Eating fish reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease

People who eat baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis may be improving their brain health and reducing their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“This is the first study to establish a direct relationship between fish consumption, brain structure and Alzheimer’s risk,” said Cyrus Raji, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “The results showed that people who consumed baked or broiled fish at least one time per week had better preservation of gray matter volume on MRI in brain areas at risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”

Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and cognitive skills. According to the National Institute on Aging, as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s disease. In MCI, memory loss is present but to a lesser extent than in Alzheimer’s disease. People with MCI often go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

For the study, 260 cognitively normal individuals were selected from the Cardiovascular Health Study. Information on fish consumption was gathered using the National Cancer Institute Food Frequency Questionnaire. There were 163 patients who consumed fish on a weekly basis, and the majority ate fish one to four times per week. Each patient underwent 3-D volumetric MRI of the brain. Voxel-based morphometry, a brain mapping technique that measures gray matter volume, was used to model the relationship between weekly fish consumption at baseline and brain structure 10 years later. The data were then analyzed to determine if gray matter volume preservation associated with fish consumption reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The study controlled for age, gender, education, race, obesity, physical activity, and the presence or absence of apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4), a gene that increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Gray matter volume is crucial to brain health. When it remains higher, brain health is being maintained. Decreases in gray matter volume indicate that brain cells are shrinking.
The findings showed that consumption of baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis was positively associated with gray matter volumes in several areas of the brain. Greater hippocampal, posterior cingulate and orbital frontal cortex volumes in relation to fish consumption reduced the risk for five-year decline to MCI or Alzheimer’s by almost five-fold.

“Consuming baked or broiled fish promotes stronger neurons in the brain’s gray matter by making them larger and healthier,” Dr. Raji said. “This simple lifestyle choice increases the brain’s resistance to Alzheimer’s disease and lowers risk for the disorder.”
The results also demonstrated increased levels of cognition in people who ate baked or broiled fish.
“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, such as education, age, gender and physical activity.”
Eating fried fish, on the other hand, was not shown to increase brain volume or protect against cognitive decline.

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An Egg a Day Raises Risk of Diabetes -Researchers

People who eat eggs every day may substantially increase their risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers here said.

Men with the highest level of egg consumption -- at seven or more per week -- were 58% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who did not eat eggs, and women were 77% more likely to become diabetic if they ate at least an egg a day, Luc Djoussé, M.D., D.Sc., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard, and colleagues reported online in Diabetes Care.

Levels of egg intake above one a week also incrementally increased diabetes risk in both men and women (both P<0.0001 for trend), the researchers said.

Eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol (about 200 mg per egg) and add about 1.5 g of saturated fat each to the diet, both of which would be expected to increase diabetes risk, they said.
Action Points

    Explain to interested patients that the average one-egg-a-week consumption was not associated with increased diabetes risk.

    Note that eggs may influence glucose metabolism primarily through their effect on cholesterol, although the researchers noted that the observational study could not determine the mechanism.

But each egg also contributes about 0.7 g of polyunsaturated fat, which may confer a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, the researchers noted.

The limited, primarily animal model, evidence for an effect of eggs or dietary cholesterol on glucose metabolism has been inconsistent, they added.

To sort out the effects, the researchers analyzed two large prospective trials that included food frequency questionnaires.

Their analysis included 20,703 male physicians without baseline diabetes from the Physicians' Health Study I (1982-2007) and 36,295 similarly diabetes-free female health professionals from the Women's Health Study (1992-2007).

Both studies were originally designed as randomized trials of vitamin supplementation and aspirin for prevention of heart disease.

Over a mean follow-up of 20.0 years in men and 11.7 years in women, 1,921 men and 2,112 women developed type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes was more common in men and women who reported eating more than the average one egg a week.

After adjustment for traditional diabetes risk factors and compared with no egg consumption at the 95% confidence interval, the hazard ratios for type 2 diabetes in men were:

    9% for less than one egg a week (hazard ratio 1.09, 0.87 to 1.37)
    9% for one egg a week (HR 1.09, 0.88 to 1.34)
    18% for two to four eggs a week (HR 1.18, 0.95 to 1.45)
    46% for five to six eggs per week (HR 1.46, 1.14 to 1.86)
    58% for seven or more eggs each week (HR 1.58, 1.25 to 2.01)

Updating egg consumption with longer follow-up among men strengthened the associations to an almost twofold risk for those in the near daily or higher intake groups (HR 1.77, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.26, and HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.23 to 3.23, respectively).

For women, the multivariate-adjusted risks, also at the 95% confidence interval, compared with no egg intake were:

    6% for less than one egg per week (HR 1.06, 0.92 to 1.22)
    -3% for one egg a week (HR 0.97, 0.83 to 1.12)
    19% for two to four eggs per week (HR 1.19, 1.03 to 1.38)
    18% for five to six eggs a week (HR 1.18, 0.88 to 1.58)
    77% for seven or more per week (HR 1.77, 1.28 to 2.43)

Data on dietary cholesterol available in the female health professional study showed higher diabetes risk with rising dietary cholesterol with hazard ratios increasing to 1.28 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.50) in the highest quintile (P<0.0001 for trend).

Adjustment for dietary cholesterol attenuated the association between diabetes and egg consumption, whereas saturated fat was not associated with type 2 diabetes and did not alter the diabetes-egg link.

The effects did not appear to be limited to those with high carbohydrate diets, hypercholesterolemia, or high body mass index.

However, the researchers acknowledged that the data did not include repeat fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and other biomarkers of glucose metabolism to "comprehensively examine possible physiologic mechanisms."

The observational studies may also have been limited by self-reporting and residual confounding, they noted.

The generalizablity may have been limited as well by the homogeneous, primarily Caucasian health professional population, which may have different behaviors than the general population, Dr. Djoussé's group said.

"Given the societal burden of type 2 diabetes," they concluded, "confirmation of these findings in other populations and exploration of possible underlying biological mechanisms are warranted."

The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.    

(MedPage Today)

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6 Doctor-Recommended Sleep Aids

Tired of counting sheep? Try one of these remedies and get a good night’s sleep.

1. Aromatherapy
Try it: When you’re drowsy but slightly tense.
How to use it: Massage a dab of aromatherapeutic balm or oil into the back of your neck and shoulders (and inhale deeply) before you hit the sack. Certain fragrances, including lavender and lemon balm, promote snooze-inducing relaxation, says Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., a sleep specialist at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, in Tucson.
Good to know: You don’t have to stick to traditional aromatherapeutic scents—any fragrance that makes you feel good can be calming, says Phyllis Zee, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology and the director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern University, in Chicago.

2. Valerian Tea
Try it: If you are getting a full night’s sleep but still feel tired in the a.m.
How to use it: Sip a brew made from the flowering plant an hour or so before bedtime. Some studies have shown that valerian can help increase sleep quality (it’s packed with antioxidants, too). You may have to drink it for several nights in a row before it works, says Naiman.
Good to know: Valerian shouldn’t be taken for more than two weeks at a time, since prolonged use can lead to dependency. And it can interfere with some prescription medications, including cholesterol drugs, so check with your doctor before steeping.

3. GABA-Enhanced Drink
Try it: When your head is racing with worries.
How to use it: Down a shot of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) right before bed.
“GABA, an amino acid found in your body, has been shown to quiet the mind when taken orally,” says Naiman.
Good to know: Certain foods, including brown rice, bananas, and mackerel, contain GABA. Consuming them during the day may help you sleep better at night.

4. Melatonin Supplement
Try it: If you don’t feel tired until way past bedtime.
How to use it: Take a three-milligram tablet 15 to 20 minutes before bed. Your brain makes this neurohormone naturally to “tell the body that it’s time for sleep,” says Naiman. “But many people have suppressed melatonin production because they’re overexposed to light in the evening.” Naiman has been using it nightly for 20 years.
Good to know: Consult with your doctor before taking melatonin. It is not recommended for pregnant women, women trying to conceive, children, and adolescent boys (it can affect testosterone levels in maturing males).

5. Over-the-Counter Sleeping Pill
Try it: When you’re going through a short period of sleeplessness, like during a stressful time at work.
How to use it: At bedtime, take two tablets that contain diphenhydramine, an antihistamine that makes you feel sleepy (research shows that an excess of histamine in the body may cause insomnia). “The less often you take these pills, the better,” says Dr. Lisa Shives, a sleep specialist in Evanston, Ill. “You can build up a tolerance, and then they won’t work as well.” (Try Unisom SleepGels; $10 for 32 gel tabs, at drugstores.)
Note: Never mix alcohol and sleeping pills.
Good to know: “The older you are, the slower you metabolize this type of drug,” says Shives. That means you may experience lingering sleepiness in the morning.

6. Prescription Medication
Try it: When insomnia becomes a chronic problem.
How to use it: Work with your doctor to figure out which medication is best for you. Shives’s favorite is Rozerem (rozerem.com). It acts on the melatonin receptors in the brain that help you fall and stay asleep (other aids act only as a sedative). Take a tablet about 30 minutes before bed.
Good to know: Finding the right medication may require trial and error: Some can make you more wired and awake. Side effects are common, says Shives, and range from the annoying (headaches, grogginess) to the serious, like unconscious nighttime binge eating and driving. Pregnant women may want to avoid these aids, even though they have not been proven to be dangerous.

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Understanding Diseases/Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes excessive sleepiness and frequent daytime sleep attacks.

Symptoms
*Periods of extreme drowsiness every 3 to 4 hours during the day. You may feel a strong urge to sleep, often followed by a short nap (sleep attack).
*These periods last for about 15 minutes each, although they can be longer.
*They often happen after eating, but may occur while driving, talking to someone, or during other situations.
*You wake up feeling refreshed.
*Dream-like hallucinations may occur during the stage between sleep and wakefulness. They involve seeing or hearing, and possibly other senses.
*Sleep paralysis is when you are unable to move when you first wake up. It may also happen when you first become drowsy.
*Cataplexy is a sudden loss of muscle tone while awake, resulting in the inability to move. Strong emotions, such as laughter or anger, will often bring on cataplexy.
 *Most attacks last for less than 30 seconds and can be missed.
 *Your head will suddenly fall forward, your jaw will become slack, and your knees will buckle.
 *In severe cases, a person may fall and stay paralyzed for as long as several minutes.

Causes & Risk Factors
Narcolepsy is a nervous system disorder, not a mental illness. Anxiety does not cause narcolepsy.
Experts believe that narcolepsy is caused by reduced amounts of a protein called hypocretin, which is made in the brain. What causes the brain to produce less of this protein is unclear.
Narcolepsy tends to run in families.
Conditions that cause insomnia, such as disrupted work schedules, can make narcolepsy worse.
Tests & Diagnostics
The doctor will perform a physical exam and order blood work to rule out conditions that can cause similar symptoms.
Conditions that can cause excessive sleepiness include:
    *  Insomnia and other sleep disorders
    *  Restless leg syndrome
    * Seizures
    * Sleep apnea
    * Other medical, psychiatric, or nervous system diseases
Other tests may include:
    * ECG (measures the heart's electrical activity)
    * EEG (brain activity measurements)
    * Monitoring of breathing
    * Genetic testing to look for narcolepsy gene
Tests will also include a sleep study (polysomnogram). The Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) may be used to help diagnose narcolepsy. This test measures how long it takes you to fall asleep during a daytime nap. Patients with narcolepsy fall asleep much faster than people without the condition.
Treatments
There is no known cure for narcolepsy. The goal of treatment is to control symptoms.
Lifestyle adjustments and learning to cope with the emotional and other effects of the disorder may help you function better in work and social activities.
This involves:
* Eating light or vegetarian meals during the day and avoiding heavy meals before important
   activities
* Scheduling a brief nap (10 to 15 minutes) after meals, if possible
* Planning naps to control daytime sleep and reduce the number of unplanned, sudden sleep
   attacks
* Informing teachers and supervisors about the condition so you are not punished for being
   "lazy" at school or work

You may need to take prescription medications. The stimulant drug modafinil (Provigil) is the first choice of treatment for narcolepsy. It is much less likely to be abused than other stimulants. The medicine also helps you stay awake. Other stimulants include dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, DextroStat) and methylphenidate (Ritalin). Antidepressant medications can help reduce episodes of cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations.
Antidepressants include:
*Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, and venlafaxine
*Tricyclic antidepressants such as protriptyline clomipramine, imipramine, and desipramine
*Sodium oxybate (Xyrem) is prescribed to certain patients for use at night.

If you have narcolepsy, you may have driving restrictions. Restrictions vary from state to state.
Complications
    * Injuries and accidents, if attacks occur during activities
    * Impairment of functioning at work
    * Impairment of social activities
    * Side effects of medications used to treat the disorder
Prevention
There is no known way to prevent narcolepsy. Treatment may reduce the number of attacks. Avoid situations that aggravate the condition if you are prone to attacks of narcolepsy.
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Space siblings at least two years apart to make them smarter

According to a new study by University of Notre Dame economist Kasey Buckles and graduate student Elizabeth Munnich, siblings spaced more than two years apart have higher reading and math scores than children born closer together. The positive academic effects of greater spacing between children were seen in older siblings, but not in younger ones, according to Buckles.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Human Resources.

Using the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), researchers sampled a nationally representative panel survey of 12,686 young people ages 14 to 22 in 1979, and their children. The study was designed to identify the causal effect of spacing on academic achievement.

“Our results indicate that longer gaps improve test scores for older children, and have no effect on the scores of younger children,” Buckles says. “This appears to be due in part to the fact that older children get more of their parents’ time when the younger sibling is not born until a few years later.”

Earlier research in other fields has focused mostly on the effects of small gaps (less than two years) between siblings on early outcomes such as birth weight and infant mortality. Buckles’ study investigates the effects of birth spacing on later-life academic performance as measured by the Peabody Individual Achievement Tests for math and reading.

“Parents often wonder whether there is an ideal spacing between children. Our results suggest that for at least one important outcome—academic achievement—greater spacing can improve outcomes for the older sibling.”

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Smokeout Day: The Best Ways to Quit

As thousands of smokers across the United States try to kick their bad habit as part of the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, experts agree that a two-pronged strategy is the best bet for success.

"The U.S. Public Health Service has twice done very extensive reviews of all the evidence, and [best] is a combination of counseling/advice, by pharmacists, physicians or quitlines, plus medicine," said Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends and of international cancer control for the American Cancer Society.
A lot has changed since 1976, when the first smokeout took place, Glynn noted. "People could smoke on airplanes and in restaurants; the person sitting next to you in the movie theater could be smoking. Two of every five people smoked; now it's one of five."

Another difference: "Now, there are a number of ways that people can succeed, [including] seven medications approved by the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]," he said.
Still, many Americans resist medications or counseling, and rely on personal willpower to get them through nicotine withdrawal.
"Cold turkey, sheer willpower; the best data is that about 5 percent of people succeed," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer at the American Lung Association.
"People who smoke 10 cigarettes a day, light smokers, if they want to try quitting on their own, that's fine," said Gary Giovino, chair of the department of community health and health behavior at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. For heavy smokers, he recommends starting with nicotine replacement therapy.

Smoking-cessation medications come "in three buckets: nicotine replacement, Wellbutrin/Zyban (bupropion) and Chantix (varenicline)," said Dr. Nancy Rigotti, director of the tobacco research and treatment unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "They all work. It's better to take one than none."
Nicotine patches give users a steady dose of nicotine through the skin and come in 16- or 24-hour varieties, by prescription or over-the-counter. Fast-acting forms of nicotine replacement therapy are lozenges and gum, available over-the-counter, and prescription inhalers and nasal sprays.
"You use the patch to get constant coverage and use the other forms to get over cravings, as supplements," Rigotti said.

In its 2008 recommendations, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality advised clinicians to consider nicotine patches in combination with Wellbutrin or Zyban for smokers unable to quit with a single type of medication. Wellbutrin, Zyban and Chantix all carry black box warnings about the increased possibility of suicidal thoughts, although Chantix has come under the most scrutiny for this potential side effect.
"The fear is of big changes in behavior," Giovino said. "The question is, does it happen more often with Chantix or if you stop smoking with a nicotine replacement drug?"

"If people want something based on a prescription, they should discuss it with their doctor," Giovino said.
Telephone quitlines can be effective, convenient and free, but are underused because smokers have misconceptions about them, Rigotti and Giovino said.
"It's like getting a phone appointment with your doctor," Rigotti said. "They'll schedule calls around your quit day. It's so you can talk to somebody who can help you if you've slipped, you can get back on the wagon. It's practical information, not psychotherapy, not voodoo."

Internet quit sites provide another option. For instance, the American Lung Association offers the "Freedom From Smoking" online program, Edelman noted.
Even with outside help, willpower still comes into play in breaking long-held habits and battling sharp cravings.
Giovino suggested the "'six Ds': delay, drink water, distract yourself, discuss with someone, deep breath and, finally, don't debate. People who do best are those who decide smoking is no longer an option."
(HealthDay News)

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Sitting may boost cancer risk

Sitting for long periods of time may increase cancer risk, say researchers who recommend the avoidance of prolonged sedentary periods and stress the importance of regular exercise.

The research was presented this week at the American Institute for Cancer Research annual conference in Washington.
Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor, researchers say.Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor, researchers say. Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press
Christine Friedenreich, an epidemiologist at Alberta Health Services, estimated that lack of physical activity is linked to nearly 100,000 cases of breast and colon cancer in the U.S. each year.
Based in part on those findings, the institute is urging people to make time for physical activity and break every hour of sitting with one to two minutes of activity.
Friedenreich's findings from the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention trial were also published in the October issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
In the study, 320 women aged 50 to 74 were randomly assigned either to work up to exercising five days a week for at least 45 minutes or else to continue with their usual inactivity.
Friedenreich found differences in a marker of inflammation, known as C-reaction protein, over 12 months for exercisers compared with controls.
Inflammation markers
The study suggested that it isn't just lack of exercise that increases markers of inflammation, but that a sedentary lifestyle does, too.
Research is starting to point to how exercise may lower markers of inflammation, which in turn might lower cancer risk. But the possible links need to be investigated more thoroughly.
"Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor in its own right. It seems highly likely that the longer you sit, the higher your risk," said Neville Owen, head of behavioural epidemiology at Australia's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, who also presented findings at the conference.
"This phenomenon isn't dependent on body weight or how much exercise people do," Owen added in a release.
Owen's study measured waist circumference, insulin resistance and inflammation in adults who wore accelerometers to record their physical activity levels. Taking breaks as short as one minute was tied to lower levels of those biomarkers.
The institute offered these tips to help people fit in more activity:
Set the timer on your computer to remind you every 60 minutes that it's time to step away from your desk and take a short walk down the hall.
"Walk with me." Got a quick thing to discuss with a co-worker? Instead of sending an email, ask him or her to join you for a walk to hash it out on the go.
Keep light hand weights in your office to use while reading email or talking on the phone.
During phone calls and phone meetings, stand up and walk around.
Your office or cubicle wall is all you need for simple activities like stretches, vertical push-ups and leg lifts.
 For a more vigorous activity break, ask your employer to put a punching bag or chin-up bar in your break room.

CBC News

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Colon Cancer And Polyps: What You Need To Know

It would surprise many to learn that colon cancer is the third leading cause of death by cancer in American men. Over the past 10 years, more than 600,000 people have succumbed to this highly preventable and treatable cancer, and over 1.5 million have been diagnosed.

Colon cancer, sometimes referred to as colorectal cancer, usually starts as slow-growing precancerous polyps, a term used to describe bumps on the surface of the colon. Virtually all colon cancers begin with these growths. When found early, colon cancer is approximately 90% treatable.
Colon cancer risk factors
The lifetime risk for developing colon cancer is 1-in-18 and over 90% of these cases occur after the age 50. Increasing age, a family history of colon polyps, colon cancer or other early cancers can double or triple your risk for developing this disease. If any of these risk factors run in your family, you need to start the discussion about screening at age 40 or even earlier depending on when your family members were diagnosed.
Persons with ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease or a personal history of cancer are also at increased risk for colon cancer and need to tailor regular, more frequent colonoscopies.
Studies also indicate that diet and smoking may increase the risk of developing colon polyps and colon cancer.
While family history and other risk factors matter, not having risk factors does not eliminate your need for screenings.
What polyps tell us
As we age, about 1-in-4 of us develop polyps in our colon and about 10% of these polyps eventually turn from a benign growth into colon cancer. For the most part, these polyps take about 10 years to transform into colon cancer.
Polyps and early colon cancers often have no symptoms and can be detected only by screening exams.
How can colon cancer best be prevented?
There are several effective ways to reduce your colon cancer risk, but none more important than getting timely screenings and removing polyps before they become malignant.
Refraining from smoking, maintaining healthy weight and regular exercise, managing normal body levels of nutrients, especially vitamin D also appear to lower risk factors. Diets high in fiber are good for you, but have not been definitively shown to reduce colon cancer risk.
What are the symptoms of colon cancer?
Symptoms usually occur once tumors are advanced and causing obstruction or if the cancer has spread beyond the colon there may be rectal bleeding, anemia, abdominal pain, a change in bowel habits (constipation or diarrhea), unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, recurrent fevers, unexplained nausea or vomiting, or fatigue.
However, colon cancer symptoms overlap greatly with other digestive conditions. Many times, especially in younger patients, symptoms are attributed to hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome. Seven percent of colon cancers occur in people in their 40 and 3% under the age of 40. It’s important to take any of these symptoms seriously and request an evaluation.
If you experience any of these symptoms, until you are fully examined, no one -- not even a physician -- can definitively tell you the cause.
What are colon cancer screening options?
There are multiple screening options available that can often be confusing for the patient. For anyone at high risk for colon cancer, colonoscopy is the only recommended strategy.
Colonoscopy: Your physician will examine the inside of your colon and rectum using a long, lighted tube called a colonoscope, and removes any polyps found.
Virtual colonoscopy (CT scan colonoscopy): Images of the colon and rectum are taken using computerized tomography (CT). A computer puts the images together to create an animated, three-dimensional view. If abnormalities are detected, a colonoscopy is necessary.
Double contrast barium enema: The patient is given an enema with barium followed by air. The air pushes the barium against the walls of the colon in order to better visualize potential problems, such as polyps or tumors. If the test is abnormal, a colonoscopy is necessary.
Sigmoidoscopy: The doctor will examine the rectum and only the lower portion of the colon with a lighted tube. Where polyps are found, the doctor removes them.
Only a colonoscopy allows for both identification and removal of colon polyps throughout the entire colon and rectum. All other screening options require bowel prep, and if positive, will require a colonoscopy for confirmation and polyp removal.
For average-risk individuals, colonoscopy is recommended once every 10 years starting at age 50, and for African Americans, several societies recommend to start screening at age 45. Higher levels of risk require more frequent testing intervals and if polyps are found, follow-up surveillance with colonoscopy is recommended every five years. For more detailed screening information, visit ColonCancerPreventionProject.org.
if colonoscopy is not for you
Stool can be analyzed for evidence of bleeding or genetic abnormalities associated with colon cancer or large polyps. These tests are not designed to detect small- or medium-size polyps in their earliest stages. In order for these to effectively reduce colon cancer death rates, they must be repeated on an annual basis. When followed carefully, stool testing allows for intervention and detection of colon cancer at early stages leading to higher survival rates.
As you choose between the various types of testing, the best screening test is the one you will complete.

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Why Men Act Strangely After 40

People are born, they grow up and they eventually die. This is an inevitable fact of life. Every age has a beauty of its own. It would be impossible and against the force of nature for people between the ages of 45 and 65 to act and have the performance of people who are in their 20s or 30s. We can see from recently published articles that women who are between the ages of 45 and 65 have superior bodily functions, sexual impulses and thought capabilities in comparison to men of the same age. We believe these are pointless studies -- the body has a certain way of operating at every age. Your brain is what controls every organ in your body as well as your memory, mind and thoughts. 
So, how does the middle-aged man's brain work?
This age range is the most productive period in life for men and women. The body is completely developed and is now stable. The brain has also reached its top functioning and capacity level. However, due to the lack of hormones like testosterone and androgen (to name a few) the functions and capacity of the brain start to regress in time. High blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases caused by genetics or environmental conditions also speed up this regression process. 
Sexual impulses -- the symbol of your manhood -- and sexual capacity also start to regress. This organic process is usually denied by the person suffering from the effects -- they try to prove otherwise. Some men divert these feelings into success, ambition, religion, sports, new hobbies, or otherwise. Subconsciously, they want to prove that their sexual impulses and performance are still the same. The reason behind all of this is that just like organs, the brain starts to wear down and the hormone responsible for your "manhood" is no longer being produced as much.
The other way men try to prove their manhood and sexual impulses is to flirt with younger women. On some levels this is acceptable; however, sometimes it gets out of control. Lusting after younger women when you're in your 40s means that you're quickly going to get the nickname of "creepy old man" and it usually brings on stereotypes of problems at home and in the "old man's" social life. Having a young obsession might change this man's style, his eating habits, his social behavior, etc. And these changes might look silly to everyone else but him.
Unfortunately, these men (the creepy old men lusting after young women) will talk about how happy they are and how good their sexual life is any opportunity they get. However, this is a big fat lie! This is an attempt to resist the forces of nature. We should not forget this fact: If you want to pay attention to (and sleep with) multiple women who are younger than you (much younger), try and do so in secret. Due to hormones, men are more prone to multiple sexual relationships with more than one partner. Women who deny that are only deceiving themselves.
Does this rut happen to every middle-aged man?
No matter how much a man loves his wife, his attraction to the opposite sex never ends. Sometimes, married men will act on these attraction impulses, while others will try to hide it (think American Beauty). The problem in middle age and older men is that if they act on these impulses they usually do so too often and it exposes them as the "creepy old men." The change in sex hormone secretion does not affect sexual impulses, but it does affect sexual performance. Sexual performance is the icon for power in men. No matter what the social and economical status of a man, his sexual power is more important than anything else. Men start to think they will lose their sexual power when they are middle-aged, therefore, they want to be with as many women as possible while they have some time left.
Men over 40 will try to do everything they didn’t get the chance to do during their younger years. In this phase, they don’t have to worry about social, career or economical problems, thus, they can reach their goals more easily. Even though they deny it, being middle-aged makes men more outgoing and they want to spend as much time as they can having sex. Sometimes this situation grows too big and becomes an obsession. When the habit becomes an obsession, society will start to criticize. Unfortunately, these men should see a therapist immediately. Middle-aged men are also known to suffer from erection difficulties and prostate troubles that can lead to depression, which should also be treated by a physician and/or therapist.
How does the middle-aged man's brain work?
God gave women sexual impulses by making them fertile and giving them the gift of motherhood. The combination of both made men chase after them. Between the ages of 45 and 55 women lose the ability to give birth. Estrogen, progesterone and the other female hormones start to decrease, and this has a negative effect on women. Losing their fertility and problems with secretion of certain hormones brings a lot of problems to the table. However, as bad as it might be for women to deal with menopause and hormonal changes, this phase is much harder for men.
The decreasing of hormone secretion will bring on hot flushes, heart palpitations and sweating as well as affecting her brain biochemistry. Extreme anger, perturbation, depression symptoms, and a decrease in self-confidence is also often seen in women going through these hormonal changes. The changes that come with this age range and hormones might make women falsely accuse their male partners of not appreciating them -- and will often withhold or threaten to withhold sex. At the same time, if men go through the same problems things can get out of hand. Middle-aged women should not forget this: The reason middle-aged men act strangely and cheat is not because they don’t love their wives; it's because they are depressed and they feel the need to prove they are still alive and can perform well in bed.
Do middle-aged women also go through this sexual rut?
Only fertility ends with menopause. Women will not see a change in their sexual impulses -- especially not a downturn in the impulse department as there is no longer a chance of pregnancy, thus, sex can be enjoyed more freely. The primary emotions in women are to be liked physically and spiritually. Hence, women are not likely to have multiple partners. Depending on their characters, they will seek men they can connect with mentally and physically. 
The hormonal and physical changes bring about disfavored feelings in women. This is why some women want to look younger, and they will try almost anything to accomplish that goal. The most effective way women look younger is to undergo plastic surgery. It is completely normal to fix disliked parts of the body with surgery. Simple procedures can make these previously self-conscious women more attractive, but if they panic and go under the knife countless times they will end up with deformed bodies. There is also the chance that women will act like teenagers in an attempt to be perceived as younger by the outside world; this will only bring ridicule from society. However, this is only caused by the change of brain biochemistry -- women experience a loss of judgment during their middle-aged years.
middle age advice
The middle age period is the most mature time for men and women.
By keeping our brains young we can keep ourselves from meaningless behaviors, control our organs and rule our bodies.
How can we keep our brain young?
Just like every other organ, our brain gets its stability from our genes. However, keeping our brain capacity running at a maximum rate and protecting it from diseases and a loss of memory is something we can improve on. Here’s what we can do about it:

• Exercise regularly

• Eat healthy: During your middle age years, stay away from animal products and live on fresh fruits and vegetables. For meat, choose fish or organic chicken. Salt and sugar should be kept to a minimum.

• Decrease your workload at the office and use time management properly to stay away from stress. For this you should increase holidays and take trips often.

• Read a lot of books, solve crossword puzzles, play music, paint, or take on similar hobbies. This will always keep your mind fit. 

( Via ASK MEN.COM )

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Health/Daily Ginger Dose May Reduce Risk of Colorectal Cancer

A daily dose of ginger could reduce colon inflammation and ultimately help reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that study participants who took ginger supplements had a 28 percent decrease in one measure of colorectal inflammation, compared with those who took a placebo. Studies have shown that people with higher levels of rectal inflammation are more likely to develop lesions, which can develop into cancer.
The researchers noted that the study was small — it had only 30 participants — and more research is needed into ginger's effect on cancer risk.
Still, "the results look promising," said Patricia Thompson, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study.
The second-deadliest cancer
Colorectal cancer, which can grow in both the colon and the rectum, kills more people annually in the U.S. than any other cancer except lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimated that 142,000 people in the U.S. were diagnosed with colon cancer in 2010, and 51,000 died from the disease.
Other research has examined ways to lower the risk of developing colorectal cancer. For example, regularly taking aspirin can reduce your colorectal cancer risk, but it can also lead to gastrointestinal bleeding. And some studies suggest certain foods, such as cherries and black raspberries, lower colorectal cancer risk, but none have tested ginger in people, Thompson said.
So far, the best way to prevent colorectal cancer is to get screened, she said.
In the new study, the researchers looked at how levels of a substance called PGE2 changed, along with other signs of inflammation in the colon, when people took daily doses of ginger extract.The researchers randomly assigned the 30 participants to take either two grams of ginger root supplements or a placebo once a day for 28 days.
PGE2 is a hormone-like molecule your body releases when an area of the body becomes inflamed.
The study participants were all healthy people, who had a "normal" risk of developing colorectal cancer, said study researcher Suzanna Zick, an assistant research professor at the University of Michigan Medical School.
When Zick and her team compared rectal biopsies of the participants they took at the beginning and end of the study, they found that PGE2 levels decreased an average of 28 percent in those taking ginger, but were nearly unchanged in those taking the placebo. Side effects for the two treatments were mild and included headache, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems, such as bloating, gas and nausea, the researchers said. [7 Side Effects of Cancer Treatment, and How to Cope With Them]
Many questions remain
Zick said that another, larger trial is needed to corroborate her study's findings and to answer the host of questions the study raised.
In particular, future research will need to figure out how ginger might reduce rectal PGE2 levels. If ginger acts to reduce inflammation the same way as a class of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors, then it may also share the drugs’ downside of increasing a person’s risk for cardiovascular disease, Zick said.
We also don't know how much ginger a person would need to take to possibly reduce their cancer risk, Thompson said. In the study, the researchers chose two grams of ginger extract, which equates to about 20 grams of raw ginger root, because past trials showed that this dose is the highest a healthy person can tolerate — more ginger would increase gastrointestinal problems.
Despite the unknowns, "the research is very exciting," said Thompson. “Given the effect seen in such a small study suggests that this effect is very big — more research will show just how big.”
The study was published Oct. 11 in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
Pass it on: Eating ginger may reduce your risk of developing colorectal cancer, but don’t go stocking up on ginger root just yet — more research is still needed.

Photo by iStock| Story by MyHealthNewsDaily

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Older dads may father kids with lower IQ's

Washington, Oct 4 (ANI): Older fathers are to be blamed for chromosomal abnormalities linked to intellectual disability in children, according to a new study.
Chromosomal abnormalities are caused by copy number variations, or CNVs. These are structural variations resulting in missing, repeated, inverted or misplaced DNA sequences in cells.
They can be inherited or arise anew, and are a common cause of disease.
The research team systematically analysed the prevalence of rare CNVs in almost 3500 people with intellectual disabilities between 2006 and 2010.
They found CNVs, which had arisen anew, as opposed to being inherited, in 227 people, meaning the prevalence was around twice as common in this group as among people with autism and three times as common as among those with asthma.
 Further analysis to determine the parental origin of the CNVs in the 118 people for whom data were available, showed that 90 had come from the father, and that three quarters represented missing DNA sequences.
The researchers then divided people with CNVs into two groups - those with CNVs occurring in regions of the genome with highly repetitive DNA sequences, and those with CNVs occurring in non - repetitive DNA sequences.
 They also compared paternal ages in both groups with those of the people without any intellectual disability.
A significant increase in the father's age was found in the group of CNVs in non-repetitive DNA sequences - which accounted for most CNVs - providing a crucial insight into the understanding of how and why disease - causing CNVs are formed, say the authors.
 The findings also indicate that newly arising CNVs not only originate more often from the father's DNA, but that the father's age has a role, the authors say.
"In conclusion, our data provide for the first time convincing evidence that CNVs in intellectual disability are largely paternal in origin," they add.
The study has been published online in the Journal of Medical Genetics. (ANI)

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The Relaxing Power of Kava

The vitamin and supplement market is full of remedies that claim to help with anxiety and stress. Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham visited the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx to share a potent and natural remedy, which relieves stress and enhances overall well-being.
The kava plant isn’t common to most people’s gardens, but Michael Balick, vice president for botanical science and philecology curator of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, told FoxNews.com that people in the South Pacific have been using it for thousands of years as an anti-anxiety tonic.
“The roots are pounded, mixed with hibiscus, and made into a sort of slimy beverage that immediately reduces your anxiety, makes you want to talk to everybody in the room. It's an anxiolytic, similar to Valium, and so you lose your inhibitions; everybody's your friend, you're chatting away, and they use it to resolve conflict,” Balick said.
Kilham, who calls the plant one of his favorites, has also experienced the effects of kava.
“It's really an agent of kinship and community. You know people get together in the afternoon, they drink kava, they talk. It really seems to be an agent of community cohesion every bit as much as it's a medicinal plant,” Kilham said.
Balick explained how kava helps hold culture together in the South Pacific. While families in the U.S. may spend time with their children and spouses around the television in the evenings, on the island of Vonuatu, families sit around a stone, pound kava and drink it. It is a time for storytelling and to resolve problems.
Kilham said the effects of kava are immediate, and Balick warned that the plant should be used with caution.
“You wouldn't want to drive a car under the influence of kava, because everything would just seem funny and happy,” Balick said.

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Aspirin Tied to Risk of Vision Loss

Seniors who take aspirin daily are twice as likely to have late stage macular degeneration, an age-related loss of vision, than people who never take the pain reliever, according to a new study.

The data do not show that aspirin causes vision loss. But the findings, published in Opthalmology, are of concern if aspirin somehow exacerbates the eye disorder, given how many seniors take it daily for heart disease.
"For people who have age-related macular degeneration, it probably isn't wise to recommend taking aspirin," said William Christen of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the study.
Researchers led by Paulus de Jong at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Academic Medical Center collected health and lifestyle information from nearly 4,700 people over age 65. The study included Norwegian, Estonian, British, French, Italian, Greek and Spanish seniors.
Of the 839 people who took aspirin each day, 36 had an advanced form of the disease called wet macular degeneration -- or about four out of every 100 daily aspirin users.
In comparison, roughly two out of every 100 people who took aspirin less frequently had the same type of macular degeneration.
The wet form of the condition, caused by leaking blood vessels in the eyes, leads to vision loss in the center of the eye's field of vision. The dry form is more common and less severe, although people still suffer visual impairment.
Together, wet and dry macular degeneration make up the leading causes of vision loss among people over age 60, afflicting millions of residents.
The researchers found that aspirin use was not tied to the dry form, nor to earlier stages of the disease.
"I don't think that's surprising," Christen told Reuters health. "I think the effects of aspirin may be different in the early stages of age-related macular degeneration than in the late stages."
De Jong told Reuters Health there has been controversy over the link between cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration.
He wrote in an email that his team had analyzed as "meticulously as possible" whether cardiovascular disease might have influenced the results, and still found that aspirin users -- regardless of their heart health -- are at a greater risk of the more serious type of vision loss.
For people with cardiovascular disease who take aspirin to prevent the condition from worsening, the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks to visual health, he added.
"A healthy eye with full visual capacities is of no use in a dead body," he said.
Larger studies that follow people over time and document their aspirin use and vision will help resolve aspirin's role in macular degeneration, de Jong added.

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Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease

Image Credit : iStockphoto.com

By now, everyone is familiar with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), a progressive disease of the brain that causes thinking and memory to become seriously impaired. However, despite the awareness of Alzheimer’s, the disease is still a little misunderstood.

More than just memory loss

In the early stages, the disease manifests as nothing more than mild forgetfulness, a problem that most people shrug off as a natural (and at times almost humorous) consequence of growing old. Soon, however, a person’s ability to understand, think and even communicate is affected. Behaviors may change and so too may emotions and mood. Topping it off, physical coordination and mobility may suffer, affecting an individual’s ability to perform even the simplest of daily tasks. The result can place a ton of pressure on the affected person’s family or caregiver.

Family burden -- the unseen

As many as 5.3 million people in the United States are currently living with Alzheimer’s. With more than 95% of those with AD being 65 or older, round-the-clock care is almost a necessity nowadays. This type of care, however, translates into one of two things, and more often both: stress and money.

The average lifetime cost of caring for someone with AD is $174,000. Broken down by year, this can amount to anywhere from $18,000 to upwards of $36,000, depending on the severity of symptoms. While the health care system will absorb some of these costs, look to the family to foot about 75% of that bill. But there’s more than just cold hard cash to consider when caring for someone with Alzheimer’s --  there’s stress, there’s tension, there’s conflict, and more. These are the unseen consequences of mental disease.

What to expect

While the burden of Alzheimer’s remains largely unseen, having a grasp on what to expect can go a long way toward lessening the impact of this disease.

Although early symptoms are manageable, as the disease progresses activities that most of us can easily perform on a day-to-day basis may become challenging to an AD patient. Daily tasks like bathing, dressing, eating, going to the bathroom, and falling asleep may require assistance. Even simple visits of someone with Alzheimer’s can quickly become a nightmare. Just imagine how you would feel having a loved one be unable to recognize who you are. It’s not just forgetfulness --- hostility, confusion and even hallucinations or delusions can afflict the typical patient.

Moving beyond issues regarding simple care, difficult decisions will undoubtedly creep to the forefront. Case in point: driving. At some point, the decision will need to be made that someone with AD can no longer drive; such a decision will likely fall on the shoulders of the family. Times like these will require communication, planning and honesty to prevent a meltdown.   

For many caregivers, however, there comes a point when they are no longer able to take care of loved ones at home. Choosing the best residential or nursing home then becomes a priority -- a decision that no one enjoys.

Despite the somewhat gloomy outlook portrayed above, with each passing day, hope for a cure becomes stronger.

Future cure?

A while back, AM introduced you to the notion that there may soon be treatments that will actually reverse the disease progression of AD as opposed to merely delaying the onset of symptoms like current treatments do. In the next five to seven years we may even see a vaccine. Yep, that’s right, a vaccine for Alzheimer’s. Given the current advancements in brain research and the speed at which this field of research is progressing, AD may one day be a thing of the past.

Since AD is a commonly occurring disease, thankfully there are a ton of resources online. If a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, be sure to do some upfront research. Keep the family calm and willing to share responsibilities if in fact you choose to care for the affected person at home.

SOURCE :  ASKMEN.COM

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HEALTH/Potential new benefit of pure maple syrup on liver health

New research conducted at the University of Tokyo suggests that pure maple syrup may promote a healthy liver. The pilot study, conducted by Dr. Keiko Abe of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, showed that healthy laboratory rats fed a diet in which some of the carbohydrate was replaced with pure maple syrup from Canada yielded significantly better results in liver function tests than the control groups fed a diet with a syrup mix containing a similar sugar content as maple syrup. The results will be published in the November, 2011 issue of Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.

Although most healthy individuals take liver function for granted, liver health is of great importance because of the hundreds of vital functions it performs that are essential to human life, which include storing energy (glycogen) and regulating blood glucose, the production of certain amino acids (building blocks of protein), filtering harmful substances from the blood. Liver disease not related to alcohol consumption is estimated to affect 25% of people in the United States, according to the American Liver Foundation. It shows up most often in middle aged people who are overweight, have abnormal blood lipids and diabetes or insulin resistance conditions when grouped together, are known as metabolic syndrome.

“It is important to understand the factors leading to impaired liver function – our lifestyle choices including poor diet, stress and lack of exercise, as well as exposure to environmental pollutants that produce tissue-damaging free radicals,” says Dr. Melissa Palmer, clinical professor and medical director of hepatology at New York University Plainview. “The preliminary results of this research are encouraging and emphasize the importance of choosing a healthy diet to help counteract the lifestyle and environmental factors that may impact liver function, even our choice of a sweetener. In addition to Dr. Abe’s recent findings, published research suggests that pure maple syrup may prove to be a better choice of sweetener because it was found to be rich in polyphenolic antioxidants and contains vitamins and minerals,” notes Palmer.

The animals were evaluated using the latest analytical methods including gene expression profiling called nutrigenomics. In the study, rats were fed diets consisting of 20% pure maple syrup, or 20% syrup mixture with similar sugar content as maple syrup. After 11 days, the rats on the maple syrup diet showed significantly decreased levels of liver enzymes AST, ALT and LDH in the blood, standard biomarkers for evaluating liver function. The gene expression profiling observations also suggest a mechanism whereby the maple syrup diet caused genes involved in the production of harmful ammonia in the liver to down-regulate, that is, to be less active.

“This research contributes to our growing understanding of the incredible health potential of maple syrup,” remarked Serge Beaulieu, President of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. “We learned previously that maple syrup contains antioxidant compounds that may actually help regulate glucose metabolism and increase insulin release, possibly aiding in the management of type 2 diabetes. And now Dr. Abe is exploring the relationship between maple syrup consumption and liver health. Her current findings give us even more reason to enjoy our maple syrup.”

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