Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

If mountain biking is your exercise of choice, go for it. A new study finds that the benefits of this sport outweigh the risks, dashing a common view that it’s always dangerous, injury-inducing and meant for thrill seekers. “Mountain biking and hiking are some of the fastest growing recreation activities in the world, so understanding the spectrum of injuries becomes paramount for effective medical care,” said lead author Paul Braybrook, a doctoral candidate at Curtin University School of Nursing in Western Australia. His team analyzed data from dozens of studies across the world that included more than 220,000 injured mountain bikers and more than 17,000 injured hikers to try to pinpoint injury types. For mountain bikers, injuries were primarily on upper limbs, mostly bruises, scratches and mild cuts. Hikers had injured legs and ankles, including blisters and ankle sprains. “Despite a common perception of mountain biking as an ‘extreme’ sport, we found most reported injuries were of low severity,” Braybrook said in a university news release. “Although there were high proportions of ankle sprains in hikers and arm fractures in mountain bikers, with one study of the latter reporting more than half suffered head injuries, highlighting the importance of a good quality helmet.” The standard for protective gear and other equipment has increased as the popularity of both sports has grown, Braybrook said. This reduces… read on > read on >

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are surging in popularity, but that doesn’t mean they’re good for everyone. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) may be dangerous for children, warned researchers at University of California, Irvine. Treating childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes with these injected medications may have unintended and adverse consequences in pediatric patients, the team of clinicians, exercise scientists, pharmaceutical scholars, ethicists and behavioral experts said in their commentary. While the new class of medication could benefit children with morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes — a problem worsened by COVID pandemic-related shutdowns — the authors suspect overuse and abuse among youth is inevitable. “Our major concern is the unbalance and inappropriate reductions in calorie or energy intake associated with these weight-loss drugs,” said Dr. Dan Cooper, a professor of pediatrics at UCI School of Medicine. “Unlike in adults, children and adolescents need energy and sufficient calories not only for physical activity, but for growth and development,” he said in a university news release. The balance of a proper diet plus movement influences a child’s growth and health across their life span, according to the authors. Any change in the balance can have negative health consequences much later in life. Optimal diet and exercise, for example, helps build bones during childhood, for example. This lessens risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures later in… read on > read on >

The degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may be striking some at much younger ages than thought possible: New research has uncovered early signs of the condition in amateur athletes who died young after playing contact sports. The troubling finding was discovered during the brain autopsies of 152 athletes. All had engaged in the type of sports, such as football, where head impacts are routine. And all had died before turning 30. Investigators determined that roughly 4 in 10 had developed early signs of CTE while still in their teens and 20s. And the vast majority of those with CTE — more than 70% — were just young amateurs, not professional players. “CTE is a neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive hits to the head that has been found most often in contact sport athletes,” explained study author Dr. Ann McKee. She is a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University and director of neuropathology care with the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. But while most research has focused on the risk of brain damage among professional athletes, the latest analysis reveals “that CTE can begin very early, as early as 17 years, and that it can develop in amateur soccer, rugby, ice hockey and football players, and amateur wrestlers,” McKee stressed. That comes as little surprise to Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, chief… read on > read on >

For women, keeping a stable weight after the age of 60 may boost their odds of reaching the advanced ages of 90, 95 or even 100. Older women with a more stable weight were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to live that long than those who lost 5% or more of their weight, the study showed. Women who unintentionally lost weight were 51% less likely to survive to the age of 90. Gaining 5% or more weight, compared to stable weight, was also not associated with exceptional longevity. “It is very common for older women in the United States to experience overweight or obesity with a body mass index range of 25 to 35. Our findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women,” said first study author Aladdin Shadyab, an associate professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego. “If aging women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity,” Shadyab said in a university news release. For the study, the researchers used data from more than 54,000 women who enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative. Throughout the follow-up period, more than 30,000 women, or 56% of the participants,… read on > read on >

If you are in your 90s, is hip replacement surgery too dangerous for you? That depends, new research shows: While elderly patients have more complications and higher death rates after such a procedure, the surgery can be “appropriately considered.” That’s because the risks for total hip replacement depend not just on patients’ age, but also on their overall health and fitness. Dr. Vincent Leopold and his colleagues of the Charité-University Hospital in Berlin analyzed the characteristics and outcomes of more than 263,000 patients over 60 who had hip replacement surgery between 2012 and 2021. Of this large group, 1,859 patients were in their 90s. The analysis focused on how patient age and health status affected the risks of complications and death associated with hip replacement surgery. Nonagenarians did have overall higher complication and death rates, compared with younger age groups. The study found major complications for nearly 20% of patients in their 90s, compared with 10.7% for patients in their 80s, 6.2% in those in their 70s and 3.7% for those in their 60s. Among these major complications were acute kidney failure, delirium and blood-clotting abnormalities. The rate of minor complications also increased with age, up to 62.7% for nonagenarians. Patients in their 90s also had the highest death rate, at 26.5%. This compared to 11.8% for patients in their 80s, 6% in their 70s… read on > read on >

Suicide has become an urgent issue among American military veterans, with rates increasing by more than 10 times in nearly two decades, a new study reveals. “Suicide rates for post-9/11 veterans have steadily increased over the last 15 years and at a much faster pace than the total U.S. population, and post-9/11 veterans with TBI [traumatic brain injuries] have a significantly higher suicide rate than veterans without TBI,” said lead researcher Jeffrey Howard, from the department of public health at the University of Texas at San Antonio. In fact, the suicide rate for those with a TBI was 56% higher than among veterans who didn’t suffer a TBI, the researchers found. Exposure to TBI, even a mild one, is associated with severe long-term health risks, including suicide, Howard noted. “It used to be believed that once initial symptoms of a mild TBI resolved, the patient was healed and there were no long-term health impacts, but as we are compiling longer-term follow-up data on these patients a different picture is emerging,” Howard said. These data suggest that closer and longer-term monitoring of patients with TBIs may be needed, he explained. “In addition to the clinical implications, the data point to the need for a more holistic approach to ensuring veterans’ health and well-being, which would integrate family and social support networks and other societal factors,” Howard… read on > read on >

It’s always a good idea to use caution when having some summer fun — and that includes preventing burns from barbecues and other heat sources. An expert from UT Southwestern Medical Center offers tips for avoiding heat-related pitfalls, including grilling and metal playground equipment during extreme outdoor temperatures. “Concrete, metal and even plastic surfaces sitting in the sun are hot enough to burn, and children are particularly at risk,” said Dr. Samuel Mandell, associate professor of surgery at University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas. Mandell, who spoke in a hospital news release, specializes in burn care. According to UT Southwestern, contact burns from hot surfaces result in about 70,000 emergency room visits a year in the United States. And concrete is one surprising example, reaching 125 degrees when the air temperature is a far cooler 77 degrees. Barbecue grill or stove accidents are also a common source of burn injuries. More than 10,700 people were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms each year between 2018 and 2022, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. “When grilling food outside, remember that grills — both gas and charcoal — are an open source of flame and a potential danger,” said Mandell, who is also director of the Parkland Regional Burn Center in Dallas. Some ways to be safe are to always wear… read on > read on >

Weight-loss drug Wegovy (semaglutide) and its diabetes-focused cousin, Ozempic, have already upended the treatment of both obesity and diabetes, with sales of both drugs skyrocketing. Now, injected Wegovy could prove a boon for many patients battling heart failure, a new study suggests. The trial results were presented Friday in Amsterdam at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Treatment with the drug “produced large improvements in symptoms, physical limitations and exercise function” compare to placebo, explained study lead author Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City. In the trial, obese heart failure patients who took Wegovy for a year also showed “greater weight loss and fewer serious adverse events as compared with placebo,” Kosiborod added in an ESC news release. The findings were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new trial focused on a subset of patients with what’s known as “heart failure with preserved ejection fraction,” comprising about half of all people with heart failure. Ejection fraction measures the heart’s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood out to the body. Having a low ejection fraction means pumping ability is dangerously impaired. But heart failure patients can have a preserved ejection fraction, meaning they retain pumping ability that’s in a healthy range. Heart failure is still an often lethal ailment, however, with patients… read on > read on >

Coupons for tobacco products appear to have a big impact on relapse rates for smokers who have recently kicked the habit, researchers report. A study of more than 5,000 former smokers who participated in a national survey found double the relapse rate for those who received cigarette coupons by direct mail or email. “We hypothesized that people who received coupons would be more likely to relapse, but we were surprised by the magnitude of the effect,” said lead author Jidong Huang, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences at Georgia State University School of Public Health. “It really shows that smokers who have quit the past year are the most vulnerable to relapse, and it implies that policies that prohibit the distribution of tobacco coupons could help more people succeed in quitting,” he said in a university news release. Smoking continues to be the leading cause of preventable death for Americans. It claims more than 480,000 lives each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Huang said strong tobacco prevention and control policies, including raising tobacco taxes, adopting comprehensive smoke free policies, conducting hard-hitting anti-tobacco media campaigns and implementing restrictions on tobacco advertising, have reduced cigarette smoking to all-time lows. Yet more regulation is needed. Physicians and smoking cessation counselors should warn people… read on > read on >

Stroll past the supplements in any drugstore and you’ll find broad claims about fish oil helping everything from heart and brain health, to joints, eyes and immune systems. But you just might be wasting your money, according to a new study. “We know from recent large, randomized trials that fish oil supplements do not prevent heart disease in the general population, but yet they are one of the most common supplements taken, often by people who still believe they will benefit their heart,” said lead study author Joanna Assadourian, fourth-year medical student at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. The authors researched what these labels actually say, using data from labels of on-market fish oil supplements, to measure the frequency and types of health claims. They included both U.S. Food and Drug Administration-reviewed qualified health claims and those that made assertions about supporting structure or function in various organs. The researchers also assessed the total daily doses of combined EPA and DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, found in supplements from 16 leading manufacturers and retailers. They found that 2,082 of the 2,819 analyzed made at least one health claim, which is nearly 74%. And of those, only 19% made an FDA-approved qualified health claim, which helps consumers understand any scientific uncertainty surrounding a claim. The others made general structure or function… read on > read on >