The results published online May 18 in the journal Annals of Neurology has shown that the cognitive function of older women who ate monounsaturated fats was better than those who ate saturated and trans fats.
Compared with those women who ate the lowest amounts of saturated fats, women in the highest saturated-fat category showed worse overall cognition and memory over the four years of testing. Women who ate the most mono-unsaturated fats, which can be found in olive oil, had better patterns of cognitive scores over time. Trans fats weren’t associated with changes in cognition over time, the researchers reported.
With diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia on the rise, the benefits could be greater that simply better memories and improved cognition.
Preventive measures to stem the increase of debilitating brain illness could benefit millions.
Alzheimer’s statistics projected for 2050 show the grim reality that will be faced by many.
11 million additional people will have the condition in the United States.
115.4 million will have it worldwide, compared to the current figure of about 35.6 million.
$1.1 trillion will be spent in the U.S. on caregiving costs, compared with $200 billion this year.
The new strategy supports a $7.9 million dollar study on an insulin nasal spray treatment. Separately, researchers will work on the first-ever Alzheimer’s prevention trial in people with a genetic predisposition to develop the condition. The strategy also offers solutions for collaborating across federal and state agencies and for informing the public through a one-stop website, www.alzheimers.gov.
“The plan gives us a blueprint to build on our research efforts,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday at the announcement of the government’s new plan. “These actions are the cornerstone of an ambitious and aggressive agenda.”
Overall, in the U.S. about 64 percent of adults drink coffee daily, according to Joe DeRupo, spokesman for the National Coffee Association. At 3.2 cups a piece, that amounts to some 479 million cups a day, agency figures indicate.
Those coffee fans can take the new results seriously. The mortality reduction is modest but solid, said Freedman, whose study offered the size and power to document associations other researchers had only suspected.
He and his team in NIC’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics reviewed the coffee habits of more than 402,000 people followed between 1995 and 2008, including more than 52,000 who died.
The news has been confusing in the past but the FDA is offering new rules to ensure that we get the protection we need and the protection level we pay for.
The FDA announced that it is giving sunscreen manufactures six months to comply with regulations meaning that the changes won’t be in stores this summer.
Key fixes: Sunscreens will be labeled “water resistant” (as opposed to waterproof or sweatproof); they can no longer be called “sunblocks” (as it overstates their effectiveness); and they can no longer claim to provide instant sun protection or to last more than two hours without reapplication.
On top of that, sunscreens can be labeled “broad spectrum” only if they protect equally against UVB (the main culprit of skin cancer) and UVA rays, which cause aging.
Denmark and Hungary have already introduced such a tax and France has a tax on sugary drinks.
Skyrocketing obesity and diabetes has made it necessary for countries to control health care costs and a fat tax seems to be the answer.
Discouraging high calorie, nutritionally deficient foods and subsidizing healthy foods could help mitigate the problem.
“Soft drinks consumption is simpler in comparison with food, and we can be more confident of the likely effects,” says Mytton in an email. According to Mytton, when one food item is taxed, people tend to switch consumption to other food items that are not necessarily healthier. For example, if there’s a tax on foods higher in saturated fat, consumers may switch to foods high in salt. “These effects don’t really happen with drinks as the economic data suggests. They either buy a similar drink that is untaxed or they don’t buy a drink at all,” says Mytton.
The reason for this could be that the body doesn’t register liquid calories in the same way it does food calories, so it’s easier to overdo it with drinks. “People don’t tend to feel full from drinking a high-calorie drink, so it seems less likely that people will buy foods to replace taxed liquid calories,” says Mytton. “People need food, but as with alcohol and tobacco, they don’t need the extra calories they get from sugar-sweetened beverages.”
Some medical tests may be doing more harm than good.
From unnecessary medications to unnecessary exposure to radiation, expensive and potentially harmful procedures are costing us all more than you think.
EKGs and exercise stress tests, imaging tests for lower-back pain, CT scans and MRIs for headaches, bone density scans for low-risk women, and antibiotics for sinusitis may not only affect your wallet but may be harmful to your health, as well.
Regularly run your toothbrush through a clean dishwasher, using standard dish detergent. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Dentistry found that this method eradicated nearly all disease-causing bacteria. Another option is to soak your brush in a mouthwash that contains cetylpyridinium chloride, such as Crest Pro-Health Complete Rinse, for 20 minutes; doing this can also beat bacteria, the study found. To avoid flying feces, Tierno says, simply store your brush in a closed cabinet.
The bodies of babies and children heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s and their internal systems are not fully developed.
Children don’t sweat as efficiently as adults and their bodies absorb heat faster.
It can take as little as 15 minutes in an overheated vehicle for a child to begin to suffer life-threatening brain or kidney injuries.
When body temperature reaches 104 degrees, internal organs begin to shut down.
At 107 degrees, children die.
At least 529 such deaths have been recorded since 1998, including the two logged in the past week, according to figures from the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University, which tracks reports.
On average, 38 children die each year in hot cars, reports show. The numbers typically begin to climb in May, with an average of three deaths per month. They spike in July and August, when nine deaths, on average, are recorded, the figures show.
Overall, more than half of the deaths — 52 percent — occur when a child is mistakenly left in a vehicle, typically by a parent or caregiver who is rushed or stressed.
This blog is for consumers of health care and medical services. Basically, it’s for everyone. For health issues you should always see a doctor or qualified medical professional - we are not dispensing medical advice. You should, however, be an educated consumer, so we offer information to help you start the process to become educated and to ask important questions. There are many excellent resources on the web, along with all sorts of conflicting opinions and advice. The key is to use a wide variety of resources to learn and access information, so you can ask the important questions when you are with your doctor or health professional.
