Health A-Z

Eating lingonberries could help prevent weight gain

Eating lingonberries could prevent weight gain more effectively than so-called “superberries”, research suggests.

Scientists tested a variety of berries from raspberries to blackcurrants for the effects they have on mice and found the Scandinavian berry almost completely prevented an increase in weight.

The lingonberries also produced lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol, the researchers from Lund University in Sweden found.

However, the açai berry from Central and South America, which is hailed as a “superberry”, came last in the study.
The team of scientists used a type of mouse regarded as a model for overweight humans at risk of diabetes because it easily stores fat. Some of the mice were fed a low-fat diet, while the majority of the animals were fed a diet high in fat.

They were then divided into groups, where all except a control group were fed a type of berry – lingonberry, bilberry, raspberry, crowberry, blackberry, prune, blackcurrant or açai berry.

When the mice were compared after three months, the lingonberry group had “by far the best results”, the researchers said.

The mice that had eaten lingonberries had not put on more weight than the mice that had eaten a low-fat diet – and their blood sugar and insulin readings were similar to those of the ‘low-fat’ mice. Their cholesterol levels and levels of fat in the liver were also lower than those of the animals who received a high-fat diet without any berries.
Blackcurrants and bilberries also produced good effects, although not as pronounced as the lingonberries.

The good results from lingonberries may be due to their polyphenol content, according to the researchers, who are continuing work to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in their effect, while studying whether the effect can be observed in humans.
Karin Berger, a diabetes researcher at Lund University, said: “Up to 20 per cent of our mice’s diet was lingonberries. It isn’t realistic for humans to eat such a high proportion.

“However, the goal is not to produce such dramatic effects as in the ‘high-fat’ mice, but rather to prevent obesity and diabetes by supplementing a more normal diet with berries.”
She added: “In our study, the açai berries led to weight gain and higher levels of fat in the liver.”

The researchers warned against eating large quantities of lingonberry jam, because boiling the berries can affect their nutrient content and jam contains a lot of sugar. They recommended eating frozen lingonberries on cereal or in a smoothie.

Source: telegraph

Large amounts of folic acid could lead to development of breast cancer

A scientist shown for the first time that folic acid supplements in doses 2.5 to five times the daily requirement “significantly promotes” the growth of existing pre-cancerous or cancerous cells in the mammary glands of rats.

Dr. Young-In Kim said that this is a critically important issue because breast cancer patients and survivors in North America are exposed to high levels of folic acid through folic acid fortification in food and widespread use of vitamin supplements after a cancer diagnosis.

The amount of folic acid consumed in North America has increased dramatically in the past 15 years. Women are routinely advised to take folic acid supplements before becoming pregnant and while pregnant to prevent neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida.

His research was published in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Source: healcon

High-fluoride paste may prevent white spots from braces

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Adolescents may not be able to get out of wearing braces, but using a high-fluoride toothpaste for the duration could help them avoid white marks the devices often leave behind, according to a new study from Sweden.

The special paste with almost four times the usual fluoride content helped prevent about a third of the chalky-looking spots among kids between the ages of 11 and 16 years old, researchers say.

Past studies have shown that up to 85 percent of patients who wear braces may develop these so-called white spot lesions, which represent local tooth decay and tend to be permanent.

“To reduce this effect, several products are available on the market, but evidence of the effectiveness of the products is lacking,” said Mikael Sonesson, lead author of the study and an orthodontist at Malmö University.

To see whether a high-fluoride toothpaste that patients could use at home would protect against the spots, more than 400 kids at five dental practices who were scheduled to get braces were recruited starting in 2008.

They were randomly divided into two groups, with about half receiving a paste containing 5,100 parts per million fluoride to use at home and the other half receiving paste that was similar in every way, except it contained 1,450 ppm fluoride – the amount in most standard commercial brands, according to the researchers.

Before getting their braces, all the youngsters had detailed photos taken of their teeth and photos were taken again after the braces were removed. The participants wore braces for an average of 1.8 years and received toothpaste supplies for as long as they did.

Two clinicians who did not know which fluoride paste the youngsters had used evaluated all the before-and-after photos to assess the presence and severity of white spots using a four-point scale.

About 10 percent of participants dropped out of the study for various reasons, though no side effects of the toothpastes were reported, Sonesson and his colleagues note in the European Journal of Orthodontics.

When the researchers analyzed results for the remaining participants, they found that about 45 percent of patients who brushed with regular toothpaste developed white spots, whereas only 34.6 percent of those who used the high-fluoride paste developed spots. That translates to about 32 percent fewer white spots in the high-fluoride group.

The results were not surprising, given previous research on the use of fluoride for preventing cavities, according to Nisreen Takulla, a dentist in the Boston area.

“High-fluoride toothpastes are often prescribed for patients at a high risk of dental caries, to be used once a day instead of regular toothpaste, and topical fluorides have also been proven to be very effective for caries control,” said Takulla. Other ways to get higher doses of fluoride include mouth rinses and gels applied to the teeth.

To avoid white spots and cavities when wearing braces, the study’s authors recommend being extra careful with brushing and flossing and avoiding a high-carbohydrate diet, which can be one factor that promotes tooth decay.

Additional fluoride, such as high-fluoride toothpaste, could be another important measure to prevent cavities, Sonesson said.

Such toothpastes should be used once a day in place of regular toothpaste and should not be swallowed; users also should not eat or drink for 30 minutes after brushing with high-fluoride paste.

But it’s not just the toothpaste that’s important, it’s also the way one brushes, according to Takulla.

“Using the right technique to brush, and ensuring all surfaces of the teeth are cleaned, is as important (as the toothpaste used),” Takulla said.

Finally, in addition to home care, a dental exam and cleaning to identify white spots as early as possible, along with the application of a fluoride varnish, should be done every four to six months, Takulla said.

Source: reuters

Electrical burn causes star-shaped cataracts in patient’s eyes

cataract

A 42-year-old electrician in California developed star-shaped cataracts in his eyes after a serious work-related accident caused electricity to run through his body, according to a new report of the case.

The man’s left shoulder came into contact with 14,000 volts of electricity, and an electric current passed through his entire body, including the optic nerve — the nerve that connects the back of the eye to the brain.

“The optic nerve is similar to any wire that conducts electricity,” said Dr. Bobby Korn, an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of California, San Diego, who treated the patient. “In this case, the extreme current and voltage that passed through this important natural wire caused damage to the optic nerve itself,” Korn said.

Four weeks after the accident, Korn evaluated the patient, who was experiencing vision problems. An examination showed the man had “striking cataracts in both of his eyes,” that were star-shaped, Korn said. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye.

The reason cataracts sometimes take on a star shape is not fully understood, Korn said. In animal studies, damage to the eye’s lens from electricity first appears as small bubbles called vacuoles on the outside of the lens. These bubbles then coalesce to form a star-shaped cataract, Korn said.

Four months after the accident, the man had surgery to remove the cataracts and implant a new lens, and his vision improved slightly after the operation, Korn said. But the damage to his optic nerve still limited the man’s sight, Korn said.

Korn explained that the eye is like a camera: If the lens is damaged, it can be replaced with a new one, but if the “film” — in this case, the optic nerve and retina — is damaged, “then you’ll never get a good picture,” Korn said.

Now, 10 years later, the man still has poor vision in both of his eyes, Korn said. But he is able to commute on public transportation and take classes at a community college using assistance, Korn said.

The man’s case is reported in the Jan. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Source: NBC news

 

Thyroid Supplements With a Kick

thyroid

Feeling sluggish? Having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning? Gaining weight?

Many people with vague symptoms like these turn to dietary supplements that promise to jump-start metabolism by bolstering their thyroids with a mix of vitamins and minerals. Bladderwrack seaweed, iodine and an herb called ashwagondha are among the common ingredients.

But these over-the-counter products may also contain something that’s not so natural: thyroid hormones that should only be dispensed by prescription.

Researchers who tested 10 popular thyroid-boosting products sold online found that nine contained the hormones thyroxine (T4) or triiodothyronine (T3), sometimes both. The amounts varied, but in some cases the recommended daily dose contained amounts of thyroid hormone as high or higher than delivered by prescription medications, according to the report, published in November in Thyroid, a scientific journal.

At the recommended daily dose of four capsules, one supplement delivered 91 micrograms of T4 and 16.5 micrograms of T3, the researchers found. In clinical practice, the starting dose of T4 for patients with low thyroid function is just 25 micrograms a day; some older patients are given half that amount. A dose of 75 micrograms a day is sufficient to restore function in many petite women.

“This supplement could give you as much thyroid hormone as you get in a prescription drug or more,” said Dr. Victor Bernet, chairman of endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and senior author of the study. He became interested in so-called thyroid-support supplements after seeing a patient with inexplicable test results. The patient eventually admitted that he had been taking a supplement that a friend recommended for “low energy.”

Thyroid disease is common — and more common in women, affecting one in 10 over age 50. Patients may suffer fatigue, lethargy and weight gain, but not everyone with those symptoms has the illness. Patients taking thyroid hormone should be checked regularly by a physician, Dr. Bernet said.

“Thyroid hormone has a narrow therapeutic window,” he said, and “it’s easy to go over or under” the optimal dosages.

Taking too much can disrupt the body’s ability to regulate hormone levels, and actually may trigger thyroid disease in a healthy person, Dr. Bernet said. Excessive doses of thyroid hormone also can cause anxiety, insomnia and emotional changes, as well as bone loss and serious heart problems.

Officials with trade groups that represent supplement manufacturers said they were troubled by the study’s findings and would welcome regulatory enforcement against what one called the “few bad actors” producing adulterated products.

“No dietary supplements should contain prescription drugs, period,” said John Shaw, chief executive officer of the Natural Products Association. “They are illegal and should be removed from the market,” he said, adding, “We don’t want dangerous products out there.”

Both Mr. Shaw and Duffy MacKay, of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, another supplement trade association, suggested the tested products did not represent all of them, even though nine of 10 contained detectable levels of medication.

Mr. MacKay, a naturopathic doctor, said most consumers do not use “obscure” products like thyroid-support supplements. “This is a real fringe category, the outsiders of the outsiders of the outsiders,” he said.

While the Food and Drug Administration can take action against unsafe supplements once they are on the market, the regulations governing supplements differ substantially from those for conventional medications, which go through extensive testing before approval. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplement manufacturers are required to ensure that products are safe before putting them on the market.

An F.D.A. spokeswoman said the agency has stepped up enforcement in recent years, in one case issuing warning letters about widespread violations of good manufacturing practices at an Atrium Inc. plant in Wautoma, Wis., that makes red yeast rice and other supplements. She declined to say whether the agency would be investigating thyroid-support products.

Doctors are also concerned about iodine, an ingredient in about half the thyroid-boosting supplements. In order for the body to make thyroid hormone, it needs iodine, but excessive amounts of the element may be harmful, Dr. Bernet noted.

The recent study did not analyze the iodine content in thyroid-support supplements, but labels on five of the products listed it as an ingredient, with amounts of 100 to 240 micrograms in the recommended daily dose. The recommended daily allowance for adults is 150 micrograms (slightly more for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding). A teaspoon of iodized salt contains 400 micrograms.

For iodine, as for thyroid hormone, Dr. Bernet said, there is a “sweet spot” in the diet; too much or too little may be harmful.

He and his co-authors did not make it easy for consumers who want to avoid supplements contaminated with thyroid hormone: The published paper did not identify the tested products.

Dr. Bernet’s advice was to avoid all of these supplements. “You can’t trust any of these things. You don’t know what’s in them.”

Source: the New York Times

 

Artificial Bone Marrow Could Be Used to Treat Leukemia

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Artificial bone marrow may be used to reproduce hematopoietic stem cells. A prototype has now been developed by scientists of KIT, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, and Tübingen University. The porous structure possesses essential properties of natural bone marrow and can be used for the reproduction of stem cells at the laboratory. This might facilitate the treatment of leukemia in a few years.

The researchers are now presenting their work in the journal Biomaterials.
Blood cells, such as erythrocytes or immune cells, are continuously replaced by new ones supplied by hematopoietic stem cells located in a specialized niche of the bone marrow. Hematopoietic stem cells can be used for the treatment of blood diseases, such as leukemia. The affected cells of the patient are replaced by healthy hematopoietic stem cells of an eligible donor.

However, not every leukemia patient can be treated in this way, as the number of appropriate transplants is not sufficient. This problem might be solved by the reproduction of hematopoietic stem cells. So far, this has been impossible, as these cells retain their stem cell properties in their natural environment only, i.e. in their niche of the bone marrow. Outside of this niche, the properties are modified. Stem cell reproduction therefore requires an environment similar to the stem cell niche in the bone marrow.

The stem cell niche is a complex microscopic environment having specific properties. The relevant areas in the bone are highly porous and similar to a sponge. This three-dimensional environment does not only accommodate bone cells and hematopoietic stem cells but also various other cell types with which signal substances are exchanged. Moreover, the space among the cells has a matrix that ensures a certain stability and provides the cells with points to anchor. In the stem cell niche, the cells are also supplied with nutrients and oxygen.

The Young Investigators Group “Stem Cell-Material Interactions” headed by Dr. Cornelia Lee-Thedieck consists of scientists of the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, and Tübingen University. It artificially reproduced major properties of natural bone marrow at the laboratory. With the help of synthetic polymers, the scientists created a porous structure simulating the sponge-like structure of the bone in the area of the blood-forming bone marrow. In addition, they added protein building blocks similar to those existing in the matrix of the bone marrow for the cells to anchor.

The scientists also inserted other cell types from the stem cell niche into the structure in order to ensure substance exchange.
Then, the researchers introduced hematopoietic stem cells isolated from cord blood into this artificial bone marrow. Subsequent breeding of the cells took several days. Analyses with various methods revealed that the cells really reproduce in the newly developed artificial bone marrow. Compared to standard cell cultivation methods, more stem cells retain their specific properties in the artificial bone marrow.

The newly developed artificial bone marrow that possesses major properties of natural bone marrow can now be used by the scientists to study the interactions between materials and stem cells in detail at the laboratory. This will help to find out how the behavior of stem cells can be influenced and controlled by synthetic materials. This knowledge might contribute to producing an artificial stem cell niche for the specific reproduction of stem cells and the treatment of leukemia in ten to fifteen years from now.

Source: Science daily

Night work ‘throws body into chaos’

Doing the night shift throws the body “into chaos” and could cause long-term damage, warn researchers.

Shift work has been linked to higher rates of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and cancer.

Now scientists at the Sleep Research Centre in Surrey have uncovered the disruption shift work causes at the deepest molecular level.

Experts said the scale, speed and severity of damage caused by being awake at night was a surprise.

The human body has its own natural rhythm or body clock tuned to sleep at night and be active during the day.

It has profound effects on the body, altering everything from hormones and body temperature to athletic ability, mood and brain function.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed 22 people as their body was shifted from a normal pattern to that of a night-shift worker.

Blood tests showed that normally 6% of genes – the instructions contained in DNA – were precisely timed to be more or less active at specific times of the day.

Once the volunteers were working through the night, that genetic fine-tuning was lost.

Chrono-chaos
“Over 97% of rhythmic genes become out of sync with mistimed sleep and this really explains why we feel so bad during jet lag, or if we have to work irregular shifts,” said Dr Simon Archer, one of the researchers at the University of Surrey.

Fellow researcher Prof Derk-Jan Dijk said every tissue in the body had its own daily rhythm, but with shifts that was lost with the heart running to a different time to the kidneys running to a different time to the brain.

He told the BBC: “It’s chrono-chaos. It’s like living in a house. There’s a clock in every room in the house and in all of those rooms those clocks are now disrupted, which of course leads to chaos in the household.”

Studies have shown that shift workers getting too little sleep at the wrong time of day may be increasing their risk of type-2 diabetes and obesity.

Others analyses suggest heart attacks are more common in night workers.

Prof Dijk added: “We of course know that shift work and jet lag is associated with negative side effects and health consequences.

“They show up after several years of shift work. We believe these changes in rhythmic patterns of gene expression are likely to be related to some of those long-term health consequences.”

Prof Hugh Piggins, a body-clock researcher from the University of Manchester, told the BBC: “The study indicated that the acute effects are quite severe.

“It is surprising how large an effect was noticed so quickly, it’s perhaps a larger disruption than might have been appreciated.”

He cautioned that it was a short-term study so any lasting changes are uncertain, but “you could imagine this would lead to a lot of health-related problems”.

Source: bbc news

 

Men burn brown fat for energy only when they’re chilled

Men burn brown fat for energy only when they’re chilled, researchers have found.

Scientists and drug companies are interested in finding way to increase the amount of brown adipose tissue, also called brown fat, in adults in the hopes of fighting obesity.

They knew that rodents and newborn babies burn calories from brown fat to keep warm. Animals and newborns don’t shiver.

Adults are now known to also carry brown fat, but a big question for obesity researchers was whether that fat actually burns energy.

Scientists in Quebec designed an experiment to find out.

André Carpentier at Sherbrooke University and Denis Richard at Laval University in Quebec City studied six healthy men aged 23 to 42 who wore a water-cooled suit. The experimental set-up was meant to minimize shivering.

When the investigators exposed the men to a radioactive chemical, they found the radioactivity disappeared from the brown fat in just minutes, but the radioactivity wasn’t metabolized in the warm subjects.

Based on the radioactivity findings, the researchers concluded all of the men showed cold-induced activation of brown fat metabolism.
“However, it remains to be demonstrated whether chronic and frequent bouts of cold exposure may contribute to increase [brown fat metabolism] and/or activity and may be a viable adjunct therapeutic strategy to other lifestyle interventions to prevent or treat obesity and its metabolic complications,” they concluded in Tuesday’s issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

In a journal commentary published with the study, Barbara Cannon and Jan Nedergaard at Stockholm University in Sweden said that increasing the amount of brown fat a person has is unlikely to make him or her slimmer. Instead, what’s needed is a way to make that brown fat actively burn calories.

“What we have to wish for is not only more brown adipose tissue in adult humans — but that it would actually be ‘on fire’ when we eat,” the commentators said.

The researchers acknowledged drawbacks of the study. For example, they were unable to tell whether brown fat was metabolically active during cold conditions in other internal organs such as the heart because of the limited view of the PET/CT scanner.

The scientists took body mass index and diabetes into account, but they said the wide differences in brown fat metabolism they observed suggests that other unknown factors could be important, too.

The study was funded by the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Source: Cbc health

Chocolate, Tea, Berries May Cut Diabetes Risk

A diet that includes substances found in chocolate, tea and berries could help protect people against diabetes and other diseases, new research shows.

The study included nearly 2,000 healthy women in the United Kingdom who completed a food questionnaire and were tested for blood sugar (glucose) regulation, inflammation and insulin resistance.

“Our research looked at the benefits of eating certain sub-groups of flavanoids. We focused on flavones, which are found in herbs and vegetables such as parsley, thyme and celery, and anthocyanins, found in berries, red grapes, wine and other red or blue-colored fruits and vegetables,” study leader Aedin Cassidy, of the University of East Anglia in England, said in a university news release.

The investigators found that consuming high levels of flavones and anthocyanins was associated with lower insulin resistance, better blood sugar regulation and lower levels of inflammation. Chronic inflammation is associated with diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The study was published in the Journal of Nutrition.

“This is one of the first large-scale human studies to look at how these powerful bioactive compounds might reduce the risk of diabetes,” Cassidy said.

Earlier research that took place in laboratories suggested that these types of foods might affect blood sugar, which plays a role in type 2 diabetes risk, she noted. However, it was unknown how regular consumption of these ingredients might affect a person’s blood glucose and inflammation levels and insulin resistance, Cassidy said in the news release.

What remains unclear is exactly what amounts of these compounds are needed to reduce the risk of diabetes, the study authors added. Also unclear is how much of a health benefit the compounds really carry — the study found an association between consumption and seemingly better health but not cause-and-effect.

According to study co-author Tim Spector, of King’s College London, “This is an exciting finding that shows that some components of foods that we consider unhealthy like chocolate or wine may contain some beneficial substances. If we can start to identify and separate these substances we can potentially improve healthy eating,” he said in the news release.

Source: webmd

Antacids – why taking them very frequently is not good for you!

Antacids help to treat heartburn (indigestion). They work by changing the stomach acid that causes your heartburn.

You can buy many antacids without a prescription. Liquid forms work faster, but you may like tablets because they are easy to use.

All antacids work equally as well, but they can cause different side effects. If you use antacids often and have problems with side effects, talk with your doctor.

When to Use Antacids
Antacids are a good treatment for heartburn that does not happen very often. Take antacids about 1 hour after eating or at the time heartburn usually happens after you eat. If you are taking them for symptoms at night, do NOT take them with food.

Antacids cannot treat more serious problems, such as appendicitis, a stomach ulcer, gallstones, or bowel problems. Talk to your doctor if you have:

  • Pain or symptoms that do not get better with antacids
  • Symptoms every day or at night
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Bleeding in your bowel movements or darkened bowel movements
  • Bloating or cramping
  • Pain in your lower belly, on your side, or in your back
  • Diarrhea that is severe or does not go away
  • Fever with your belly pain
  • Chest pain or shortness of breath
  • Call your doctor if you need to use antacids on most days.

Side Effects of Antacids
You may have side effects from taking these medicines. Antacids are made with three basic ingredients. If you have problems, try another brand.

Brands with magnesium may cause diarrhea.
Brands with calcium or aluminum may cause constipation.
Rarely, brands with calcium may cause kidney stones or other problems.
If you take large amounts of antacids that contain aluminum, you may be at risk for calcium loss, which can lead to weak bones (osteoporosis).
Antacids can change the way your body absorbs the other medicines you are taking. It is best to take any other medicine either 1 hour before or 4 hours after you take antacids.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking antacids on a regular basis if:

You have kidney disease, high blood pressure, or heart disease.
You are on a low-sodium diet.
You are already taking calcium.
You are taking other medicines every day.
You have had kidney stones.

Source: Medline Plus