New Hampshire Health News Digest

Obesity a risk factor in swine flu? Some swine flu cases in Michigan are raising questions about obesity's role in why some people with infections become seriously ill. A high proportion of those who have gotten severely ill from swine flu have been obese or extremely obese, but health officials have said that might be due to the fact that heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more susceptible. Obesity alone has never been seen as a risk factor for seasonal flu. But in a report released Friday, health officials detailed the cases of 10 Michigan patients who were very sick from swine flu in late May and early June and ended up at a specialized hospital in Ann Arbor. Three of them died. Nine of the 10 were either obese or extremely obese. Only three of the 10 had other health problems. Two of the three that died had no other health conditions. This hardly settles the question of whether obesity is its own risk factor for swine flu. It's possible ...

Cholesterol Enhances Memory : "Frank Pfrieger announced to the world in 2001 the importance of cholesterol to the process of memory. So critical is this relationship that our brain's glial cells have been tasked with the role of synthesizing cholesterol on demand to meet the needs for memory synapse formation and function. This was far too critical a role to depend upon normal blood levels of cholesterol, for the lipoprotein bound cholesterol molecule presents too large a molecular structure to pass the blood brain barrier. We have evolved as a species totally dependant upon our glial cell source of cholesterol for memory. The effects of statins on this glial cell function is quite predictable - inhibition! This results in transient global amnesia episodes in some, confusion, disorientation and increased forgetfulness in others, increased senility in those already afflicted and permanent loss of short term memory in others. This is the underlying relationship of cholesterol...

Low Cholesterol Linked To Memory Loss, Dementia, Lower Cholesterol : "Low levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) - the 'good' cholesterol - in middle age may increase the risk of memory loss and lead to dementia later in life, researchers reported in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association."

Diets Bad For The Teeth Are Also Bad For The Body 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 fermentable carbohydates: foods that turn into simple sugars in the mouth. Fermentable carbohydrates are not just sweets like cookies, do...

Elevated Insulin Linked To Increased Breast Cancer Risk Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer. Geoffrey Kabat, Ph.D.Increased breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women has previously been linked to obesity and diabetes. Both conditions involve insulin resistance, which causes increases in circulating levels of insulin. Since insulin is known to promote cell division and enhance breast tumor growth in animal models, the Einstein scientists reasoned that relatively high insulin levels may contribute to breast cancer risk in women. Wow, so carb cause breast cancer, and other cancers. How many people are afraid of fat in the diet, and gorging themselves on carbs, thinking they can never get cancer that way. The "cancer proof" diet, huh?

Salk Institute - Press Releases - Chronically elevated blood sugar levels disable "fasting switch" March 07, 2008 La Jolla, CA – Continually revved up insulin production, the kind that results from overeating and obesity, slowly dulls the body's response to insulin. As a result, blood sugar levels start to creep up, setting the stage for diabetes-associated complications such as blindness, stroke and renal failure. To make matters even worse, chronically elevated blood sugar concentrations exacerbate insulin resistance. The vicious circle gets rolling, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies discovered, when out-of-control blood sugar levels disable the molecular switch that normally shuts off sugar production in the liver in response to rising levels of insulin. Their findings, published in the March 7 issue of Science suggest that appropriate inhibitors of the enzymatic pathway that blocks the "sugar-off"-switch might be useful in lowering glu...

How Gastric Bypass Rapidly Reverses Diabetes Symptoms A recent report offers new evidence to explain why those who undergo gastric bypass surgery often show greater control of their diabetes symptoms within days. It also helps to explain why lap-band surgery doesn't offer the same instant gratification. By studying mice that have undergone both procedures, the researchers show that changes in the intestine are the key. In addition to removing about two-thirds of the stomach, gastric bypass in effect produces a "double intestine," said Gilles Mithieux of Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in France. The portion closest to the stomach is taken out of the loop so that it receives no nutrients. The segment normally farther down is then attached directly to the stomach, where it receives all the nutrients coming in. In both cases, those positional changes ramp up production of blood sugar by the small intestine, Mithieux said. He noted that fasting norma...

How Alcohol Changes the Brain ... Quickly | LiveScience Only 6 minutes after consuming an amount of alcohol equivalent to three beers — leading to a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.06 percent, which impairs driving ability — changes had already taken place in the brain cells. For one thing, the brain begins to run on the sugar in alcohol instead of using glucose, the normal brain food. "Our study provides evidence for alternative energy utilization upon alcohol ingestion," said researcher Armin Biller at Heidelberg University Hospital "The brain uses an alcohol breakdown product instead of glucose for energy demands." The concentration of substances such as creatine (energy metabolism), which protect brain cells, decreases as the concentration of alcohol increases. Choline, a component of cell membranes, was also reduced. "That probably indicates that alcohol triggers changes in the composition of cell membranes," Biller said. Whether there are long-term ...

How to Boost Your Willpower - Well Blog - NYTimes.com “Learning self-control produces a wide range of positive outcomes,’’ said Roy Baumeister, a psychology professor at Florida State University who wrote about the issue in this month’s Current Directions in Psychological Science. “Kids do better in school, people do better at work. Look at just about any major category of problem that people are suffering from and odds are pretty good that self-control is implicated in some way.’’ Last month, Dr. Baumeister reported on laboratory studies that showed a relationship between self-control and blood glucose levels. In one study, participants watched a video, but some were asked to suppress smiles and other facial reactions. After the film, blood glucose levels had dropped among those who had exerted self-control to stifle their reactions, but stayed the same among the film watchers who were free to react, according to the report in Personality and Social Psychology Review. The video watche...

The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control -- Gailliot and Baumeister 11 (4): 303 -- Personality and Social Psychology Review The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control Matthew T. Gailliot Florida State University, gailliot@psy.fsu.edu Roy F. Baumeister Florida State University Past research indicates that self-control relies on some sort of limited energy source. This review suggests that blood glucose is one important part of the energy source of self-control. Acts of self-control deplete relatively large amounts of glucose. Self-control failures are more likely when glucose is low or cannot be mobilized effectively to the brain (i.e., when insulin is low or insensitive). Restoring glucose to a sufficient level typically improves self-control. Numerous self-control behaviors fit this pattern, including controlling attention, regulating emotions, quitting smoking, coping with stress, resisting impulsivity, and refraining from criminal an...

Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar By Terry E. - 2006-11-18 Find more articles like this in our Diabetes information category. Having diabetes myself, I know what the symptoms of low blood sugar can be like. Often times it feels like you have no control of your body and you can't figure out what or why is happening. Let's take a closer look at the symptoms of low blood sugar, and how it can affect your health. Did you know that many people have symptoms of low blood sugar, yet don't know it? Think of how many times you've felt tired and worn out between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM? It's a tell tale sign of low blood sugar. Here is how most people handle it. When they begin to feel a tired and worn down, or maybe even depressed and irritable, they will usually down a soda, some coffee, or eat a sweet snack of some kind. Boom, now all of a sudden they feel like they have been re-energized. Well, it's caused by a spike in their blood sugar. So, what's the problem with that? ...

Sugar a Factor in Drinking and Loss of Inhibitions? || kuro5hin.org Brain Food Live Science has reported ("How Alcohol Changes the Brain ... Quickly") on a study appearing in the popular Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, a publication that routinely gives Reader's Digest a run for its money in circulation numbers. Previously consigned to studying drunken animals only, the scientists studied humans drinking alcohol (through straws) while being scanned in an MRI machine. At a blood alcohol level of 0.05-0.06%, brain cells had abandoned their normal energy source, glucose, and instead began to consume the sugar produced by the breakdown of alcohol. "Our study provides evidence for alternative energy utilization upon alcohol ingestion," said researcher Armin Biller at Heidelberg University Hospital. "The brain uses an alcohol breakdown product instead of glucose for energy demands." The focus of their study is on the long-term impact of dr...

Seborrhoeic dermatitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seborrhoeic dermatitis (also Seborrheic dermatitis AmE, seborrhea) (also known as "Seborrheic eczema"[1]) is a skin disorder affecting the scalp, face, and trunk causing scaly, flaky, itchy, red skin. It particularly affects the sebum-gland rich areas of skin. Seborrhoeic dermatitis may be visually unpleasant and moderately itchy but is a harmless condition. The condition is often persistent but is easily controlled using readily available medication. After treatment, the condition may recur after a time lapse of months or years. As with other dermatitis conditions, seborrhoeic dermatitis is often loosely defined as a form of eczema although it differs from other more serious conditions more properly defined as eczema. Causes The cause of seborrhoeic dermatitis remains unknown, although many factors have been implicated. The widely present yeast, Malassezia furfur (formerly known as Pityrosporum ovale), is involved,[2]...

Vitamin D deficiency soars in the U.S., study says: Scientific American Three-quarters of U.S. teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D, the so-called "sunshine vitamin" whose deficits are increasingly blamed for everything from cancer and heart disease to diabetes, according to new research. The trend marks a dramatic increase in the amount of vitamin D deficiency in the U.S., according to findings set to be published tomorrow in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Between 1988 and 1994, 45 percent of 18,883 people (who were examined as part of the federal government's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) had 30 nanograms per milliliter or more of vitamin D, the blood level a growing number of doctors consider sufficient for overall health; a decade later, just 23 percent of 13,369 of those surveyed had at least that amount. The slide was particularly striking among African Americans: just 3 percent of 3,149 blacks sampled in 2004 were found to have the re...

What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism?: Scientific American As evidence of widespread vitamin D deficiency grows, some scientists are wondering whether the sunshine vitamin—once only considered important in bone health—may actually play a role in one of neurology's most vexing conditions: autism. The idea, although not yet tested or widely held, comes out of preliminary studies in Sweden and Minnesota. Last summer, Swedish researchers published a study in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology that found the prevalence of autism and related disorders was three to four times higher among Somali immigrants than non-Somalis in Stockholm. [...] What seemed to link the two regions was the fact that Somalis were getting less sun than in their native country—and therefore less vitamin D. The vitamin is made by the skin during sun exposure, or ingested in a small number of foods. At northern latitudes in the summertime, light-skinned people produce about 1,000 international...