Archive for September, 2012

Many people believe that taking supplements is important to their health and can only do them good. While having an appropriate intake of vitamins and minerals is essential to a healthy body and mind, supplements are not always the answer. Here are a few questions you should ask before buying your next supplement.

A study out of Belgium shows a direct correlation between vitamin D levels and survival rates in women diagnosed with breast cancer. The study looked at women’s levels of vitamin D when they found out that they had breast cancer and discovered that women with higher levels of the vitamin were more likely to survive.

Research from a recent study has shown that patients on Medicare who had a heart attack or suffered a stroke over the course of five years were one and a half times more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event within four weeks of having a serious dental procedure or invasive treatment performed.

You may think that reaching for a diet soda is a good choice for your heart, but you may want to think again. One study has shown that people who drink diet soda have a 61% greater risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack compared to people who don’t drink any soda at all. A separate study has also found that people with high sodium diets are at greater risk for suffering a stroke.

According to PubMed Health (U.S. National Library of Medicine) a deficiency of vitamin B12 may be linked to dementia in elderly people. A study of 121 people found that participants with lower vitamin B12 levels did worse on cognitive tests and had smaller brain volumes, as shown by MRI scans. Other studies have shown that decreased brain volume is linked to dementia.

Improving the food and drink options that our nation’s children have access to in school is an important step towards reducing the obesity epidemic throughout the country. New reports show that major headway has been made on this front over the last several years in terms of sugary beverages.

In the general population, about 11% of children are bullied. Being bullied is linked to higher levels of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and decreased academic performance. Unfortunately, a survey of parents suggests that nearly half of all teenagers with an autism spectrum disorder are harassed at school.

Researchers have found that teenagers who suffer from metabolic syndrome do not perform as well academically.  A study looked at 111 teenagers, 49 of whom had metabolic syndrome and 62 who did not, and found that the teens with metabolic syndrome performed 5 to 15% worse on academic tests than their healthy counterparts.

Exercise is extremely important to a healthy heart, but you don’t have to perform an excessive amount of exercise every day in order to reap the benefits of a fitness routine. In fact, recent studies have shown that exercising too much may actually be bad for the heart.

Researchers looked at marathon runners and other endurance athletes who push their bodies to the limit.  Of the 100 participants in the study, 12% had signs of heart arrhythmias (scarring). That rate is three times higher than the rate of runners who do not partake in marathons. Another study has shown that extreme sports can lead to a buildup of calcium within an artery’s wall which can narrow the arteries, potentially causing heart problems.
Doctors are quick to note that being an extreme endurance athlete is certainly much healthier than not exercising at all, though exercising at intense levels for such a long period

A recent study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that exercise during pregnancy is good for both the mother and the baby. In years past women have worried that exercise puts their baby at risk, but this study found that regular exercise actually has a positive effect on the fetus.

The researchers monitored fetal heart rate and blood flow through the umbilical cord in pregnant women who performed about 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day, pregnant women who exercised regularly but not vigorously, and pregnant women who did not exercise. The results showed that the babies of women who exercised vigorously had the lowest resting heart rates, a strong indicator of heart health.  Researchers noted that the study looked only at women who had pregnancies free from complications.