Sample Health Newsletter
Click on the titles for links to more information.
Lowering Fat Intake Might Stave Off Diabetes Even Without Weight Loss
Small differences in diet - even without weight loss - can significantly affect risk for diabetes. In this study, 69 healthy, overweight people who did not have diabetes - but were at risk for it - were placed on diets with modest reductions in either fat or carbohydrate for eight weeks. At eight weeks, the group on the lower fat diet had significantly higher insulin secretion and better glucose tolerance and tended to have higher insulin sensitivity. These improvements indicate a decreased risk for diabetes.
Cell Phone Use May Reduce Male Fertility
Coffee Seems to Lower the Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer
A Harvard School of Public Health study of nearly 48,000 men found that those who drank more than six cups of coffee per day had a 60% reduced risk of developing lethal prostate cancer compared with nondrinkers.
The reduction in lethal prostate cancer risk was similar between decaf and regular coffee drinkers. Thus, the researchers conclude, caffeine isn't the wonder element.
Coffee Reduces Breast Cancer Risk
Drinking coffee specifically reduces the risk of antiestrogen-resistant estrogen-receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer.
Drinking coffee, having sex are triggers that raise rupture risks for brain aneurysm
From drinking coffee to having sex to blowing your nose, you could temporarily raise your risk of rupturing a brain aneurysm - and suffering a stroke, according to a study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Dutch researchers identified eight main triggers that appear to increase the risk of intracranial aneurysm (IA), a weakness in the wall of a brain blood vessel that often causes it to balloon. If it ruptures, it can result in a subarachnoid hemorrhage which is a stroke caused by bleeding at the base of the brain. The researchers identified the eight factors and their contribution to the risk as:
- Coffee consumption (10.6 percent)
- Vigorous physical exercise (7.9 percent)
- Nose blowing (5.4 percent)
- Sexual intercourse (4.3 percent)
- Straining to defecate (3.6 percent)
- Cola consumption (3.5 percent)
- Being startled (2.7 percent)
- Being angry (1.3 percent)
Dairy consumption does not elevate heart attack risk
Dairy products can be high in harmful saturated fat but not necessarily in risk to the heart. A newly published analysis of thousands of adults in Costa Rica found that their levels of dairy consumption had nothing to do statistically with their risk of a heart attack.
Rather than suggesting that the saturated fats in dairy products are harmless, researchers hypothesize that other nutrients in dairy products are protective against heart disease, for all but perhaps the highest dairy consumption quintile in their study. The potentially beneficial nutrients include calcium, vitamin D, potassium, magnesium and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Brief, Intense Workouts Most Efficient & Beneficial
Getting Along With Co-Workers May Prolong Life But Support from the Boss Has No Effect on Mortality
People who have a good peer support system at work may live longer than people who don't have such a support system, according research published by the American Psychological Association.
This effect of peer social support on the risk of mortality was most pronounced among those between the ages of 38 and 43. Yet similar support from workers' supervisors had no effect on mortality, the researchers found.
In addition, men who felt like they had control and decision authority at work also experienced this "protective effect." However, control and decision authority increased the risk of mortality among women in the sample.
Simple Fitness Test Could Predict Long-term Risk for Heart Attack, Stroke
A 55-year-old man who needs 15 minutes to run a mile has a 30 percent lifetime risk of developing heart disease. In contrast, a 55-year-old who can run a mile in eight minutes has a lifetime risk of less than 10 percent.
Lack of exercise linked to higher heart disease
Parsley, Celery Component Fights Against Breast Cancer
Vitamin D deficiency associated with increased mortality
Rising PSA means prostate cancer is in patient's future
Taking Additional Selenium Will Not Reduce Cancer Risk
Most At-Risk Patients Don't Adhere To Statin Treatment, Despite Real Benefits