A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers seems to show that women who smoke heavily experience significantly more chronic musculoskeletal pain.
More than 6,000 Kentucky women over the age of 18 were surveyed on their smoking habits and symptoms of chronic pain. Syndromes included in the analysis were fibromyalgia, sciatica, chronic neck pain, chronic back pain, joint pain, chronic head pain, nerve problems, and pain all over the body.
Results showed that women who smoke, or who were former smokers, had a greater chance of reporting at least one chronic pain syndrome in comparison to nonsmokers. Former smokers showed a 20 percent increase, occasional smokers showed a 68 percent increase, and in daily smokers the odds more than doubled (104 percent). In addition, daily smoking was associated more strongly with chronic pain than older age, lower educational attainment, obesity, or living in an Appalachian county.
There's a definite connection, but the direction of it is uncertain, says Dr. David Mannino, a pulmonary physician in the UK College of Public Health and co-author of the study. "This study shows a strong relationship between heavy smoking and chronic pain in women," Mannino said. "But what is the direction of this association? Does smoking cause more chronic pain, or do more women take up smoking as a coping mechanism for experiencing chronic pain?"
Mannino describes acute pain as a "protective response" and theorizes that perhaps female smokers experience acute pain that develops into chronic pain because their normal protection and mechanisms are damaged by exposure to smoke.
Dave
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saw Palmetto Study Shows No Benefit
According to new research, the fruit of the saw palmetto tree does not relieve symptoms of an enlarged prostate, even when men take the herbal supplement in very high doses.
The research is published Sept. 28, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a journal which has often been decidedly negative about natural products and their effectiveness. Many older U.S. men take saw palmetto extract in an attempt to reduce bothersome symptoms of a swollen prostate, including frequent urination and a sense of urgency. Its use in Europe is even more widespread because doctors often recommend saw palmetto over more traditional drug treatments.
While the authors of this study believe that the results of their new study will settle an ongoing debate over the effectiveness of saw palmetto for a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, there will no doubt be protests from the millions of men who experience a reduction in prostate issues while taking saw palmetto. Earlier studies of the supplement have produced conflicting results, and none have evaluated the benefits of saw palmetto in high doses.
In the current study, however, men took many times the standard dose of saw palmetto. It's unclear to me why they would choose to ignore recommended doses and, instead, use "jumbo" doses of this extract. [DGJ comment: I would think that proper dosing is the issue, and not how much someone can tolerate. If you were stranded on a desert island and you ate a number of banana's off a tree, it would taste great and keep you alive. But, if you ate two hundred of them in one sitting, you'd be sick as a dog. What does taking massive doses prove?].
“Now we know that even very high doses of saw palmetto make absolutely no difference,” says co-author Gerald Andriole, MD, the Robert K. Royce Distinguished Professor and chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Men should not spend their money on this herbal supplement as a way to reduce symptoms of enlarged prostate because it clearly does not work any better than a sugar pill.”
[DGJ: Another attempt at killing the supplement industry].
The multi-center study, led by Michael Barry, MD, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, involved more than 300 men age 45 and older who had moderate symptoms suggestive of an enlarged prostate, such as frequent urination, difficulty emptying their bladders and a weak urine stream. The men were randomly selected to receive a daily dose of saw palmetto extract, beginning at 320 milligrams, or an identical-looking placebo pill with the same distinctive smell and taste.
After 24 weeks, the saw palmetto dosage was increased to 640 milligrams a day, and after another 24 weeks, to 960 milligrams a day – triple the standard dose. In all, men took saw palmetto or a placebo for nearly 17 months. Neither the physicians nor the patients knew who was taking what regimen until the end of the study.
The researchers found that among men who took saw palmetto, prostate problems improved slightly but not more than in men taking a placebo.
“We commonly see this in clinical trials,” Andriole explains. “Patients often report an improvement in symptoms because they are taking something, even if it is a placebo. But in this study, there was no benefit to taking saw palmetto over the placebo.”
The researchers found that saw palmetto had no greater effect than the placebo on BPH symptoms as well as other conditions related to an enlarged prostate such as waking at night to urinate, PSA level and bladder control.
Dave
The research is published Sept. 28, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a journal which has often been decidedly negative about natural products and their effectiveness. Many older U.S. men take saw palmetto extract in an attempt to reduce bothersome symptoms of a swollen prostate, including frequent urination and a sense of urgency. Its use in Europe is even more widespread because doctors often recommend saw palmetto over more traditional drug treatments.
While the authors of this study believe that the results of their new study will settle an ongoing debate over the effectiveness of saw palmetto for a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, there will no doubt be protests from the millions of men who experience a reduction in prostate issues while taking saw palmetto. Earlier studies of the supplement have produced conflicting results, and none have evaluated the benefits of saw palmetto in high doses.
In the current study, however, men took many times the standard dose of saw palmetto. It's unclear to me why they would choose to ignore recommended doses and, instead, use "jumbo" doses of this extract. [DGJ comment: I would think that proper dosing is the issue, and not how much someone can tolerate. If you were stranded on a desert island and you ate a number of banana's off a tree, it would taste great and keep you alive. But, if you ate two hundred of them in one sitting, you'd be sick as a dog. What does taking massive doses prove?].
“Now we know that even very high doses of saw palmetto make absolutely no difference,” says co-author Gerald Andriole, MD, the Robert K. Royce Distinguished Professor and chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Men should not spend their money on this herbal supplement as a way to reduce symptoms of enlarged prostate because it clearly does not work any better than a sugar pill.”
[DGJ: Another attempt at killing the supplement industry].
The multi-center study, led by Michael Barry, MD, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, involved more than 300 men age 45 and older who had moderate symptoms suggestive of an enlarged prostate, such as frequent urination, difficulty emptying their bladders and a weak urine stream. The men were randomly selected to receive a daily dose of saw palmetto extract, beginning at 320 milligrams, or an identical-looking placebo pill with the same distinctive smell and taste.
After 24 weeks, the saw palmetto dosage was increased to 640 milligrams a day, and after another 24 weeks, to 960 milligrams a day – triple the standard dose. In all, men took saw palmetto or a placebo for nearly 17 months. Neither the physicians nor the patients knew who was taking what regimen until the end of the study.
The researchers found that among men who took saw palmetto, prostate problems improved slightly but not more than in men taking a placebo.
“We commonly see this in clinical trials,” Andriole explains. “Patients often report an improvement in symptoms because they are taking something, even if it is a placebo. But in this study, there was no benefit to taking saw palmetto over the placebo.”
The researchers found that saw palmetto had no greater effect than the placebo on BPH symptoms as well as other conditions related to an enlarged prostate such as waking at night to urinate, PSA level and bladder control.
Dave
Monday, September 26, 2011
Caffeine a Suitable Anti-Depressant?
Increased caffeinated coffee consumption has now been shown to be associated with decreased risk of depression in women. The risk of depression appears to decrease for women with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee, according to a report in the September 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Caffeine is the most frequently used central nervous system stimulant in the world, and approximately 80 percent of consumption is in the form of coffee, according to background information in the article. Previous research, including one prospective study among men, has suggested an association between coffee consumption and depression risk. Because depression is a chronic and recurrent condition that affects twice as many women as men, the authors sought to examine whether, in women, consumption of caffeine or certain caffeinated beverages is associated with the risk of depression.
Michel Lucas, Ph.D., R.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues studied 50,739 U.S. women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. Participants, who had a mean (average) age of 63, had no depression at the start of the study in 1996 and were prospectively followed up with through June 2006. Researchers measured caffeine consumption through questionnaires completed from May 1980 through April 2004, including the frequency that caffeinated and noncaffeinated coffee, nonherbal tea, caffeinated soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie colas), caffeine-free soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie caffeine-free colas or other carbonated beverages) and chocolate were usually consumed in the previous 12 months. The authors defined depression as reporting a new diagnosis of clinical depression and beginning regular use of antidepressants in the previous two years.
When compared with women who consumed one cup of caffeinated coffee or less per week, those who consumed two to three cups per day had a 15 percent decrease in relative risk for depression, and those consuming four cups or more per day had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk. Compared with women in the lowest (less than 100 milligrams [mg] per day) categories of caffeine consumption, those in the highest category (550 mg per day or more) had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk of depression. No association was found between intake of decaffeinated coffee and depression risk.
“In this large prospective cohort of older women free of clinical depression or severe depressive symptoms at baseline, risk of depression decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee,” write the authors.
Dave
Caffeine is the most frequently used central nervous system stimulant in the world, and approximately 80 percent of consumption is in the form of coffee, according to background information in the article. Previous research, including one prospective study among men, has suggested an association between coffee consumption and depression risk. Because depression is a chronic and recurrent condition that affects twice as many women as men, the authors sought to examine whether, in women, consumption of caffeine or certain caffeinated beverages is associated with the risk of depression.
Michel Lucas, Ph.D., R.D., from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues studied 50,739 U.S. women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. Participants, who had a mean (average) age of 63, had no depression at the start of the study in 1996 and were prospectively followed up with through June 2006. Researchers measured caffeine consumption through questionnaires completed from May 1980 through April 2004, including the frequency that caffeinated and noncaffeinated coffee, nonherbal tea, caffeinated soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie colas), caffeine-free soft drinks (sugared or low-calorie caffeine-free colas or other carbonated beverages) and chocolate were usually consumed in the previous 12 months. The authors defined depression as reporting a new diagnosis of clinical depression and beginning regular use of antidepressants in the previous two years.
When compared with women who consumed one cup of caffeinated coffee or less per week, those who consumed two to three cups per day had a 15 percent decrease in relative risk for depression, and those consuming four cups or more per day had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk. Compared with women in the lowest (less than 100 milligrams [mg] per day) categories of caffeine consumption, those in the highest category (550 mg per day or more) had a 20 percent decrease in relative risk of depression. No association was found between intake of decaffeinated coffee and depression risk.
“In this large prospective cohort of older women free of clinical depression or severe depressive symptoms at baseline, risk of depression decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increasing consumption of caffeinated coffee,” write the authors.
Dave
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Stopping Smoking Boosts Working Memory
Here is some interesting research on smoking that was just published by Northumbria University in the UK.
They've found that giving up smoking isn’t just good for your health, it’s also good for your memory, according to research published in this month’s online edition of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. That paper reveals that stopping smoking can restore everyday memory to virtually the same level as non-smokers.
Academics from the Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group at Northumbria University tested 27 smokers, 18 previous smokers and 24 who had never smoked on a real-world memory test.
Participants were asked to remember pre-determined tasks at specific locations on a tour of a university campus. While smokers performed badly, remembering just 59% of tasks, those who had given up smoking remembered 74% of their required tasks compared to those who had never smoked who remembered 81% of tasks.
Dr Tom Heffernan at Northumbria said: “Given that there are up to 10 million smokers in the UK and as many as 45 million in the United States, it’s important to understand the effects smoking has on everyday cognitive function – of which prospective memory is an excellent example.”
He added: “This is the first time that a study has set out to examine whether giving up smoking has an impact on memory.We already know that giving up smoking has huge health benefits for the body but this study also shows how stopping smoking can have knock-on benefits for cognitive function too.’’
Dave
They've found that giving up smoking isn’t just good for your health, it’s also good for your memory, according to research published in this month’s online edition of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. That paper reveals that stopping smoking can restore everyday memory to virtually the same level as non-smokers.
Academics from the Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group at Northumbria University tested 27 smokers, 18 previous smokers and 24 who had never smoked on a real-world memory test.
Participants were asked to remember pre-determined tasks at specific locations on a tour of a university campus. While smokers performed badly, remembering just 59% of tasks, those who had given up smoking remembered 74% of their required tasks compared to those who had never smoked who remembered 81% of tasks.
Dr Tom Heffernan at Northumbria said: “Given that there are up to 10 million smokers in the UK and as many as 45 million in the United States, it’s important to understand the effects smoking has on everyday cognitive function – of which prospective memory is an excellent example.”
He added: “This is the first time that a study has set out to examine whether giving up smoking has an impact on memory.We already know that giving up smoking has huge health benefits for the body but this study also shows how stopping smoking can have knock-on benefits for cognitive function too.’’
Dave
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Back Pain? New Research Shows Movement Beats Couch Potato
A researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) says to "Move if you have back pain." Patients with acute low back pain who were advised to stay active despite the pain fared better than those who were told to adjust their activity in line with their pain.
The research paper looked at 109 patients with acute severe lowback pain who were randomly advised in one of two ways: “stay active even though it hurts” or “adjust your activity to the pain”. They were also asked to keep a diary for seven days and to note how many steps they took each day, to what extent they could carry out their day-to-day activities and how they felt physically. They also completed a form to show whether they felt depressed or not.
In spite of having more pain, the group that was advised to be as active as possible recovered more quickly and did not feel depressed at the end of the follow-up.
“The other category, who had been advised from the very start to adjust their activity to their pain, were less mobile and felt slightly depressed compared to the patients who were active,” says Olaya-Contreras, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy’s Department of Orthopaedics.
She believes that this could be because some people who are depressed and in pain experience the pain more acutely. Another explanation could be that the more acute the pain is perceived to be, the less a person wants or is able to move. This, according to Olaya-Contreras, is in line with previous research.
“I think that if you’re suffering with acute low back pain you should try to remain as active as possible and go about your daily business as well as you can. If you don’t keep moving, it’s easy to get locked into a downward spiral, as inactivity combined with pain can, in a worst case scenario, turn into long-term disability and an inability to work that, in turn, can lead to depressed mood and more pain.”
Low back pain affects up to 80% of people of working age at some time in their lives, though most will get better. Low back pain can be recurring, and some people will continue to suffer with some degree of pain. In 85-90% of cases the pain cannot be attributed to a specific illness or injury.
I've had severe lower back pain for years and I'm going to take this researcher's advice and start moving, stretching, walking. I'll report back and let you know how I'm doing,
Dave
The research paper looked at 109 patients with acute severe lowback pain who were randomly advised in one of two ways: “stay active even though it hurts” or “adjust your activity to the pain”. They were also asked to keep a diary for seven days and to note how many steps they took each day, to what extent they could carry out their day-to-day activities and how they felt physically. They also completed a form to show whether they felt depressed or not.
In spite of having more pain, the group that was advised to be as active as possible recovered more quickly and did not feel depressed at the end of the follow-up.
“The other category, who had been advised from the very start to adjust their activity to their pain, were less mobile and felt slightly depressed compared to the patients who were active,” says Olaya-Contreras, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy’s Department of Orthopaedics.
She believes that this could be because some people who are depressed and in pain experience the pain more acutely. Another explanation could be that the more acute the pain is perceived to be, the less a person wants or is able to move. This, according to Olaya-Contreras, is in line with previous research.
“I think that if you’re suffering with acute low back pain you should try to remain as active as possible and go about your daily business as well as you can. If you don’t keep moving, it’s easy to get locked into a downward spiral, as inactivity combined with pain can, in a worst case scenario, turn into long-term disability and an inability to work that, in turn, can lead to depressed mood and more pain.”
Low back pain affects up to 80% of people of working age at some time in their lives, though most will get better. Low back pain can be recurring, and some people will continue to suffer with some degree of pain. In 85-90% of cases the pain cannot be attributed to a specific illness or injury.
I've had severe lower back pain for years and I'm going to take this researcher's advice and start moving, stretching, walking. I'll report back and let you know how I'm doing,
Dave
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Buying Supplements from Amazon.com? Think Twice.
Here's a clipping from a news article on Yahoo.com which describes the conditions that employees faced this summer at the main warehouse for Amazon.com. Because many people reading this blog are users of supplements, vitamins and herbs, take note of these conditions and ask yourself if these products are a smart investment when purchased from this company. After all, the only thing that can kill your supplements is heat and humidity.
Dave
Employees say they faced brutal heat at Amazon warehouseI love Amazon and I buy from them two or three times a week. But I will never, ever buy a supplement or any other kind of heat-sensitive product from them again.
By Liz Goodwin
Twenty current and former employees at an Amazon warehouse in Pennsylvania say they were forced to work in brutal heat at a breakneck pace while hired paramedics waited outside in case anyone became dangerously dehydrated.
Spencer Soper has published an exhaustive investigation into the massive online retailer's Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania operation. Soper reports that a local doctor treated employees at the facility for heat-related health problems, and wound up filing a complaint about conditions there with federal regulators. Many of the warehouse's employees were temporary and hired through a staffing company; if they did not meet packing quotas, they faced daily threats of termination, Soper writes.
He also notes that a corps of other temporary workers were poised to replace any freshly fired Amazon employee. "The safety and welfare of our employees is our No. 1 priority at Amazon, and as the general manager, I take that responsibility seriously," Amazon warehouse manager Vickie Mortimer told the paper.
Dave
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