The following Article will be featured on an upcoming episode of Dr. Asa on Call with Dr. Asa Andrew:
Building up to 10,000 steps a day can help control weight and may reduce diabetes risk, suggests new research in the journal BMJ.
Of 592 middle-aged Australian adults, those who increased the number of steps they took during a five-year period and built up to 10,000 steps per day had a lower body mass index, less belly fat, and better insulin sensitivity than their counterparts who did not take as many steps daily during the same time period.
A hallmark of diabetes, insulin resistance occurs when the body's cells stop responding as well to the action of the hormone insulin, which helps the body use blood sugar (glucose) for energy. The pancreas tries to compensate by producing more insulin, but ultimately fails to keep pace. As a result, excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.
Weight loss is known to increase insulin sensitivity, so researchers suggest that increased walking led to weight loss and decreased body fat which, in turn, improved diabetes risk factors.
“These findings, confirming an independent beneficial role of higher daily step count on body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and insulin sensitivity, provide further support to promote higher physical activity levels among middle-aged adults,” conclude researchers, who were led by Terry Dwyer, MD, director of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute of Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. “The use of a pedometer for measuring physical activity allows quantification of the magnitude of these effects.”
Participants answered questions about their diet and other lifestyle factors and had a full physical exam when the study began. They were also asked to wear pedometers to count the number of steps they took each day. Researchers followed up with the study participants five years later to see how many steps they were taking, and reassessed their diabetes risk factors.
Those who built up to 10,000 steps a day and kept at it showed a threefold improvement in their insulin sensitivity at five years, when compared with participants who only increased their daily steps to 3,000 per day, the study showed.
Tai Chi May Prevent Falls Among Seniors
The following article will be featured on an upcoming episode of Dr. Asa on Call with Dr. Asa Andrew:
Updated guidelines from the American Geriatrics Society and the British Geriatrics Society recommend interventions such as the slow-motion Chinese martial art tai chi along with medication reviews to help prevent falls among the elderly.
The guidelines, which appear in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, were last updated in 2001.
Falls among the elderly are linked to an increased risk for hip and other fractures and head injuries, all of which can lead to reduced independence, early admission to long-term care facilities, and even death.
“Given the frequency of falls and the injuries that occur as a result, falling is as big of a problem as heart attack and stroke, and we need to start taking it as seriously because falls are preventable,” says guideline author Mary Tinetti, MD, a geriatrician at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. “The most effective way to prevent falls is to reduce medication, make the environment as safe as possible, and improve balance and gait through exercises including tai chi or physical therapy.”
Tinetti and other panel members reviewed studies looking at fall prevention interventions published between May 2001 and April 2008 to develop the updated guidelines.
Fall Prevention 101
Tai chi and/or physical therapy can help seniors improve their balance, gait, and strength and help stave off falls, the guidelines state.
Medication checkups are also useful for older people who are at risk for falls, Tinetti says. Medications that may increase falling risk include certain antidepressants and sleeping pills.
“We should review all the medications and really decide ‘do they need this medication at this dose’ and determine if the medicine is more likely to cause overall harm vs. overall benefit,” she says. “If a medication puts a person at risk of falling, is it really worth it?”
If a medication can’t be stopped altogether, reducing the dose may also an option, she says. No one should ever stop taking or reduce a dose of any medication without first discussing these risks with their doctor.
Some falls may be caused by poor vision. “Cataract extraction has a lot of benefits for fall prevention,” she says.
Fall Prevention Is Everyone’s Issue
The onus is on everyone involved with the care of the aging population to implement these guidelines, Tinetti says.
“Nurses, physical therapists, specialists, and anybody who is caring for older people should be aware of these new guidelines and follow the components that are relevant to their area of expertise,” she says.
“Older people also need to take more responsibility when they see their care providers,” she says. For example, say ‘I want my blood pressure taken when I stand to see if it drops, and I want you to look at all my medications to see if any are going to increase my risk for falling or make me unsteady,” she says.
Updated guidelines from the American Geriatrics Society and the British Geriatrics Society recommend interventions such as the slow-motion Chinese martial art tai chi along with medication reviews to help prevent falls among the elderly.
The guidelines, which appear in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, were last updated in 2001.
Falls among the elderly are linked to an increased risk for hip and other fractures and head injuries, all of which can lead to reduced independence, early admission to long-term care facilities, and even death.
“Given the frequency of falls and the injuries that occur as a result, falling is as big of a problem as heart attack and stroke, and we need to start taking it as seriously because falls are preventable,” says guideline author Mary Tinetti, MD, a geriatrician at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. “The most effective way to prevent falls is to reduce medication, make the environment as safe as possible, and improve balance and gait through exercises including tai chi or physical therapy.”
Tinetti and other panel members reviewed studies looking at fall prevention interventions published between May 2001 and April 2008 to develop the updated guidelines.
Fall Prevention 101
Tai chi and/or physical therapy can help seniors improve their balance, gait, and strength and help stave off falls, the guidelines state.
Medication checkups are also useful for older people who are at risk for falls, Tinetti says. Medications that may increase falling risk include certain antidepressants and sleeping pills.
“We should review all the medications and really decide ‘do they need this medication at this dose’ and determine if the medicine is more likely to cause overall harm vs. overall benefit,” she says. “If a medication puts a person at risk of falling, is it really worth it?”
If a medication can’t be stopped altogether, reducing the dose may also an option, she says. No one should ever stop taking or reduce a dose of any medication without first discussing these risks with their doctor.
Some falls may be caused by poor vision. “Cataract extraction has a lot of benefits for fall prevention,” she says.
Fall Prevention Is Everyone’s Issue
The onus is on everyone involved with the care of the aging population to implement these guidelines, Tinetti says.
“Nurses, physical therapists, specialists, and anybody who is caring for older people should be aware of these new guidelines and follow the components that are relevant to their area of expertise,” she says.
“Older people also need to take more responsibility when they see their care providers,” she says. For example, say ‘I want my blood pressure taken when I stand to see if it drops, and I want you to look at all my medications to see if any are going to increase my risk for falling or make me unsteady,” she says.
Study Shows Sitting in Front of a Screen May Be Linked to Heart Risks
The following article will be featured on an upcoming episode of Dr. Asa on Call:
Hours spent lounging in front of a computer or television may hurt the heart, a new study shows.
The study shows that adults who averaged more than two hours sitting in front of a television or computer screen that was not related to their job or schoolwork had roughly twice the risk of having heart attacks, heart surgeries, strokes, or other cardiovascular events, compared to those who logged less than two hours of daily screen time.
What’s more, the risk did not drop appreciably when researchers factored in other variables, like a history of diabetes or high blood pressure, smoking, body weight, socioeconomic or marital status, or even a regular exercise routine.
Public health experts and cardiologists say the study offers more proof that people may need to shift their wellness goals slightly, beyond simply making sure they get a daily workout to also reducing the amount of time they are sedentary.
“It’s not even about the exercise. It’s about not sitting,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “I think that sort of points us in a little different direction. In order for you not to cause harm to yourself, you really need to focus on getting up and moving.”
Heart Health Goes Down the Tubes
For the study, which is due to be published in the Jan. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers at University College London and the University of Queensland in Australia followed more than 4,500 adults who took part in the Scottish Health Survey.
Participants were over age 34 and were followed for an average of 4.3 years.
To figure out how much leisure time was spent sitting, researchers asked: “Thinking of weekdays, how much time, on average, do you spend watching TV or another type of screen such as a computer or video game? (Please do not include any time spent in front of a screen while at school, college or work.)”
Researchers also asked about physical activity both at work and outside of work, including any heavy housework like scrubbing floors, heavy gardening like digging, walking, and leisure time exercise, such as cycling, swimming, aerobics, dancing, and football.
They then linked the survey results to hospital data on admissions and deaths in Scotland from 1981 through December 2007.
Compared to people who spent less than two hours a day in front of a TV or computer, those who spent four hours a day on screen-based entertainment had a 48% risk of dying for any reason; those who spent more than two hours a day sitting in front of a screen had 125% greater risk of experiencing cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.
Hours spent lounging in front of a computer or television may hurt the heart, a new study shows.
The study shows that adults who averaged more than two hours sitting in front of a television or computer screen that was not related to their job or schoolwork had roughly twice the risk of having heart attacks, heart surgeries, strokes, or other cardiovascular events, compared to those who logged less than two hours of daily screen time.
What’s more, the risk did not drop appreciably when researchers factored in other variables, like a history of diabetes or high blood pressure, smoking, body weight, socioeconomic or marital status, or even a regular exercise routine.
Public health experts and cardiologists say the study offers more proof that people may need to shift their wellness goals slightly, beyond simply making sure they get a daily workout to also reducing the amount of time they are sedentary.
“It’s not even about the exercise. It’s about not sitting,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “I think that sort of points us in a little different direction. In order for you not to cause harm to yourself, you really need to focus on getting up and moving.”
Heart Health Goes Down the Tubes
For the study, which is due to be published in the Jan. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers at University College London and the University of Queensland in Australia followed more than 4,500 adults who took part in the Scottish Health Survey.
Participants were over age 34 and were followed for an average of 4.3 years.
To figure out how much leisure time was spent sitting, researchers asked: “Thinking of weekdays, how much time, on average, do you spend watching TV or another type of screen such as a computer or video game? (Please do not include any time spent in front of a screen while at school, college or work.)”
Researchers also asked about physical activity both at work and outside of work, including any heavy housework like scrubbing floors, heavy gardening like digging, walking, and leisure time exercise, such as cycling, swimming, aerobics, dancing, and football.
They then linked the survey results to hospital data on admissions and deaths in Scotland from 1981 through December 2007.
Compared to people who spent less than two hours a day in front of a TV or computer, those who spent four hours a day on screen-based entertainment had a 48% risk of dying for any reason; those who spent more than two hours a day sitting in front of a screen had 125% greater risk of experiencing cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.
Study Shows Green Tea May Also Slow Growth of Cancer Cells
The following article will be featured on an upcoming episode of Dr. Asa on Call with Dr. Asa Andrew:
Regular consumption of green tea may offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and may also slow growth of cancer cells, new research indicates.
Green tea, an ancient Chinese remedy, has been shown to have protective properties in undigested, freshly brewed forms. But a research team at Newcastle University in the U.K. set out to determine whether the protective substances remained active after digestion. And in the study, they did.
“What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea,” Ed Okello, of Newcastle, says in a news release. “In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of tumor cells which we were using in our experiments.”
Two compounds that are known to play a major role in the development of Alzheimer’s are hydrogen peroxide and beta-amyloid, a protein.
Previous research has shown that polyphenols, present in green and black tea, have neuroprotective properties, binding with the toxic compounds and protecting brain cells.
Polyphenols, when ingested, are broken down to produce a mixture of compounds, which the Newcastle scientists tested for this latest study.
Role of Digestion
“There are certain chemicals we know to be beneficial and we can identify foods which are rich in them, but what happens during the digestion process is crucial to whether these foods are actually doing us any good,” Okello says.
The researchers exposed cells similar to neurons to varying concentrations of toxins, as well as digested tea compounds, and the digested tea chemicals protected the cells, preventing the toxins from destroying them.
“We also saw them affecting the cancer cells, significantly slowing down their growth,” he says. “Green tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries and what we have here provides the scientific evidence why it may be effective against some of the key diseases we face today.”
The researchers say there is plenty of evidence that both black and green teas have protective properties that mainly are attributable to their content of polyphenols.
Green tea has been shown to be effective against cancers in animal models, and epidemiological studies have suggested it reduces risk for prostate cancer in men.
The results of the study, while not definitive, do provide a basis for more research on green tea metabolites and their potential role in fighting Alzheimer’s disease.
The study is published in the journal Phytomedicine.
To hear more of Dr. Asa Andrew join him for Dr. Asa on Call or log onto wwww.drasa.com
Regular consumption of green tea may offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and may also slow growth of cancer cells, new research indicates.
Green tea, an ancient Chinese remedy, has been shown to have protective properties in undigested, freshly brewed forms. But a research team at Newcastle University in the U.K. set out to determine whether the protective substances remained active after digestion. And in the study, they did.
“What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea,” Ed Okello, of Newcastle, says in a news release. “In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of tumor cells which we were using in our experiments.”
Two compounds that are known to play a major role in the development of Alzheimer’s are hydrogen peroxide and beta-amyloid, a protein.
Previous research has shown that polyphenols, present in green and black tea, have neuroprotective properties, binding with the toxic compounds and protecting brain cells.
Polyphenols, when ingested, are broken down to produce a mixture of compounds, which the Newcastle scientists tested for this latest study.
Role of Digestion
“There are certain chemicals we know to be beneficial and we can identify foods which are rich in them, but what happens during the digestion process is crucial to whether these foods are actually doing us any good,” Okello says.
The researchers exposed cells similar to neurons to varying concentrations of toxins, as well as digested tea compounds, and the digested tea chemicals protected the cells, preventing the toxins from destroying them.
“We also saw them affecting the cancer cells, significantly slowing down their growth,” he says. “Green tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries and what we have here provides the scientific evidence why it may be effective against some of the key diseases we face today.”
The researchers say there is plenty of evidence that both black and green teas have protective properties that mainly are attributable to their content of polyphenols.
Green tea has been shown to be effective against cancers in animal models, and epidemiological studies have suggested it reduces risk for prostate cancer in men.
The results of the study, while not definitive, do provide a basis for more research on green tea metabolites and their potential role in fighting Alzheimer’s disease.
The study is published in the journal Phytomedicine.
To hear more of Dr. Asa Andrew join him for Dr. Asa on Call or log onto wwww.drasa.com
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