Antidepressants And Women ’s Bones
Certain antidepressants used to relieve hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms appear to increase the risk of bone fractures. The class of drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), include Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Luvox, Paxil and Zoloft, and are now considered effective alternatives to hormone replacement therapy. Investigators from Boston’s Northeastern University used a pharmaceutical database to identify more than 137,000 women age 40 through 64 who began taking SSRIs for menopausal symptoms between 1998 and 2010 and compared them with some 236,000 women taking prescription drugs fo...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News antidepressant bone density bones Source Type: blogs
Muscle Strength: Use It Or Lose It
This study presents a ratherdramatic“use it or lose it” scenario. With luck, few of us will be completely immobilized for two weeks (or more), but accidents do happen, as do illnesses that can lay you low and keep you there from time to time. It’s worth heeding this study’s message– that to restore your fitness you have to do more than just return to your usual workout, you’ll also have to includestrength training (something I regard as an essential part of any exercise program along with aerobic exercise for cardiovascular fitness and stretching for flexibility). (Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips)
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 28, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News immobility leg muscle strength physical activity Source Type: blogs
Vegan, Vegetarian Diets For Weight Loss
If you want to lose weight, and you’re willing to give up the traditional American way of eating, a vegan or vegetarian diet may be the way to go. Researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effects of vegetarian eating on weight. They narrowed down 1,513 studies to the 12 most relevant trials comparingvegan diets or vegetarian plans (including eggs and dairy products) to the average American diet. The 12 trials included data on 1,151 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 82. Some were obese or diabetic. Analysis showed that people on vegetarian diets ...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News diet vegan vegetarian weight loss Source Type: blogs
Southern Diet Danger
The occasional splurge on fried chicken, or a dinner of liver with gravy with a tall glass of sweet tea probably won’t hurt you. But if your diet includes those and other traditional Southern food favorites as daily fare, your risk of heart disease could increase by 56 percent over the next six years. This news comes from a large study thatexamined the effects of 5 different diets on heart health, and included 17,000 white and African-American adults (with no known heart problems) age 45 or older. The participants were recruited throughout the United States, but only the traditional Southern diet yielded the negative...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 24, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News heart disease southern diet Source Type: blogs
Walking For Brain Health
We know thatregular exercise benefits fitnessoverall and heart health in particular, and now a new study from the University of Kansas suggests that even a little exercise can help improve some thinking skills that wane with age. Researchers recruited 101 healthy seniors 65 or older with no cognitive impairments and tested their aerobic capacity, memory and thinking. They then divided the volunteers into three groups to performsupervised brisk walking on a treadmill in a gym for 75, 150 or 225 minutes a week. Those in a fourth group served as controls and didn’t exercise. After 26 weeks, retesting showed improvements...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News brain health cognition walking Source Type: blogs
Diet And Depression
We know that eating aMediterranean diet can help reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, and new evidence published this month suggests that it also may protect against depression. Researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria studied more than 15,000 people who were following the recommendations of a Mediterranean-like diet for more than 8 years. None of the participants were depressed when they joined the study, and they were asked to score their adherence to the diets by rating meats and sweets negatively and nuts, fruits and vegetables positively. The researchers reported that the higher the score...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News anti-inflammatory diet depression mediterranean diet Source Type: blogs
Smaller Servings, Please
You may think this is a no-brainer, but researchers in England have found evidence that if we caneat smaller portions, we can cut calories substantially. Investigators from the University of Cambridge concluded that eliminating the larger-size portions served in many restaurants or eaten at home could result in reducing average daily calorie consumption by 16 percent (279 calories) among adults in the UK, and by 29 percent (527 calories) among adults in the U.S. They reviewed 61 studies that included data on 6,711 participants and found that the effect of trimming portion sizes didn’t vary substantively between men o...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 19, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News body mass index portion control Source Type: blogs
Smoking And Your Teeth
Smoking increases the risk ofheart disease andlung cancer, but even before thosepotentially deadly diseases develop, regular smokers are more likely to begin losing their teeth. A new study from Britain’s University of Birmingham and the German Institute of Human Nutrition determined that men who smoke are 3.6 times more prone to lose their teeth than non-smokers, while among women smokers the risk is 2.5 times higher. The researchers based their conclusions on data gathered from 23,376 participants in a long-term study in Germany. Part of the problem is that smoking is a strong risk factor in promoting tooth decay a...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News smoking teeth tooth decay Source Type: blogs
How Obesity Raises Breast Cancer Risk
We know that obesity raises therisk of breast cancer in women– it also worsens the outlook when the disease occurs– and recent research from Cornell University might help explain the association. The proposed mechanism is a change in the consistency of breast tissue in ways that can promote malignancy. The study found thatobesity seems to prompt a remodeling of fat in the breast, including a thickening of the matrix found between breast cells, and that these changes create conditions that foster tumor growth. The researchers explained that fat tissue in obese women has more wound healing cells than fat tissue i...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 17, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: breast cancer obesity Source Type: blogs
New Plus For Pilates
Pilates is best known as a sometimes intensive form ofstrength training that can help relieve back pain and build core stabilizing muscles. Now a small study from Spain suggests that the exercises can help older women with aching backs improve their balance, as well as reduce the fear of falling. Researchers at the University of Jaen followed 97 women over age 65 who were given two physiotherapy sessions per week that included 40 minutes of nerve stimulation plus 20 minutes of massage and stretching exercises. Half the women also took two hours of Pilates instruction per week. After six weeks, the women who performed Pilat...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News muscle strength pilates women's health Source Type: blogs
Nature ’s Influence On Sleep
If you’re a man– or over 65– and havingtrouble sleeping, spending a little more time in natural surroundings may be the fix you need. A new investigation from the University of Illinois explored the influence of natural settings on sleep and found a clear benefit for men, regardless of age, and on seniors of both sexes. The natural setting could be a nearby park, beach, or area with an ocean view, the researchers found. They reached this conclusion by first reviewing data from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of 255,171 representative U.S. adults, to determine whether there w...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 13, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News natural surroundings nature sleep Source Type: blogs
Washing Dishes To Chill Out
Washing dishesmay seem an unlikely stress management therapy, but a new study suggests that it might be an ideal way to unwind. Researchers at Florida State University set out to learn whether dishwashing mindfully– paying attention to such elements of the chore as the scent of the soap and the shape and feel of the dishes– couldhelp reduce stress. They recruited 51 college students and assessed their positive and negative personality traits, their mindful states and their psychological well being. The investigators then divided the students into two groups. Those in one group read a short passage on the sensor...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News dishwashing mind/body approach stress relief Source Type: blogs
High Blood Pressure Risk Evident In Kids
A recentstudy from New Zealand suggests that people at risk of developinghigh blood pressure before age 40 can be identified in childhood. Researchers from the University of Otago tracked more than 1,000 people in Dunedin, a coastal city in New Zealand, from their births in 1972-73 to the present. They collected information about the blood pressure of all the individuals from the time they were 7 years old until they reached 38 and found that more than one third were at risk of developing high blood pressure by early mid-life. Those at highest risk were male, had a family history of high blood pressure, were first born and...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 11, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News children's health high blood pressure kids Source Type: blogs
Why Carrots Really Are Good for Your Eyes
New research from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health suggests that the more colorful fruits and vegetables we eat, the lower the risk of advancedmacular degeneration (AMD), a serious age-related vision problem that can lead to blindness. Researchers gathered data from health surveys that tracked more than 63,000 women and nearly 39,000 men all of whom were nurses or other health professionals aged 50 and older. They found that from the mid-1980s until 2010 about 2.5 percent of the survey respondents developed intermediate or advanced forms of macular degeneration. Compared to those who reported consuming the le...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - October 10, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: AMD Science and Supplement News carrots eyes vision Source Type: blogs
A Sense of Purpose = Longer Life
Having a high sense of purpose in life appears to lower your risk of death and cardiovascular disease. That conclusion comes from an analysis of 10 studies conducted in the U.S. and Japan involving data on 136,265 participants whose average age was 67. The men and women were followed for an average of 7 years during which more than 14,500 of them died and more than 4,000 suffered a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event. The researchers found after adjusting for other factors that the death rate was about 20 percent lower for the participants who reported a strong sense of purpose in life (this is called ikigai...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - September 30, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News cardiovascular longevity sense of purpose Source Type: blogs
