Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Exposure to air pollution can increase the risk for osteoporosis and broken bones in older adults, a new U.S. study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on 9.2 million Medicare enrollees in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic area who had been hospitalized for fractures from 2003 to 2010. The investigators found that even a small increase in exposure to air pollution particulate matter called PM2.5 was associated with an increase in fractures among older adults. PM2.5 is the label for fine inhalable particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The researchers also examined eight years of follow-up among 692 middle-aged, low-income adults in the Boston health survey. The findings showed that people who lived in areas with higher levels of PM2.5 and black carbon — a type of air pollution from vehicle exhaust — had lower levels of an important calcium and bone-related hormone, and greater decreases in bone mineral density than did those exposed to lower levels of the two pollutants. The study was published Nov. 9 in The Lancet Planetary Health. “Decades of careful research has documented the health risks of air pollution, from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases to cancer and impaired cognition [thinking skills], and now osteoporosis,” said senior author Dr. Andrea Baccarelli. He chairs environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New… read on >

As humans evolved, height and weight developed at different rates. That’s the conclusion of researchers who analyzed 311 fossil specimens of modern-day human’s hominin ancestors, dating from 4.4 million years ago to humans who lived after the last ice age. Hominin evolution was a “long and winding road with many branches and dead ends” that included bursts of growth followed by long periods of little change, according to the study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. For a long time, hominin height and weight evolved roughly in concert. But about 1.5 million years ago, hominins gained about 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) in height but did not consistently boost their weight for another million years, with an average increase of 10 to 15 kilograms (about 22 to 33 pounds) occurring about 500,000 years ago. “An increase solely in stature would have created a leaner physique, with long legs and narrow hips and shoulders,” the study’s lead author, Manuel Will, from the archaeology department at the University of Cambridge, in England, said in a university news release. “This may have been an adaptation to new environments and endurance hunting, as early Homo species left the forests and moved on to more arid African savannah,” he added. “The higher surface-to-volume ratio of a tall, slender body would be an advantage when stalking animals for hours… read on >

Complaining of burnout and job dissatisfaction, many U.S. doctors plan to reduce their work hours or leave medicine altogether, a new study reveals. “Our findings have profound implications for health care organizations,” according to the researchers from the American Medical Association (AMA), the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University. The study found that about one in five doctors intends to reduce work hours in the next year. And about one in 50 intends to leave medicine for a different career within the next two years. The demands of electronic health records were among the challenges leading to job dissatisfaction. If only 30 percent of those doctors follow through on their plans to leave medicine, that would mean a loss of nearly 4,800 doctors. That’s about the same as losing the graduating classes of 19 U.S. medical schools in each of the next two years, the researchers explained. Replacing physicians is expensive for institutions. One recent analysis estimated the cost at $800,000 or more per doctor. “In addition, turnover is disruptive to patients, staff and organizational culture,” the study authors wrote. “An energized, engaged, and resilient physician workforce is essential to achieving national health goals,” said Dr. David Barbe, president of the American Medical Association. “Yet burnout is more common among physicians than other U.S. workers, and that gap is increasing as mounting obstacles to patients’ care… read on >

Too much could lead to skin cancer read on >

Despite a significant risk of head injuries in baseball and softball, helmet use in those sports is low, a new review says. “Our review demonstrates that traumatic brain injury in baseball and softball affects players of all levels and all positions,” said study lead author Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “Although the risk for traumatic brain injury is lower in baseball than other, high-contact sports like hockey and football, because the injuries can lead to very serious injuries like skull fractures and bleeding in the brain caused by balls or bats, it should be considered equally as serious and addressed in a way that reflects that,” he said in a hospital news release. Cusimano and his colleagues reviewed 29 studies that included nearly 243,000 traumatic brain injuries sustained by baseball and softball players between 1982 and 2015. Playing levels extended from youth leagues all the way to Major League Baseball players. While baseball and softball had the lowest rate of traumatic head injuries compared with 15 other sports, serious brain injuries occurred once in about every 2,000 games. All formal baseball and softball leagues included in the studies required players to wear helmets. Five of the studies examined the use of protective equipment and found that only 7 percent of players who suffered traumatic brain injuries that required emergency… read on >

If you have trouble keeping slim, don’t put all the blame on your DNA. People carrying so-called “obesity” genes tend to gain more weight if they don’t work out or don’t get enough sleep, said Timothy Frayling, a professor with the University of Exeter Medical School in England. “You can’t change your genes — but they only explain part of your weight,” Frayling said. This means that even people genetically inclined to pile on pounds can curb it by eating right and exercising. Frayling and his fellow researchers tracked physical activity and sleep patterns for about 85,000 people in England, aged 40 to 70. The participants wore accelerometers that allowed researchers to estimate their amount of exercise and quality of sleep. The team also computed a genetic risk score for each person based on 76 common variants known to be associated with increased risk for obesity. Genetics accounted for some, but not all, of a person’s obesity risk, the researchers concluded. For example, a person of average height who had 10 genetic risk factors for obesity gained an average of 8 pounds during the course of their life if they tended to be couch potatoes, but only about 6 pounds if they were more physically active, the study authors said. The results were similar regarding sleeplessness. People with some genetic risk for obesity tended to… read on >

When you were growing up, Mom might have told you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But when you’re an adult trying to lose weight, you may not need to eat breakfast if you’re just not hungry first thing in the morning. Dieters have long been told to start the day with breakfast to stave off mid-morning hunger pangs and a dash to the breakroom for donuts. But when researchers compared the weight-loss results of a group of dieters who ate breakfast to those who didn’t, they found no differences on the scale. The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed nearly 300 people over a 4-month period. Another study done in the United Kingdom and published in the same journal found similar results. While skipping breakfast in an attempt to starve yourself could backfire and find you gorging at lunchtime, it’s OK to simply wait until you’re really hungry to eat your first meal of the day. Postponing the calorie intake could give you more flexibility later on, should you have a snack craving at midday or want an extra protein portion at dinner. Another option is to eat a very small morning meal, like a half-cup of cereal with a splash of nonfat milk. If you’ll be on the run and unable to stop when hunger… read on >