Healthy Tips from HealthyLife

Beth Cooney offers tips to keep you healthy
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Archive for January, 2012

Women, Smoking and Heart Disease

Thursday, January 12, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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Here’s yet another reason to kick the habit. According to a new study, women have a 25% higher risk of developing coronary heart disease conferred by smoking in comparison with men.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University did a meta-analysis of data including about four million people and 67,000 coronary heart disease events from 86 studies. They discovered that in 75 cohorts (total 2-4 million participants) that adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors aside from coronary heart disease, the combined adjusted female-to-male relative risk ratio (RRR) of smoking in comparison with not smoking for coronary disease was 1-25, in other words 25% higher for women. They found the RRR increased by two percent for every year of follow-up, meaning that the longer a woman smokes, the risk of developing coronary heart disease is higher compared to a man that has smoked the same length of time.

The authors of the study suggest cigarette toxins may have a more powerful effect on women and the increased risk may be due to physiological differences between the sexes.

Nice Guys and Their Paychecks

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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Being nice might get you far in life, but according to a recent study it won’t help you get rich. Researchers at the University of Notre Dames’ Mendoza College of Business have found the opposite to be true: men with disagreeable personalities out earn men with agreeable personalities by about 18%, while argumentative women out earn the nice girls by 5%.

The researchers analyzed data from three large studies of Americans over time. Their final analysis included almost 3,500 people, from workers just out of school to employees in their seventies. The authors of the study controlled for factors such as job complexity and education that could skew the results. They found that across all three studies, people who scored high in disagreeableness earned more than agreeable types. Disagreeable men earned 18.31% more than agreeable men, a difference which translated to an average of $9,772 a year more for the people in the surveys. Women who were disagreeable out earned agreeable women by 5.47%, an average difference of $1,828 per year.

The investigators set out to learn why disagreeableness seems to benefit men in particular by asking 460 undergraduates to read profiles of eight female job promotion candidates or eight male candidates. Half of each group of candidates were painted as agreeable, while the other half were disagreeable. They found that disagreeable men were more likely to be recommended for promotion than disagreeable women. The study participants indicated that they viewed disagreeable men as strong leaders; they did not see this advantage in disagreeable women.

Dried Plums and Osteoporosis

Monday, January 9, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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Here’s a pretty easy way to lower your risk of bone fractures: eat dried plums. According to a recent study, postmenopausal women who regularly eat dried plums have a considerably lower risk of developing osteoporosis or fractures compared to other women of the same age.

Researchers from Florida State and Oklahoma State Universities tested 90 postmenopausal women, dividing them into two groups. One group of 55 women consumed 100 grams of dried plums, equivalent to about ten prunes a day, for 12 months. They also took 500 milligrams of calcium and 400 international units of vitamin D daily. The control group of 34 women consumed 100 grams of dried apples per day and took the same amount of calcium and vitamin D daily for the same period of time.

The investigators found that the women in the dried plums group had considerably greater bone mineral density in the ulna (a long bone in the forearm) and spine compared to those in the control group at the end of the 12-month period. The study authors believe this happened because dried plums suppress the bone re-absorption rate, or bone breakdown, that eventually exceeds new bone growth rates as people get older. They suggest starting with eating two to three dried plums a day and gradually increasing to between six and ten a day.

Big Love

Sunday, January 8, 2012 by:Beth Cooney
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Think all men prefer leggy, runway model types? Apparently, the answer is a qualified no, if the guys are weighed down with stress. New research suggests the level of stress men are coping with affects their preferences in body type. Australian researchers, who reported their findings recently in the journal PLOS ONE suggest men are drawn to heavier women during periods of acute stress. The researchers weren’t exactly sure why men preferred more zaftig women in times of stress, but speculated that this was a survival-of-the-fittest reaction, possibly because heavier women are more prone to survive in harsh conditions. They also said more research is needed to determine exactly why men had this stress response.

Another Reason to Love Antioxidants

Sunday, January 8, 2012 by:Beth Cooney
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By now, most women know that heart disease is one of the greatest health threats they face as they age. This is why health-conscious ladies may want to pay attention to a comprehensive, long-term study of Swedish women that found a diet plentiful in antioxidant-rich foods can prevent heart attacks. The women in the study who ate the most antioxidant-rich foods — most notably high amounts of fruits and vegetables — had the lowest rates of heart attacks during the 10-year study period.

The study was reported recently in the American Journal of Medicine, which noted in an accompanying editorial that only 14 percent of American adults (and even fewer adolescents) eat five or more fruits or vegetables a day. Sounds like a call to raid the local farmers market.

Red Meat and Diabetes

Thursday, January 5, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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New research suggests eating red meat may put you at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Investigators at the Harvard School of Public Health found a strong association between the consumption of red meat — particularly when the meat is processed — and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. According to the findings, replacing red meat with healthier proteins, such as nuts, whole grains or low-fat diary can significantly lower the risk.

The researchers analyzed questionnaire responses from thousands of men and women who took part in long-term studies and combined data from their new study with data from existing studies that included a total of 442,101 participants, 28,228 of whom developed type 2 diabetes during the study. After adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI) and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, the authors of the study found that a daily 100-gram serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 19% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. They also found that one daily serving of half that quantity of processed meat, 50 grams — the equivalent of one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon — was associated with a 51% increased risk.

The study authors found that, for someone who eats one serving of red meat a day, substituting one serving of nuts per day was associated with a 21% lower risk of type 2 diabetes; substituting low-fat dairy, a 17% lower risk; and substituting whole grains, a 23% lower risk.

Based on these findings, the investigators advise limiting the consumption of processed red meat — like hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and deli meats, which generally have high levels of sodium and nitrites — and reducing unprocessed red meat consumption. If possible, they suggest replacing red meat with healthier choices, such as nuts, whole grains, fish, beans or low-fat dairy products.

Coffee and Skin Cancer

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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Imagine a time when instead of just drinking that morning cup of coffee you rub it onto your skin to prevent harmful sun damage or skin cancer. According to a recent study, that might be the way to go. The study by researchers at Rutgers University strengthens the theory that caffeine guards against certain skin cancers at the molecular level by inhibiting a protein enzyme in the skin, known as ATR. The scientists believe based on what they have learned studying mice, caffeine applied directly to the skin may help prevent damaging UV light from causing skin cancer.

The researchers, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Washington, genetically modified and diminished ATR in one group of mice. They found that the genetically modified mice developed tumors more slowly than the unmodified mice, had 69 percent fewer tumors than regular mice and developed four times fewer invasive tumors. However, the study also found that when both groups of mice were exposed to chronic ultraviolet rays for an extended period of time, tumor development occurred across the board. The study authors say this seems to indicate that inhibiting the ATR enzyme works best at the pre-cancerous stage before UV-induced skin cancers are fully developed.

Previous studies have linked caffeinated beverage intake with significant decreases in several different types of cancer, including skin cancer, but it is not known just how and why coffee protects against the disease.

TV and Your Life Expectancy

Monday, January 2, 2012 by:Jill Montag
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Here’s news that may make even the most avid television viewer shut off the boob tube. According to a recent study, watching TV for an average of six hours a day could shorten your life expectancy by almost five years.

Australian researchers used previously published data on the relationship between TV viewing time and death from analyses of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (Aus Diab), as well as Australian national population and mortality figures for 2008, to construct a lifetime risk framework. They then constructed a risk framework for the Australian population in 2008, based on the answers the study participants had given when asked about the total amount of time they had spent in the previous week watching TV or videos.

The authors estimated that Australian adults aged 25 and older watched 9.8 billion hours of TV, which led them to calculate that every single hour of TV watched after the age of 25 shortened the viewer’s life expectancy by just under 22 minutes. The researchers then used these figures and expected deaths from all causes to calculate that someone who spends a lifetime average of six hours a day watching TV can expect to live just under five fewer years than someone who doesn’t watch TV.

The study suggests that this impact rivals that of other well-known behavioral risk factors, such as lack of exercise and smoking. The authors say these findings “suggest that substantial loss of life may be associated with prolonged TV viewing,” which they say could be considered a public health problem if these figures are confirmed.

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