stress they’d faced in the month prior to their stroke. The survey included questions like, “In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life?” Stroke patients were more likely to have at least moderate stress levels, researchers found. About 46% had moderate or high stress levels, compared… read on > read on >

Over-the-counter drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen might help protect against dementia, a new study suggests. These NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) might help protect the brain by quelling inflammation that contributes to dementia, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. People who took NSAIDs long-term had a 12% lower risk of developing dementia, researchers found. “Our study provides evidence on possible preventive effects of anti-inflammatory medication against the dementia process,” senior researcher Dr. M. Arfan Ikram, chair of epidemiology at Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, said in a news release. “There is a need for more studies to further consolidate this evidence and possibly develop preventive strategies,” Ikram added. For the study, researchers tracked nearly 12,000 healthy residents of The Netherlands taking part in an ongoing study, following them for more than 14 years on average. Of the study participants, 9,520 (81%) had used NSAIDs at any given time, based on pharmacy dispensing records, and 2,091 developed dementia. Long-term NSAID use was associated with a lower risk of dementia, but not short- or medium-term use, results show. In addition, a person’s cumulative dose of NSAIDs did not seem to decrease their risk of dementia, researchers said. “This suggests that prolonged rather than intensive exposure to anti-inflammatory medication may hold potential for dementia prevention,” researchers wrote. However, researchers noted that… read on > read on >

Seniors battling insomnia are best off picking up some dumbbells or doing some push-ups, a new evidence review suggests. Resistance exercise, activities that make muscles work against an external force, appears to be the best means of improving sleep in older adults, researchers found. “Exercise that strengthens muscles, rather than aerobic or combination exercises, is the most effective way to enhance sleep quality,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Kittiphon Nagaviroj, an associate professor with Ramathibodi Hospital at Mahidol University in Bangkok. However, the review also found that aerobic exercise or a combination of strength, aerobic, balance and flexibility exercises can also be effective against insomnia, researchers reported March 4 in the journal Family Medicine and Community Health. Sleep quality tends to decline with age, and up to 1 in 5 seniors has insomnia, seniors said in background notes. Exercise has been shown to help alleviate insomnia, but it’s not been clear what type of exercise would be most effective, researchers added. For their review, the researchers pooled data from 25 previous clinical trials involving nearly 2,200 people. The studies compared aerobic exercises — cycling, dancing, swimming, brisk walking or gardening — against resistance exercises, researchers said. Resistance exercise could include weightlifting or body-weight training like push-ups or planks. People engaging in resistance exercises had 5.7-point average increase in their sleep quality scores, results… read on > read on >

Sight-robbing injuries to the cornea can be repaired using a groundbreaking experimental stem cell treatment, a new study shows. The cornea — the clear outermost layer of the eye — can become irreversibly damaged if injury or disease destroys its ability to regenerate new cells. In this new process, stem cells taken from a person’s healthy eye can be used to rebuild the cornea in their damaged eye, researchers reported March 4 in the journal Nature Communications. The process has proven feasible and safe in 14 patients who were treated and followed for 18 months, early clinical trial results show. The treatment is called cultivated autologous limbal epithelial cells, or CALEC. “Our first trial in four patients showed that CALEC was safe and the treatment was possible,” lead investigator Dr. Ula Jurkunas, associate director of the Cornea Service at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, said in a news release. “Now we have this new data supporting that CALEC is more than 90% effective at restoring the cornea’s surface, which makes a meaningful difference in individuals with cornea damage that was considered untreatable,” she said. The outer border of the cornea, the limbus, contains many healthy stem cells called limbal epithelial cells, researchers explained in background notes. These cells constantly rebuild the cornea, keeping it clear and smooth. When a person’s cornea is damaged, the… read on > read on >

Social media influencers tout the benefits of “cycle syncing” to boost strength training results among women. The idea is that women who lift weights during their period build more muscle, because their bodies are flooded with the female hormone estrogen. But there’s absolutely nothing to this trendy notion, a new small-scale study argues. Researchers found no difference in the body’s response to heavy resistance exercise when performed during different times within the menstrual cycle. “Our findings conflict with the popular notion that there is some kind of hormonal advantage to performing different exercises in each phase,” said lead researcher Lauren Colenso-Semple, who conducted the study as a doctoral candidate at McMaster University in Canada. “We saw no differences, regardless of cycle timing,” she said in a news release. Cycle syncing has been made popular by internet influencers who tout fitness apps that track cycles, researchers said in background notes. These influencers say that women can lead healthier lives by altering their lifestyle — their workouts, diets and other behaviors — to align with their menstrual cycle. For this new study, researchers recruited 12 healthy young women and monitored their menstrual cycles to confirm that their cycles were normal. Contrary to popular belief, very few women — about 12% — have a consistent 28-day cycle and ovulate regularly on day 14 along the lines of the… read on > read on >

Bad meetings don’t just waste time — they can leave workers with a “meeting hangover,” new research shows. More than 90% of employees surveyed by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte said they sometimes experience these “hangovers” — lingering frustration and distraction after unproductive meetings. More than half said these “hangovers” hurt their overall productivity. “A meeting hangover is the idea that when we have a bad meeting, we just don’t leave it at the door. It sticks with us and it negatively affects our productivity,” said Steven Rogelberg, a professor of management at UNC- Charlotte and author of “The Surprising Science of Meetings.“ The study found that these bad meetings don’t just affect you, they can also spread negativity across teams. Colleagues also tend to vent to coworkers, sharing their frustrations in a process called “co-rumination” — which can hurt the overall atmosphere and make productivity issues even worse. Factors that can lead to negative experiences include: Meetings that could have been handled by email Unclear or irrelevant agendas Poor facilitation or meetings that run over alloted time No clear decisions made Rogelberg offered CBS several strategies to improve meetings and reduce hangovers. “Keep the attendee list as small as possible,” he said. “Remember that the more the leader talks, the lower the rating of effectiveness. Thus, the meeting leader needs to talk… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Select Vitamins, Minerals During Pregnancy Protect Heart Health Later

Poor Sleep Drives High Blood Pressure In Teens

Butter Is A Deadly Delight, Study Says

Breastfeeding Improves Heart Health In Children

Chronic Stress Boosts Stroke Risk In Young Women

NSAIDs Linked To Lower Dementia Risk

Weight Training Best Exercise For Insomnia Among Seniors

Stem Cell Therapy Repairs Irreversible Cornea Damage

‘Cycle Syncing’ Doesn’t Boost Strength Training Results

Bad Meetings Can Leave You With a Productivity ‘Hangover’