Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Eating more berries and drinking tea may help slow mental decline as you age, new research suggests. In a study of more than 900 adults, researchers found that foods like these — containing antioxidant flavonols — delivered brain benefits to older adults. Flavonols are found in fruits like berries, green leafy vegetables, tea and wine. For example, people who ate a serving of leafy green vegetables a day slowed their rate of cognitive decline by about 32%, compared with people who didn’t eat any foods with flavonols, said lead researcher Dr. Thomas Holland, an instructor of internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Flavonols are both anti-inflammatories and antioxidants,” he said. “These foods that contain flavonols destroy free radicals and prevent cell damage. They prevent cell damage in the brain as well as in other organs, such as the heart and vascular system, kidneys, liver, etc.” Holland isn’t keen on getting flavonols from supplements. He believes the best way to stock up on flavonols is through diet. “You’re going to get a higher diversity of nutrients from foodstuffs,” he said. “I like to maintain supplements as exactly that, supplements. They should supplement a healthy diet.” For the study, Holland’s team collected data on 961 adults, average age 81, who did not have dementia. Over an average of seven years, participants completed yearly questionnaires… read on > read on >

Bottled vitamins might seem a convenient way to get all the important nutrients, but the best delivery method is still just eating actual healthy food. “We have plenty of studies showing that when we look at food as the bioavailable source of certain nutrients of vitamins and minerals, they tend to be one of the best options,” said Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietitian with Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. For example, you can take a capsule of fish oil, but eating wild fatty fish makes it easier to control what you’re getting. The supplement industry isn’t regulated in the same way as food. Kirkpatrick suggested that the best way to get a mix of vitamins and minerals is eating more colorful foods. Aim for getting six different colorful foods in your diet daily. A bowl of oatmeal can help get one color. Adding blueberries is a second one. Even coffee counts. The beverage is loaded with antioxidants. Check with your doctor about whether you might be deficient in certain vitamins, Kirkpatrick advised. Vitamin D, in particular, is one that may require taking a supplement to get enough of it. “Vitamin D is typically poorly absorbed through food,” Kirkpatrick explained in a clinic news release. “A D3 supplement is more mimicking the UV rays of the sun, that’s where we get the best vitamin D.” More information… read on > read on >

An exercise program, even if it’s not as intense as national guidelines suggest, could help breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy reduce fatigue and have a better quality of life, new research suggests. Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia included 89 women in this study — 43 participated in the exercise portion; the control group did not. Exercisers did a 12-week home-based program. It included weekly resistance training sessions and 30 to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise. Researchers found that patients who exercised recovered from cancer-related fatigue more quickly during and after radiation therapy compared to the control group. Exercisers also saw a significant increase in health-related quality of life, which could include measures of emotional, physical and social well-being. “The amount of exercise was aimed to increase progressively, with the ultimate target of participants meeting the national guideline for recommended exercise levels,” said study leader Georgios Mavropalias, a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Medical and Health Sciences. “However, the exercise programs were relative to the participants’ fitness capacity, and we found even much smaller dosages of exercise than those recommended in the [Australian] national guidelines can have significant effects on cancer-related fatigue and health-related quality of living during and after radiotherapy,” Mavropalias said in a university news release. The Australian national guidelines for cancer patients call for 30 minutes of moderate… read on > read on >

Many women experience back pain during pregnancy and a new study review suggests an ancient treatment can help. Acupuncture provided significant relief of lower back and pelvic pain, according to an analysis of 10 trials from various parts of the world. The findings were published Nov. 21 in BMJ Open. “Acupuncture significantly improved pain, functional status, and quality of life in women with [lower back/pelvic pain] during the pregnancy,” wrote the researchers, who included Dr. Wei Dong, from the Department of Orthopaedics at the Kunming Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. “Additionally, acupuncture had no observable severe adverse influences on the newborns,” they said in a journal news release. The 10 trials were conducted between 2000 and 2020 in the United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain and Brazil. In all, the trials included 1,040 healthy women. On average, they were in their 17th to 30th week of pregnancy. Each had lower back and/or pelvic pain and were treated by trained acupuncturists, physiotherapists or midwives. Seven of the 10 trials described body acupuncture. The other three described ear lobe acupuncture. The findings varied but trial results for nine studies suggested that acupuncture significantly relieved pain during pregnancy. Four studies reported on the potential of acupuncture to restore physical function, showing significant improvements. In the five studies that recorded impact on quality of life, findings… read on > read on >

Shoveling snow is a strenuous workout that poses risks for people with heart conditions. “We have to think of shoveling snow as a pretty significant exertion, like an exercise,” said Dr. Donald Ford, chair of family medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. “So if you’re going out to exercise, people who have heart conditions or people who have risk for heart conditions, may need to talk to their doctor before they engage in that.” That includes folks with risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, Ford said. The doctor can advise whether shoveling is safe, and if so, how much. If you do get the go-ahead, taking frequent rest breaks is a good idea, Ford said in a clinic news release. Even if you’re in shape, warm up before your first scoop. Stretch out the muscles of the back, arms, shoulders and legs. Do a brief aerobic warmup to get the blood flowing, such as walking in place, hopping up and down, or even spending a few minutes on the treadmill, he suggested. Once you’re outside, lift with your legs — not your back. “Make sure you’re lifting from the center. Keeping your body upright, not reaching over,” Ford said. Using an ergonomic shovel, which has a longer, bent handle, will help prevent back pain, he noted. It enables a… read on > read on >

Stress affects gut health and intensifies pain, which — for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) — can make traveling to see family during the holiday season excruciating. “People living with IBS often say the holidays are especially stressful, above and beyond the typical holiday stress most people report having,” said Tiffany Taft, medical social scientist and clinical psychologist at Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago. For the 15% of Americans who live with IBS, Taft offered some tips as they gather for the season. “Stress directly affects IBS through the gut-brain axis, which includes parts of the brain that are part of the body’s fight-flight-freeze response,” she said. “Stress can amplify pain, alter the motility of the gut — either speed up or slow down, depending on the person — and change the composition of the gut microbiome.” That can make symptoms more severe. For some, that may mean more frequent trips to the bathroom. For others, it may mean fewer than usual. Symptoms can include increased stomach pain and cramping, bloating and increased urgency to go to the bathroom. Taft said the holidays can create stress because some people have family members who aren’t understanding or supportive about IBS. They may worry or be anxious about asking for changes to the holiday menu because of dietary needs. Rather than have an unpleasant conversation, the person… read on > read on >

That new television, cabinet or appliance you’re looking to snag on Black Friday or Cyber Monday could bring unexpected dangers to your home. So don’t forget to buy a kit to anchor it to the wall and keep it from tipping over and harming young kids, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges. “With the holiday shopping season upon us, it is critical to anchor your new TV or furniture to the wall to help prevent tip-over incidents,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric. “Even if a TV or piece of furniture comes without an anti-tip-over kit, you can order them online or purchase them at your local hardware store for $20 or less,” he noted in a commission news release. Since 2000, 581 deaths caused by furniture, TV or appliance tip-overs have happened in the United States. Of those, 472 involved children. Just last month, the CPSC approved a mandatory safety standard for dressers, chests and other clothing storage units. This ensures they meet new minimum stability requirements designed to prevent furniture from tipping over. Until more stable furniture makes its way into the marketplace, the CPSC said consumers should anchor their furniture. You can repair a wall after removing a furniture anchor if you redecorate or move, the commission noted. If anchoring is not an option, it recommended placing TVs on a sturdy, low… read on > read on >

Over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin, Aleve or ibuprofen don’t do a thing to slow the progression of knee arthritis, and might even make things worse, a new study suggests. Knee arthritis patients who regularly took nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) wound up with worse knee inflammation and weakened cartilage, compared to a “control” group not taking the medications, researchers report. “We found that the participants who were taking NSAIDs regularly for four years showed worse results with regard to synovitis,” which is inflammation within the knee, said lead researcher Dr. Johanna Luitjens, a postdoctoral scholar with the University of California, San Francisco’s department of radiology and biomedical imaging. “Also, we saw that the composition of the cartilage was worse in the group of NSAID users compared to the controls,” Luitjens added. NSAIDs block the production of body chemicals that cause inflammation. People regularly pop these pills to provide short-term relief of arthritis pain. Aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) are the most common NSAIDs, available over the counter at any pharmacy or grocery store. For this study, Luitjens and her colleagues analyzed data gathered from more than 1,000 participants in a federally funded long-term observational study of knee arthritis. Participants entered the study between February 2004 and May 2006. The researchers compared 277 people who were prescribed NSAIDs regularly for at least a year… read on > read on >

Researchers have found a way to safely deliver a steady supply of chemotherapy directly to brain tumors — in what they hope will be an important advance for patients with currently incurable cancers. The treatment involves an implantable pump system that supplies a steady drip of chemo straight to the brain tumor. Researchers have tested it in five patients who had recurrent glioblastoma, a particularly deadly form of brain tumor. They found the system was able to hit patients’ tumors with chemotherapy doses that were 1,000-times higher than is possible with traditional chemo. And there were no significant side effects. The big unanswered question, experts said, is whether the approach can ultimately extend people’s lives. Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer that is diagnosed in about 12,000 Americans each year, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. Adults with the disease typically live for about 15 months after diagnosis. Sens. Edward Kennedy and John McCain both died of the disease. Glioblastoma is very difficult to treat for a number of reasons. For one, it cannot be completely removed with surgery because the tumor has finger-like extensions that interweave with normal brain tissue. “There’s no real boundary between where the tumor starts and healthy brain tissue starts,” said Dr. Adam Sonabend, an associate professor of neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.… read on > read on >

Annual lung cancer screening for heavy smokers can provide a big boost in lung cancer survival over the long term, a new study shows. When low-dose CT screening identifies early-stage lung cancer, patients have an 80% chance of surviving 20 years, researchers found. And for some, the odds are as high as 100%. But only 16% of lung cancers are caught early, and more than half of people with lung cancer die within a year of being diagnosed, according to the American Lung Association. The average five-year survival rate is less than 19%. This study shows “how powerful screening is,” said Dr. Andrea McKee, a volunteer spokeswoman for the lung association and chair of radiation oncology at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Mass. She was not involved in the study. By detecting and treating the cancer when it is small, patients can be effectively cured in the long term, the study authors say. Lung cancer screening, however, is underutilized. A recent lung association report revealed that only 6% of eligible Americans had undergone the screening. In some states, lung cancer screening rates are as low as 1%. Dr. Claudia Henschke, the new study’s lead researcher, pointed out some obstacles to screening. “There’s been talk about too many false positives and radiation. But the radiation dose is very low. It’s less than that of… read on > read on >