Public Health

Most people know that restaurants are inspected regularly, but many assume that regularity means 5-12 times per year rather than the once that is actually the case. That's one finding in an article published in the June 2008 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. It found that the public is generally unaware of the frequency of restaurant inspections and the consequences of poor inspection results. Foodborne diseases cause an estimated 76 million illnesses in the U.S. each year with about half associated with restaurant meals. More than 70 billion meals per year are purchased in…

'Functional foods' are those that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition and more people are recognizing that they are an important part of a lifestyle that leads to long-term fitness and even longevity. Liz Sloan, writing in Food Technology, has identified the top 10 trends in functional foods. The article noted that a majority of Americans, 69 percent, are incorporating foods into a preventative lifestyle, while 27 percent are utilizing food as a treatment to manage a preexisting health condition. One-third of shoppers (36 percent) are trying to reduce the risk of developing a…

"Education is the best provision for the journey to old age."AristotleOld AgeAristotle gave much attention to speculation and little to experience. He believed that life was linked to internal heat, which, when diminished, gives rise to the senescence.   For centuries his theories continued to be popular, the conception of the human body likened to a machine subject to wear. Galen of Pergamum was a prominent Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin, and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period.  Galen's works on anatomy and medicine became the…

A group of British investigators headed by H. Walach has studied the psychological mechanisms of 'distant healing', a form of spiritual healing, in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. 409 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) were randomized from 14 private practices for environmental medicine in Germany and Austria in a two by two factorial design to immediate versus deferred (waiting for 6 months) distant healing. Half the patients were blinded and half knew their treatment allocation. Patients were treated for 6 months and allocated to groups of 3 healers from a pool of 462…

A study published in the April 2008 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition(1) suggests an association between high egg consumption and all-cause mortality and the response from the American Egg Board is below. The researchers, Djoussé and Gaziano, analyzed data from the Physicians Health Study I which followed male physicians over a 20 year period. As an epidemiological study, it does not show cause-and-effect and has other inherent weaknesses, the Egg Board response says. The researchers did not control for a variety of factors including intake of other foods and nutrients…

Maintaining aerobic fitness through middle age and beyond can delay biological ageing by up to 12 years and prolong independence during old age, concludes an analysis published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, improves the body’s oxygen consumption and its use in generating energy (metabolism). But maximal aerobic power starts to fall steadily from middle age, decreasing by around 5 ml/[kg.min] every decade. When it falls below around 18 ml in men and 15 ml in women, it becomes difficult to do very much at all without severe fatigue…

Low doses of hydrogen sulfide, the toxic gas responsible for the unpleasant odor of rotten eggs, can safely and reversibly induce 'suspended animation', in mice, say Massachusetts General Hospital reseachers. They report that effects seen in earlier studies do not depend on a reduction in body temperature and include a substantial decrease in heart rate without a drop in blood pressure. “Hydrogen sulfide is the stinky gas that can kill workers who encounter it in sewers; but when adminstered to mice in small, controlled doses, within minutes it produces what appears to be totally reversible…

A polyphenols-rich diet keeps the heart younger, according to a study by the FLORA Project, a European Commission funded research studying the effects of flavonoids, a variety of polyphenols, on human health. "The biological and protective activities of various flavonoids have been extensively studied in vitro, on cell- based assays," says Marie-Claire Toufektsian, leading author of the study. "Nevertheless, this kind of approach has a major limitation: it is extremely difficult to assess precisely the nature of all flavonoids absorbed following consumption of plants present in a given meal.…

A gluten-free vegan diet may improve the health of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research from the Swedish medical universit Karolinska Institutet. The diet also has a beneficial effect on several risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and cardiovascular diseases. The underlying causes are unknown, but researchers suspect that the disturbed balance of blood fats seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis may be part of the explanation. A research team at…

Botulinum toxin - Botox - is one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances but it has become best known as one of the most commonly used molecules to reduce wrinkles. Now it will be known for something else; saving infants. Dr. Sam Daniel, Associate Director of Research of the Otorhinolaryngology Division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre, has used this protein as an effective method to save newborns suffering from CHARGE Syndrome from having to undergo devastating tracheotomies. Dr. Daniel describes the case of the first infant patient…