Tiny vitamin in milk found to have remarkable health benefits

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Researchers have discovered a small,  hidden vitamin in milk that has remarkable health benefits. The finding comes from mouse studies. Scientists discovered that high doses of a novel form of vitamin B3 that is present in small quantities in milk, and possibly other foods, makes mice stronger, faster and leaner without dieting and without exercise.

Hidden milk vitamin could prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes

Though the researchers aren’t sure about the human effects of the form of vitamin B3 -nicotinamide riboside or NR - which is a cousin to a precursor of the B vitamin Niacin, they now understand there are some potential benefits for preventing obesity and even type 2 diabetes.

In the mouse study, nicotinamide riboside offered the same benefits for health as eating a low-calorie diet and exercise, but the mice didn’t have to do either.

Dr. Anthony Sauve, associate professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College where the study was conducted explained in a press release:

“The bottom line is that NR improves the function of mitochondria, the cell's energy factories. Mitochondrial decline is the hallmark of many diseases associated with aging, such as cancer and neurodegeneration, and NR supplementation boosts mitochondrial functioning."

In 2007, Suave who is a pharmacologist and organic chemist found that NR increases nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels in mammalian cells, which regulates energy metabolism. NAD converts sugars, proteins and fats into energy. Stanford researcher and 1959 Nobel Laureate, Arthur Kornberg studied NR 60 years ago.

The scientists say the effect of the ‘hidden’ vitamin are ‘nothing short of astonishing’ and the researchers believe it’s present in many other foods, but difficult to detect.

Suave called the evidence ‘encouraging”, but says there is ‘much more work to do”. He has developed a synthetic form of NAD for further study and the Cornell Lab. If  human studies show the milk vitamin is safe at high doses, it could mean new treatment for obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

The potential of the tiny ‘hidden vitamin’ found in milk might someday be used to help humans. Mice in the study were given high doses of nicotinamide riboside and lost 60% more weight than a control group, even though they were fed the same high-fat diets. They also had more energy, lower cholesterol levels and increased insulin sensitivity.

Source:

New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College 

June 14, 2012

How sleep deprivation alters the brain to raise anxiety

Too little sleep
can lead to high anxiety
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New information from sleep experts links too little sleep to higher anxiety levels. People who are already nervous have trouble sleeping. Conversely, lack of sleep can make already nervous people even more anxious, supercharging emotional responses from altered brain processes.

Lack of sleep triggers emotional brain centers

Researchers from the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley used MRI's of the brain to find how lack of sleep triggers emotional centers in the brain; in particular, the amygdala that reacts to unpleasant events.

For the study, investigators performed functional MRI (fMRI) on 16 subjects: once after sleep deprivation and once after a good night’s sleep. They were shown either an unpleasant or neutral image while scientists looked at what happened in the brain.

For some of the study participants, sleep deprivation increased the anticipation of a negative event as much as 60 percent.

"Anticipation is a fundamental brain process, a common survival mechanism across numerous species," said Andrea Goldstein, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, in a media release.

The researchers also noted sleep deprivation had the biggest impact on people who were naturally anxious.

The study is presented at SLEEP 2012, the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Goldstein said, "Our results suggest that just one night of sleep loss significantly alters the optimal functioning of this essential brain process, especially among anxious individuals. This is perhaps never more relevant considering the continued erosion of sleep time that continues to occur across society."

Source: 

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

June 10, 2012

Weight training improves tremors for Parkinson’s patients, finds study

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Parkinson’s disease symptoms of tremor improve with weight training, finds an important new study.

Researchers from the  American Academy of Neurology said in a media release, “While we have known that many different types of exercise can benefit Parkinson’s patients over short time periods, we did not know whether exercise improves the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s over the long term.”

Daniel Corcos, PhD, with the University of Illinois at Chicago and colleagues studied 48 patients wit Parkinson's disease who underwent progressive resistance training - weight training - for one hour, twice a week for two years.  

A second group of patients with Parkinson’s disease were assigned flexibility, balance and stretching exercises, known as fitness counts.

The researchers measured progress when the patients were off their medications, using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) after six, 12, 18 and 24 months.  The scale measures the severity of symptoms of tremor that are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease.

Weight training lead to a 7.3% improvement on the UPBRS score after two years. Both groups improved at six months, but patients that performed fitness count exercises return to the same score assigned at the start of the study.

“Our results suggest that long-term weight training could be considered by patients and doctors as an important component in managing Parkinson’s disease,” said Corcos.

If you’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, consider speaking with your doctor about starting a weight training program. 

The study showed patients with Parkinson’s disease experienced significant improvement in symptoms of tremor after two years of performing weight training exercises.

Source:

American Academy of Neurology

“24 Months of Exercise Improves the Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease”

Daniel Corcos, PhD et al.

February 16, 2012

Occasional marijuana won't harm lungs, finds study

Credit: Wikimedia commons

Researchers from University of California, San Francisco have found smoking marijuana occasionally doesn't harm the lungs. However, they also found in their study that excessive cannabis smoking does lead to lung damage.


In their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the scientists followed 5,016 men and women who were part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study for a period of 20 years.


Because cannabis has some of the same chemicals as cigarette tobacco, the researchers were interested in finding out if marijuana causes the type of lung damage associated with tobacco.


Fifty-four percent reported they smoked marijuana, tobacco, or both. Tobacco was smoke more often - 8 to 9 cigarettes a day compared with two or 3 episodes of marijuana use in the previous 30 days. 

The authors write:

“With up to 7 joint-years of life-time exposure (e.g., 1 joint/day for 7 years or 1 joint/week for 49 years), we found no evidence that increasing exposure to marijuana adversely affects pulmonary function.”

Measurements used to test lung damage included FEV1 - the amount of air you can blow out of your lungs in one second after taking a full, deep breath, and FVC, which is the total amount of air forcibly exhaled after taking full breath in.


In the study FVC actually improved. The researchers suggest it may be from  inhaling deeply that occurs with marijuana smoking that strengthens and stretches the lungs. 


The research team, which was led by Mark J. Pletcher, MD, MPH, notes marijuana has benefits for controlling pain, improving mood and promoting appetite. 


The finding that occasional marijuana smoking doesn't harm the lungs, might be used in support of medicinal use of cannabis to treat chronic health conditions. However, smoking pot more than 20 times a month was shown to cause a substantial decrease in FEV1 - forced exhaled (lung) volume in one-second. 


Source:

Pletcher MJ, Vittinghoff E, Kalhan R, Richman J, Safford M, Sidney S, Lin F, Kertesz S. Association between marijuana exposure and pulmonary function over 20 years. JAMA 2012; 307(2): 173-81

Fish eaters may be lowering their risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Baked or broiled fish
linked to lower risk of Alzheimer's

For the first time, researchers have found a direct relationship between eating baked or broiled fish and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers from the University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine studied 260 people with no memory problems, finding that eating fish at least once a week seems to preserve gray matter in the brain.

Participants were chosen from the Cardiovascular Health Study.

The investigators used the National Cancer Institute Food Frequency Questionnaire to determine how often the study participants ate fish: 63 patients consumed fish on a weekly basis, and most ate fish one to four times per week.

Advanced 3D MRI, using Voxel-based morphometry was used to measure the volume of gray matter in the brain at baseline and then again 10 years later.

The research team compared gray matter volume among people who ate fish, matching the finding with eating fish. They also adjusted the findings for age, gender, BMI, ethnicity, education and physical activity.

When gray matter decreases, it means brain cells involved in sensory perception, muscle control, vision, hearing, memory, emotions and speech are shrinking.

Cyrus Raji, M.D., Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh said "Consuming baked or broiled fish promotes stronger neurons in the brain's gray matter by making them larger and healthier. This simple lifestyle choice increases the brain's resistance to Alzheimer's disease and lowers risk for the disorder."

From the study result, the scientists found eating baked or broiled fish at least once a week keeps brain volume intact in the hippocampal, posterior cingulate and orbital frontal cortex – areas responsible for short and long - term memory, awareness, cognition and emotion and reward respectively.

Eating baked or broiled fish was also associated with heightened cognition.

"Working memory, which allows people to focus on tasks and commit information to short-term memory, is one of the most important cognitive domains," Dr. Raji said.

Working memory is destroyed by Alzheimer's disease. We found higher levels of working memory in people who ate baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis, even when accounting for other factors…”

The new study supports previous findings that eating fish promotes brain health and might lower the chances of Alzheimer’s disease.

The study found eating fish at least once a week – baked or broiled – lowered the 5-year risk of mild memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease five-fold. The authors write, “While we controlled for education in this study, other lifestyle and socio-economic factors may underlie these relationships.”

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Women report humiliation and stress from cervical smears

Women interviewed by UK
investigators say
cervical smears are humiliating
and stressful

A new investigation reveals women interviewed think getting a PAP (cervical smear) test is humiliating and stressful. 

Researchers say a woman’s feelings about cervical smears shouldn't be ignored, and that health care providers should recognize and discuss expectations and anxiety women might experience from the tests.

In findings from University of Leicester, published in the international journal Family Practice, women report they aren’t always treated kindly when they have their exam to detect cancer.

In their study, the researchers found women would like a more personalized approach.

According to Dr Natalie Armstrong, Lecturer in Social Science Applied to Health at the University of Leicester:

"Attitudes towards cervical smears remain something of a paradox. On one hand, screening appears to command impressive levels of public support - as demonstrated by campaigns to widen the eligibility criteria - but on the other hand there is considerable evidence suggesting that individual women find the experience of the screening test problematic."

For many women, a gynecological exam is stressful and painful.

Armstrong interviewed 34 women for her paper, published in collaboration with colleagues at Glasgow Caledonian University.

She says one woman stated, "It's just so cold. You go in, you take your clothes off, she does that and I mean it's just so, it's just so degrading and embarrassing. It's just horrible."

“Women can feel passive, helpless and vulnerable in the face of a situation where they risk pain and discomfort, shame and humiliation, and violation and invasion of privacy”, says Armstrong.

She says one solution may be to talk to women about their expectations during a cervical PAP smear to allow them to express their feelings.

"Ignoring women's fears, anxieties and concerns can appear to deny the reality, or at least the validity, of women's emotional responses.”

Women in the study said health care professionals can seem detached and distant during exams.

Armstrong hopes the finding can translate to a better experience for women undergoing the embarrassment of having a cervical smear test. Women interviewed in the University of Leicester study found the exams stressful and humiliating. 

Marijuana use might double the chances of driving accidents

Marijuana use linked to crashes

Marijuana use linked car accidents

Research suggests if you use marijuana you may be at twice the risk of having a motor vehicle accident, compared to people who don’t use cannabis.

Researchers at Columbia University performed a meta-analysis of nine epidemiologic studies, finding people who tested positive for marijuana were twice as likely to have a car accident. The chances of a mishap while driving increased with frequency of marijuana use and concentration of the drug in the urine.

The scientists say the finding is important because of findings from a 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health that showed over 10 million people age 12 or older had driven under the influence of an illicit drug in the year prior to the survey.

Guohua Li, MD, DrPh, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and senior author says the finding should be interpreted with caution, because the research doesn’t prove cause.

Marijuana most frequently found drug linked to car crashes

Li says, “…if the crash risk associated with marijuana is confirmed by further research, this is likely to have major implications for driving safety and public policy. It also would play a critical role in informing policy on the use of medical marijuana”.

In the study, marijuana was the most frequently found drug detected following a motor vehicle accident.  More than 11% of the general driver population tested positive for non-alcohol drugs. In twenty-eight percent of fatalities, non-alcohol drugs were found in the urine or bloodstream of drivers.

In 8 out of 9 studies, the researchers found marijuana users were more like to be involved in a driving accident. Li says, “…it is urgent that we better understand the role of marijuana in causing car accidents”, that would have implications for public policy for medical marijuana. The study suggests marijuana users are twice as likely to have a driving accident, compared to non-users.

Source: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Image credit: Morguefile