Thursday May 14, 2009

Keep Those Vitamins Coming
AllAfrica.com 05-13-09
Johannesburg, May 12, 2009 (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- During the three-year Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, the number of children suffering from anaemia in Indonesia increased significantly as the poor could not afford quality food.
The condition is caused by body tissues and organs suffering a lack of oxygen when there are insufficient micronutrients such as iron in the diet. The percentage of children experiencing anaemia rose from 52 percent in 1996 to 68 percent in 1998, said a new report, Investing in the Future, citing a study.  The research found that among poor households, low consumption of eggs and dark leafy vegetables - both important sources of micronutrients like iron - resulted in an increased prevalence of anaemia in both mothers and children. "The effects were particularly severe for children conceived during and immediately prior to the crisis."
The global economy is now in recession and children in developing countries are most at risk, warned the joint authors of the report, a group of nutrition advocacy NGOs: Micronutrient Initiative, Flour Fortification Initiative and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, and aid agencies USAID, the Canadian International Development Agency, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. A World Bank study on the impact of the current financial crisis has estimated that in 2008 alone, higher food prices may have been responsible for an additional 44 million children suffering permanent physical and cognitive setbacks due to malnutrition.
The authors of Investing in the Future, which was released at the 2009 Micronutrient Forum in Beijing on 12 May, urged countries to increase their investments, renew commitments and expand existing vitamin and mineral supplementation programmes.
Micronutrient deficiencies lead to more frequent infections, reduce children's ability to fight and survive disease, and impair mental capacity. In adults, vitamin and mineral deficiencies can affect general productivity and cause debilitating illnesses and even death. Deficiencies during pregnancy threaten the health and lives of women, and negatively affect their unborn children. Inexpensive supplements and fortificants are available: the cost of salt iodization is a mere five cents per person per year, while vitamin A capsules cost two US cents each.
According to the report, worldwide, every year:
- 1.1 million children under five die due to vitamin A and zinc deficiencies
- 136,000 women and children die from iron-deficiency anaemia
- 18 million babies are born mentally impaired because of maternal iodine deficiency
- 150,000 babies are born with severe birth effects due to inadequate maternal B-vitamin intake
- 350,000 children become blind due to vitamin A deficiency
- 1.6 billion people suffer reduced productive capacity as result of anaemia
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8256&Section=Vitamins

Folic acid may protect against fetal heart defects, study suggests

Canadian Press 05-13-09
TORONTO - Since Canada introduced mandatory fortification of grain products with folic acid more than a decade ago, the number of babies born with severe congenital heart defects has dropped significantly in Quebec, researchers say.
A McGill University study found a six per cent annual decline in cases of severe congenital heart defects in the province after 1998, when Canada began requiring food companies to add folic acid to products like flour and pasta.
Folic acid is known to reduce the prevalence of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in newborns, but the new study adds weight to suspicions that the B vitamin plays a vital role in proper heart development as well.
Using provincial health databases, researchers identified all Quebec infants diagnosed with severe congenital heart defects between 1990 and 2005. Out of 1.3 million children born in the province during that period, 2,083 had a heart abnormality.
"We looked basically at the time trend to see whether the birth prevalence of severe congenital heart defects changed over time," said lead author Raluca Ionescu-Ittu, a PhD candidate working with McGill's congenital heart disease group.
"And immediately after the fortification, it was followed by a decrease in the birth prevalence," she said Tuesday from Montreal.
The authors, whose paper is published online Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, suggest the results are likely not the result of chance, because the timing of the decline coincides exactly with the introduction of fortification.
While the link between inadequate levels of the vitamin in women before and during pregnancy and the incidence of heart defects has not been proven, Ionescu-Ittu said the association is plausible.
And most other factors known to boost the risk of heart defects in babies - among them older maternal age, medication use and obesity - gradually increased over the study period, she said. Yet there was still a drop in cases.
"This study is potentially very important," said Dr. Gideon Koren, head of the Motherisk program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, who was not involved in the research.
Koren said an analysis done several years ago by his research group showed that mothers of children born with cardiovascular, brain or limb malformations reported taking less folic acid in multivitamins than mothers whose children had no birth defects.
"So there was an indirect proof for a potential effect," he said. "We do know that adequate amounts of folic acid do promote cell division and processes that lead to normal development. That goes without saying."
But Koren pointed out that one area of data is missing from the study that could skew its results. The researchers have included live births and stillbirths, but not pregnancy terminations, he said.
"The issue is that there are now more and more, year by year, people that because of in-utero ultrasound and echocardiograms may terminate pregnancy" after a severe birth defect is discovered in the fetus, Koren said.
However, a BMJ editorial suggests the effect of pregnancy terminations would not entirely cancel out the six per cent yearly drop in prevalence identified by the McGill researchers.
Ionescu-Ittu said more research is needed to pin down whether adequate folic acid levels in pregnant women can, in fact, prevent at least some cases of congenital heart defects in offspring - and what daily dosage of the vitamin is optimal.
She said the cardiac abnormalities involve expensive, complex surgeries and other treatments, as well as causing often lifelong health problems for afflicted individuals and a tremendous strain for their families.
"Clearly the health burden is huge," agreed Koren, noting that Sick Kids research has shown that 40 per cent of pregnant women in Ontario do not take enough folic acid to be protective.
"So there's still a lot of improvement (needed)," he said. "We believe more women should receive higher doses ... I think what we should do is try to encourage women to take the prenatal vitamins."
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8255&Section=Vitamins

Research suggests coffee may be beneficial

United Press International 05-12-09
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 11, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Drinking coffee may be good for your health, U.S. researchers say.
Researchers say a cup of java might protect against diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
"Coffee was seen as very unhealthy," said Rob van Dam, a coffee researcher and epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Now we have a more balanced view. We're not telling people to drink it for health. But it is a good beverage choice."
Terry Graham, chair of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph in Canada noted that coffee and caffeine are not the same thing.
"Coffee is a complex beverage with hundreds, if not thousands, of bioactive ingredients," he said. "A cup of coffee is 2 percent caffeine, 98 percent other stuff."
The newspaper said 20 studies worldwide show that coffee, both regular and decaf, lowers the risk for Type 2 diabetes by as much as 50 percent. Researchers say that is probably because chlorogenic acid, one of the many ingredients in coffee, slows uptake of sugar from the intestines.
As for heart disease and stroke, a study published in March in the journal Circulation looked at data on more than 83,000 women over age 24. The research showed that those who drank two to three cups of coffee a day had a 19 percent lower risk of stroke than those who drank almost no coffee.
A Finish study said the same about men drinking coffee.
URL: www.upi.com
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8254&Section=Nutrition

Albuquerque Journal, N.M., Carolyn Flynn column: Reclaiming bones

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- Unrestricted 05-12-09
Osteoporosis is a disease of brittle bones. Osteoporosis is just what happens to little old ladies who get frail.
Osteoporosis happens only to women.
For the 60 women assembled for a recent meeting of the Women's Midlife Support Group, Lovelace Health System orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Harvie is about to bust some myths about a disease that affects 8 million women and 2 million men in the United States and affects all ethnicities.
For starters, osteoporitic bone is not brittle. You can poke an instrument in it, Harvie says, jabbing an imaginary instrument in the air. "It's soft," he says. "It's not brittle at all."
Osteoporosis is a silent disease, health educator Leona Rubin tells the group as she introduces the talk. Rubin, secretary of the local Osteoporosis Foundation and longtime coordinator of these monthly talks at Presbyterian Healthplex, relates that 12 years ago, to demonstrate new bone density scanning equipment, she agreed to be scanned. It was a good thing. It turned out she had osteoporosis.
But this roomful of women is already an educated bunch. Most seem to know about the four-part osteoporosis formula that can prevent or reverse the disease: bonestrengthening medication, weight-bearing exercise, calcium and vitamin D.
They are here for more -- to calibrate the medication just right, to monitor whether their bodies are absorbing calcium and vitamin D, to compare notes on weight-bearing exercise and to quiz Harvie about medication risks. Many other conditions complicate osteoporosis treatment plans, such as thyroid disease, asthma, arthritis, scoliosis and ulcers.
And there's the rub. The formula has to be effective. It depends on how much calcium you take and when you take it, Harvie says. If your body isn't absorbing it -- if your bone turnover rate is too high or your kidneys are kicking the calcium out of your body before it can get to your bones, if other medications cancel out the calcium or osteoporosis medication -- then you aren't preventing a totally preventable disease.
Surgical help
Harvie is here to answer their questions -- and to let them know about a surgery that can relieve the pain of spinal compression fractures, restore height and correct curvature of the spine. The surgery is called kyphoplasty.
It's a minimally invasive surgery -- with two incisions the size of pencil erasers -- that uses a balloon to insert bone cement in a fractured vertebrae. It can head off kyphosis, the curvature of the spine that gives people the hunched-over little old person look. Kyphosis becomes disabling, preventing the person from performing daily activities, and ultimately, it can lead to compression of the heart, lungs and other organs, which can be fatal.
Dr. Michael Lewiecki, president of the local Osteoporosis Foundation and founder of the annual Santa Fe Bone Symposium, agrees about the relatively new surgery. "One good thing about kyphoplasty is it gives immediate pain relief, and they can get active right away," he says in a phone interview.
Spinal compression fractures are by far the most common osteoporosisrelated fracture and have become the focus of research and public education -- at the top of the list of the many unmet needs in the field, Lewiecki says. The national foundation estimates that 700,000 spinal compression fractures occur each year -- twice the number of hip fractures. Many more occur than are diagnosed because they may go unrecognized, both doctors say. With the aging population, the number of people with spinal fractures is expected to reach 2 million in 2025.
Kyphoplasty will not prevent the person from having another spinal compression fracture, but it can relieve pressure on adjacent vertebrae, Harvie says.
To really fix the problem, Harvie repeats, you need: effective medication, weight-bearing exercise, 2,000 units of vitamin D daily and 1,200 milligrams of calcium, split into three daily doses.
Harvie can't say enough about vitamin D, the oftenoverlooked component in the osteo formula. Anyone with osteoporosis or osteopenia should have a vitamin D blood level between 50 to 70. "Normal is 40," he says.
Many people who have osteoporosis or osteopenia are doing one or two of the four-part formula, but not all.
"No matter what you're doing," Harvie says, if you're taking Fosamax or any other bone-building medication, "if you don't take calcium and vitamin D, you don't make bone."
Right combination
Harvie rolls out tip after tip, anticipating the women's questions. If you have trouble absorbing vitamin D, take an oilbased capsule. If you get leg cramps, it's not because of the vitamin D but because of not getting enough calcium. If you're over 65, take calcium citrate. If you're under 65, take calcium carbonate. If you take stomach medications for ulcer or gastroesophageal reflux (such as Zantac or Prilosec), then take calcium citrate. If you take a thyroid medication such as a synthroid, take your calcium four hours after that medication. Don't take magnesium with your calcium. Take your calcium three times a day.
Harvie says patients should not stay on Fosamax or any bisphosphonate for more than six or seven years. That's because, he says, at some point, the medicine shuts down building bone.
At that point, he likes to switch patients to Forteo.
Lewiecki says Forteo is the one medication that can actually make new bone. Forteo is given as a daily injection for two years.
But the fear with Forteo is about studies that suggested a bone cancer risk in laboratory rats.
Both doctors are quick to put the numbers in perspective. More than 1 million humans have been treated with Forteo, Lewiecki says, and there has been only one documented case of bone cancer. In the normal population, the risk of bone cancer is 1 in 250,000. "So you'd expect to have four cases in that 1 million," he says. This might even suggest Forteo has a favorable effect, reducing the risk of bone cancer.
Lewiecki says the risk statistics for jaw problems are similar -- 0.7 cases per 100,000 patient treatment years, he notes.
"You have to compare that to the risk of breaking a bone if you don't take this medication," he says.
About a 2008 study that showed a doubled risk of atrial fibrillations, or irregular heartbeat, in patients taking Fosamax, Lewiecki was dubious, noting the studies were observational, not controlled. At this point the Federal Drug Administration is taking a closer look but recommending Fosamax be prescribed normally.
"If you get a fragility fracture, you need to be tested," says Harvie. "It doesn't get treated unless it gets diagnosed. Be an advocate."
Myths about osteoporosis
MEN DON'T GET OSTEOPOROSIS: About 2 million men in the United States have osteoporosis. Dr. Michael Lewiecki says that when men get osteoporosis, they often have more severe consequences. Their risk of dying after a hip fracture is higher. "Men seem to be sicker when they break their bones."
IT'S A DISEASE OF BRITTLE BONES: People who have osteoporosis have soft bones that are porous.
FOSAMAX WILL SAVE YOU: The now-generic bone-strengthening drug can prevent bone loss or increase bone density, as well as reduce fracture risk, but it will not be fully effective unless you have an adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D.
FOSAMAX BUILDS NEW BONE: Although Fosamax may increase bone density and make bone stronger, it does not change the structure of the bone that was there before the drug was started. Only one drug, Forteo, has been proven to build new bone where bone has been lost.
COFFEE DEPLETES YOUR BONES: You'd have to drink 60 cups a day, Dr. Keith Harvie says. But Lewiecki says it can be a problem if it's displacing good nutrition. One study showed urinary calcium loss, he says, but another study actually showed coffee may help osteoporosis, increasing the amount of calcium absorbed in the intestines.
Definitely curtail red meat and colas, Harvie says. They have a lot of phosphates. If you consume these, you have to take more calcium to compensate.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8253&Section=Disease

K for Kartilage? New health areas for vitamin K

Nutraingredients.com, 13-May-2009

Vitamin K has been linked to bone, heart, and even prostate health, but could joint health and cartilage be next on the horizon for the unKnown vitamin? Stephen Daniells talks to Prof Cees Vermeer from VitaK, about raising awareness on vitamin K, dietary intakes, and new applications.
Speaking at Vitafoods 2009 in Geneva about vitamin K, Prof Vermeer said that he could imagine vitamin K benefits extending beyond cardiovascular and bone health, to joint health.
“All diseases of the cartilage – I could imagine that these would benefit from vitamin K2.”
Awareness of vitamin K, from green vegetables, the fermented soy product natto, cheese, or supplements, is increasing, albeit from a very small base.
 “In the Western world our problem is that almost the only source is cheese,” said Prof Vermeer. “Cheese is fat, animal fat, saturated fat, it is not so healthy. So [vitamin K] is combined with not so healthy food, and that is why I recommend people take curd… or take natto, and if you don’t like both, then take pills.”
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/K-for-Kartilage-New-health-areas-for-vitamin-K

Is obesity fuelling food allergies?

Nutraingredients.com, 12-May-2009

Rising childhood obesity levels may also be driving the increases in food allergies, suggests new research from the US.
Data from over 4,000 children indicated that increases observed in allergic disease in children, particularly food allergy, may be due to obesity, with inflammation also linked to allergy development.
“The associations were stronger for the obese weight category than the overweight category, providing evidence of a dose response for weight,” wrote the researchers, led by Cynthia Visness from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“The analysis of continuous BMI with total IgE levels supports the concept that increased weight is associated with increased allergic predisposition,” they added. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is the predominant antibody associated with an allergic response.
‘Tantalising’ data
The research was called ‘tantalising’ by John Collard, clinical director at British charity Allergy UK. “This piece of research […] seems to show a relationship between obesity and allergy, which has been the subject of debate before,” Collard told FoodNavigator.com.
Obesity and allergies rise in tandem
According to background information from the authors, only 5 per cent of American children between 6 and 11 were overweight before 1980, but 25 years later this number had risen to 19 per cent. Similar increases have been reported in Europe, with the International Association for the Study of Obesity estimating in 2006 that the number of obese school age children in Europe increased by almost 50 per cents since the late 1990s.
At the same time, the number of allergic disease has also been rising, with an estimated eight per cent of children in the EU suffering from food allergies, according to the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations.
The most common food allergen ingredients and their derivatives are cereals containing gluten, fish, crustaceans, egg, peanut, soybeans, milk and dairy products including lactose, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seed, and sulphites.
New findings
Visness and her co-workers analysed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 2005-2006, including data on IgE, and the prevalence of allergy.
IgE levels were significantly higher amongst obese and overweight children than normal-weight children, said the researchers. Furthermore, obesity was linked to a 26 per cent increase in atopy, “driven largely by allergic sensitisation to foods”, and a 59 per cent increase in food sensitisation.
C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, was also linked to IgE levels, atopy, and food sensitisation, they said.
“NHANES 2005-2006 is the largest dataset of serum IgE levels that has ever been collected, and it comes from a sample that is generalizable to the population of the United States,” wrote the researchers.
“Our analysis, using an objective assessment of atopy, shows that overweight status in children is associated with allergic predisposition, especially to food.
“Childhood obesity might be the most important health issue facing US children today. Although an increase in allergy might not be the most consequential health risk faced by overweight children, it does provide additional motivation for undertaking the difficult challenge to reduce childhood obesity,” they concluded.
Reaction
Commenting independently on the study, Allergy UK’s Collard said: “The suggestion that both might be related to generalised inflammation, as measured by CRP levels, is interesting. However there are a lot of unanswered questions,” he added.
“Obesity is shown to be related to an increased level of sensitization to foods, but not to actual allergy symptoms, which were rather less in the obese group. The risk of sensitization in the obese seems greater for some foods, like peanut and shrimp, but is actually less for others, like milk,” said Collard.
“Other research has suggested that the underweight are at greater risk of allergy, so although there is clearly some relationship between body mass, the tendency to make IgE, and the expression of allergic disease, it is far from clear what that relationship is,” he said.
Source: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
May 2009, Volume 123, Issue 5, Pages 1163-1169.e4
“Association of obesity with IgE levels and allergy symptoms in children and adolescents: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006”
Authors: C.M. Visness, S.J. London, J.L. Daniels, J.S. Kaufman, K.B. Yeatts, A.-M. Siega-Riz, A.H. Liu, A. Calatroni, D.C. Zeldin
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Science-Nutrition/Is-obesity-fuelling-food-allergies

Brain chemical may play key role in anxiety
Last Updated: 2009-05-13 10:04:51 -0400 (Reuters Health)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A chemical important for brain development may play a role in explaining why some people are genetically predisposed to anxiety and could lead to new treatments, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said rats bred to be highly anxious had very low levels of a brain chemical called fibroblast growth factor 2 or FGF2 compared with rats that were more laid back.
But when they improved the anxious rats' living conditions, -- giving them new toys to explore, an obstacle course and a bigger cage to live in -- levels of this brain chemical increased and they became less anxious.
"The levels of this molecule increased in response to the experiences that the rats were exposed to. It also decreased their anxiety," Javier Perez of the University of Michigan, whose study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience, said in a telephone interview.
"It made them behave the same way as the rats that were laid back and had low anxiety to begin with," he said.
Injecting the rats with the chemical also made them less anxious, he said.
In a prior study of people who were severely depressed before they died, the team found the gene that makes FGF2 was producing very low levels of the growth factor, which is known primarily for organizing the brain during development and repairing it after injury.
Perez thinks the brain chemical may be a marker for genetic vulnerability to anxiety and depression. But it can also respond to changes in the environment in a positive way, possibly by preserving new brain cells.
While both the calm and anxious rats produced the same number of new brain cells, these cells were less likely to survive in the high-anxiety rats, the team found.
Giving the rats better living conditions or injecting them with FGF2 helped improve cell survival.
"This discovery may pave the way for new, more specific treatments for anxiety that will not be based on sedation, like currently prescribed drugs, but will instead fight the real cause of the disease," Dr. Pier Vincenzo Piazza of the University of Bordeaux in France, who had seen the study, said in a statement.
Perez said the study was funded in part by the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Fund, which is seeking to patent the molecule.

What's in a cough? 20,000 viruses
Last Updated: 2009-05-12 9:29:12 -0400 (Reuters Health)
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The next time you cough or sneeze, there is good reason to cover your mouth.
As many as 20,000 viruses are expelled in an average cough, which may be sufficient to infect many people -- particularly those who are not vaccinated.
Julian Tang, a consultant at Singapore's National University Hospital's Division of Microbiology, said as many as 3,000 tiny droplets are produced in a standard cough.
Using previous research on influenza viral loads in nasal secretions, and assuming that each coughed airborne droplet measures between 1 to 5 micrometers in diameter, that adds up to many, many viruses in a single cough.
A micrometer, or micron, is one millionth of a meter, or one thousandth of a millimeter.
"Based on this research and assuming about 3,000 droplets are produced per cough, this range of influenza viruses produced per cough is about 195 to 19,500," Tang told Reuters.
He added that this figure of 3,000 droplets refers to those that remain suspended in the air for considerable periods -- long enough to infect people.
"This (3,000) is also the number of droplets estimated to remain suspended in air for long periods -- so-called droplet nuclei. Larger droplets carrying influenza viruses may also be produced during a cough, but these will fall to the ground relatively quickly and will no longer be considered to be significant in the airborne transmission of influenza," he said.
With a new h3N1 influenza virus spreading around the world, governments in many countries have revived advertisements entreating people to observe personal hygiene.
In Indonesia, a slick TV advertisement features a young woman remonstrating a suitor at a village sing-a-long, telling him to get to a health clinic because "that's not a normal cough."
Aimed at the poorly-educated masses, the adverts are set to a dangdut (traditional pop music) theme and feature an easy-to-remember slogan and theme song.
However, experts are uncertain as to what constitutes an infective dose when it comes to influenza viruses.
INFECTIVE DOSES
But as a guide, previous research has found that it takes just one to 10 organisms to cause viral hemorrhagic fevers, and 10 to 100 organisms to cause viral encephalitis.
Tang said an infective dose of flu virus would depend on a variety of factors, such as the constitution of people breathing in these droplets and whether they had been vaccinated.
"It is difficult to give an exact number for the infectious dose -- and this may even differ for the same individual throughout the year. But probably for immune people, the infectious dose will be higher than for non-immune people -- hence, the benefits of vaccination," Tang said.
"Those previously vaccinated or naturally infected to the same or similar virus can develop a rapid antibody response and clear the virus in the respiratory tract before the virus can take hold and cause disease."
"(But) even immune hosts may develop symptoms if the viral load exposure is sufficiently high," he added.
Doctors say most airborne flu transmissions occur within a one meter range, although it can also be transmitted by direct contact with contaminated objects, like toys.
"Wearing masks may well help to reduce the transmission of these infections, as well as covering the mouth with your hand or a tissue when coughing or sneezing -- simply by using a barrier to prevent dissemination of the virus," Tang said.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/12/eline/links/20090512elin010.html

Radiation Treatment for Breast Cancer Causes Cancer in the Other Breast

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  May 13, 2009

(NaturalNews) Young women who receive radiation treatment after breast cancer surgery are significantly more likely to later develop cancer in the other breast than women who did not undergo such radiation.

The findings come from a study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, on more than 7,000 women who were treated for breast cancer in Netherlands between the years of 1970 and 1986. All study participants were diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 71.

Among study participants in general, the risk of developing cancer in the opposite breast (contralateral breast cancer) after treatment in the first breast was three to four times higher than the rate for new cases of breast cancer. This risk only went up with a number of other risk factors, including family predisposition or treatment with radiation or chemotherapy.

Researchers from the Erasmus Medical Center Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center in Rotterdam examined the cancer risk in women based on whether they were treated with radiation after a lumpectomy (partial breast removal) or mastectomy (complete breast removal). They found that women under the age of 45 who received radiation treatment after a lumpectomy were 1.5 times more likely to develop contralateral cancer than women who received post-mastectomy radiation treatment.

Similarly, the risk of contralateral breast cancer among all patients under the age of 45 increased by 9 percent if they had received radiation treatment. Among women treated before the age of 35, the increase in risk associated with radiation therapy was far higher -- 78 percent.

When the participants were examined all together and not divided by age, there was no correlation between radiation treatment and increased cancer risk.

Radiation treatment is commonly used after the surgical removal of cancerous breast tissue in order to kill any cancerous cells that might remain. It is used most often after any lumpectomy, after any mastectomy of a breast that contained a tumor larger than five centimeters, or in any cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes.

The chemotherapy drugs cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil and methotrexate also increased the risk of contraleteral cancer, but only after five years. Within the first five years after treatment, there was no difference in contralateral cancer rates between those who had received the drugs and those who had not.

To date, many researchers have assumed that high rates of contralateral breast cancer can be mostly attributed to the risk factors that contributed to the original cancer, such as genetic predisposition. This study is one of the first to suggest that cancer treatment itself might also increase risk.

That family predisposition affects breast cancer risk is fairly well accepted by researchers, and scientists have identified two genetic mutations in particular (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that seem to play a role. In the current study, the highest risk of contralateral cancer was seen among women who had three or more relatives who had already had breast cancer. But such predispositions appear to have the greatest effect in the presence of environmental risk factors.

In the current study, young women who had received post-lumpectomy radiation treatment and who also had a strong history of breast cancer in their family had their risk of contralateral cancer increased by 3.5 times.

The researchers did not test participants for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

Study author Maartje J. Hooning said that her study has immediate implications for cancer treatment.

"[Although] radiation techniques of today will lead to a lower dose to the contralateral breast than the techniques presented in our study, treating clinicians should be aware of the existing dose-response relationship for risk of contralateral breast cancer. Especially in young women, the radiation dose to the contralateral breast should be kept as low as possible."

Breast cancer is the world's second most common and fifth most lethal cancer. Women in the United States have the highest rate of the disease worldwide.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026257.html

Medical Mystery: Thyroid Cancer Rates Soar

Sherry Baker, NaturalNews.com   May 13, 2009

(NaturalNews) The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located at the base of your neck, right below your Adam's apple, which produces hormones important for the regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight. Over the past ten years, cancer rates for this gland have soared -- and scientists don't know why. In fact, thyroid cancer is the fastest increasing cancer rate among both men and women in the U.S., rising over 6.5 percent a year. This startling zip up in thyroid cancers is being seen consistently among all racial and ethnic groups. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates 37,200 new cases will be diagnosed this year and around 1,630 Americans will die from the disease.

Maybe it's because of a medical and media emphasis on breast, colon and prostate cancer, but for some reason, the alarming trend in thyroid cancer rates has hardly been noticed. But a new project based at American University (AU) in Washington, D.C, has put together clues through solid detective work that may shed light on this medical mystery. Curiously, the project didn't originate with scientists or doctors but with journalists in the Investigative Reporting Workshop, an organization founded by journalism professors Charles Lewis and Wendell Cochran at AU's School of Communication.

As Caroline Stetler, an AU journalism graduate student and the Investigative Reporting Workshop staff writer who headed the project, studied the soaring thyroid cancer rate, she discovered that a lot of people in the medical community had assumed there was a simple explanation. They essentially blew of the rise in thyroid cancer, saying it wasn't really a rise in malignancies, just a rise in the number of cases that were spotted. After all, improved methods of detection such as ultrasound (which was not widely used in hospitals until the early 1980s) now lets doctors find very small cancerous thyroid nodules.

However, by pulling together and examining data from the NCI, the American Thyroid Association, the Mayo Clinic, and numerous published studies, Stetler's research showed there was a true, if inexplicable, increase in the actual number of thyroid cases. "There is now proof the increasing rate is not just a reflection of improved detection," said Stetler, a survivor of thyroid cancer herself, in a statement to the media. "But researchers say they really don't know what is causing the increase."

Stetler's research led her to work with Dr. Elaine Ron, a senior investigator at NCI, on research focusing on papillary cancer, the most common type of thyroid cancer. In a study recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology and Biomarkers and Prevention, Dr. Ron and her coauthors found that between1980 to 2005, the number of larger thyroid tumors (malignant growths bigger than at least 2 centimeters) increased sharply. These tumors are so large, that they are typically found by doctors who just use their fingers to exam a patient's neck during a regular physical exam. They aren't using any ultrasound or any other imaging technique. This fact disproved the theory that there was no real increase in thyroid cancer but, instead, merely more detected cases spotted due to high tech screenings.

So what on earth could be behind the mysterious rise in cancerous thyroid tumors? The answer might not be so mysterious at all but could well be a result of what people are being exposed to in the environment and what they are eating -- and how much. For example, in the media statement, the researchers said chemical pollutants, diet and obesity might be to blame. Another potential culprit is increased radiation exposure from the wide use of computed tomography (CT) scans. As previously reported in Natural News (http://www.naturalnews.com/026001.html), a recent study published in the journal Radiology found that CT scans can increase the chances of certain malignancies by 2.7 to 12 percent.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026253.html

BBC NEWS
Chemical cocktail 'risk to boys'
Chemicals found in many food, cosmetic and cleaning products pose a real threat to male fertility, a leading scientist has warned.
Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council, warned these hormone-disrupting chemicals were "feminising" boys in the womb.
He linked them to raising rates of birth defects and testicular cancer and falling sperm counts.
Campaigners called for action to address the problem.
They warned that while exposure to a single chemical may cause no harm, the cumulative effect could be profound.
HORMONE DISRUPTORS
Chemicals in consumer products and food that have been reported to disrupt the sex hormones include:
  Phthalates: Found in vinyl flooring, plastics, soaps, toothpaste
  Bisphenol : Found in babies' bottles, food can linings. mobile phones, computers
  Pesticides: Including pyrethroids, linuron, vinclozolin and fenitrothion
Professor Sharpe's report was commissioned by the CHEM Trust, a charity which works to protect humans and wildlife from harmful chemicals.
There is evidence that male reproductive health is deteriorating, with malformations of the penis becoming more common, rates of testicular cancer rising, and sperm counts falling.
It is thought that all these conditions - collectively called Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS) - are linked to disruption of the male sex hormone testosterone.
Professor Sharpe concludes that exposure to a cocktail of hormone-disrupting chemicals in the environment is likely to be at least partly to blame by blocking the action of testosterone in the womb.
His latest report highlights animal studies showing that testosterone disrupting chemicals can cause TDS-like disorders.
In addition, de-masculinisation effects due to chemical pollutants in the environment has been reported in many species of wildlife.
The direct evidence of an effect in humans is so far less compelling - but is beginning to mount.
Minimise exposure
Professor Sharpe said: "Because it is the summation of effect of hormone disrupting chemicals that is critical, and the number of such chemicals that humans are exposed to is considerable, this provides the strongest possible incentive to minimise human exposure to all relevant hormone disruptors, especially women planning pregnancy, as it is obvious that the higher the exposure the greater the risk."
New EU chemicals legislation, called REACH (Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) puts the onus on the chemical industry to prove that its products are safe.
Campaigners say it could be used to reduce exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals.
Elizabeth Salter Green, CHEM Trust director, said; "Chemicals that have been shown to act together to affect male reproductive health should have their risks assessed together.
"Currently that is not the case, and unfortunately chemicals are looked at on an individual basis.
"Therefore, government assurances that exposures are too low to have any effect just do not hold water because regulators do not take into account the additive actions of hormone disrupting chemicals.
"It is high time that public health policy is based on good science and that regulatory authorities have health protection, rather than industry protection, uppermost in mind."
Ms Green advised pregnant women to keep cosmetic use to a minimum and avoid DIY.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8047230.stm

BBC NEWS
Men 'suffering recession blues'
Men are struggling to cope with the emotional impact of the recession, a mental health charity has warned.
Almost 40% of men admit to feeling low at the moment with job security, work and money playing on their minds, a Mind survey of 2,000 adults found.
Yet men are less likely than women to seek help from their GP or a counsellor, the results suggested.
The charity said 2.7m men in England currently have a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety or stress.
Men responding to the survey seemed to be more reluctant to talk about when they were feeling stressed or low than women.
Only 29% of men would talk to friends about their problems compared with 53% of women and they were also less likely to talk to their family.
Men were also less likely to seek out professional help and a third would feel embarrassed about it.
“ The recession is clearly having a detrimental impact on the nation's mental health but men in particular are struggling with the emotional impact ”
Paul Farmer, Mind
And 5% of men said they had experienced suicidal thoughts compared with 2% of women.
A report from Mind, has called for the government to produce a men's mental health strategy and for employers to do more to help stressed male workers.
Mind said even though men and women experience mental health problems in roughly equal numbers, men are much less likely to be diagnosed and treated for it.
The recession could make the situation much worse, with research showing one in seven men develop depression within six months of losing their jobs.
Some minority ethnic groups are at a higher risk of mental distress than others, Mind said.
For example African Caribbean men are three times more likely than white men to be formally detained under the Mental Health Act and are also more likely to be inpatients on mental health wards and to receive invasive medical treatments.
Identity
Paul Farmer, chief executive at Mind, said: "The recession is clearly having a detrimental impact on the nation's mental health, but men in particular are struggling with the emotional impact.
"Being a breadwinner is something that is still crucial to the male psyche so if a man loses his job he loses a large part of his identity putting his mental wellbeing in jeopardy.
"The problem is that too many men wrongly believe that admitting mental distress makes them weak and this kind of self stigma can cost lives."
He added that the NHS must become more "male-friendly" offering treatments that appeal to men, like exercise on prescription or computerised therapy and advertising their services in places men frequent.
Stephen Fry who is supporting the Mind campaign to encourage men to seek help, said: "For so long I tried to get on with my life and career, somehow coping with the huge highs and lows I experienced.
"If I had felt able to get it off my chest when I was younger I could have got more of the support I needed."
Peter Cooper, spokesman for the British Psychological Society, said the fact that men were less likely to talk about feelings added to anxiety and depression and unhealthy behaviours such as drinking.
"With men there's much more shame about say the loss of a job or the loss of a home.
"The type of help that men need includes psychotherapy but what they are also desperate for is pragmatic practical help."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8040699.stm

29 Percent Of Cancer Studies Report Conflict Of Interest

ScienceDaily (May 11, 2009) — Nearly one-third of cancer research published in high-impact journals disclosed a conflict of interest, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The most frequent type of conflict was industry funding of the study, which was seen in 17 percent of papers. Twelve percent of papers had a study author who was an industry employee. Randomized trials with reported conflicts of interest were more likely to have positive findings.
"Given the frequency we observed for conflicts of interest and the fact that conflicts were associated with study outcomes, I would suggest that merely disclosing conflicts is probably not enough. It's becoming increasingly clear that we need to look more at how we can disentangle cancer research from industry ties," says study author Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., assistant professor of radiation oncology at the U-M Medical School.
The researchers looked at 1,534 cancer research studies published in prominent journals. Results of this current study appear online in the journal Cancer.
"A serious concern is individuals with conflicts of interest will either consciously or unconsciously be biased in their analyses. As researchers, we have an obligation to treat the data objectively and in an unbiased fashion. There may be some relationships that compromise a researcher's ability to do that," Jagsi says.
For example, she says, researchers might design industry-funded studies in a way that's more likely to produce favorable results. They might also be more likely to publish positive outcomes than negative outcomes.
"In light of these findings, we as a society may wish to rethink how we want our research efforts to be funded and directed. It has been very hard to secure research funding, especially in recent years, so it's been only natural for researchers to turn to industry. If we wish to minimize the potential for bias, we need to increase other sources of support. Medical research is ultimately a common endeavor that benefits all of society, so it seems only appropriate that we should be funding it through general revenues rather than expecting the market to provide," Jagsi says.
Methodology: The researchers looked at all original clinical cancer research published in five top oncology journals and three top general medical journals in 2006. The journals included were the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Lancet Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer.
Articles were analyzed to determine declared funding sources and conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest was identified if it was explicitly declared by the authors, if an author was an employee of industry at the time of publication, or if the study had industry funding.
Reshma Jagsi, Nathan Sheets, Aleksandra Jankovic, Amy R. Motomura, Sudha Amarnath, and Peter A. Ubel. Frequency, nature, effects, and correlates of conflicts of interest in published clinical cancer research. Cancer, Online May 11, 2009; Print Issue Date: June 15, 2009 DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24306
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511090846.htm

Meditation May Increase Gray Matter

ScienceDaily (May 13, 2009) — Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain?
Meditate.
That's the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.
Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.
"We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior," said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. "The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities."
Research has confirmed the beneficial aspects of meditation. In addition to having better focus and control over their emotions, many people who meditate regularly have reduced levels of stress and bolstered immune systems. But less is known about the link between meditation and brain structure.
In the study, Luders and her colleagues examined 44 people — 22 control subjects and 22 who had practiced various forms of meditation, including Zazen, Samatha and Vipassana, among others. The amount of time they had practiced ranged from five to 46 years, with an average of 24 years.
More than half of all the meditators said that deep concentration was an essential part of their practice, and most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day.
The researchers used a high-resolution, three-dimensional form of MRI and two different approaches to measure differences in brain structure. One approach automatically divides the brain into several regions of interest, allowing researchers to compare the size of certain brain structures. The other segments the brain into different tissue types, allowing researchers to compare the amount of gray matter within specific regions of the brain.
The researchers found significantly larger cerebral measurements in meditators compared with controls, including larger volumes of the right hippocampus and increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe. There were no regions where controls had significantly larger volumes or more gray matter than meditators.
Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, "these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators' the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way."
What's not known, she said, and will require further study, are what the specific correlates are on a microscopic level — that is, whether it's an increased number of neurons, the larger size of the neurons or a particular "wiring" pattern meditators may develop that other people don't.
Because this was not a longitudinal study — which would have tracked meditators from the time they began meditating onward — it's possible that the meditators already had more regional gray matter and volume in specific areas; that may have attracted them to meditation in the first place, Luders said.
However, she also noted that numerous previous studies have pointed to the brain's remarkable plasticity and how environmental enrichment has been shown to change brain structure.
Other authors of the study included Arthur Toga, director of UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging; Natasha Lepore of UCLA; and Christian Gaser of the University of Jena in Germany. Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512134655.htm

Two Glasses Of Wine A Day Helps To Reduce Quantity Of Fat In Liver

ScienceDaily (May 13, 2009) — PhD research at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU have studied the effect of reservatrol — a molecule of plant origin present in wine and several fruits — in rats with non-alcoholic hepatic esteatosis, an accumulation of fat in the liver when alcohol is not involved.
The author of the thesis is Ms Elizabeth Hijona Muruamendiaraz, a graduate in Biochemistry specialising in Dietetics and Nutrition, and has entitled her PhD, Effect of resveratrol on simple, non-alcoholic hepatic esteatosis in a murine model.*
Molecule of plant origin
Resveratrol has antioxidant capacities and it is found in many fruits such as grape, walnuts, peanuts, etc. The aim of the thesis was to investigate if resveratrol reduces ESNA in a model of esteatosis in rats.
To this end, three experimental groups of rats were studied. The first is a control group with free access to food and water. The second is a group affected by esteatosis and that was subjected to a diet high in carbohydrates, lipid-free and with periods of fasting. The third group, also affected by esteatosis, was kept under the same conditions as group two with the difference that their members were supplied daily with 10 mg of resveratrol.
Alter four weeks, samples of liver and blood were taken from individuals of the three different groups for their subsequent analysis. It was shown that in the third group - the one treated with resveratrol -, infiltration of liver fat dropped in comparison with group two. After this and a number of other analyses, the researcher concluded that resveratrol reduces the severity of ESNA in models with rats because, in the animals treated with resveratrol, the percentage of the cells of affected liver cells was notably less in non-treated animals.
Cell oxidation
Moreover, Ms Hijona was able to see that, when the resveratrol was administered, the production of pro-oxidant substances — favouring cell oxidation — was reduced, and natural antioxidants of the liver were better conserved. Thus it was concluded that resveratrol is capable of maintaining the balance between antioxidant and pro-oxidant substances.
Finally, the administration of resveratrol reduces the number of Kupffer cells in the liver — the presence of these cells is associated with the progression of ESNA —, and so can inhibit the development of other injuries to the liver, such as fibrosis.
Food habits
According to Ms Elizabeth Hijona, the results of the study show that we should be careful with food habits, given that a simple change in the periods of fasting, combined with a diet rich in carbohydrates, can manage to cause serious liver problems. This is why the administration of natural antioxidants such as resveratrol — two glasses of wine a day, for example— helps to considerably reduce the accumulation of fat in the liver.
*The director of the thesis was Luis Bujanda Fernández de Piérola from the department of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Odontology at the UPV/EHU. Ms Elizabeth Hijona is currently working as a researcher in Digestive Systems at the Hospital Donostia.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512111157.htm

More Evidence For The Benefit Of Exercise In Cardiovascular Disease -- And Even In Heart Failure

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — Exercise is one of eight preventive measures identified by the European Heart Health Charter and features prominently in the scientific programme of EuroPRevent 2009, the congress of the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, which takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, from May 6 to 9. In new studies presented at the congress exercise is shown to improve markers of heart disease in patients following coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), to improve event-free survival rate in coronary patients better than stent angioplasty, and to improve markers of disease in heart failure patients, a group usually thought amenable to little more than palliative care.
1. In rehabilitation following CABG
A study performed by Dr Tomasz Mikulski and colleagues from the Medical Research Centre in Warsaw, Poland, found that aerobic training using a cycloergometer (a static bike whose pedal load can be set and user performance measured) improved the physical capacity of cardiac patients following CABG, with reduction in the levels of lipids and markers of inflammation. Sixty optimally treated patients, with a mean age of 56 years and an average of two months following heart surgery, were randomised to either six weeks of aerobic training three times per week on the cycloergometer or to a non-exercise control group. At the end of the study period only the exercise group showed improvement in exercise duration and maximum workload. Other measures taken during a stationary handgrip test – heart rate, blood pressure and stroke volume – were all improved in the exercise group, as were some metabolic markers such as LDL cholesterol.
2. In comparison to PCI in patients with stable coronary disease
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with balloon angioplasty and stent is now the gold standard of care in most types of acute coronary events (heart attack). But its role in stable coronary disease – such as angina – is less clear, and in such cases regular physical exercise training has been shown to improve work capacity, cardiac function, and event-free one-year survival. A pilot study, to be reported from Leipzig, Germany, has now compared event-free survival rate in 101 stable angina patients either treated "conservatively" with an exercise programme or with PCI. After five years of follow-up, results from this pilot randomised trial showed that daily exercise training as part of "optimal medical treatment" leads to a better event-free survival rate than PCI with stent angioplasty. In the "conservative" exercise group, 63% of patients met the event-free survival criteria, but only 40% in the PCI group. Within the five years of follow-up, 36 cardiovascular events (including heart attack, stroke and death) had occurred in the exercise group in comparison to 55 in the PCI group.
3. In heart failure
Heart failure, by far the most prevalent chronic cardiac condition, is also one of the most difficult to diagnose and treat. Its symptoms of breathlessness, exercise intolerance and fluid build-up in the abdomen and lungs are often mistaken for mere "old age" and left untreated. Now, however, another study from Leipzig, Germany, suggests that a moderate exercise programme four times daily for four weeks can improve the function of (endothelial) cells lining the circulatory system; endothelial dysfunction is a key event in the progression of atherosclerosis and heart failure. Each exercise session comprised a short warm-up routine followed by 10-20 minutes cycling under supervision. Fifty patients with stable heart failure were randomised to the exercise programme or to a control group; each of the four daily exercises was at 60-70% of maximal aerobic capacity.
Endothelial function was assessed by ultrasound measurement of arterial diameter, which is predominantly dependent on the release of nitric oxide from the endothelium and represents a well accepted predictor of outcome in heart failure. Results showed that in both young and older heart failure patients the four weeks exercise programme was effective in improving endothelial dysfunction, reflecting, says investigator Dr Marcus Sandri from the University of Leipzig, "the potential for rehabilitation in this patient group". No improvements were seen in the control group.
Dr Sandri also noted that the beneficial effect was seen as much in older subjects as in younger. "The effects of exercise were not diminished in our older heart failure patients," he says, "which suggests that exercise as a treatment might be just as effective in older patients as younger." Dr Sandri added that the study also measured the numbers of endothelial progenitor cells, which increased in number in those patients randomised to the exercise programme. Thus, while the effect of exercise appeared to improve arterial blood flow through vasodilation, it may also be that the increased number of progenitor cells had a regenerative effect on diseased endothelial tissue.
Although rest and palliative care have been traditionally prescribed for patients with heart failure, it has been seen in several recent studies that physical exercise training can improve functional capacity in patients with heart failure. The effects of exercise have been seen in improved exercise capacity, quality of life, and biomarkers of disease and even survival.
This latest study on the effect of exercise on endothelial function will be presented – along with the other two highlighted - at a session on "exercise training in coronary artery disease" on Friday 8 May at EuroPRevent 2009.