New Hampshire Health News Digest

HealthDay Vitamin D May Improve Melanoma Survival Vitamin D May Improve Melanoma Survival But levels are too low in many Americans, researchers say By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter SATURDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Higher levels of vitamin D are linked to less severe, less deadly melanoma lesions in people with skin cancer, new research suggests. The findings provide more support for the idea that vitamin D is crucial to skin health. Many Americans, however, don't get enough of it, perhaps because they limit sun exposure and drink less milk than in the past. "Although avoiding sunburn is very important in order to prevent melanoma, it is also important to avoid becoming deficient in vitamin D," said Dr. Julia A. Newton-Bishop, a dermatology professor at the University of Leeds in England and a study co-author. "This is especially important for melanoma patients in whom low vitamin D levels appear to be harmful."

SpringerLink - Journal Article Abstract Background A long-term vegetarian diet is generally poor in vitamin B group. The lack of vitamin B12 together with vitamin B6 and folate deficiency is closely related to homocysteine metabolism. Hyperhomocysteinemia was found to be associated with increased bone turnover markers and increased fracture risk. Thus, hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B12 and folate deficiency may be regarded as novel risk factors for micronutrient deficiency-related osteoporosis. Aim of the study To assess the possible impact of a vegetarian diet on bone mineral density in cohort of Slovak vegetarian women. Methods Fasting serum glucose, albumin, calcium, phosphorous and creatinine as well as bone markers, serum vitamin B12, folate and plasma levels of total homocysteine were assessed in two nutritional groups (vegetarians vs. nonvegetarians) of apparently healthy women (age range 20–70 years). Bone mineral density of the femoral neck, trochanter, total femur and lum...

Diets bad for the teeth are also bad for the body Diets bad for the teeth are also bad for the body Beyond the immediate distress, dental pain may portend future medical problems Dental disease may be a wake-up call that your diet is harming your body. "The five-alarm fire bell of a tooth ache is difficult to ignore," says Dr. Philippe P. Hujoel, professor of dental public health sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Dentistry in Seattle. Beyond the immediate distress, dental pain may portend future medical problems. It may be a warning that the high-glycemic diet that led to dental problems in the short term may, in the long term, lead to potentially serious chronic diseases. Hujoel reviewed the relationships between diet, dental disease, and chronic systemic illness in a report published July 1 in the Journal of Dental Research. He weighed two contradictory viewpoints on the role of dietary carbohydrates in health and disease. The debate surrounds fermenta...

Ketone Bodies, Potential Therapeutic Uses Ketone Bodies, Potential Therapeutic Uses Richard L. Veech, Britton Chance, Yoshihiro Kashiwaya, Henry A. Lardy, George F. Cahill Jr Keywords D-BETA-HYDROXYBUTYRATE • Ketone • Bodies • Ketosis • Metabolic • Control • Analysis • Neurologic • Disease Abstract Ketosis, meaning elevation of D- -hydroxybutyrate ( R -3-hydroxybutyrate) and acetoacetate, has been central to starving man's survival by providing nonglucose substrate to his evolutionarily hypertrophied brain, sparing muscle from destruction for glucose synthesis. Surprisingly, D- -hydroxybutyrate (abbreviated OHB) may also provide a more efficient source of energy for brain per unit oxygen, supported by the same phenomenon noted in the isolated working perfused rat heart and in sperm. It has also been shown to decrease cell death in two human neuronal cultures, one a model of Alzheimer's and the other of Parkinson's disease. These observations raise the possibility that a num...