Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

There’s no evidence to support the notion that people who get the flu vaccine every year somehow “weaken” their immune system over time, researchers say. In fact, annual vaccination seemed tied to stronger immune cell activity, according to the Norwegian research team. That’s even true for years where the flu shot is a poor match for flu viruses actually circulating, as happened in the 2016-2017 season, the findings suggest. The study was led by Rebecca Cox of the University of Bergen’s department of clinical science. Her group tracked the immune system health of 250 health care workers. Some of the participants got the flu shot beginning in 2009 and then every year thereafter, while others only got the shot in 2009, but then no shot between 2010 and 2013. Immune system antibodies that showed activity against the flu “persisted above the protective levels in [the] repeatedly vaccinated adults,” the team reported. Specifically, immune system CD4 and CD8 T-cells — which target viruses — had more disease-fighting capability “after multiple annual vaccinations” than those in people who didn’t get the yearly flu shot, the investigators found. The research team noted that even though the flu shot has been in use for more than half a century, there have been very few studies that have tracked the immune system health of recipients in such a rigorous way.… read on >

Despite a long and illustrious pro baseball career, Tommy John is more famous as the source of the name for a surgical procedure than for the nearly 300 games the left-handed pitcher won. But Dr. Tommy John — who shares his dad’s name and played pro ball himself — is determined to change that. He’s a performance and healing specialist and a chiropractor in San Diego. Dr. John would prefer that his father — a four-time Major League All-Star — is remembered for his baseball achievements than for the elbow surgery that got him back on the mound for many years. And both son and father would really be happy if fewer young athletes had to undergo the procedure to keep playing the sport they love. The elder John’s career spanned from 1963 to 1989. After playing big league ball for more than 10 years and enduring about 40 cortisone shots to dampen the pain he felt from pitching, the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow “exploded,” his son said. At the time, Dr. Frank Jobe had successfully performed surgery using a tendon on polio patients’ ankles, the younger John explained. But no one had ever reconstructed the elbow ligament of a major league baseball pitcher. “My dad wasn’t one to be told that he would have to stop,” Dr. John said, adding that… read on >

States that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw a greater increase in low-income adults who quit smoking than did states that did not expand Medicaid, a new study found. Under the health care act, states that expanded Medicaid had to offer services to help people quit smoking. About 30 percent of low-income adults in the United States smoke cigarettes, which is double the national average. For the study, University of Pittsburgh researchers analyzed the responses of more than 36,000 low-income adults, ages 18 to 64, who took part in a federal government survey on health behaviors. In the 31 states that expanded Medicaid, 8.1 percent of newly covered low-income adults said they’d quit smoking in the past year, compared with 6 percent of low-income adults in states that did not expand Medicaid. The findings show that government policies meant to reduce high smoking rates among low-income adults must include services to help people quit, according to the researchers. “Smoking cessation is notoriously difficult to achieve,” said study senior author Marian Jarlenski. She’s an assistant professor in the department of health policy and management in the university’s School of Public Health. “The sizable increase we found in smoking cessation might lead to significant reductions in death and diseases caused by smoking, and the taxpayer-funded health care expenditures that come with treating them,” Jarlenski said… read on >

Even if researchers were to find a groundbreaking new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, millions of people might not benefit from it, new research reveals. That’s because the U.S. health care system doesn’t have the ability to quickly implement a newly approved treatment on a widespread scale, according to a report from the RAND Corporation. For instance, there aren’t enough doctors to diagnose all the people with early signs of dementia who would be good candidates for such a treatment, the researchers explained. In addition, scanners used to detect the disease are in short supply, and there aren’t enough treatment centers that could administer the therapy to patients. An estimated 5.5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2040, that number is expected to jump to 11.6 million, according to the study authors. “While significant effort is being put into developing treatments to slow or block the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia, little work has been done to get the medical system ready for such an advancement,” said study lead author Jodi Liu. She is a policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research group. “While there is no certainty an Alzheimer’s therapy will be approved soon, our work suggests that health care leaders should begin thinking about how to respond to such a breakthrough,” Liu explained in a RAND news release. At least 10 therapies… read on >

Holiday parties are fun social gatherings, but they can also be diet disasters. Here’s how to enjoy yourself while sparing yourself hundreds of extra calories. First, eat healthy in the hours leading up to the party. Focus on lean protein, whole grains and simply prepared fruits and vegetables to pack your day with nutrients, suggests the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Don’t attempt to starve yourself or create a calorie deficiency thinking this will give yourself leeway to splurge — that strategy often boomerangs. At the event, set a firm drink limit. Calories can quickly add up when the alcohol is flowing. Two 5-ounce glasses of white wine top 200 calories, so keep a running tally in your head or, even better, a calorie-counting app. Have a glass of plain or sparkling water between alcoholic drinks. This will help you stay hydrated (alcohol acts like a diuretic) and allow you to better pace the booze. Watch out for the hors d’oeuvres, especially if you’re at a cocktail party. It’s easy to mindlessly munch every time a tray passes by. Even bite-sized pastry treats like cheese puffs and mini hot dogs contain loads of calories. Choose high-protein shrimp cocktail instead — you can even enjoy a dollop of tomato-based sauce guilt-free. While nuts are healthy snacks, each handful is about 150 calories, so if you can’t… read on >

Need another reason to keep your weight under control? Excess weight can cause dislocation of your knee and may even lead to a complication that results in amputation of your leg. A new study attributes a surge in dislocated knees to the U.S. obesity epidemic. “Obesity greatly increases the complications and costs of care,” said study lead author Dr. Joey Johnson, an orthopedic trauma fellow at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. “As the rate of obesity increases, the rate of knee dislocations increases. The total number of patients who are obese is increasing, so we are seeing more of these problems,” Johnson explained. Knee dislocations result from multiple torn ligaments. Vehicle crashes or contact sports, such as football, are common causes. For the study, the researchers analyzed more than 19,000 knee dislocations nationwide between 2000 and 2012. Over that time, people who were obese or severely obese represented a growing share of knee dislocation patients — 19 percent in 2012, up from 8 percent in 2000. Obesity is also linked to more severe knee dislocations, longer hospital stays and higher treatment costs, according to the study published recently in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. And the chances that a knee dislocation would also injure the main artery behind the joint and down the leg were twice as high for obese patients than for those… read on >

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 >