What You Need To Know News

Yoga can improve blood pressure and other symptoms associated with the condition known as metabolic syndrome, according to a pair of new studies.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of symptoms that are associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. The symptoms of metabolic syndrome include central obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, low levels of HDL (”good”) cholesterol and fasting hyperglycemia (including symptoms of diabetes).

In the first study, published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, researchers from the SP Medical College in Bikaner, India studied 101 adults with symptoms of metabolic syndrome. For three months, 55 of the participants took part in regular yoga exercises, including standard postures and daily transcendental meditation. The other 56 participants were given standard care for their symptoms.

At the end of the study period, the yoga group scored significantly better in measures of blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides and waist circumference them a group that had received its conventional treatments.

In the second study, published on-line in the journal BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers from the University of Karlstad, Sweden examined the psychological effects of yoga-related breathing exercises in 103 adults. The 48 adults in the control group were told to relax in an armchair for 15 minutes each day, while the other 55 participants were told to practice Sudarshan Kriya breathing exercises for an hour per day, six days a week. The exercises involved cycling between slow, normal and rapid breathing.

After six weeks, the participants in the yield group had significantly lower feelings of anxiety, depression and stress and significantly higher levels of optimism in the participants in the control group.

Yoga can be “a powerful adjunct therapy when these diseases arise,” said researcher Faahri Saatiglou. “We do not emphasize this point enough in our Western health care.”
Source:http://www.naturalnews.com/023726.html

A National Institute of Cancer study shows the number of melanoma cases among young women is up by 50 percent since 1980.

Local dermatologists think part of the reason is behavioral.

62,000 people develop melanoma every year, while 8,000 die annually. That breaks down to just about one person every hour.

Dr. Ramsay Farah isn’t surprised more young women are getting skin cancer. Women spend more time outside in the sun – and more time inside, under the bulbs - than men.

“No one in their right mind should think sun exposure and tanning booth exposure isn’t linked to an increase in melanoma risks,” Farah says.

Kay Merini owns Body and Sol Tanning Studio in Manlius; she admits that tanning isn’t good, but she insists doing it in a controlled environment is much better than doing it outside.

“We go through a whole question process - about coloring, [whether] they burn, have they been tanning, things like that,” Merini says.

The bulbs are changed based on how many hours they have on them. They warn customers and take that into account when determining how long you can tan.

The goal is to get the best tan possible, with the least amount of exposure. Dermatologists don’t buy it. Dr. Farah says even if it’s controlled, 10 minutes a day outside in indirect sun is all you need.

The study also found an increasing trend for thicker and later-stage melanomas, which suggests the increase is not the result of better reporting of the disease.
Source: http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=af302ed7-623a-40e1-b945-fa464affc091

The study, published in the journal Neurology, looked at 121 people aged over 60, around half of them in the early stages of the disease.

Those with Alzheimer’s who were less fit had four times more signs of brain shrinkage than those who were fit.

The Alzheimer’s Research Trust said other research showed exercise reduced the risk of dementia.
Some 700,000 people in the UK are living with dementia, with this number predicted to grow quickly over the next two decades, as the proportion of older people in the population increases.

Other studies looking at the relationship between dementia and exercise tend to focus on whether being active can reduce the risk of the condition developing in the first place.

Dr Jeffrey Burns, from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, said his was one of the first to look at whether exercise could affect the progress of the illness.

His volunteers underwent a treadmill test to see how fit they were and then their brains were scanned for shrinkage, which is one way of measuring the severity of their Alzheimer’s.

Brain volume

While there was no relationship between brain size and exercise in people tested who did not have Alzheimer’s, Dr Burns said the four-fold difference in those who did was evidence that exercise might help.

He said: “People with early Alzheimer’s disease may be able to preserve their brain function for a longer period of time by exercising regularly and potentially reducing the amount of brain volume lost.

“Evidence shows decreasing brain volume is tied to poorer cognitive performance, so preserving more brain volume may translate into better cognitive performance.”

Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, delivering oxygen and nutrients to brain cells.

“This is one possible explanation why dementia progresses slower in people who are physically fit.

“Exercise also reduces your risk of developing dementia so it’s important to take regular exercise. A healthy heart means a healthy brain.”

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “This adds to previous research showing that exercise helps reduce the risk of dementia and slows down its onset.

“A balanced diet and regular exercise can improve the quality of life of older people with dementia, as well as those who do not have the condition.”
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7505091.stm

Who could forget all those power-surge videos of Jane Fonda – and all her successors – each one urging us to move quickly – and often – to stay in shape.

Now, comes a remarkably different strategy – one that endorses slow movement as possibly the best form of exercise.

Although the trend towards what is called “Slow Motion “ exercise is not brand new, there is new research linking it’s benefits to women over 45 – showing it may, in fact, be the antidote to what happens to the body just before - and right after - menopause.

In research just presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology in Marseille, France, experts from the University of Salzburg compared two types of resistance training movements in women aged 45 to 55.
The first type is known as “hypertrophy resistance training”. It utilizes traditional resistance exercise movements – like weight training - done at a normal pace to increase muscle growth and slow breakdown.

The second type is a relative new method of resistance training called “SuperSlow” . It’s based on the same principals as regular resistance training, but involves much slower movements and fewer repetitions of each exercise.

In other words it’s like traditional workouts, but in slow motion.

The study involved women age 45 to 55 who agreed to regularly perform either type of exercise, under supervised guidance, for a period of 12 weeks. To measure the effects of the workouts thigh muscle biopsies were taken at the start and the end of the 12-week period. The biopsies looked for changes in ratios of muscle mass to fatty tissue, plus blood supply to the muscle itself.

The end result: While both forms of exercise helped women increase their muscle mass, much to the researchers surprise, the “slow mo” version worked best.

“ Contrary to expectations, the SuperSlow method appears to have the greatest effect,” says lead study author Dr. Alexandra Sanger.

Experts theorize that the success of slow motion exercise may be linked to the idea that moving slower simply helps focus greater concentration on muscle contraction, which in turn means higher quality movement and ultimately, increased strength.

Or think of it this way: Spend a nice leisurely afternoon shopping and you’re bound to find just what you need. Rip through that mall and buy too quickly and, well, we all have a closet full of those mistakes!

Sanger says she is hopeful that this new research will help broaden the understanding of how different muscles respond to movement – particularly in women - and ultimately will lead to the development of an exercise regimen with optimal results for women over 45.

This is important, since previous research has shown that the loss of muscle strength in women first becomes apparent around age 45. It is this age-related deterioration, say experts, which eventually leads to more clumsiness in the senior years, (in or out of this seasons new stilettos!) which in turn increases the risk of falls and bone breaks.

Researchers are hopeful that locking in on an effective – and useable- strategy for keeping women’s muscles strong could help delay the onset of that muscle deterioration and keep us younger longer! And who doesn’t want that?

Moreover, previous research has shown that resistance training can also help increase bone mass, which can also reduce the risk of breaks – and keep us walking taller and straighter, and definitely looking thinner and younger as time goes on. Do you know anybody who doesn’t want that?
Perhaps the most exciting part of the new Slow Mo movement is that it was originally developed as a rehabilitation strategy – and a system to be used by beginners. And this means it’s something that almost any woman can do it.
Moreover, you don’t have to do a lot of it to see results. According to experts at Ultimate Fitness in Mill Valley, California, slow motion training is so effective all you need is 20 minutes, twice a week for maximum results.
And while other fitness experts still see important value in aerobic training for the heart, in the event you can’t do this type of exercise – or you just won’t – there is now at least some good evidence to show that slow but steady movement may help women win the race for lasting health.
Source: http://medheadlines.com/2008/07/13/new-study-women-exercise-slow-down/

Teenage girls feel under increasing pressure from magazines and websites to live up to material and sexual ideals, leaving them vulnerable and unhappy, according to research out today.

Girls as young as 10 are suffering from stress and anxiety because they feel under pressure to grow up too quickly, a study by Girlguiding UK and the Mental Health Foundation has found.

Tracey Murray, trustee for Girlguiding UK, said young girls often found it difficult to cope with an increasing number of social pressures. “Young girls today often feel there is a growing checklist of ideals they have to adhere to. If they don’t they often feel singled out and vulnerable to bullying.”

A significant number of respondents felt that images and advice given in magazines and online pushed them towards adult behaviour before they were ready, she added.

According to the report, A Generation Under Stress?, two in five felt worse about themselves after looking at pictures of models, pop stars and actresses in magazines. Some teens also felt under pressure from such publications to be thin, take drugs and even have plastic surgery. Many were self-conscious about their appearance and weight, with a number citing the pressure of the “size zero” culture. The girls questioned described being put under sexual pressure from boys at school or feeling obliged to wear clothes that made them look older.

Pressures to own material goods such as iPods, mobile phones and expensive clothes are also having a negative impact on the lives of many young girls, according to the report. The perceived need to own expensive gadgets left one in five girls feeling angry or sad. “To an extent teenagers have always felt isolated but new pressures, such as the need to buy expensive gadgets and school exams, are making the situation worse,” said Murray. Exams made 74 % of the girls questions feel worried, and 19% felt negatively about themselves.

The study - compiled from an online survey of 350 girls and eight separate focus groups - found that many young girls believed self-harm was “normal” behaviour for teenagers; 42% of the 10- to 14-year-olds surveyed knew someone who had harmed themselves; 32% had a friend who had suffered from an eating disorder, and half knew someone who had suffered from depression. Some teenage girls linked self-harm with belonging to a particular social group. One participant explained her best friend, a fan of emo music, had cut her wrists “to fit in with the emos”.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: “Girls and young women are being forced to grow up at an unnatural pace in the society that we, as adults, have created and it’s damaging their emotional wellbeing.

“We have a responsibility to put this right - we must tackle head-on the difficulties that the younger generation are facing.”
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/14/youngpeople.gender

Constance Wedemeyer is quick to praise the merits and benefits of the Licking County Family YMCA’s “Activate Youth” program, which helps assist families and obese children.

The 12-week program preaches better nutrition and exercise habits, and Wedemeyer said those that stick to it often find themselves on the right track to lifestyle changes.

But it’s not just the children who sometimes are the most stubborn ones in the program.

“Parents don’t like to be told to clean out the cabinets and not have any junk food,” said Wedemeyer, the health and fitness coordinator at the YMCA.

“It’s just as much the parents as it is the children.”

This presents another difficult hurdle in promoting better health and fitness for youth.

Obesity in youths continues to be a major problem nationwide — more than 10 million children are considered obese, and overall, 60 percent of Americans are overweight — and in Licking County, and the task of reversing those trends becomes a massive uphill climb when it’s not a family effort.

Various studies show if both parents are considered healthy and in good shape, their children have a 10 percent chance to be overweight. If both parents are obese, however, it increases to 80 percent.

“You see kids that are overweight and not physically active, and that’s the norm for the whole family,” said Dr. John Applegate, a physician with Licking Memorial Pediatrics. “Taking care of your kids means taking care of the whole family. You have to work with the whole family to change their behaviors.”

Those behaviors include being more active and instilling more exercise in their daily routine, but that’s only part of an important equation.

Looming just as large for an increasingly sedentary lifestyle in youths is poor nutritional habits, which usually come directly from the parents.

“Children model their parents,” said Shari Gallup, Family and Consumer Sciences educator at Ohio State University’s Licking County Extension.

“It is a parenting issue because parents are going to the stores to purchase the food. A lot of studies that are done show what is put in front of a child, they typically eat.”

In most cases, food purchases aren’t made with healthy intentions.

Restaurant-industry sales will reach about $558 billion in 2008, according to the National Restaurant Association, almost $200 billion more than it was in 2000.

What’s often in those meals, many of which are the fast-food variety, is nowhere close to what’s healthy when things like processed sugars and portions are considered.

“I remember growing up, when we went out to eat on the weekend it was a huge deal,” The Advantage Club general manager Larry Miller said. “Now, it’s twice a day for people.

“You’re a product of your environment. If parents aren’t taking care of themselves, the best thing a kid can do is watch portion control.”

Gallup recommends snacks like cheese sticks and yogurt, along with plenty of vegetables. Most also agree sugary drinks — which means even products like Gatorade — should be kept to a minimum.

“It’s so easy to eat poorly. That’s probably the biggest thing that’s changed in the last 10 to 15 years,” said Clint Cox, the director of training at Total Athletic Development. “We have to educate parents to make better food choices.

“It starts with them and it starts at home. They’re the role models for kids in eating right and being physically active.”

If not, the children likely will become like their role models.

To help kids make changes, Gallup recommends the whole family work together.

It starts with planning activities to do as a group, such as an after-dinner walk or anything to promote exercise together.

But Gallup and others said it’s also crucial to limit things such as TV and to also promote healthy eating habits, which includes everything from proper foods to the proper portions.

Applegate uses a 5-2-1-almost none approach, which means five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, two hours of screen time, at least one hour of physical activity and almost no sugary drinks.

“The message I try to send is it only takes a small change,” Gallup said. “People in America want a quick fix, but it’s about making small steps and small changes. You want to chip away at things.

“You can’t lose all the weight at one time. If we can teach sound nutritional principles and fun physical activities, we can be successful.”

Source: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/SPORTS/807130330/1006

WOMEN as young as 18 could have a simple mouth swab to determine how likely they are to develop breast cancer but doctors warn the results could cause serious psychological stress and would not identify all women at risk.

The test, being developed at the University of Cambridge, would tell if a woman was carrying any of seven newly found genes linked to breast cancer. It would also test for the two high-risk genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, discovered a decade ago.

The researchers said women deemed high-risk could be advised to have regular mammograms or choose to have their breasts removed. Those not carrying any of the genes could wait until the age of 60 before having screening.

Their findings were published in the New England Journal Of Medicine yesterday, less than a week after Jane McGrath, the wife of the cricketer Glenn McGrath, lost her 11-year battle with breast cancer on Sunday at the age of 42.

Since her death, the national screening program, BreastScreen Australia, has been inundated with inquiries. It was also flooded with calls from anxious women after the singer Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago and the actress Belinda Emmett died of the disease in 2006.

The executive director of the NSW Breast Cancer Institute, John Boyages, said yesterday that, while advances in diagnosis were welcome, the mouth swab should be treated with caution.

“They have now found seven genes linked to breast cancer but there could be 27 that we don’t know about yet, so it gives women false reassurance,” Professor Boyages said. “And what does a 20-year-old girl do when she tests positive? Takes both her breasts off?”

The director of the Cancer Epidemiology Centre at the Cancer Council Victoria, Professor Graham Giles, said the research was reputable but the test was not foolproof, and it could scare people unnecessarily.

“There are women who will be deemed high-risk and will never develop breast cancer and there will be women deemed low-risk who will get breast cancer because genes are not the only determinants of cancer,” he said.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/caution-on-breast-cancer-predictor/2008/06/26/1214472673459.html

Maternal obesity has been associated with diabetic complications in the resulting offspring, according to experiments in mice reported recently by researchers at the University of Louisville.

Obesity is presently a worldwide health issue, and it is commonly considered a risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. When a pregnant woman is obese, her children can be affected by malformation, functional abnormalities, obesity, and type II diabetes. Since, presently, over 18% of American women are classified as obese, and between 18 and 38% of pregnant women meet this criteria, it is an important issue in maternal and child health in this country. However, very little is known about the mechanism of the link between maternal obesity and diabetic effects in offspring.

To investigate this association, Dr. Jianxiang Xu and Junying Han of the University of Louisville first established a viable animal model to function similarly to maternal diabetes might in humans. Female mice, genetically predisposed to obesity and further marked with a yellow coat color, were mated with normal mice, whose offspring could then be classified by coat color for this obesity gene. The obesity prone mice were obese between 6 and 8 weeks of age, but maintained normal blood glucose levels. Offspring from these and from normal crosses were then fed with normal food for up to 15 weeks, then fed with a high fat diet, and examined by sex, and the mother’s obesity status. In this first portion of the study, the birth weight of offspring from obese mothers was 14% higher than in the control group.

When the offspring, at 50 weeks of age, were administered 2 mg glucose per kg body weight. This resulted in similar glucose levels in each group, but major differences in the serum insulin levels. Namely, in female offspring from obese mothers, there was a significant increase in serum insulin levels, while females from obese mothers and males showed no significant differences. This indicates that β cell function was impaired in the female offspring of obese mothers.

To confirm this link, a second experiment was performed. Pancreatic cells were isolated from 50 week old offspring to be tested in vitro for insulin excretion. Cells from mice with a normal diet showed normal secretion, but in the high fat diet, insulin secretion was sharply reduced in offspring from an obese mother, especially when exposed to a high glucose concentration. The measure of other enzymes related to glucose metabolism such as transketolase, GAPDH, and PFK in the cells of the 50 week old mice indicated a decrease in production by the β cells ranging from 31% to 70% for those born to an obese mother.

According to the researchers, this shows that obesity in pregnancy is a factor by itself to impaired glucose tolerance in offspring, which could contribute to the development of gestational diabetes in the mother and type II diabetes in the offspring. Additionally, since there are many mothers who are obese without displaying gestational diabetes, this obesity might be a greater factor in the health of their children than previously expected.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/115691.php

It appears that breast awareness may be your best way to fight breast cancer. This comes after a new study by the Cochrane Library Review revealed that breast self-examinations do not help reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer.

The study carried out by the Cochrane Library focused on two large population-based studies of around 400,000 women in China and Russia.

It found that the practice of routine breast self-examination did not help in the fight against breast cancer, as the number of deaths were not reduced.

The American Cancer Society has stated that over 180,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and the best way to fight it is to have breast awareness, and knowledge.

Knowledge is key, as it is important to know risk factors such as gender, aging, family history, personal history, race, etc.

The report released has shown that having a routine mammogram test may be your best bet, as well as routine check-ups with a medical professional.
Source: http://chattahbox.com/health/2008/07/21/breast-awareness-appears-to-be-most-important-in-cancer-fight/

Exercise builds muscle. But guess what else it does? It makes bones - living tissue that they are - denser and stronger. Work those puppies and they’ll work for you.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation tells us that two types of exercise are important for building and maintaining bone strength and density:

• Weight-bearing, impact exercises: These include activities that make you move against gravity while being upright.

• Resistance and strengthening exercises: These include actions where you move weights, your body or other resistance against gravity.

Here are five of its best tips to help you keep your bones strong and osteoporosis at bay.

1. If you are not frail and don’t have osteoporosis, try these: Dancing, hiking, jumping rope, playing tennis, running or jogging, high-impact aerobics.

2. If you are frail, or the idea of actually doing the above makes you roll your eyes or start to giggle, try these: Elliptical training machines, walking, stair-step machines, low-impact aerobics.

3. To increase muscle strength and reduce the risk of broken bones and falls, try these: Balance exercises such as tai chi; posture exercises, which decrease the risk of fractures; functional exercises in which you practice such activities as sitting in a chair and standing up until you are tired.

4. These are great as part of an exercise program: Swimming, water aerobics, bicycling or indoor cycling. They don’t build bones, though, so be sure to include weight-bearing exercises that do.

5. How much how often? Do the weight-bearing, impact variety for 30 minutes (at once or in 10-minute increments) almost every day. For the resistance-strengthening exercises, aim for two or three times a week.

Source: http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080722/HEALTH/807220306/1013/LIFESTYLES