Green, Leafy Vegetables Each Day May Help Keep Glaucoma at Bay

“We found those consuming the most green leafy vegetables had a 20-30% lower risk of glaucoma,” said study leader Jae Kang. Kang is an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Glaucoma is an eye condition that usually develops when fluid increases in the front part of the eye and causes pressure, damaging the optic nerve. It can lead to loss of vision, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute.

Kang’s team followed nearly 64,000 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study from 1984 through 2012, and more than 41,000 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 through 2014. The men and women were all 40 or older. None had glaucoma at the start of the study, and they had eye exams every two years.

Over the 25-year follow up, almost 1,500 people developed glaucoma. The research looked at the consumption of green leafy vegetables among the participants.

The investigators divided the participants into five groups, from the highest level of leafy green vegetable consumption to the lowest. Those who ate the most average about 1.5 servings a day, or about one and half cups a day, Kang said. Those in the group eating the least leafy greens ate about a serving every three days.

“In glaucoma, we think there is an impairment of blood flow to the optic nerve,” Kang said. “And an important factor that regulates blood flow to the eye is a substance called nitric oxide.” Green leafy vegetables contain nitrates, which are precursors to nitric oxide, the researchers said.

Pre-Pregnancy Potato Consumption Linked to Gestational Diabetes

A woman’s risk of gestational diabetes seemed to increase by 27% if she regularly consumed between two and four cups of potatoes a week before pregnancy. Five or more cups a week appeared to increase risk by 50%, even after researchers accounted for pre-pregnancy obesity and other potential risk factors, the study found.

“The more women consumed potatoes, the greater risk they had for gestational diabetes,” said senior author Dr. Cuilin Zhang, a senior investigator with the U.S. National institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Potatoes are regarded as a kind of vegetable, but not all vegetables are healthy.”

The findings from the study were released online Jan. 12 in the British Medical Journal.

Potatoes are the third most commonly consumed food crop in the world, after rice and wheat. About 35% of U.S. women in the childbearing years eat potatoes daily, according to the background information in the study.

Eating a cup of potatoes can send blood sugar levels skyrocketing, on par with swigging a can of cola or munching a handful of jelly beans, according to Harvard nutrition experts.

Elevated blood sugar levels can promote insulin resistance and contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, Zhang said.

Wisdom Wednesday: High Cholesterol Revisited

I reference the fallacy of treating high cholesterol with statin drugs frequently. Maybe too frequently. However, for those of you taking a statin (soon to be 50% of the population over the age of 45) I would like to give some background information to discuss with your PCP.

These are the most common causes of high cholesterol:

• The most common cause is a diet high in saturated fat or trans-fats. Saturated fats are found mostly in animal products and recent research indicates that in moderation, saturated fats are safe. Trans-fats are rare in nature but rather are the result of modifying fats to increase shelf life. The trans- bond is very difficult for the body to break. The half-life of a trans-fat in the body is 59 days and it takes five half-lives to eliminate a substance from the body. So the trans-fat oils in those French fries stay in your body for nine months.
• The second most common cause is an underactive thyroid. Hypothyroidism is epidemic in the U.S., especially in women after menopause. Although almost immune to heart attack prior to menopause, the rate of heart attack in women exceeds that of men within five years of menopause. This and insulin resistance are major factors in metabolic syndrome. Laboratory testing for the thyroid begins with a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). Although the lab normal range runs from 0.4 to 4.5, the ideal range is 1-2. Running a T3 and T4 gives a better perspective of hormone production and the TPO (thyroid peroxidase) and thyroid auto-antibodies can reveal autoimmune disease of the thyroid (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis).
• In third is dysbiosis. If the microbiome of the digestive tract is disturbed, harmful bacteria can liberate spent estrogen being discarded from the liver. They also produce estrogen analogs. These products are then resorbed in the lining of the large intestine and stimulate cholesterol production in the liver. A history of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), GERD, acid-reflux or food sensitivities is usually evident but complete digestive stool analysis can identify offending organisms and evaluate the immune status of the gut.
• Last and the least common is genetic, inherited over production of cholesterol in the liver. The lab test for this issue is an L(p)a, a portion of the LDL cholesterol. It is seldom run because there are no drugs currently available to lower the L(p)a. However, both niacin and Gingko leaf extract can often reduce the L(p)a by 50% in three months.

The bigger issue is artery inflammation. This is the ultimate cause of atherosclerosis. When an artery wall becomes inflamed. The inflammation triggers homocysteine to attract LDL cholesterol and attach it to the inflamed artery wall. On a small scale, this protects the inflamed wall. When excessive coronary artery disease is the result.

Try Home Remedies for Child’s Cough or Cold

Instead of turning to over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, parents should consider threating their children with home remedies, says a leading group of U.S. pediatricians.

Like all medications, even cold and cough remedies available without a prescription can cause serious side effects in young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics cautions.

Because of the risks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008 recommended that children younger than 4 years old never be treated with over-the-counter cough and cold medicines.

Children between 4 and 6 years old should only take these remedies under the direction of their doctor, the academy said in a news release. But children older than 6 can safely take over-the-counter drugs if the dosage instructions on the package are followed correctly.

There are safer, more convenient and less costly ways to provide sick kids with some relief from such symptoms as a stuffy nose and coughing, the academy advised. Some suggestions include:
Runny nose: Grab a tissue. A runny nose can be stopped by suctioning it or blowing it. Although antihistamines are useful in treating nasal allergies, they don’t help relieve cold symptoms. The good news is that runny noses help the body get rid of the nasty viruses that make kids sick.

Stuffy nose: No medication can remove dried mucus or pus from the nose, but nasal washes can help. Saline nose spray or drops may loosen up mucus so that kids can blow their nose more easily. Saline solution can be made at home by adding 2 milliliters (mL) (0.4 teaspoon) of table salt to 240 mL (8 ounces) of warm tap water. If saline isn’t available, a few drops of warm water in each nostril also works. This can be repeated until the nose becomes clear. Very sticky mucus can also be removed with a wet cotton swab. If the air is dry, using a humidifier or running a warm shower can keep kids’ mucus from drying up.

Retract Study That Claimed Nitroglycerin Might Boost Bone Density

Some authors of a published study that claimed the heart medicine nitroglycerin might boost bone density in older women have asked that the study be retracted, saying the lead researcher falsified data in the the report.

The research was first published in February2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The request for a retraction appeared online Dec. 28 on the journal’s website.

The researchers who published the retraction request said an investigation found that Dr. Sophie Jamal, formerly a researcher with Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, fabricated the data for the study. Jamal isn’t named as an author of the retraction request, which followed a hospital investigation that determined she had manipulated the data in the study.

When the study was published, it reported that applying a small amount of nitroglycerin ointment to the arm each day was linked to a modest increase in bone density. Roughly 240 women, average age 62, were involved in the study.

An October 2015 report in the Toronto Star said all the women in the study had been told the results weren’t accurate. Jamal has resigned as research director of the Centre for Osteoporosis & Bone Health a Women’s College Hospital, and as an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, the newspaper reported.

Wisdom Wednesday: Set Some Goals for 2016

Everyone talks about New Year’s resolutions, mostly poking fun at how soon they will be broken. Many use this theme as a reason not to bother – “I’ll just break them in a week anyway”.

Of course you will break them and so will I, but New Year’s resolutions should not be about the absolutes. It’s all about changing patterns even if it the effort is sporadic. So when you break one of those resolutions, you just let it go and begin again. Over time, the resolutions will become habits.

So here are a few suggestions for this year:

• Buy a water distiller. Clean water is the easiest, cheapest, and most important step you can take to support your health. A small distiller is relatively inexpensive (about $120). Over the past few years they have become more efficient, making a gallon in about three hours. Generally, 1-2 gallons per day is enough for our household. Buy a five-gallon glass dispenser to hold some reserve. I keep ours full during hurricane season. Amazon.com has several to chose from. Most come with a full one-year warranty. You can expect to get 2-3 years of good service from a unit. Set a goal to drink a half gallon each day.
• Start an exercise program. I highly recommend “Couch to 5K”. This program takes you from walking to a walk-run and peaks with you participating in a 5K (3.2 mile) race. You can download an app for your smart phone or but the book, but many community centers offer classes for a minimal fee. You get coaching and teammates to help you through the rough spots.
• If you are already exercising, add a new activity. Experiment with some classes at the gym. Many serious cyclists dismiss cycling classes, until they take one and then they’re hooked. If you are a runner or walker, try swimming or biking. I got my wife a paddleboard for Christmas. Just carrying it down the beach is a workout, but she loves her new activity – costal cruising on a board.
• Try some baby steps to improve your diet. I recommend five vegetable servings, three protein servings, and two fruits per day. Maybe set a goal that you are going to eat two vegetables and one fruit every day. As you increase the healthy foods in your diet, the junk will begin to fall away. Just do a little better than you have been.
• Plan an exercise based vacation. I love self guided cycling tours but there are unlimited options – hike a portion of the Appalachian Trial or one of hundreds of similar trails through out the country. Go on a ski vacation or a tennis vacation. Set training goals to be ready for the event. Your anticipation will increase as the date approaches and the training progresses.

This year one or my goals is to be consistent with weight training. I really don’t enjoy lifting weights but I love the effects. I feel the difference in my body each and every workout. This year I’m pairing it with spin classes. I’m very diligent in attending two classes per week. If I go a little early to lift weights that overcomes the biggest obstacle – getting there.

The Bottom Line:
There’s an ad on television for a home exercise machine that only takes 14 minutes a day. They claim that the biggest deterrent to exercise is finding the time. I disagree, it’s making the time. Make your plans for 2016.

Breast Ultrasound & Mammography May Be Equally Effective

A new study indicates they appear equally likely to detect breast cancer.

“It looks like ultrasound does better than mammography for node–negative invasive cancer,” said study leader Dr. Wendie Berg, professor of radiology at Magee-Women’s Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh. Node-negative invasive cancer is cancer that hasn’t invaded the lymph nodes, but has grown past the initial tumor, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

“The downside [to ultrasound] is, there were more false positives,” Berg said.

At least one expert doesn’t expect this study to change current screening practice in the United States.

“For U.S. patients, what [this study] really confirms is, ultrasound should be used as a supplemental screening exam in dense breast patients,” said Dr. Lusi Tumyan, a radiologist and assistant clinical professor at the City of Hope Cancer Center, in Duarte, Calif. She reviewed the findings but was not involved in the study. “At this time we do not have enough data to support or refute ultrasound as a screening tool for average-risk patients,” Tumyan said.

The study was published Dec. 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Ultrasound is generally used as a follow-up test once a potential breast tumor has been discovered through a mammogram or a physical exam, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS says that ultrasound is a valuable tool that’s widely available and noninvasive.

The new study involved 2,600 women living in the United States, Canada and Argentina who had ultrasound and mammogram annually for three years. They had no symptoms of breast cancer at the study’s start, but they did have dense breast tissue – considered a risk factor for breast cancer – plus at least one other risk factor for breast cancer.