Vitamin C Linked to Lower Blood Pressure
VITAMIN C LEVELS LINKED TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE
A study has concluded that a higher intake of fruits and vegetables, for which a greater blood concentration of vitamin C was used as an indicator, decreases the risk of developing high blood pressure by up to 22 percent for those in the top quarter of vitamin C levels.
The large epidemiological study adjusted for numerous potentially confounding factors, such as age, sex, body mass, alcohol consumption, smoking, blood pressure medications, and even vitamin C supplementation. In other words, the link between higher vitamin C levels and reduced blood pressure risk was found whether the subjects took supplements or not, so long as the vitamin C concentrations were high. Only the systolic blood pressure reading (the number on the top) was included in the study.
This research will not be published until the September 2011 issue of the journal Hypertension, but it is available online now at http://bit.ly/qZlsRX with subscription or access fee.
How 15 Minutes/Day Can Impact Your Life
The minimal amount of physical activity to reduce mortality risk is 15 minutes a day of moderate-intensity exercise, according to the results of a prospective cohort study reported online August 16 in The Lancet.
“Exercising at very light levels reduced deaths from any cause by 14 percent,” said senior author Xifeng Wu, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Epidemiology, in a news release. “The benefits of exercise appear to be significant even without reaching the recommended 150 minutes per week based on results of previous research.”
The study cohort consisted of 416,175 persons in Taiwan (199,265 men and 216,910 women) who were evaluated between 1996 and 2008 in a standard medical screening program. Average duration of follow-up was 8.05 ± 4.21 years. Participants were categorized according to the amount of weekly exercise self-reported on a questionnaire as inactive, low, medium, high, or very high activity. For each group, life expectancy and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated for mortality risk, with use of the inactive group as the standard.
The average amount of exercise in the low-volume activity group was 92 minutes per week (95% confidence interval [CI], 71 – 112) or 15 ± 18 minutes per day. Risk for all-cause mortality was 14% lower (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81 – 0.91), and life expectancy was 3 years longer in the low-volume activity group vs the inactive group.
Beyond the minimal amount of 15 minutes of daily exercise, each additional 15 minutes was associated with a further reduction in all-cause mortality risk by 4% (95% CI, 2.5 – 7.0) and in all-cancer mortality risk by 1% (95% CI, 0.3 – 4.5). These benefits of exercise were seen in all age groups, in both sexes, and in persons at risk for cardiovascular disease. Compared with individuals in the low-volume group, inactive persons had a 17% increased risk for mortality (HR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.10 – 1.24).
“15 min a day or 90 min a week of moderate-intensity exercise might be of benefit, even for individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease,” the study authors write.
Limitations of this study include observational design with possible confounding, reliance on self-report to determine exercise amount, lack of generalizability to other populations, and possible loss to follow-up.
In an accompanying editorial, Anil Nigam and Martin Juneau, from Montreal Heart Institute and Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada, note that “this is the first observational study of this size to report important and global health benefits at such a low volume of leisure-time physical activity with this degree of precision.”
“The knowledge that as little as 15 min per day of exercise on most days of the week can substantially reduce an individual’s risk of dying could encourage many more individuals to incorporate a small amount of physical activity into their busy lives,” Drs. Nigam and Juneau write. “Governments and health professionals both have major roles to play to spread this good news story and convince people of the importance of being at least minimally active.”
The exercise project was funded by the Taiwan Department of Health Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence, and the Taiwan National Health Research Institutes supported this study. The study authors and editorialists have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Lancet. Published online August 16, 2011.
Another Benefit of Vitamin D
VITAMIN D PROTECTS AGAINST MORE AGGRESSIVE COLON CANCERS
Researchers have found that cholecalciferol, or vitamin D3, acts on a specific biological pathway that results in a protective effect against more aggressive forms of colon cancer. Evidence that vitamin D inhibits the growth of colon cancer cells is not new, but this study found that vitamin D slows down the action of beta-catenin, a key protein in the carcinogenic transformation process that can cause colon cancers to develop as the more aggressive type.
The study was conducted on mice and also on human colon cancer cells. The scientists reported that treatment with vitamin D in the initial stages of colon cancer could prevent development of aggressive cancers and save lives, but they stressed that this would not be useful in the advanced stages.
Vitamin D is available from some foods such as oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna), from direct sunlight on exposed skin, and from supplement pills or cod liver oil.
The sole vegan source is UV-irradiated mushrooms.
This study was just published electronically in the online journal PLoS, and the full text is now available at http://bit.ly/mYUAJ0 without cost.
Is that Statin Drug Necessary?
Tens of thousands of patients at low risk of heart attacks or strokes could be taking statin heart drugs needlessly, a study published in Britain says. The study published in The Lancet medical journal is the latest suggesting too many people are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs who show no evidence of coronary artery calcium, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.As many as 7 million middle-aged and older people in England are thought to take statins at a cost of $825 million a year to the National Health Service, the Telegraph said. Tens of thousands of patients at low risk of heart attacks or strokes could be taking statin heart drugs needlessly, a study published in Britain says.
The study published in The Lancet medical journal is the latest suggesting too many people are taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs who show no evidence of coronary artery calcium, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
As many as 7 million middle-aged and older people in England are thought to take statins at a cost of $825 million a year to the National Health Service, the Telegraph said.
Researchers said the findings have important public health implications and significant cost savings could be realized if cholesterol-lowering drugs were prescribed only for those who would genuinely benefit.
“The greatest challenge for preventive medicine is identifying people who are at highest risk of heart disease and who should be given drugs, particularly statins, to reduce that risk,” said Peter Weissberg, medical director for the British Heart Foundation.
Is Your Glass of Water A Cocktail of This…?
Source: Chicago Tribune
Aug. 06–Trace amounts of sex hormones, prescription drugs, flame retardants and herbicides are being detected in treated drinking water pumped to more than 7 million people in Chicago and its suburbs.
In the latest round of testing prompted by a 2008 Tribune investigation, city officials discovered that more than two dozen pharmaceutical drugs and other unregulated chemicals pass through Chicago’s massive treatment plants.
Little is known about potential health effects from drinking drug-contaminated water, but scientists and regulators increasingly are concerned about long-term exposure, even at very low levels.
“We need to start addressing the cumulative effects that these low-dose exposures could be having on people,” said Thomas Burke, associate dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“There are no quick solutions,” said Burke, who chaired a National Academy of Sciences committee that called for a dramatic overhaul of the way the U.S. regulates toxic chemicals. “But we need a new approach that is more responsive to emerging science.”
Like other cities, Chicago must notify the public if its drinking water contains regulated contaminants, including lead, pesticides and harmful bacteria. There is no such requirement if pharmaceuticals and other unregulated substances are detected.
Annual water quality reports mailed last month to people in Chicago and the suburbs noted that the city is testing for substances that aren’t on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of regulated contaminants. A list of results obtained by the Tribune is dated April 11 but wasn’t posted on the city’s website until after the newspaper asked for it last week.
City officials were prompted to start testing for the substances after the Tribune found trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, residue from personal care products and unregulated industrial chemicals in local tap water. Substances found in the city’s latest tests include the sex hormones testosterone and progesterone; gemfibrozil, a prescription cholesterol-fighting drug; and DEET, the active ingredient in bug spray.
The tests also found perfluorooctane sulfonate, an ingredient in Scotchgard stain-fighting coatings; bisphenol A, a hormone-like plastics additive; and tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate, a flame retardant chemical.
“Our very awareness of trace amounts of these chemicals comes in large part because we are aggressively conducting research on water quality and safety,” said Tom LaPorte, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Water Management.
Drugs end up in drinking water after people take medicines and residue passes through their bodies down the toilet. Conventional sewage and water treatment filters out some of the substances, or at least reduces the concentrations, but studies have found that small amounts still get through.
Although treated sewage from the Chicago area drains away from Lake Michigan, more than 300 other cities discharge treated waste and untreated sewage overflows into the lake and its tributaries, according to the EPA.
“Exposure to some of these chemicals … is cause for consternation for people and concern over fish and wildlife impacts,” said Rebecca Klaper, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who studies the Great Lakes.
The EPA’s position is that it doesn’t yet have enough evidence to limit pharmaceuticals and many other unregulated chemicals in drinking water. Water officials say not enough is known to justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade treatment plants.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Drug disposal
The detection of pharmaceuticals in water has prompted new advice about how to properly dispose of unused medicine. The Illinois EPA recommends taking it to collection events for household hazardous waste. If that is not practical, you can place unused drugs in the trash after grinding them up and mixing them with coffee grounds or cat box filler so they can’t be stolen. Questions? Email the agency at EPA.Meds.Mail@Illinois.gov. (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)
Vitamin D Deficiency Raises Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY RAISES RISK OF METABOLIC SYNDROME
A study has found that those with low vitamin D levels are 70 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Also, those with low levels of vitamin D were 2.63 times as likely to be obese in the abdomen; 26 percent more likely to have low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol; 22 percent more likely to have high blood glucose (blood sugar) levels; 46 percent more likely to have high or abnormal blood triglycerides; and 43 percent more likely to have high or abnormal blood pressure readings.
The results of this research on Asian volunteers in Kuala Lumpur confirm similar findings regarding vitamin D deficiencies among non-Asian Westerners.
This study was published in a supplement of the August 2011 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and is available now online at http://bit.ly/oGmSXa with subscription or access fee.