Encouraging Health

If you sometimes have trouble cutting yourself off after only one cup of coffee in the morning, don’t fret.

Actually, going back for a refill might not be a bad move. A few recent large-scale studies have uncovered some new by-the-cup health benefits of coffee. Check ‘em out:

1 cup . . . may lower your risk of cancer. A 13-year Japanese study revealed that men and women who drank a cup or more a day were half as likely to develop cancer of the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus compared with people who didn’t drink coffee.

2 cups . . . may fend off strokes. In a 24-year study, women who drank 2-3 cups a day were 19 percent less likely to have a stroke compared with women who drank less than a cup a month. One caveat: The benefit applied only to nonsmoking women with no history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes.

3 cups . . . may safeguard your neurons. Middle-aged adults who reported drinking at least 3 cups of coffee a day were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia or Alzheimer’s by the time most of the group had reached their mid-sixties to seventies. Now, that’s a lotta coffee. But not for everyone.

What’s in Those Magic Beans?
Although it’s not clear how coffee does all of these wonderful, protective things, researchers suspect that the coffee bean’s high level of inflammation-fighting antioxidants (called polyphenols) may have something to do with it. But is instant coffee as healthful as brewed?

Go enjoy some coffee!

The largest study ever of multivitamin use in older women found the pills did nothing to prevent common cancers or heart disease. The eight-year study in 161,808 postmenopausal women echoes recent disappointing vitamin studies in men.

Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars on vitamins to boost their health. Research has focused on cancer and heart disease in particular because of evidence that diets full of vitamin-rich foods may protect against those illnesses. But that evidence doesn’t necessarily mean pills are a good substitute.

The study’s lead author, researcher Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, offered this advice: “Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements,” Neuhouser said.

The study appears in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine.

Co-author Dr. JoAnn Manson said despite the disappointing results, the research doesn’t mean multivitamins are useless.

For one thing, the data are observational, not the most rigorous kind of scientific research. And also, it’s not clear if taking vitamins might help prevent cancers that take many years to develop, said Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

She said multivitamins may still be useful “as a form of insurance” for people with poor eating habits.

The study involved an analysis of data on women in their 50s and up who participated in long-running government studies on postmenopausal women. Almost 42 percent of the women said they used multivitamins regularly.

If you take multivitamins, do you feel the help you? What has your doctor said?

Risks of taking Anti-psychotic medications may mean early death.

A new study that adds to concerns already known about such anti-psychotic medications, such as, Risperdal, Thorazine and Stelazine. “For the vast majority of Alzheimer’s patients, taking these drugs is probably not a worthwhile risk,” said Clive Ballard, the paper’s lead author, of the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at King’s College London.

During the study, which followed Elderly patients with moderate to severe Alzheimers over a two year period, more died in the group taking the anti-psychotic medications than taking placebos.

The use of anti-psychotic medications are supposed to be given on a temporary only basis. But in nursing homes, the study found that they are routinely given as a permanent inducement to keep Alzheimers patients quiet, over their entire stay. Simon Lovestone of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College in London said psychiatrists should try environmental or behavioral therapies instead of anti-psychotics, but many nursing homes may have limited psychiatric help, if any at all. It’s easier to medicate the clients into submission than helping them heal.

The experts are unsure how the anti-psychotic medications are harming Alzheimers patients, but they are certain the sedative affect is harming their brains. Any medication, used improperly, can do more harm than good. There is a trend that has been ongoing for decades that a sedated patient is easier to deal with than an alert one. More Alzheimers specific professionals are needed in America’s nursing homes–ones that are familiar with the sypmptoms, aggression, memory loss, delusions and hallucinations. America’s elderly deserve better.

One in 10 taking potentially deadly mixes, new study finds

At least 2 million older Americans are taking a combination of drugs or supplements that can be a risky mix — from blood thinners and cholesterol pills to aspirin and ginkgo capsules — a new study warns.

Among older men, the numbers are particularly alarming — one in 10 are taking potentially harmful combinations, according to the study.

The results aren’t always disastrous, but older people are more vulnerable to side effects and drug-to-drug interactions. And patients need to know that just because lots of medicines and supplements don’t require prescriptions doesn’t mean they’re harmless. Nor are some of these safe to take when you’re prescribed other medications.

Experts say the take-home advice is to ask about any side effects of prescription drugs, and tell your doctor before taking other medicines.

Sobering statistics
The report showing just how many older people are using risky combinations comes from a study of nearly 3,000 interviews with people aged 57 to 85. The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and University of Chicago, appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

It’s well-known that as people age, their medication use goes up. But the study highlights the potential problems with some sobering statistics.

Ninety-one percent in this age group use at least one medication, often for heart disease and related problems. That translates to more than 50 million people. More than half use at least five remedies, including prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines or supplements.

Virtually every medicine can have side effects, and with so many being used by so many older adults, the potential for harm is high.

For example, warfarin, a potent prescription clot-fighting drug, was often taken with aspirin. Both increase the risk of bleeding, so the odds are even higher when both drugs are taken. The researchers said these risks also occur when warfarin is taken with garlic pills, which some studies have suggested can benefit the heart and help prevent blood clots.

Signs of bleeding problems include bruising easily, hard-to-stop bleeding from the gums or from cuts and blood in the urine.

There’s no mammogram or Pap smear for Alzheimer’s disease. Yet an Alzheimer’s group this week begins a push for simple memory screenings in a bid to catch possible warning signs of dementia sooner.

Indeed, more than 5 million Americans and 26 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s. Cases are projected to skyrocket in the next two decades as the population ages. Yet few are diagnosed in the earliest stages of the relentless brain decay, when today’s medications are most helpful.

The new report calls on Congress to set a national strategy for dementia detection, and on Medicare to make memory screening part of more new-patient checkups. Meanwhile, it backs community memory screenings, in particular targeting people who already have memory concerns but don’t know how to seek help.

How well do they work? The guideline-setting U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in 2003 decided there wasn’t enough evidence to recommend for or against routine screening. The task force is revisiting that question, and other Alzheimer’s specialists have urged caution.

Making a check of brain function as routine as blood-pressure measurement is a laudable goal, says Dr. Zaven Khachaturian of the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute in Nevada. But correctly diagnosing people with the earliest symptoms is tremendously difficult, hindering that quest, he says.

Among the knowledge gaps: Nearly a million older Americans each year are estimated to develop what’s called “mild cognitive impairment,” or MCI. But no one knows how many will worsen to full-blown Alzheimer’s, or how to predict who will. To fill such gaps, the government is midway through a giant study to see if brain scans help diagnosis; a Mayo Clinic study of MCI’s evolution is tracking 3,000 people in Olmstead County, Minn.; and Khachaturian is planning a similar study to track thousands more Nevada baby boomers.

Plus there’s a key distinction: Would memory screening target just people worried about existing problems, or those at risk of future memory loss because of older age, family history or other factors?

Dr. Ronald Petersen of the Mayo Clinic _ who advises the Alzheimer’s Association, a different national patient-advocacy group _ calls wider screening premature.

No matter the cautions, people may assume they’re “on the road to Alzheimer’s disease,” he worries. “If you’re in a mall and you go into a booth and you take this little five-minute exercise … you don’t know what people are going to do with that kind of information.”

For the truly at-risk, Khachaturian recommends regular monitoring of total cognitive function, not just short-term memory, to spot deterioration from one year to the next.

Know those little aches and pains you feel in the morning? You could do something right now to keep them from getting worse when you’re older.

Just jump to it. Okay, you don’t have to literally jump. But do be active. People who pick up their feet and commit to regular aerobic exercise have much less muscle and joint pain as they age.

How Much Less?
A 14-year study that followed a healthy over-60 crowd found that consistent exercise — be it running, biking, swimming, dancing, or brisk walking — led to as much as 25 percent less musculoskeletal pain down the road. Yes, even with the high-impact runners. Researchers aren’t sure why, but they suspect that exercise’s endorphin release may play a role.

Looking Ahead
Less pain when you’re older means a more active and independent life. Here are a few other ways to lower your risk of chronic future aches:
Hit the mat. Yoga boosts endorphins and improves flexibility and joint-supporting strength.

Cross-train. Mixing up your activities helps keep your back in good shape.

Have a cup or two . . . of green tea.

Bone loss, back pain, high cholesterol . . . very different problems. But there’s a single solution.

It’s cross-training. Research shows that increasing the variety of exercises you do increases the range of benefits you get. The triple reward for consistently mixing it up: stronger bones, a limber back, and a healthier cholesterol profile.

When women who went through menopause early combined a number of different physical activities — from strength training to jumping rope — the results were clear: broadening their fitness menu expanded their physical benefits. After 2 years of doing cross-training workouts at varying speeds and intensities, the women had increased their bone mass, boosted their muscle strength, reduced their back pain, and improved their cholesterol profiles.

The lesson for everyone: The more you mix up your workouts, the more rewards you’re likely to reap. And adding variety helps keep your interest up, too. Doing yoga or Pilates, jogging, hiking, lifting weights, biking, playing racquetball or golf, jumping rope, dancing, walking, swimming . . . it’s hard to get bored when you have so many get-moving options.

Check out Watching Simpsonsand find out what blogger Richard Ristow means when he writes ‘x-files meets simpsons’.

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Half-million quit pills for serious conditions in 2007 when faced with cost

Many people in Medicare with diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions stop taking their medicine when faced with picking up the entire cost of their prescriptions, researchers say.

About 3.4 million older and disabled people hit a gap, known as the doughnut hole, in their Medicare drug coverage in 2007. When that happened, they had to pay the entire costs of their medicine until they spent $3,850 out of pocket. Then, insurance coverage would kick in again.

About 15 percent of those hitting the coverage gap stopped their treatment regimen. That rate varied depending upon illness. For example, about 10 percent of diabetes patients stopped buying the medicine, as did 16 percent of patients with high blood pressure and 18 percent of patients with osteoporosis.

The drug benefit, which began in 2006, has come in under budget. Most participants report they are satisfied with the program. But many lawmakers and health analysts say improvements could be made.

“If a new president and Congress consider changes to the drug benefit, it will be important to keep in mind that the coverage gap has consequences for some patients with serious health conditions,” said Drew Altman, the chief executive officer and president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation conducted the study with researchers at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago.

2003 Congress crafted the hole
The Republican-led Congress in 2003 crafted the doughnut hole as a way to make the drug benefit more affordable for the federal government.

The researchers based their findings on pharmacy claims data provided by IMS Health, a company specializing in collecting health care data. They excluded people who get extra help in paying for their drug coverage because of their income; they do not pay the full cost of medicine even when in the doughnut hole.

Browse Healthy bpm and the “vacation state of mind”

Experimental shot stopped plaque, but not dementia, researchers say

Some doctors have long suspected that if the plaque that builds up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease could be removed, they could be saved. But a new vaccine that did just that suggests the theory is wrong.

British researchers gave 64 patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease an experimental vaccine designed to eliminate plaque from their brains. Some patients were followed for up to six years.

Autopsies on seven patients who died of Alzheimer’s during the study showed that nearly all of the sticky beta-amyloid protein thought to be dangerous had been removed. But all patients still had severe dementia.

“It may be that these toxic plaques trigger the neurodegeneration, but don’t have an ongoing role,” said Clive Holmes of the University of Southampton, lead author, in a press statement. The study was published Friday in the medical journal, The Lancet.

The study was paid for by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, a British charity.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and affects about 25 million people worldwide.

Other experts said that the study’s findings pointed to a major gap in our understanding of the disease. Doctors have never been sure whether the brain plaques are the cause of Alzheimer’s disease or just a side effect.

“We still don’t have enough understanding of what we should target,” said Dr. Bengt Winblad, director of the Alzheimer’s Centre at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. Winblad was not connected to the study.

Brain tangles may play a role
Aside from the plaque build-up, scientists also think that tangles of another brain protein called tau play a major role in Alzheimer’s. Because those tangles form later than the plaque, some experts think they should be the focus instead.

“It may be harder to get a response from targeting plaque because that forms years before people actually have Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Simon Lovestone, professor of Old Age Psychiatry at King’s College in London. “By the time you do something, it may be too late.”

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Getting older really gets a bad rap. It turns out you’ll have a lot to smile about.

That’s because you’ll actually be happier, despite gray hairs or wrinkles. A three-decades-long survey confirms it: Your odds of scoring well on a happiness scale increase about 5 percent every decade.

With Age Comes . . .
There’s one major advantage to getting older (at least for most of us!), and that’s maturity. Researchers suspect that it’s maturity that enriched people’s lives and boosted their happy factor in a recent study — even when faced with health concerns or lost relationships. Know what else helped ensure happiness in the study? Education.

Why Wait!

But you don’t have to wait until you’re gray to get happy. Put yourself on the love-your-life path today with some simple life changes:

Sweat it. Yep, working that body of yours turns the fretting volume waaay down.

Train yourself to think good thoughts. Your attitude affects your health.

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