LiveLongAgeWell

Artificial Tanning Beds

Last month I covered sunscreens and sunless tanning lotions, and as a follow-up, there was a recent reclassification by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that tanning beds should be raised to Group 1, that is, the highest risk level: “carcinogenic to humans”. While the artificial tanning bed industry has marketed their products as safer than the ultraviolet radiation from sunlight—and as not increasing the risk of melanoma (though they neglect to mention the increased risk of other forms of skin cancer)—the IARC reports a 75% greater risk of melanomas in people who start using tanning beds before the age of 30. Besides the cancer risks, while a tan might make you look better in the short run, in the long run you will end up more wrinkled. And though artificial tanning booths are dangerous, remember that sunless tanning lotions can be quite effective and safe.

Organic Food Not Worthwhile?

A headline from Reuters London caught my eye last week: “Organic food no healthier, study finds”. The author of the English study stated: “Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority [italics mine].”  (Really, OK, maybe not proof, but no evidence at all?)

So a quick read might lead you to think it’s not worth the extra expense and trouble to seek out organic products. But this would be a false conclusion on at least two counts. First, the study only analyzed “nutritional content”; this is, what’s in the food, but most people choose organics because what’s NOT in them; i.e., pesticides and other organo-toxins (not addressed in this research). Second, if you look at what they consider “nutritional content”, you find they did not analyze antioxidant content, which is another reason to choose organic. While it’s true that there is not yet proof organics have a higher natural antioxidant content; for me, I’ll stick to organic products whenever I can. Unlikely any future research will find any health benefit whatsoever from eating foods with pesticides. It’s far more likely organic foods suffer less antioxidant loss during any processing, transport, and chemical additions.

Another Reason To Keep Your Cholesterol Below 200

If you know that your total cholesterol level is borderline or elevated, and you haven’t taken measures to change that, here’s another reason to take action. Published in the August Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, researchers studied nearly 10,000 Northern California Kaiser Hospital members, and found that those who had total serum cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL in their 40s, had a significantly great risk of dementia when they reached their 60s and 70s. The risk for either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia was at least 50% percent greater in people with only mildly high levels—over 200. So take measures to keep your cholesterol in the normal range: whether it means a change in your diet and/or increased exercise, and if that doesn’t work, you should ask your doctor about possibly taking a “statin” drug to lower your lipid levels  (which—as logically follows from this study—have been shown may help prevent dementia.)

I noticed an interesting research report a few days ago, a Spanish university study showing that THC—the active ingredient in marijuana—had an effect in killing brain cancer cells. And since brain cancer is one of the worst, any good news is worth a look. Senator Ted Kennedy is fighting this disease right now.

The Spanish study focused initially on mice with artificially induced brain cancers, and THC introduced into the tumors caused the cancer cells to basically consume themselves to death (a process called autophagy), and apparently left the normal cells intact. The researchers then tried the treatment on two human brain cancer patients, with supposedly good results (however, if the patients had actually been cured or put into remission, that would have been huge medical news).

There were reports about THC being effective against brain cancer in 2004 and there have been sporadic positive reports that THC may promote brain neurogenesis (growing new brain cells), and could even help fight Alzheimer’s disease. It seems that many of these studies though haven’t been replicated, which is essential in testing any potential medical advance. Many times one medical study can be flawed in any number of ways.

I suspect though that over the past decade, in the United States at least, it would have been politically difficult to get funding—let along publish—for any study that might show a benefit from THC or cannabis. Let’s hope that now, going forward, objective research can be carried out in what we might call politically sensitive areas (stem cell research comes to mind). Only then can we can learn, for example, if these early studies showing positive effects of THC on the brain are valid or not.

Move over marijuana. Bye-bye cocaine. See you later anabolic steroids…The world is entering a new drug war, and the first big shot was not fired in the streets of border town Mexico, but in the prominent medical journal Nature, and this report, like a bomb, has produced a flurry of counterattacks from both sides.

Although the biggest causes of death worldwide are cardiovascular, infectious, and cancer-related, the push for new pharmaceuticals from many companies will not be cures for those top three killers, but will focus on three other areas: appetite/weight control, sleep, and memory. Some experts believe that in ten years, we will be able to, with the right drugs (if we can afford), fine-tune our weight, exact sleep duration, and memory functions as easily as we now tune-out commercials on our digital video Tivos.

In the drug underground—somewhere in that murky space between the legal and the actionable—a quiet revolution has been brewing in the use of so-called “smart drugs”. In the past few decades doctors have used amphetamine derivatives, like the ever-more popular Ritalin, to treat the ever-more established diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). But Ritalin was just one of the first to tinker with attention and wakefulness, and in 1998, the first good drug treatment for narcolepsy (the uncontrollable desire to fall asleep at most any time) was released.

Modafinil (commercially known as Provigil) proved to be a wonderful advance for narcoleptics, and, as often happens with new drugs with brain effects, it was tested illegally in the underground of clubs and college campuses, and found to be very effective in keeping even normal people awake and functioning seemingly at a high level for long periods of time. The American military, which long relied on amphetamine-type drugs, soon adopted modafinil as the drug of choice for special op soldiers who needed to stay awake for days at a time. Many college students found modafinil as an especially effective study aid, and one survey estimated that on some U.S. campuses, 25% of students have used modafinil or similar.

But the use of this drug in many cases has been, at best, “off-label”; that is, used for problems not FDA approved, or illegal, especially by students who obtain pills diverted from friends with legitimate prescriptions. And a growing controversy: should these drugs, especially Provigil, be released for general use, to be taken by anyone who wants an extra edge? Advocates claim it’s safe, non-addicting, and that wider release would be good for society.

This call for liberalization of mind-enhancing drugs such as Provigil has been a minority opinion, considered highly questionable by the majority of experts who fear wider release would result in abuse, brain damage, addiction, or injustice (the argument is only the well-off could afford regular use, and the rich already enjoy many advantages). So imagine the uproar when seven high power scientists from Harvard, Stanford, and the Universities of Oxford, California, and Pennsylvania published this recent report in Nature saying, basically, free these drugs for wider use…it’s our right, and will be good, even advance, mankind. The article is very readable; you may or not agree with it, but I suggest it to you. Next week, more on mind drugs.

We are now (hard to believe) weeks after the New Year…yet many LLAW readers are still asking about diet and weight loss, so today I am highlighting an important recent report from the British Medical Journal. This was a so-called meta-analysis, which is a kind of super-statistical study that examines a large number of other studies done on one subject. A good meta-analysis like this one looks at how each sub-study was done, discards the sub-par research (not uncommon), and come to a grand conclusion after summing the best of the studies.

The goal of this meta-analysis was to determine: is the Mediterranean diet really as good as it’s supposed to be? Does it cut disease and make people healthier? The conclusion, after assembling over 1.5 million subjects, was that yes, the Mediterranean diet really does lead to a drop in the death rate and can help you avoid chronic nasty diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The Mediterranean diet is also a tasty one, one that you can stick to for life, and for your life. It’s not a six-week or year-long program. It’s best forever. Named after the traditional diet of countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea (traditionally with some of the lowest incidences of heart disease), here it is:

1. Most of your fats come from Olive Oil, and secondarily, Canola Oil (rather than butter or other oils).
2. Eat Nuts, but no more than handful per day (since they are high in calories); peanut butter, cereals, and seeds are great.
3. Lots of Fish, at least several times per week.
4. Minimal red meat, preferably a few times per month.
5. Lots of Fruits, Vegetables, Whole Grains, and Legumes. For dessert, choose fresh fruits over the typical processed sugar products.
6. Red Wine in moderation (unless you have a problem with or sensitivity to alcohol).

This is not such a difficult diet to adhere to, for one reason because it’s relatively high in fat. This fat though comes from vegetable sources (such as olives), so they are healthy monosaturated fats, rather than the saturated fats from animal sources.

The result of the BMJ meta-analysis was that those who stuck to this diet had a significant decrease in early death from all causes, and specifically a decreased risk of dying from cancer and heart disease, along with a modest (13%) diminished risk of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.

Finally, one recent Spanish study concluded that if you stick to a Mediterranean diet, you are much less likely to be part of the group which gained an average 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilos) over a ten-year period. (Unfortunately, many young Mediterraneans have moved away from their traditional healthy diet to a Western diet full of more processed foods and saturated fats, and the rate of obesity in these countries has jumped alarmingly.)

Recent medical research is suggesting that if you carry excess weight on your body, it’s the actual location of the extra fat that is most important. Most evidence suggests that “belly fat” (as opposed to hip, buttock, and thigh fat) is the worst kind. Fortunately, there are things you can do to cut your risks.

“Belly fat” is otherwise known as “visceral fat”, which means it is located deep in your abdomen, wrapped around your internal (visceral) organs, rather than just below the skin. Doctors describe people with belly or visceral fat as being “apple shaped” (versus those with hip fat, which gives a “pear shaped” appearance). It seems that the deep visceral belly fat—wrapped around our vital organs (not an appetizing thought in itself)— secretes toxic substances that especially leads to inflammation, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular mortality.

And now we have strong evidence that people in their 40s who carry excess visceral fat are much more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease when they are in their 70s.

Researchers in California in the 1960s and 70s began studying a group of more than 6000 people, measuring their abdominal girth to see what would happen to them over many years. This long-term study found that even people who were otherwise normal weight but had big bellies were 89% more likely than flat bellied people to eventually become senile from Alzheimer’s and all other causes. And those both overweight and with a big belly had a dementia risk over 200% greater than normal-weight people. Obese people (heavier than just “overweight”) had a risk factor of more than 300% (check this link for a great graphic and more details).

The mechanism for this belly fat-dementia risk is not known. It’s possible that the fat itself is not causing the dementia, but that some other mechanism is working that brings about both a big belly and dementia at the same time…but there is a good chance that if you do have a big belly, if you somehow fix your belly situation, you may well decrease your chances for dementia as you get older. This might be particularly important for people with a family history for dementia. You can’t change your family history, but you can fix a big belly.

Next post I’ll cover one possible remedy for the belly fat problem, and I can tell you now: it’s not liposuction…

Over the years, various vitamins are touted as the having the most wonderful benefits, yet some—such as vitamins C and E—while still important, have lost their super-star status. Now the new darling of the vitamin world is vitamin D, and numerous reports have been published recently linking higher levels of vitamin D (the “sunshine vitamin”) with decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, even various cancers. Hopes are running high that this vitamin will, over time, maintain its lofty status.

This week’s study showed that people with Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s had lower blood levels of vitamin D, but since this was not a clinical trial, it’s not known if taking more vitamin D will cut the risk of those diseases. Again, more studies are needed. Until then, it seems wise to ensure you are getting plenty of vitamin D either through your diet (not so easy for adults), sunshine, or supplements. This site will keep you informed of the various studies that appear. Much more vitamin D information, including how to ensure you are getting an adequate intake, can be found here (from the very useful Dietary Supplement Index on the LLAW right sidebar).

In a word, yes. They are one of the best supplements you can take for your overall health. Unlike many supplements that are poor substitutes for “real food”, good-quality fish oil pills should give you much of the health benefit of the actual fish they are standing in for.

In my last post I discussed how eating fish can improve your mood and brain function. Beyond that, many recent studies have shown benefits beyond the brain, particularly in decreasing atherosclerosis and cutting the risk of heart attack, keeping triglycerides, blood pressure, and inflammation under control, cutting the risk of macular degeneration in the eyes, and newer studies suggest the omega-3s in fish oil may decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. For a more detailed critical look along with numerous references, check out this issue of Nutrition Action Health Letter.

There seems to be few risks in taking fish oil pills, and lots of potential upside. On days that I don’t eat omega-3-rich fish, I take a one-gram supplement twice a day. Here are some key points:

•    A good dose is 1 gram of a combined EPA and DHA omega-3 fish oil capsule once- to twice-a-day.  A dose over 2 grams per day could cause bleeding problems in some people.
•    Find a high-quality supplement that has been purified and is free of mercury, PCB and dioxin contaminants (this is an advantage of the pills over some fish, which might be contaminated). This Environmental Defense Fund site should help you choose a safe product.
•    Fish oil can cause burping, nausea, even diarrhea in sensitive people. If that occurs, start at a lower dose, maybe one pill every several days, and see if you can build up to one or two pills a day. Try taking it after meals or at bedtime, and sometimes freezing the gelatin capsule will stop the side effects. If side effects persist, try different brands, or just eat more omega-3 rich fish instead.
•    Especially if you have significant heart disease or blood clotting concerns, are pregnant or about to have surgery, check with your doctor before taking this supplement. Fish oil thins your blood a bit (for most people, this is a good thing), but is a concern if you bleed easily or are already on blood thinners.  If you are a vegetarian who does not eat fish, look for omega-3 supplements derived from algae.