Under blue skies and enjoying cool ocean breezes in San Diego, CA, the Endocrine Society is currently holding their annual gathering, ENDO, and mulling over the latest research. This year most of the talk is about insulin, insulin resistance and weight control. New studies are being reviewed daily, including one funded by none other than Jenny Craig. Read the rest of this entry »

As the obesity epidemic continues to spread, costing more and more money for Americans, Type 2 Diabetes has become more common as well. Obesity is the number one risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes, so this is no surprise. What is still becoming clear is that both obesity and diabetes change your risk of cancer.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve talked before about how too little sleep can result in memory problems, depression, appetite control issues, an increased risk of cancer, and increases in visceral fat. Even normal levels of sleep paired with eating in the middle of the night can cause weight gain. Today we have more news about sleep; and if you don’t get enough, it is not good news.

First, we have a team of researchers who did a meta-study of 16 studies involving over 1,300,000 people, of whom over 100,000 died. That’s a huge amount of information and not easily discounted. Looking over all that data, they found that “people who sleep for less than six hours each night were 12% more likely to die prematurely than those who get the recommended 6-8 hours.” While there was also an increased risk of death for those who sleep more than 9 hours a day, they determined “whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health”. In other words, they slept a long time because they were ill, rather than illness being caused by too much sleep.

Multilevel marketing (MLM) is rampant in the fitness and health fields. It’s everywhere from promotion of supplements to exercise programs and more. While some of them are excellent as our reviews here reflect many if not most of them are dubious at best. That’s why it’s always a present surprise to find a study that affirms that an existing MLM product not only works but does so much more than the marketing people thought to mention.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the great things about medicine is that experts tend to gather together into groups, like say: The North American Menopause Society. This organization of nurses, nurse midwifes, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, and psychologists is on a mission. That mission is the best possible management of menopause for women as they age. The new issue of their descriptively titled journal, Menopause, contains their position statement on hormone replacement therapy. When I started medical school every woman who complained of an end to her periods and “hot flashes” got hormone therapy. It’s more complicated now. Read the rest of this entry »