Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

The potential health benefits of GLP-1 diabetes and weight loss meds keep piling up: New research shows they may also shield your kidneys from harm. In the largest study to date on the effects of the drugs on the kidneys, researchers found GLP-1s help the protect the organs in people with or without diabetes. GLP-1s include blockbuster diabetes medicines such as Ozempic and its weight-loss spinoff, Wegovy. “This is the first study to show a clear benefit of GLP-1 receptor agonists on kidney failure or end-stage kidney disease,” said study lead author Dr. Sunil Badve, a kidney specialist and professorial fellow at The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia. The study suggests that GLP-1s “have a key role in kidney-protective and heart-protective treatment for patients with common medical conditions like type 2 diabetes, overweight or obesity with cardiovascular disease, or chronic kidney disease,” he said in a news release. The research was published Nov. 25 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Badve and colleagues conducted what’s called a meta-analysis — a large review of data from multiple studies, in this case 11 large-scale clinical trials of GLP-1s involving more than 85,000 people in all. Close to 68,000 had type 2 diabetes, while just over 17,600 were overweight or obese with heart disease but did not have type 2 diabetes. The GLP-1 medicines taken… read on > read on >

TUESDAY, Nov. 26, 2024 (HeathDay News) — A potentially important form of brain signaling appears to be affected whenever concussion strikes, according to new research involving high school football players. “This study is important because it provides insight into both the mechanisms and the clinical implications of concussion in the maturing adolescent brain,” said study co-lead author Alex Wiesman, assistant professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. He and his colleagues are slated to present their findings next week in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). As the researchers explained, multiple concussion studies have already examined the effects of head injury on what’s known as periodic or “rhythmic” brain signaling, which is crucial to attention, movement or sensory processing. But much less has been known about non-rhythmic brain signaling. “Most previous neuroscience research has focused on rhythmic brain signaling, which is also called periodic neurophysiology,” explained study lead author Kevin Yu, a neuroscience student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. “On the other hand, aperiodic neurophysiology refers to brain signals that are not rhythmic.” For a long time, neurologists haven’t paid a lot of attention to aperiodic signaling, considering it mere “background noise” in the brain. But that perspective is beginning to change. “While it’s often overlooked, aperiodic activity is important… read on > read on >

Preschoolers prone to tantrums appear to have a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by the time they reach school age, a new study says. Young children who struggle to control their emotions and behavior have more ADHD symptoms by age 7, researchers found. Their conduct is more likely to be poor and they are more apt to suffer from emotional problems like sadness or worry by that age, results show. “Emotion regulation skills are acquired from early in life and are thought to strengthen gradually over childhood,” lead researcher Aja Murray, a lecturer in psychology with the University of Edinburgh in the U.K., said in a news release. “Children, however, acquire these skills at different rates and slower acquisition may serve as a marker for neurodevelopmental and mental health issues.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on roughly 19,000 young people born between 2000 and 2002 in the U.K. Results showed that ADHD symptoms are significantly associated with a child’s tendency to have extreme emotional responses and slower development of their ability to regulate those emotions, researchers said. The less able children were able to manage their emotions, the greater their risk for ADHD, results show. This association held even after other risk factors for ADHD and mental health problems were taken into account, researchers said. Based on these results, early testing might be… read on > read on >

A cancer diagnosis can bring overwhelming stress and depression to women, but new research suggests yoga can help ease that emotional toll. “A wellness intervention that integrates yoga and psychological tools may strengthen the connections among the mind, body and spirit, leading to a better and more meaningful quality of life,” said study senior author Deidre Pereira. She’s an associate professor of clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. The new research involved 51 women who’d been diagnosed with some form of gynecological, gastrointestinal or thoracic cancer. According to a university news release, they “enrolled in a 10-week, in-person, group intervention that used breathing and relaxation techniques, mindfulness meditation, psychotherapy skills and gentle yoga aimed at improving physical and mental quality of life.” Based on answers to detailed questionnaires, Pereira’s team found women reporting a lowering of their symptoms of anxiety and depression after completing the program. When it came to the physical symptoms of depression, the program was especially helpful to women of color, the researchers noted. “Quality of life during and beyond cancer treatment is a critical component of whole-person cancer care,” explained study co-lead author Elizabeth Kacel, a recent graduate of the clinical psychology doctoral program at UF. It’s the program’s use of yoga/meditation alongside psychotherapeutic training that really seemed to help, she added. “The combination of both… read on > read on >

New research suggests that a thyroid medication often prescribed to older Americans may be linked to a common problem in old age — bone loss. Levothyroxine is a synthetic hormone often prescribed to treat hypothyroidism. People with the condition don’t make enough thyroxine on their own, which can cause weight gain, fatigue, hair loss and eventually lead to serious, even deadly, complications. An estimated 23 million Americans take levothyroxine daily. Some take it for so long that it’s no longer clear why it was prescribed to begin with or even if it is still needed, researchers said. “Data indicates that a significant proportion of thyroid hormone prescriptions may be given to older adults without hypothyroidism,” said study leader Dr. Elena Ghotbi, a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. A normal range for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in the blood is between 0.4 to 5.0 microunits per milliliter. Excess TSH has been tied to increased risk of broken bones. For this study, Ghotbi’s team wanted to learn whether using levothyroxine and having hormone levels on the high end of that range might cause more bone loss over time in older adults with normal thyroid function. They drew on data from 445 participants in a Baltimore-based study of older adults with normal thyroid levels. Participants included 49 women and 32 men taking… read on > read on >

So, you have managed to shed 30 pounds with the help of one of the new blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, but as the holidays near you worry about how to handle gatherings where decadent food will be served in abundance. Luckily, one expert from Baylor College of Medicine has tips on how to enjoy holiday fare while on these medications, without overdoing it. GLP-1 medications, which include Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, curb appetite and slow the digestion of food, so consuming large portions on these drugs can make you sick and worsens the nausea that is associated with them. What to do? Stick with small portions. “You lose the benefit of weight loss if you do not watch your diet,” said Dr. Mandeep Bajaj, a professor of medicine – endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Baylor. “In addition, if you are taking GLP-1 receptor agonists for treatment of diabetes, overindulging will worsen your diabetes control, and you will lose the benefit of the therapy.” Those who take GLP-1s should not stop taking them during the holidays, to avoid regaining the weight already lost. Tips to stay on track with your medication this holiday season include: Consume whole foods and a nutrient-dense diet made up of minimally processed food: eat vegetables, lean proteins, fiber and whole grains Eat smaller portions: more than half your plate should consist of lean meat… read on > read on >

A daily dose of vitamin B3 reduced inflammation in the lungs of patients with COPD, Danish researchers report. “This is significant, because inflammation can lead to reduced lung function in these patients,” said researcher Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, of the University of Copenhagen. Patients with COPD — the full name of which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — are more likely to get pneumonia, influenza and other serious respiratory infections, which can be fatal. The new study included 40 participants with COPD and a control group of 20 healthy volunteers. They received either 2 grams a day of nicotinamide riboside — a member of the vitamin B3 family — or a placebo. After six weeks, researchers saw a 53% drop in a marker of inflammation known as interleukin 8, or IL 8. After 12 more weeks of vitamin therapy, the effect increased by 63%. “In other words,” the researchers said in a university news release, “The group treated with vitamin B3 experienced reduced lung inflammation during the study.” More study will be needed to confirm the findings and determine the long-term effect of nicotinamid riboside in treating COPD, Scheibye-Knudsen said. During the study, the team also observed that COPD patients have lower blood levels of a chemical called NAD, which appears to play a role in the aging process. NAD levels rose with vitamin B3 treatment and… read on > read on >

America’s kitchen trash bins are receiving more unwanted food as appetites falter among people taking GLP-1 weight-loss meds, a new study shows. GLP-1s like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound all work by making food less desirable, and it’s showing up in more food wasted at dinner tables, said a team led by Brian Roe, of Ohio State University. The study surveyed 505 new GLP-1 users. It found 25% agreeing that they had wasted more food since taking the drugs, compared to 61% who disagreed. There was some good news, however: Food wastage appears to decline as people adjust to their GLP-1 medication. “The fact that food waste appears to decrease as patients acclimate to the medication suggests there may be a fairly simple remedy — advising patients new to these medications about the possibility of discarding food as their diets change, which could reduce food waste and lower their spending,” said Roe, a professor in the department of agricultural, environmental and development economics. According to the researchers, 6% of all U.S. adults were taking a GLP-1 medications as of spring of 2024. The medicines act on a hormone in the small intestine to help lower blood sugar, slow stomach emptying and signal fullness in the brain. In this study, almost 70% of respondents were taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy) and nearly a quarter were taking… read on > read on >

A drug used to help patients lose weight and manage diabetes may also help those with heart failure, an international clinical trial shows. The test of tirzepatide, brand named Zepbound, included 731 patients with diastolic heart failure and obesity who were followed for two years. “This class of drugs continue to show benefits far beyond weight loss,” said researcher Dr. Christopher Kramer, chief of cardiovascular medicine at UVA Health. “This drug will become an important part of the armamentarium for patients with obesity-related heart failure and preserved heart function.” In nearly half of heart failure cases, the left ventricle of the heart becomes stiff and can no longer pump blood properly. Doctors call this diastolic heart failure or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Obesity is a major cause of heart failure, so Kramer’s team wondered if the weight-loss drug tirzepatide could help. The new trial — published in four journals and reported Saturday at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago — showed that tirzepatide offered big benefits for managing heart failure. Patients saw improvements in how far they could walk in six minutes and big decreases in a biological marker used to measure inflammation and predict risk of serious heart events, the study found. During the two-year follow-up, 56 participants who received a placebo died or saw their heart failure get worse, compared to… read on > read on >

Having achy, painful joints isn’t just a physical woe: Coupled with depression, it could also degrade an older person’s brain function over time. That’s the conclusion of a study of almost 5,000 older Britons tracked for 12 years. People who had both chronic joint pain and depression tended to perform worse on cognitive tests, especially tests focused on memory skills. “Both pain and symptoms of depression act on areas of the brain [mainly the hippocampus] associated with cognitive processing,” explained Brazilian gerontology researcher and study lead author Patrícia Silva Tofani, of the Federal University of Sergipe. She has a theory as to how joint pain and depression might pose a double whammy to brain health. “There’s an overlap of information, causing the brain to become ‘congested’ and have to delegate some functions to process the pain response and the symptoms of depression,” she said in a university news release. “This would interfere with formation of memory and global cognitive performance. In the study, we saw that over the years, this overload leads to faster cognitive decline.” The findings were published recently in the journal Aging & Mental Health. The study was based on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, and looked at data on 4,718 Britons aged 50 or older whose health was tracked for a dozen years. Among other things, they were queried… read on > read on >