Health News - Monday, April 9, 2007
Cocoa-rich products such as dark chocolate may help lower high blood pressure, but tea won't do much, according to a new survey of the medical literature by German researchers. Although the thought of chocolate as a health food has captured public attention, not much research on the issue has been done, said a team from the University Hospital of Cologne.
Their report covered exactly 10 studies on cocoa with a total of 173 participants and five tea studies with 343 participants. The benefits are believed to come from compounds known as polyphenols (or flavonoids), explained Dr. Dirk Taubert, senior lecturer in pharmacology and toxicology at Cologne and lead author of the report. He leavened his support of chocolate with a bit of caution. "Based on our analysis, regular consumption of polyphenol-rich cocoa products like dark chocolate may be considered a part of a blood pressure-lowering diet, provided there is no total gain in calorie intake," Taubert said. "However, in the studies we reviewed, the blood pressure results occurred with cocoa doses above the habitual intake and were observed only in the setting of short-term interventions." Continue reading
A common herbal extract may improve treatment of bladder infections when it is taken with antibiotics, according to U.S. researchers quoted by media reports Monday. This kid of extract from the Indian coleus plant, Forskolin, can be found in common health food stores and promoted as an allergy and fat loss aid.
The team at Duke University Medical Center say that this extract can prevent urinary tract infections in the bladder recurring even after treatment with antibiotics; Forskolin they say has the potential along with antibiotics to kill the bacteria which is the main cause of infections in the bladder. Urinary tract infections in the bladders infect women four times as often as men and about 90 percent of the cases are caused by E. coli bacteria. Many infections return just weeks after antibiotic treatment. Urinary tract infections are a serious health problem affecting millions of people each year and are the second most common type of infection in the body; they account for about 8.3 million doctor visits each year. Continue reading
Shingles, a painful skin condition, may be prevented if you perform Tai-Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, say researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles. Tai Chi is commonly used in many parts of the world as a low-impact exercise for older people. You can read about this new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, April issue.
In this new study, researchers found that elderly people who performed Tai Chi enjoyed better immune responses against the shingles-causing virus, compared to people who just received health education. Shingles affects about one million people in the USA alone - it most commonly affects people over the age of 50. 112 healthy volunteers, aged 59-86, were involved in this study. All participants had had chickenpox. Half of them had three Tai Chi classes each week for 12 weeks, while the other half had health education classes (but no Tai Chi lessons). They all had blood tests before and after their vaccinations. Continue reading
Swimming teachers and other people who spend a lot of time near chlorinated pools face an increased risk of breathing problems, Dutch researchers report. Chlorine reacts with substances such as urine and sweat to create byproducts that can irritate the respiratory tract, most importantly chloramines, explain Dr. Jose Jacobs of the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands and colleagues in a report in the European Respiratory Journal.
The research team surveyed 624 swimming pool employees and sampled air at six swimming pools. They measured trichloramine levels at all 38 pools included in the study to estimate long-term exposure among employees. Trichloramines are the most volatile type of chloramine, and are known to irritate the eyes and upper respiratory tract. Compared to pool workers with the least exposure to trichloramines, such as catering employees or receptionists, swimming instructors were 2.4 times as likely to suffer frequently from sinusitis or sore throat, and faced a 3.4-fold greater risk of chronic cold, the researchers found. Continue reading
Biofeedback training can be useful people with a type of chronic constipation characterized by excessive straining, paradoxical anal contraction, and impaired propulsion of stool from the rectum -- what doctors call "dyssynergic defecation." "Dyssynergic defecation," Dr. Satish S. C. Rao told Reuters Health, "is a common subtype of chronic constipation that leads to persistent difficulty with defecation and is poorly recognized by most physicians. Most of these patients will fail laxative treatment in the long term."
About a third of people with chronic constipation seen in specialized centers have this type of constipation, Rao of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City and colleagues note in a report. They conducted a study to see if the condition could be relieved by biofeedback focusing on anal muscle relaxation and coordination and simulated defecation training. Continue reading
Early research suggests a possible link between restless legs syndrome and heart disease. Periodic leg movement during sleep, which is a characteristic of restless legs syndrome (RLS), led to increased blood pressure among patients participating in a newly reported study from the University of Montreal.
Blood pressure increases were greatest among older patients with RLS, suggesting that these patients may be particularly vulnerable, says cardiologist Paola Lanfranchi, MD, MSc, one of the researchers in the study.Lanfranchi says the blood pressure elevations recorded during the sleep study were similar to those seen in patients with moderate sleep apnea, which is a known risk factor for heart disease. “We are learning more and more about the important role of sleep disturbances in heart disease,” she tells WebMD. “We have seen this with other sleep disorders. This study shows that we need to look closer at restless leg.” Continue reading