Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Mindfulness is a centuries-old practice that’s become trendy in recent years — and a new study now says it can help your heart health. Training in mindfulness can help people better manage their high blood pressure by helping them stick to healthy lifestyle changes, a new clinical trial reports. An eight-week customized mindfulness program helped people lower their systolic blood pressure by nearly 6 points during a six-month follow-up period, researchers found. That was significantly better than the 1.4-point reduction that occurred in people undergoing usual blood pressure care, researchers said during a presentation Sunday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, in Chicago. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. The results could be relevant to a patient’s health, given that previous studies have found that a 5-point drop in systolic pressure translates to a 10% lower risk of heart attack and stroke, said lead researcher Eric Loucks, director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. “If we can train people in mindfulness skills and then apply those skills to people’s relationships with the things that we know influence blood pressure — like physical activity or diet or antihypertensive medication adherence or alcohol consumption — we might be able to boost the effects” of their prescribed blood pressure control plan, Loucks said. For example, in this study participants armed with… read on > read on >

Folks taking dietary supplements intended to help their heart health are just wasting their money, a new clinical trial suggests. Six supplements widely promoted as heart-healthy — fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols and red yeast rice — didn’t do a thing to lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or improve heart health, researchers found. “Compared to placebo, none of the supplements had a significant decrease in LDL cholesterol,” said lead researcher Dr. Luke Laffin, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Blood Pressure Disorders. In fact, two of the supplements made matters worse, Laffin said during a presentation on the findings Sunday at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, in Chicago. The study findings were published Nov. 6 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The garlic supplement actually increased LDL cholesterol by nearly 8%, while plant sterols decreased “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels by more than 7%, the results showed. The clinical trial also demonstrated that statins are incredibly effective in lowering cholesterol. A low dose of cholesterol-lowering rosuvastatin (Crestor) prompted, on average, a nearly 38% decrease in bad LDL cholesterol, Laffin said. “Every participant randomized to rosuvastatin had at least an 18.2% reduction in LDL cholesterol, with half receiving over 40% reduction in LDL cholesterol,” Laffin said. “Whereas with all the supplements and placebo, you might as well… read on > read on >

Adult cancer survivors, particularly those who have undergone chemotherapy, have an increased risk for serious pelvic and vertebral fractures, new research shows. “These findings are important as the number of cancer survivors living in the United States is projected to rise to 26.1 million by 2040. Research like this seeks ways for cancer survivors to have a better quality of life after their diagnosis,” said study lead author Erika Rees-Punia. She is a behavioral and epidemiology researcher at the American Cancer Society. “Fractures of the pelvis and vertebrae are more than just broken bones — they are serious and costly,” Rees-Punia added in a society news release. The researchers analyzed data from the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort linked to Medicare claims from 1997 to 2017. Of about 92,400 participants they assessed, more than 12,900 had had a frailty-related bone fracture. Investigators compared that group to people without a history of cancer. Cancer survivors who were more recently diagnosed within five years with an advanced stage cancer had the highest risk of fracture compared to those with no previous cancer. Vertebral and pelvic fractures drove this higher risk. Survivors who received chemotherapy were more likely to have a fracture compared to survivors with no past chemotherapy. Researchers found this association was stronger within five years of diagnosis but was still suggestive even after the five-year… read on > read on >

Routine eye checks can help ensure seniors know if they’re developing any age-related vision issues. An expert from Baylor College of Medicine spells out what seniors need to know. “Don’t blame vision issues on just aging eyes. Get your eyes checked out because it can be a more serious issue that can be treated,” said Dr. Sumitra Khandelwal, associate professor of ophthalmology at Baylor. “If you wait too long, there may not be ability to treat it.” Among the issues is dry eye. As the skin gets drier with age, so do eyes. Artificial tears can help. “If your skin is dry and you wait until it’s very papery to put lotion on it, it won’t help as much as if you put lotion on the skin daily to prevent dryness — the same goes for your eyes. As you get older, you notice dryness and irritation. This is when you should start using artificial tears,” Khandelwal said in a college news release. Artificial tears are available as over-the-counter drops, ointments and prescription eye drops. It’s also possible to get a prescription medication to reduce eye inflammation and increase tear production, Khandelwal said. Catching problems early is important. Otherwise, the dry eye can become so advanced it may not be treatable. Cataracts are one of the most common age-related eyesight issues. With these, the clear… read on > read on >

In a finding that suggests more Americans than ever are struggling with their sight as they get older, researchers report that nearly 20 million adults have age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Broken down, about 18.3 million people aged 40 and up had an early stage of the condition in 2019, while almost 1.5 million people had late-stage AMD. “There haven’t been many new examination-based studies of the prevalence of AMD, and the only nationally representative data on AMD were last collected in 2008. So, this limits the ability of researchers to update the estimates,” said study author David Rein, director of the public health analytics program at NORC at the University of Chicago. “I think a strength of our study is our use of other data sources such as Medicare claims and population data from the Census Bureau to create contemporary estimates.” AMD is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It is characterized by intermediate-sized drusen, which are deposits under the retina, and retinal pigment epithelium abnormalities. It affects the macula, which is part of the retina that controls sharp, straight-ahead vision, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute. The condition comes in two forms: Dry AMD involves the thinning of the macula, while wet AMD is less common and causes faster vision loss. With wet AMD, abnormal blood vessels grow… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, but there’s been concern that the drop in nicotine could exacerbate anxieties in smokers who might already battle mood issues. However, a new study shows that while cigarettes with nicotine at 5% of the normal dose can help anxious or depressed smokers quit, they do so without adding to mood or anxiety problems that led them to smoke in the first place. “There do not appear to be any concerning, unintended consequences of having to switch to very low nicotine cigarettes,” said lead researcher Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State University School of Medicine. “On the contrary, it appears that the result is that smokers feel less addicted to their cigarettes and more able to quit smoking when offered relatively brief assistance with follow-up appointments plus nicotine replacement therapy,” he said. Smokers with mood and anxiety disorders showed no signs of “over-smoking” the very low-nicotine cigarettes, nor was there any sign that switching to them made their mental health worse, Foulds said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels. Doing so could not only lessen addiction, but also reduce exposure to toxic substances and increase the odds… read on > read on >

A single psychedelic trip with psilocybin — the mind-altering component of magic mushrooms — appears to lift the fog of major depression in some hard-to-treat patients, a new clinical trial reports. A 25-milligram dose of a synthetic psilocybin compound called COMP360 caused a “rapid and durable response” in more than a third of patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression, said Dr. Steve Levine, senior vice president of patient access for the London-based pharmaceutical company COMPASS Pathways. It focuses on psilocybin research and created the COMP360 synthetic compound and funded the clinical trial. The results occurred in a phase 2 trial aimed at finding the most effective dose of COMP360, according to a report published Nov. 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, there was one caveat: While side effects were minimal, four patients (out of 79) who took the highest dose either reported having suicidal thoughts or intentionally harming themselves in the weeks that followed. The psilocybin compound will now proceed to a full-fledged clinical trial that promises to be the largest ever conducted for a psychedelic compound, Levine said. The trial testing its effectiveness is expected to include more than 900 people in 14 countries, including the United States, Levine said. It’s expected to conclude in mid-2025. These early findings show that psilocybin could well provide an alternative to standard treatments for major… read on > read on >

Want to live like you did in the carefree days before the pandemic? Just roll up your sleeve when your turn comes to get the COVID-19 vaccine, three major medical groups urge in a new public service campaign. The vaccines are safe, effective and will help end the pandemic, according to the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association. “To defeat COVID-19 and get back the moments with friends and family we all miss, we need as many shots in arms as possible,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the hospital association. “It’s imperative that all Americans consider the health of their loved ones and make the decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is their turn,” Pollack said in a joint association news release. Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, agreed, calling on Americans to exercise civic responsibility. “Whether enough people get the COVID-19 vaccine decides our future and the future toll of the virus, so be ready to do your part,” Bailey said. What if you have concerns in the meantime? Ernest Grant, president of the American Nurses Association, suggested reaching out to a nurse, doctor or other health care professional to get your questions answered. “Try to connect with someone you know and trust who has received a COVID-19 vaccine and ask them about… read on > read on >

THURSDAY, Feb. 4, 2020 (HealthDay) — Being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 is not a foolproof shield against reinfection, a small preliminary study warns. The finding stems from tracking nearly 3,250 young U.S. Marine recruits between May and October. Of those, 189 had previously tested positive for the SAR-CoV-2 virus. During the six-week study itself, 10% of those who had tested positive got reinfected. “You don’t have a get-out-of-jail-free card just because you have antibodies from a previous infection,” said study author Dr. Stuart Sealfon. He’s a professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, which conducted the study in collaboration with the Naval Medical Research Center. The findings were recently published in the preprint server medRXiv and have not been peer-reviewed. All the Marines were beginning basic training and were initially held in Navy quarantine for two weeks, after two weeks of at-home quarantine, according to the study. Once training began, recruits were tested for COVID-19 every two weeks over a six-week period. The result: 19 of the 189 recruits who already had COVID tested positive for a second infection during the study. Researchers said first- and second- infections involved the same strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and none involved the new, more transmissible U.K., South African or Brazilian strains that have raised alarm in… read on > read on >