Bad news for health-conscious soda fans who hoped that diet soda would safely give them their fix: A paper published online on July 23 in Circulation warns that soft drink consumption – whether diet or not – is associated with higher prevalence and incidence of multiple metabolic risk factors. Those who drank 1+ soft drinks per day had increased odds of developing metabolic syndrome, obesity, increased waist circumference, impaired fasting glucose, higher BP, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL cholesterol (i.e., lower "good cholesterol"). The study looked at 6,039 males and females, with an average age of 52.9 years.
Health Literacy & Death in the Elderly
An article published in the July 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine provides the unsurprising results that inadequate health literacy (measured by reading fluency) independently predicts all-cause mortality and cardiovascular death among the elderly living in the community. Indeed, they note, "Reading fluency is a more powerful variable than education for examining the association between socioeconomic status and health."
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Obesity, Weight Issues, & Fitness
Our moms used to warn us that associating with certain people could be bad for our reputation. Now mothers should warn kids about hanging around with people who are obese, including family members, because it may be bad for their weight, and therefore their health! According to an article published in the July 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, obesity appears to spread through social ties, with a person's chances of becoming obese increasing by 57% if s/he has an obese friend, by 40% if s/he has an obese (adult) sibling, and by 37% if s/he has an obese spouse. In a news release, study co-author Nicholas A. Christakis said, "What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size. People come to think that it is okay to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads." The conclusions were based on evaluations of a densely interconnected social network of 12,067 people who were participants of the Framingham Heart Study.
Stigmatization of the Obese
There may be an evolutionary explanation for the disgust reaction that some people experience when seeing obese people. Findings published online on July 23 in Evolution & Human Behavior suggest that the strong negative reaction that some people have when seeing obese people may in fact be a hypersensitive version of a behavioral response biologically intended as a pathogen-avoidance mechanism. That is, since obesity is a deviation from "normal" body appearance, it could trigger a negative response, similar to a response to signs that a person has a disease caused by a pathogen.
Overweight Women & Pregnancy
Bad news for women who are overweight and who are pregnant: A paper published on July 24 in BMC Public Health concludes that increasing BMI is associated with increased risk of preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, macrosomia (excessive birth weight), induction of labor, and C-section delivery. The research, which looked at data from more than 24,000 women in the UK who gave birth between 1976 and 2005, also found that those who were underweight before pregnancy had better pregnancy outcomes than women with normal BMI, but were more likely to have an underweight newborn.
On August 1, the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine released new activity guidelines. The guidelines state "all healthy adults ages 18 to 65 years need moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 30 minutes on five days each week or vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity for at least 20 minutes on three days each week. Further, adults will benefit from performing activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance for at least two days each week. It is recommended that 8-10 exercises using the major muscle groups be performed on two non-consecutive days. To maximize strength development, a resistance (weight) should be used for 8-12 repetitions of each exercise resulting in willful fatigue."
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Research published in the July 31 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that the risk of cancer is significantly associated with lower achieved LDL cholesterol (i.e., lower "bad cholesterol") levels! What's more, they concluded, "(T)he cardiovascular benefits of low achieved levels of LDL-C may in part be offset by an increased risk of cancer."
Group Therapy & Breast Cancer
A study published online on July 23 in Cancer reports that women with breast cancer who participate in weekly group therapy support sessions do not live longer, but do experience a better quality of life and less pain.
Detecting Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is usually asymptomatic in early stages, and is notoriously hard to detect. Now, a report published online on August 1 in Clinical Cancer Research suggests that there is a way to detect even early stage disease by shining light on biopsies taken from the neighboring duodenum. The duodenal samples were scanned using two new optical techniques: four-dimensional elastic light-scattering fingerprinting (4D-ELF) and low-coherence enhanced backscattering (LEBS) spectroscopy. The samples from cancer patients and healthy volunteers looked the same under a regular microscope, but did not look the same under examination using the light techniques.
Good news for female coffee drinkers. Japanese scientists report in the International Journal of Cancer that drinking 3+ cups of coffee can cut the risk of colon cancer in women in half, compared to women who drank no coffee. Also see our earlier news item from February 2005.
Caffeine, Exercise, & Skin Cancer
More good news for those who like coffee – well, caffeine, at least – research on mice, which was published online on July 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that exercising and consuming a moderate amount of caffeine may offer increased protection from skin cancer. (But this doesn't mean that you can forget the sunscreen when you're outside exercising with your coffee.)
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Lefties Genetically Explained
A paper published online on July 31 in Molecular Psychiatry announced the discovery of the first gene, LRRTM1, that appears to affect left-handedness. LRRTM1, which plays a role in controlling which parts of the brain control certain functions, may also mean an increased risk of schizophrenia.
Genes & Multiple Sclerosis
Two articles released this week announced the discovery of new genetic links to MS – both pointing at the IL7 gene, specifically IL2RA and IL7RA. Both articles were published online on July 29, with one in The New England Journal of Medicine and the other in Nature Genetics. People carrying the two variants have an increased risk (20 to 30%) of developing MS.
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An investigation of faculty views of internal medicine residency duty hour limits, which was published in the July 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine concludes that key clinical faculty believe that duty-hour limitations have adversely affected important aspects of residents' patient care, education, and professionalism, as well as faculty workload and satisfaction. The results were based on 111 responses (72% response rate). In a related editorial, Dr. Barbara Schuster wrote, "The duty-hour restrictions have improved the well-being of residents, but may be worsening the well-being of faculty members."
Religious Doctors & the Poor
Do religious doctors heed the call of religious traditions that ask adherents to care for the poor and marginalized – that is, do they care for the poor/underserved any more than non-religious doctors? According to a study published in the July/August issue of Annals of Family Medicine, the answer is no. Those who identify themselves as religious are no more likely to care for poor, underserved people than those who lack religious affiliation.
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A contribution published in the July issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, which looked at 12,664 individuals aged 20+, found that as vitamin D levels in the blood drop, blood pressure increases. Of course, the good news is that vitamin D levels can be increased by sun exposure or supplements.
An article published in the August 2007 issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior has compiled a list of the 237 reasons people have sex, with the #1 reason for men and women being "I was attracted to the person." Other reasons included the moronic (e.g., "Because of a bet"), the soap-opera-esque (e.g., "I wanted to break up a rival's relationship by having sex with his/her partner"), the criminal (e.g., "I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease (e.g., herpes, AIDS)," and more. The full study can also be found on the website of the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.
Research published in the August 2007 issue of The British Journal of Psychiatry concluded that there is increased risk of suicide during hot weather.