Much ado has been made about yogurt as a treatment for “irregularity,” so much so that one major vendor of yogurt specifically markets their new blend of bacteria and fermented milk for the improvement of “long intestinal transit time.” It all sounds wonderful, just eat a cup of yogurt and the trains run on time. That’s actually proven to be true in multiple studies, which is great for most people.

For those who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a condition that makes a mockery of regularity, things are always a little more vexing. For them, yogurt induced regularity would be a godsend. Publishing in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, researchers have taken a good look at this very question. Read the rest of this entry »

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This week, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force came out with new recommendations on the use of daily low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes. In fact, the recommendations are so new they aren’t on their official website yet as I write this. The short version is that they think fewer people should be taking aspirin daily due to the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. However, just last year this same task force said that more people should be taking aspirin daily!

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New Paper actually says “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

Why? Because it’s good for your heart! There is a link to a PDF of the paper in the first paragraph of the linked article, and yes, the title really is “Don’t worry, be happy: positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease.” In a study of over 1700 adults, Canadian researchers found that people with a positive outlook had a reduced risk of heart disease. This suggests that controlling depression is an important part of a heart-healthy lifestyle.

I Can See Clearly Now

Another study of over 600 elderly people shows how important regular vision screening is. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that patients with untreated vision problems were at increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. They point out that “Proper vision is a requirement for many of the activities that previously have been found to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These include reading, playing board games, other mentally stimulating activities, social networking, as well as physical activity such as walking and routine exercising. A visual disorder may interfere with normal mobility and may also hinder a person’s ability to participate in such activities.” So remember to include vision screening among your regular check-ups.

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While many researchers have been looking to exotic plants of the tropics and Far East for life extending and enhancing compounds, it turns out that one of the hottest areas for research is a humble fruit native to North America. Cultivated since the 1800s and harvested wild from bogs and forests by Native Americans for centuries, the blueberry has long been known to be loaded with vitamin C and more recently been noted for a variety of other beneficial plant compounds. Blueberries are fairly low calorie and carry a low glycemic load and should be on the shortlist of anyone looking for a healthy snack.

Recent years have seen volumes of research on the compounds in blueberries. Our friends at the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry have published no less than 53 papers in last year on the berry. Topics have been wide ranging, most recently they’ve found some interesting effects on vision and memory. Read the rest of this entry »

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How many times have you heard female friends complain that their husbands have an easier time losing weight. All he has to do is hit the gym and his weight just comes off, she kills herself working out and the weight is slow to come off if at all? It’s a complaint I hear all the time in the clinic. I’ve often written it off as formerly more athletic men rediscovering their muscle memory and such.

It turns out there’s something to this. Enough something that Todd Hagobian and Barry Braun gathered all the studies they could find looking at sex differences and exercise into a review article in the current issue of Exercise and Sports Medicine Reviews. Read the rest of this entry »

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