New Hampshire Health News Digest

N Dakota, Alaska lead US job creation, study says | Reuters : "* Forty states have fewer jobs now than five years ago * Bottom-ranking Nevada topped the jobs list in 2005 By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - North Dakota and Alaska have added the most jobs, while Nevada, California and Florida have lost the most, in the last five years, according to research released on Monday." [...] North Dakota and other states that added jobs did not undergo the economic volatility of recent years as much as other states, said G. Scott Thomas, a Portfolio.com demographer. "There was no real estate boom or bubble and, as a result, they kept plodding along," Thomas said. "Now those numbers look fantastic." Nevada ranked at the bottom of the list, having lost 113,000 jobs in the last five years, followed by California and Florida, it said. That marked a dramatic change in fortunes for Nevada and Florida, which finished first and second in jobs in a similar 20...

Eating high glycemic index foods may put women at higher risk for heart disease | Booster Shots | Los Angeles Times All carbohydrates are not created equal, at least when it comes to heart disease. A new study released today finds that carbs with a high glycemic index--those that spike blood glucose levels quickly--may be linked with a higher risk of coronary heart disease in women. [...] Foods were analyzed to determine their glycemic index and glycemic load. The glycemic index measures how carbs effect blood sugar levels. High glycemic index foods are quickly digested and release glucose quickly into the bloodstream, making glucose levels jump. High-glycemic index foods include baked potatoes, watermelon and rice. Low glycemic index foods slowly release glucose into the bloodstream, keeping blood glucose levels more steady. Those foods include most fruits and vegetables, plus pasta and milk. Glycemic load refers to a food's ranking according to how many total grams of carbohydrat...

Arch Intern Med -- Abstract: Low Bone Mass in Subjects on a Long-term Raw Vegetarian Diet, March 28, 2005, Fontana et al. 165 (6): 684 Low Bone Mass in Subjects on a Long-term Raw Vegetarian Diet Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD; Jennifer L. Shew, BS; John O. Holloszy, MD; Dennis T. Villareal, MD Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:684-689. Background Little is known regarding the health effects of a raw food (RF) vegetarian diet. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study on 18 volunteers (mean ± SD age, 54.2 ± 11.5 years; male/female ratio, 11:7) on a RF vegetarian diet for a mean of 3.6 years and a comparison age- and sex-matched group eating typical American diets. We measured body composition, bone mineral content and density, bone turnover markers (C-telopeptide of type I collagen and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase), C-reactive protein, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, insulin-like growth factor 1, and leptin in serum. Results The RF vegetarians had a mean ± SD body mass index (calculated as weight in ...

Does poverty make people obese, or is it the other way around? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine Sociologists describe these patterns in terms of social gradients. The "health-wealth gradient" refers to the fact that, as a general rule, the richer you are, the healthier you are. This applies across different countries and across the full range of social classes within the same country. (It's not just that the very poorest people are sick.) No one knows exactly what causes the health-wealth gradient or why it's so resilient. It may be that rich people have access to better health care. Or, as we've seen, it could be that being sick costs you money. Then there's the possibility that poor people have a greater incentive to behave in unhealthy ways: Since they don't have as much money to spend on happiness, they "spend" their health instead. (The pleasures of smoking and eating, for example, are easy on the wallet and hard on the body.)

ScienceDirect - Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases : Carbohydrate restriction favorably alters lipoprotein metabolism in Emirati subjects classified with the metabolic syndrome Carbohydrate restriction favorably alters lipoprotein metabolism in Emirati subjects classified with the metabolic syndrome Purchase the full-text article References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article. T. Al-Sarraja, H. Saadic, J.S. Volekb and M.L. Fernandeza, Corresponding Author Contact Information aDepartment of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, 3624 Horsebarn Road Ext, U 4017, Storrs, CT 06269, USA bDepartment of Internal Medicine, United Arab Emirate University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates cDepartment of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA Received 10 March 2009; revised 4 June 2009; accepted 8 June 2009. Available online 12 September 2009. Abstract Background an...

Fruits, vegetables and coronary heart disease : Abstract : Nature Reviews Cardiology Fruits, vegetables and coronary heart disease See also: Correspondence by Ghayur & Janssen Luc Dauchet1, Philippe Amouyel1 & Jean Dallongeville1 About the authors Top of page Abstract Diet plays an important part in the maintenance of optimal cardiovascular health. This Review summarizes the evidence for a relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and the occurrence of coronary heart disease. This evidence is based on observational cohort studies, nutrition prevention trials with fruit and vegetables, and investigations of the effects of fruit and vegetables on cardiovascular risk factors. Most of the evidence supporting a cardioprotective effect comes from observational epidemiological studies; these studies have reported either weak or nonsignificant associations. Controlled nutritional prevention trials are scarce and the existing data do not show any clear protective effects of ...

"Change or Die," the Book, and Resolutions | The Fast Company Blog | Fast Company Of course, any kind of profound change is very challenging. The fact that got me started on this two-year project was that 90 percent of patients with severe heart disease fail to change their unhealthy lifestyles even after their doctors tell them that they're in a "change or die" situation. What can we do to improve the odds and make those New Years resolutions stick? Start by realizing that it's hard to do away with our "problems" when those "problems" are actually our attempted "solutions" to deeper issues. For example, you might think that overeating is your problem, and so your New Years resolution is to go on a diet and lose weight. But what if overeating is the way you try to solve more fundamental problems such as stress, anxiety, loneliness, and existential despair? Overeating is an "attempted solution" to those deeper troubles....

USPharmacist.com; Protective Role of Vitamin D on the Cardiovascular System Heart disease is a broad term that describes a range of diseases that affect the cardiovascular system and result in approximately 630,000 deaths annually in the United States.1 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death of both men and women above the age of 35 among all racial and ethnic groups.2 While risk factors such as increased age, male gender, and family history are nonmodifiable, others, such as smoking, high cholesterol, hypertension, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and stress are preventable.2 Another possible modifiable risk factor, vitamin D deficiency, has been identified and has caused debates in the literature as the protective role of vitamin D on the cardiovascular system continues to be investigated. This article will expand on this proposed phenomenon, providing deeper insight into recently published literature, as well as discuss the pharmacist’s role in pr...

domain-b.com : Healthy eating: Movement comes with appetite : A body that is provided with food too often gets caught up in the maelstrom of a lack of exercise, obesity and ultimately diabetes. The trigger is a molecular switch that is controlled by insulin, a new study by scientists from ETH Zurich has revealed. [...] The key switch player in this is a transcription factor called Foxa2. Transcription factors are proteins that make sure other genes are activated and converted into proteins. Foxa2 is found in the liver, where it influences fat-burning, but also in two important neuron populations in the hypothalamus - the region of the brain that controls the daily rhythm, sleep, intake of food and sexual behavior. The control element for Foxa2 activity is insulin, in both the liver and the hypothalamus. If a person or animal ingests food, the beta cells in the pancreas release insulin, which blocks Foxa2. When fasting, there is a lack of insulin and Foxa2 is active. In the brain, the s...

Magnesium and inflammation | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. As the inflammatory hypothesis becomes more accepted, more and more physicians will be checking C-reactive protein levels—along with a few other inflammatory yardsticks—to determine the inflammatory status of their patients. If the C-reactive protein level is found to be elevated, then steps can be taken, not just to reduce the C-reactive protein, but to treat the underlying inflammation so that the C-reactive protein—a marker of this underlying inflammation—will normalize. One easy step in the inflammation reduction process is to make sure magnesium intake is high. The most recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition contains an article showing that as consumption of magnesium fell, the levels of C-reactive protein went up. The paper points out that the majority of adults in the US (68%) don’t consume even the RDA of magnesium, which is, as far as I’m concerned, woefully low. Magnesium is an u...

Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days' duration Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days' duration. Man fasted and loses 276 lbs.

Internet generation at risk of rickets: study Bone-bending rickets can now be added to the list of ills linked to children spending uncounted hours before a computer screen, British researchers said Friday. Youngsters with rickets, caused primarily by a chronic lack of vitamin D, develop painful and deformed bow-legs that do not grow properly. The condition is linked mainly with extreme poverty and the 19th-century Victorian England of Charles Dickens, and can be easily avoided through a balanced diet and exposure to sunlight. But doctors reported this month that cases of the debilitating disease have once again become "disconcertingly common" in Britain. "Kids tend to stay indoors more these days and play on their computers instead of enjoying the fresh air," said Simon Pearce, a professor at Newcastle University in northeast England and lead author of a new study on Vitamin D deficiency. "This means their vitamin D levels are worse than in previous years,...

'U' Study: Vitamin D May Be Tied To Weight Loss - wcco.com : "A University of Minnesota study has found that higher levels of vitamin D on low-calorie diet may help people lose more weight, especially around the abdomen. Researcher Shalamar Sibley, M.D., headed the study that measured 38 overweight men and women participants who had insufficient vitamin D levels. The participants were monitored for 11 weeks while on diet programs that contained 750 calories fewer than their estimated daily needs. The study found that the subjects lost a quarter to a half pound more fat when their vitamin D level was increased."

Fat Head More On Alzheimer’s First, statins: If you want to delve into the chemistry of how statins affect brain function, you can read this article. In the meantime, here are a few highlights: There is a clear reason why statins would promote Alzheimer’s. They cripple the liver’s ability to synthesize cholesterol, and as a consequence the level of LDL in the blood plummets. Cholesterol plays a crucial role in the brain, both in terms of enabling signal transport across the synapse and in terms of encouraging the growth of neurons through healthy development of the myelin sheath. Nonetheless, the statin industry proudly boasts that statins are effective at interfering with cholesterol production in the brain as well as in the liver. Researchers are only recently discovering that both fat and cholesterol are severely deficient in the Alzheimer’s brain. It turns out that fat and cholesterol are both vital nutrients in the brain. The brain contains only 2% of the body’s mass, but 25% of ...

Choline: an essential nutrient for public health. Steven H Zeisel. 2009; Nutrition Reviews - Wiley InterScience Choline was officially recognized as an essential nutrient by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1998. There is significant variation in the dietary requirement for choline that can be explained by common genetic polymorphisms. Because of its wide-ranging roles in human metabolism, from cell structure to neurotransmitter synthesis, choline-deficiency is now thought to have an impact on diseases such as liver disease, atherosclerosis, and, possibly, neurological disorders. Choline is found in a wide variety of foods. Eggs and meats are rich sources of choline in the North American diet, providing up to 430 milligrams per 100 grams. Mean choline intakes for older children, men, women, and pregnant women are far below the adequate intake level established by the IOM. Given the importance of choline in a wide range of critical functions in the human body, coupled with less-than-o...