B-vitamins may lead to happier seniors: Study

Increased intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 may reduce the risk of seniors developing depressive symptoms, says a new study with 3,500 Chicagoans.

For every 10 milligram increase in the intake of vitamin B6 and for every 10 microgram increase in vitamin B12 the risk of developing symptoms of depression were decreased by 2 per cent per year, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study adds to previous reports linking B vitamin intakes and a lower risk of depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem; it ranks depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, with around 120 million people affected.

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.
The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.

Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found.

Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.

Vitamin B6 Linked to Lower Lung Cancer Risk

June 15, 2010 -- Having higher blood levels of vitamin B6 and the amino acid methionine both appear to reduce lung cancer risk in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to a new study.

"We found that vitamin B6 and methionine are strongly associated with reducing lung cancer risk in people who never smoked, those who quit, and current smokers," researcher Paul Brennan, PhD, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, tells WebMD.

Whether the link is cause and effect, he says, is not known.

In the U.S. alone, more than 219,000 new cases of lung cancer were expected in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society, with about 160,000 deaths.

The study, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund and others, is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Vitamin B6 and Lung Cancer Risk: Study Details
Brennan and colleagues evaluated levels of B6 and methionine in blood samples from participants in the large European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which enrolled more than 519,000 participants from 10 European countries between 1992 and 2000.

Skip breakfast before exercise to burn more fat, studies say

LONDON — Running on empty may not be such a bad idea after all. Though many athletes eat before training, some scientists say that if you really want to get rid of more fat, you should skip the pre-workout snack.
Several studies suggest exercising while your body is low on food may be a good way to trim excess fat. In a recent paper, European researchers found that cyclists who trained without eating burned significantly more fat than their counterparts who ate.

Muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates, which is why athletes like Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps scarf down enormous amounts of food before a race. But if you haven't eaten before exercising, your body doesn't have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead, scientists say.

"When you exercise (after fasting), your adrenalin is high and your insulin is low," said Peter Hespel, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. "That ratio is favorable for your muscles to oxidize (break down) more fatty acids." Hespel said that people who exercise without having eaten burn more fat than they would if they had grabbed a bite beforehand.

Hip Exercises Found Effective at Reducing, Eliminating Common Knee Pain in Runners, Study Suggests

A twice weekly hip strengthening regimen performed for six weeks proved surprisingly effective at reducing -- and in some cases eliminating -- knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.
The study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was based on the theory that stronger hips would correct running form errors that contribute to PFP, even though study participants were given no instruction in gait training. The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain -- the point at which the runners normally stop running because the pain is too great. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower; i.e. no onset of pain.

"I wasn't expecting such huge reductions, to be honest," Dierks said. "We've had a couple of runners who have been at level 2, but the overwhelming majority have been a 2 or below."

PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse. Once they stop running, the pain goes away almost immediately. Dierks said studies indicate PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis. His study participants showed many of the classic signs of PFP, the most prominent being their knees collapsing inward when running or doing a squat exercise move.

Diabetes may double cancer risk in women

Type 2 adult-onset diabetes causes insulin-like hormones to circulate through the body. A new study finds this has a surprisingly positive effect on reducing the rate of prostate cancer in men, but is bad news for women: Type 2 diabetes may double the risk of female genital and other cancers.
The new study, led by Dr. Gabriel Chodick and Dr. Varda Shalev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, is not the first to report such a risk. But it's one of the largest to confirm these findings, and it's the first to determine the statistical differences in cancer risks for men and women.

Recently published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, the Tel Aviv University study looked at 16,721 diabetics, differentiating between men and women and defining the relative cancer risks for each group. When the study began in 2000, none of the subjects had a history of cancer. Over the following eight years, the researchers documented 1,639 cases of different cancers among people with diabetes, and compared them to occurrences of the same cancers in the healthy non-diabetic population - a sample of 83,874 people.

Omega-3 may protect against hearing loss: Study

Increased intakes of omega-3 fatty acids, and the fish that provide them, may reduce the risk of age-related hearing loss, says a new study from the University of Sydney.

At least two servings of fish per week was associated with a 42 per cent reduction in the risk of hearing loss in over 50 year-olds, compared with people who average less than one serving per week, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Similar reductions were observed with intakes of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, with increasing intakes associated with 14 per cent reductions in the risk of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis).

“Dietary intervention with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids could prevent or delay the development of age-related hearing loss,” wrote the researches, led by Paul Mitchell.

Ginger supplements may reduce pain after exercise: Study

Ginger may reduce the pain associated with muscle injury after exercising, offering amateur and professional athletes a natural pain reliever, suggests new data.

Both raw and heat-treated ginger reduced the pain associated with muscle injury by about 24 per cent, compared with placebo, according to findings published in The Journal of Pain.

“The primary novel finding was that supplementation with both raw and heat-treated ginger attenuated muscle pain intensity 24 hours after eccentric exercise,” wrote the researchers, led by Chris Black, PhD, from Georgia College and State University.

“Consumption of raw ginger resulted in a 25 per cent reduction while heat-treated ginger resulted in a 23 per cent reduction in muscle-pain intensity 24 hours post-exercise,” they added.

The rhizome of the ginger plant (Zingiber officinale) is a rich source of antioxidants, including gingerols, shogaols, zingerones and other ketone derivatives. According to Black and his co-workers from the University of Georgie, ginger’s pain reducing effects are biologically plausible with both in vitro and in vivo animal studies showing an effect of gingerols, shogaols, and zingerones on inflammatory compounds.

“[This suggests] ginger may have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties akin to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,” stated the researchers.

In order to test this hypothesis, the researchers recruited 74 volunteers and randomly assigned them to consume two grams of raw or heat-treated ginger supplements for 11 days in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized design.

The subjects then performed 18 extensions of the elbow flexors with a heavy weight to induce moderate muscle injury to the arm. Arm function, inflammation, and pain were assessed prior to and for three days after exercise.

Burger diet linked to higher childhood asthma risk

Researchers from Germany, Spain and Britain who studied data on 50,000 children across the world found the link between burgers and asthma was strongest in rich nations where diets with high levels of junk food are more common.

A meat-heavy diet itself has no bearing on the prevalence of asthma, according to the scientists who conducted the study. Yet, frequent burger eating could be a signal for other lifestyle factors which raise asthma risk.

"This is a sign that the link is not strongly related to the food itself, but that burgers are a proxy for other lifestyle and environmental factors like obesity and lack of exercise," said Gabriele Nagel of the Institute of Epidemiology at Ulm University, Germany, who led the study.

She added, however, that there were "biologically plausible" links for the positive effects of a healthier diet, which could be down to the antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables, and the omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish, which have anti-inflammatory properties.

"Fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants and other biologically active factors which may contribute to the favorable effect...in asthma," Nagel said.

In particular, she added, foods rich in vitamin C have been linked to better lung function and fewer asthma symptoms.

Around 1.1 million children currently receive treatment for asthma in Britain, while in the United States it is the most common chronic childhood disease, with around 10 million children diagnosed with it.

Nagel's team looked at data on 50,000 children aged between 8 and 12 years from 20 rich and poor countries around the world.

While diet was not linked to children being more prone to allergies in general, it did seem to influence the prevalence of asthma and wheezing, they found.

"Overall, more frequent consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish was associated with a lower lifetime prevalence of asthma, whereas high burger consumption was associated with higher lifetime asthma prevalence," they wrote in the study, which was published in Thorax, a British Medical Journal title.

This study adds to an existing body of evidence showing the health benefits of a so-called Mediterranean diet -- rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and fish -- including reduced risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and depression.

Chili Peppers Might Fight Fat

The stuff that makes chili peppers hot, capsaicin, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body.

A new study, done on rats, might help lead to treatments for human obesity, the researchers said.

Jong Won Yun at Daegu University in Korea and colleagues point out that obesity is a major public health threat worldwide, linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems. Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.

In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats.

"These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin," the scientists say.

The findings are detailed in the American Chemical Society's journal of Proteome Research.