Fish Oils May Slow Genetic Aging in Heart Patients
January 20, 2010
ABC News
By John McKenzie
Heart disease patients have long been encouraged to eat more fish or take fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids. The reason? People who do, tend to live longer.
Now, some say a study out this evening in the Journal of the American Medical Association might explain why.
Specifically, the researchers behind the study report that for heart disease patients, omega-3 fatty acids may protect against death and illness by slowing biological aging.
However, the findings were met with skepticism from some cardiac experts who said the study had serious limitations.
In the study, Dr. Ramin Farzaneh-Far of the University of California San Francisco and colleagues followed more than 600 men with heart disease and found those taking the most omega-3 appeared “biologically younger” — that is, the ends of their chromosomes, called telomeres, looked longer and healthier.
“Patients with the highest levels of omega-3 fish oils were found to display the slowest decrease in telomere length, whereas those with the lowest levels of omega-3 fish oils in the blood had the fastest rate of telomere shortening,” Farzaneh-Far said. “This suggests that these patients were aging faster than those with higher fish oil levels.”
Some doctors agreed that the findings seem interesting.
“Telomeres do help the body repair damage,” said Dr. Stephen Kopecky, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was not involved with the study. “The longer they are, the more the damage repair that can occur.”
“It’s a risk-free way of potentially extending lifespan and reducing disability,” said Dr. Michael Roizen, chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
Yet some cardiologists were quick to point out that the results are preliminary, and need to be replicated before physicians can use them in practice.
Since the study was observational and couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, “we don’t really know whether ingestion of omega-3 fatty acids resulted in this ‘benefit,’” said Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic. “It remains entirely possible that individuals who consume more fish also have other favorable healthy habits. … The relationship between telomere shortening and cardiovascular health is not well established.”
This concern was echoed in a statement by a spokeswoman for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, who told ABC News that while the study “shows a possible association between omega-3 fatty acids and telomere length,” it “does not show causation.”
FDA Changes its Story on BPA After More Tests
January 19, 2010
Washington Post
by Lyndsey Layton
The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its position on the safety of Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastic bottles, soda cans, food containers and thousands of consumer goods, saying it now has concerns about health risks.
Growing scientific evidence has linked the chemical to a host of problems, including cancer, sexual dysfunction and heart disease. Federal officials said they are particularly concerned about BPA’s effect on the development of fetuses, infants and young children.
“We have some concern, which leads us to recommend reasonable steps the public can take to reduce exposure to BPA,” said Joshua Sharfstein, FDA’s deputy commissioner, in a conference call to reporters Friday.
Regulators stopped short of banning the compound or even requiring manufacturers to label products containing BPA, saying that current data are not clear enough to support a legal crackdown. FDA officials also said they were hamstrung from dealing quickly with BPA by an outdated regulatory framework.
Sharfstein said the agency is conducting “targeted” studies of BPA, part of a two-year, $30 million effort by the administration to answer key questions about the chemical that will help determine what action, if any, is necessary to protect public health. The Obama administration pledged to take a “fresh look” at the chemical.
BPA, used to harden plastics, is so prevalent that more than 90 percent of the U.S. population has traces of it in its urine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers have found that BPA leaches from containers into food and beverages, even at cold temperatures.
The FDA’s announcement came after extensive talks between federal agencies and the White House about the best approach to an issue that has become a significant concern for consumers and the chemical industry.
One administration official privy to the talks said the FDA is in a quandary. “They have new evidence that makes them worried, but they don’t have enough proof to justify pulling the stuff, so what do you do?” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You want to warn people, but you don’t want to create panic.”
The FDA had long maintained that BPA is safe, relying largely on two studies funded by the chemical industry. The agency was faulted by its own panel of independent science advisers in 2008, which said its position on BPA was scientifically flawed because it ignored more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that raised health concerns about BPA. Recent data found health effects even at low doses of BPA — lower than the levels considered safe by the FDA.
Parents Confused, Misled by Nutrition Labels
January 19, 2010
NatrualNews
by E. Huff
Recent research conducted by the British Heart Foundation (NHF) has revealed that about 90 percent of British mothers do not properly understand food nutritional labels. Most of the women falsely believe that products claiming to be good sources of certain vitamins or rich in whole grains are healthy, despite the fact that many of them are actually chock full of unhealthy ingredients.
The most common labeling scheme identified by researchers was the front-labeling of foods that are high in fat and sugar with glowing health claims. While partially true in some cases, phrases like “naturally-flavored” and “no artificial ingredients” were found to be commonly used on breakfast products that are high in refined sugar and bad saturated fats. One cereal claiming to boost heart health and maintain a healthy body was found to have more sugar per serving than a doughnut. Another breakfast cereal bar claiming to be high in vitamins was found to have more saturated fat and sugar than a piece of chocolate cake.
Food manufacturers have received heavy criticism in recent years for alleged advertising strategies that target children with unhealthy foods. Reluctant parents often give in because of health claims that, when examined more closely, seem to contradict the nutrition label. Unfortunately, most busy parents fail to recognize advertising discrepancies.
When asked in the survey, participants indicated that they would prefer a nutrition labeling system that was consistent and placed entirely on the front of food packaging. As it currently stands, product manufacturers are not required to label their products in any specific manner other than the mandatory nutritional facts label located on product backs. This is true both in the U.K. and in the U.S.
Spokesmen from various food companies countered the claims of the study, indicating that the labeling on their packaging is both truthful and transparent. All ingredients can be found on the nutrition label as can the amounts of fat, salt and sugar. Food producers are continually adjusting their product formulations to meet the demands of their customers, they say, cutting things like sodium and saturated fat and including healthier ingredients.
Researchers from BHF, however, continue to demand that stricter labeling laws be put in place in order to alleviate some of the confusion over food nutrition. They believe that a standardized system of labeling will help to clarify how healthy a product really is and lead to a more informed consumer base.
Anti-Depression Drugs Found Mostly Useless in Study
January 13, 2010
LA Times
By Shari Roan
Antidepressant medications probably provide little or no benefit to people with mild or moderate depression, a new study has found. Rather, the mere act of seeing a doctor, discussing symptoms and learning about depression probably triggers the improvements many patients experience while on medication.
Only people with very severe depression receive additional benefits from drugs, said the senior author of the study, Robert J. DeRubeis, a University of Pennsylvania psychology professor. The research was released online Tuesday and will be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Hundreds of studies have attested to the benefits of antidepressants over placebos, DeRubeis said. But many studies involve only participants with severe depression. Confusion arises, he said, “because there is a tendency to generalize the findings to mean that all depressed people benefit from medications.”
The current analysis attempted to quantify how much of antidepressants’ benefit is attributable to chemical effects on the brain and how much can be explained by other factors, such as visiting a doctor, taking action to feel better or merely the passage of time.
Researchers reviewed six randomized, placebo-controlled studies with a total of 718 patients who took either an antidepressant or placebo. The patients were adults with levels of depression ranging from mild to very severe based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a questionnaire widely used in depression research. The studies did not exclude patients who were likely to have a strong response to a placebo. Researchers then compared the patients’ depression scores at the beginning of treatment with those after at least six weeks of treatment.
The study found that the magnitude of the drugs’ benefit increased with the baseline level of depression. The effect of treatment was similar in people with mild, moderate and severe symptoms, regardless of whether they took an antidepressant or placebo. Only the people who rated very severe on the depression scale at the start of the study showed measurable improvements on antidepressants.
“There is no doubt that there are tremendous benefits from antidepressants, as our study showed,” DeRubeis said. “But this study helps us resolve, to some degree, the question of how much benefit people can expect from the medicines themselves when symptoms are not severe.”
Pomegranate Helping Prevent Breast Cancer
January 13, 2010
Reuters
By Xavier Briand
An acid found in pomegranates appears to block aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgen to estrogen, a hormone that plays a role in the development of breast cancer, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
“We identified some of these chemicals in pomegranates that actually have properties that can suppress aromatase,” researcher Shiuan Chen, of the City of Hope cancer research and treatment center in Duarte, California, said in a telephone interview.
Many women who have had breast cancer take medicines called aromatase inhibitors — such as Pfizer’s Aromasin, Novartis’ Femara and AstraZeneca Plc’s Arimidex — to keep estrogen from feeding tumors.
Chen and colleagues studied whether compounds, or phytochemicals, in pomegranates can suppress aromatase and ultimately block cancer growth. They found that 10 natural compounds in the fruit may potentially prevent estrogen-related breast cancer.
Chen said the compounds would not be a replacement for aromatase inhibitors.
“We do not recommend people start taking this as a replacement for the AI’s,” Chen said. “They (pomegranate compounds) are not as potent as the real drugs so we think that the interest probably is more on the prevention end rather than in a therapeutic purpose.”
Other researchers not associated with the study told the journal that the results are promising, and suggested more studies involving animals and humans were needed to confirm the findings.
“It’s not clear that these levels could be achieved in animals or in humans because the (compounds) are not well absorbed into blood when provided in the diet,” said Gary Stoner of Ohio State University.
Dr. Powel Brown, an oncologist at the University of Texas, said in a statement that future studies should focus on testing pomegranate juice for its effect on estrogen levels, menopausal symptoms, breast density or even as a cancer preventive agent.
More than 400,000 women die from breast cancer globally every year. About 75 percent of breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive, meaning they are fed by estrogen.
Previous research has shown that pomegranate juice is rich in antioxidants — vitamins and other substances — that may help prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Study Finds Autism in Regional Clusters
January 13, 2010
ABC News
By Julie Steenhuysen
U.S. researchers have identified 10 locations in California that have double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, and these clusters were located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of white, highly educated parents.
Researchers at the University of California Davis had hoped to uncover pockets of autism that might reveal clues about triggers in the environment that could explain rising rates of autism, which affects as many as one in 110 U.S. children.
But the findings likely say more about the U.S. healthcare system than the causes of autism, said researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis’ MIND Institute, whose study will be released online Wednesday in the journal Autism Research.
Advocacy groups have been clamoring for treatment options and for better research to show what might be causing an apparent increase in autism cases.
Hertz-Picciotto and colleagues used a research technique that has been effective at identifying cancer clusters.
“This kind of analysis sometimes turns up clues about environmental factors,” she said in a telephone interview.
The researchers looked at about 2.5 million births recorded in California from 1996 through 2000. About 10,000 of those children were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to the state’s department of developmental services.
Using data from birth records, the team found a strong link between parental education and the high rates of autism.
“In this particular case, we found 10 clusters of autism across the state of California. When we looked further, we discovered virtually all of them were areas where there was a higher level of education among the parents who were giving birth in those years,” Hertz-Picciotto said.
“We already know that people with a higher education in the United States are more likely to get a diagnosis of autism for their child. It doesn’t necessarily mean that autism occurs more frequently in those families,” she said.
Strengthen and Protect Arteries with Broccoli
January 13, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The health benefits of broccoli and related vegetables may come in part from a chemical known as sulforaphane, which appears to activate a specific heart-protecting protein, according to a study conducted by researchers from Imperial College London and published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
“We know that vegetables are clearly good for you, but surprisingly the molecular mechanisms of why they are good for you have remained unknown for many years,” said researcher Paul Evans of the United Kingdom’s National Heart and Lung Institute. “This study provides a possible explanation for how green vegetable consumption can promote a healthy heart.”
Researchers carried out their tests directly on the chemical sulforaphane, which occurs naturally in vegetables in the family Brassicaceae, also known as cruciferous vegetables. In addition to broccoli, the cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, cauliflower, rapeseed (canola), radish, turnip, mustard greens and watercress.
Sulforaphane was found to increase the activity of the protein Nrf2, which is known to be inactive in areas of the cardiovascular system that are predisposed to plaque buildup. In these areas, which include bends and branches in blood vessels, blood flow is slowed or even disrupted entirely.
“What our study showed was that sulforaphane can protect those regions by switching on the Nrf2,” Evans said.
“These fascinating findings provide a possible mechanism by which eating vegetables protects against heart disease,” said Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study. “As well as adding evidence to support the importance of eating ‘five-a-day’, the biochemistry revealed in this research could lead to more targeted dietary or medical approaches to prevent or lessen disease that leads to heart attacks and strokes.”
Because the study was carried out using pure sulforaphane, the researchers plan to repeat it in a way that closer approximates consumption of actual broccoli.
“We now need to go and test this with broccoli smoothies, as it were, and compare that with the effect of purified sulforaphane,” Evans said.
Cell Phone Radiation Is Actually Not Bad For Us Now, It Prevents Brain Disorders
January 8, 2010
Prevent Disease
Yet another ridiculous study out of the University of South Florida claims that cell phone radiation actually protects against brain disorders rather than cause them.
It’s another version of researchers promoting junk science at its best. The ludicrous study only done in mice, suggests that long-term exposure to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) associated with cell phones may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer’s disease.
“It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms,” said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, USF Research Professor at the Florida ADRC. “It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer’s mice.”
The so-called researchers claim their study was “highly-controlled” and that they isolated the effects of cell phone exposure on memory from other lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise. Yes folks, we’re talking about the lifestyle factors of mice, but you can see where this is going.
So how did they achieve this magnificent feat you ask? Well, when scientists can’t get the results they want from animal testing, they genetically alter animals to achieve favorable results. This way, the biology of their lab rats is custom tailored to suit the objectives and conclusions desired by the scientists and their funding sources. It’s actually very common and this study is no different.
It involved mice, most of which were genetically altered to develop beta-amyloid plaques and memory problems mimicking Alzheimer’s disease as they aged. Think about what would happen if you radiated a genetically modified potato that was designed to be different that a potato found in nature. The cells of the genetically modified (GM) potato could react very differently from the natural potato to a given stimulus. They may be more susceptible or resistant to the radiated dose depending on how the GM potato was designed specifically for that purpose. The same principal can be achieved with rodents.
Study Finds Autism in Regional Clusters
January 06, 2010
ABC News
By Julie Steenhuysen
U.S. researchers have identified 10 locations in California that have double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, and these clusters were located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of white, highly educated parents.
Researchers at the University of California Davis had hoped to uncover pockets of autism that might reveal clues about triggers in the environment that could explain rising rates of autism, which affects as many as one in 110 U.S. children.
But the findings likely say more about the U.S. healthcare system than the causes of autism, said researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis’ MIND Institute, whose study will be released online Wednesday in the journal Autism Research.
Advocacy groups have been clamoring for treatment options and for better research to show what might be causing an apparent increase in autism cases.
Hertz-Picciotto and colleagues used a research technique that has been effective at identifying cancer clusters.
“This kind of analysis sometimes turns up clues about environmental factors,” she said in a telephone interview.
The researchers looked at about 2.5 million births recorded in California from 1996 through 2000. About 10,000 of those children were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to the state’s department of developmental services.
Using data from birth records, the team found a strong link between parental education and the high rates of autism.
“In this particular case, we found 10 clusters of autism across the state of California. When we looked further, we discovered virtually all of them were areas where there was a higher level of education among the parents who were giving birth in those years,” Hertz-Picciotto said.
“We already know that people with a higher education in the United States are more likely to get a diagnosis of autism for their child. It doesn’t necessarily mean that autism occurs more frequently in those families,” she said.
Strengthen and Protect Arteries with Broccoli
January 06, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The health benefits of broccoli and related vegetables may come in part from a chemical known as sulforaphane, which appears to activate a specific heart-protecting protein, according to a study conducted by researchers from Imperial College London and published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
“We know that vegetables are clearly good for you, but surprisingly the molecular mechanisms of why they are good for you have remained unknown for many years,” said researcher Paul Evans of the United Kingdom’s National Heart and Lung Institute. “This study provides a possible explanation for how green vegetable consumption can promote a healthy heart.”
Researchers carried out their tests directly on the chemical sulforaphane, which occurs naturally in vegetables in the family Brassicaceae, also known as cruciferous vegetables. In addition to broccoli, the cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, cauliflower, rapeseed (canola), radish, turnip, mustard greens and watercress.
Sulforaphane was found to increase the activity of the protein Nrf2, which is known to be inactive in areas of the cardiovascular system that are predisposed to plaque buildup. In these areas, which include bends and branches in blood vessels, blood flow is slowed or even disrupted entirely.
“What our study showed was that sulforaphane can protect those regions by switching on the Nrf2,” Evans said.
“These fascinating findings provide a possible mechanism by which eating vegetables protects against heart disease,” said Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study. “As well as adding evidence to support the importance of eating ‘five-a-day’, the biochemistry revealed in this research could lead to more targeted dietary or medical approaches to prevent or lessen disease that leads to heart attacks and strokes.”
Because the study was carried out using pure sulforaphane, the researchers plan to repeat it in a way that closer approximates consumption of actual broccoli.
“We now need to go and test this with broccoli smoothies, as it were, and compare that with the effect of purified sulforaphane,” Evans said.
