(Bloomberg) Drugmakers … have spent billions of dollars on ineffective therapies in a so-far fruitless effort to come up with an effective treatment for dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Now, in the latest of a steady drumbeat of research that suggests diet, exercise and socializing remain patients’ best hope, a study … shows that vitamins B6 and B12 combined with folic acid slowed atrophy of gray matter in brain areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease…

“It’s the first and only disease-modifying treatment that’s worked,” said A. David Smith, professor emeritus of pharmacology at Oxford University in England and senior author of the study. “We have proved the concept that you can modify the disease.”

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Community: There are many practical things we can do to prevent, delay, or minimize cognitive decline.

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(MedPage Today) A Mediterranean diet heavy on extra-virgin olive oil or nuts does more to keep the aging brain agile than simply switching to a low-fat diet, researchers found.

Participants in the PREDIMED-NAVARRA trial who consumed the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil had significantly better cognitive function scores on a Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE)…, wrote Miguel A. Martinez-Gonzalez, MD, MPH, PhD…

Participants who consumed the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil also did better than controls on clock-drawing tests (CDTs)…, the authors wrote…

"Our trial suggests that nutritional intervention with MedDiet supplemented with either extra-virgin olive oil or nuts is associated with improved global cognition," the authors wrote . "There are mechanisms that can explain the protective effect of MedDiet on cognitive status, including antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects and reduced vascular comorbidities."

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Community: There are many practical things we can do to prevent, delay, or minimize cognitive decline.

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(University of Liverpool) Data from more than 180 research papers suggests fish oils could minimise the effects that junk food can have on the brain, a review by researchers at the University of Liverpool has shown…

Research over the past 10 years has indicated that high-fat diets could disrupt neurogenesis, a process that generates new nerve cells, but diets rich in omega-3s could prevent these negative effects by stimulating the area of the brain that control feeding, learning and memory…

Dr Lucy Pickavance … explains: … "Fish oils don't appear to have a direct impact on weight loss, but they may take the brakes off the detrimental effects of some of the processes triggered in the brain by high-fat diets. They seem to mimic the effects of calorie restrictive diets and including more oily fish or fish oil supplements in our diets could certainly be a positive step forward for those wanting to improve their general health."

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Community: There are many practical things we can do to prevent, delay, or minimize cognitive decline.

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(Science Daily) New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death.

By altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re-educates cancer cells into normal cells that die as scheduled.

One way that cancer cells thrive is by inhibiting a process that would cause them to die on a regular cycle that is subject to strict programming. This study in cells … found that a compound in certain plant-based foods, called apigenin, could stop breast cancer cells from inhibiting their own death…

Parsley, celery and chamomile tea are the most common sources of apigenin, but it is found in many fruits and vegetables.

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(Mediterranean Foods Alliance) Forget anything you might have heard about the Mediterranean Diet being expensive! The Mediterranean Diet can be affordable even for those of us on tight budgets. In fact, a recent study … found that following the Mediterranean Diet--including enjoying at least two vegetarian dinners a week--can help lower a family's grocery bill.

By centering meals on vegetables, legumes, and whole grains rather than expensive meats, the Mediterranean Diet offers great opportunities for delicious, healthy, and affordable meals. Here are some tips and recipes to inspire your own cooking without breaking the bank:

·         Love legumes. Legumes, including beans, peas, and lentils, offer nutrient-dense flavor, fiber, and protein… Dried beans, depending on where you live and what kind you buy, cost about $2.00 per pound…

·         Pick pasta… Depending on the type of pasta, it can be as little as $1 per pound. Look for whole-grain pastas for the best nutritional value.     

·         Store sales and smart storage save money. Many ingredients can be purchased when they are on sale at the supermarket and saved in the pantry or freezer until they are needed…

·         Let a little bit go a long way. Sometimes a recipe just cries out for a premium ingredient: an imported cheese, a cured meat like prosciutto, a particular kind of olive or wine, for example. Fortunately in most cases, a little bit of a flavorful ingredient can be stretched a long way.

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MyRecipes.com:

Pork Chops Marsala
Give your weeknight pork chops a makeover with the comforting flavors of Marsala sauce. Save time in the kitchen by purchasing pre-minced garlic and pre-chopped mushrooms.

Pork Medallions with Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Fruity Pork Chops

Fried Pork Chops with Caramelized Onion Gravy

EatingWell:

Mushroom & Spinach Crepes
Try these crepes, filled with spinach and meaty mushrooms and topped with crumbled goat cheese, for a light supper with a salad on the side.

Bistro Salad Crepes

Summer Vegetable Crêpes

Moo Shu Vegetables

The Supermarket Guru:

Jicama and Red Pepper Coleslaw
Coleslaw is always a hit at Memorial Day barbecues - here's a delicious low calorie slaw your guests will love.

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(Science Daily) Gourmands and foodies everywhere have long recognized ginger as a great way to add a little peppery zing to both sweet and savory dishes; now, a study from researchers at Columbia University shows purified components of the spicy root also may have properties that help asthma patients breathe more easily…

Asthma is characterized by bronchoconstriction, a tightening of the bronchial tubes that carry air into and out of the lungs. Bronchodilating medications called beta-agonists (β-agonists) are among the most common types of asthma medications and work by relaxing the airway smooth muscle (ASM) tissues. This study looked at whether specific components of ginger could help enhance the relaxing effects of bronchodilators.

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People With High Blood Pressure May Crave Salt

(Renal & Urology News) Hypertensive individuals prefer more salt in their food than do normotensive individuals, but adding other seasonings to food can tame that craving, according to new data… “These studies have immediate applicability to possible benefits for hypertensive individuals,” said investigator Patricia Villela, MS, a clinical researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.  “We were not surprised by the finding of hypertensive patients having greater appetite for salt than normotensive.  However, we were surprised by the fact seasonings added [to the bread] may have changed the preference of the elderly, decreasing [their] appetite for salt. It would be important to demonstrate that changes in habits can be maintained in the long term.”

High-Salt Diet May Boost Cortisol

(MedPage Today) Eating a diet high in sodium increased levels of cortisol and other metabolites, potentially giving rise to metabolic syndrome, researchers found. In a prospective study, levels of sodium in the urine were significantly associated with both urinary free cortisol and cortisol metabolites…, Rene Baudrand, MD, … and colleagues reported… And patients who had high sodium intake had more insulin resistance as measured by an insulin resistance index … and more metabolic syndrome…, they reported.

Salt in the Sweet Spot

(David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP) What will be missing for all who only read headlines, which is apparently an ominously high percentage of us – although clearly not you if you are still with me! – is that virtually all experts concur we eat too much sodium, and it's hurting us… So what this all comes down to is that we still have cause to reduce our sodium intake a lot, just not a lot more than a lot, to derive a substantial, if not dramatic, public health benefit. We consume way too much sodium, and if we ever manage to start fixing that – we should be careful not to overshoot.

Community: We may eat too much salt, but we might not have to reduce our salt intake as much, if we also increase our potassium intake.

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Poison Painful Plantar Warts With Peculiar Remedies

Is Natural Deodorant Really Safer?

Can Acupuncture Lower Blood Pressure?

How to Combat Chronic Constipation

Are California Poppies Habit-Forming?

Could Curry Counteract Clotting?

New Medicine for Cold Sores

The Pros and Cons of Statins

Take Prescriptions on your Vacation

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(Consumer Reports) Q. I have a water purifier in my fridge and one in my sink. Is there a way to verify that they're working? A.L., Columbus, Ga.

A. It depends on what you're using the filter for. Different contaminants have different effects on water quality; some might impart an unpleasant taste, odor, or color, while others, like certain metals or coliform bacteria, could harm your health. Different purifiers may target specific contaminants, so check your device or contact the manufacturer to see what yours are designed to remove. If you want to have your purified water checked, send a sample to a state certified lab. Also check with NSF International, a public health and safety certification group, to find out if your filtering devices were properly vetted.

See our Ratings and buying guide for water filters, including our top-rated carafe water filter, the Clear2O CWS100A, $23, our top-rated faucet-mounted water filter, the Culligan FM-15A, $15, and the top counter-top water filter, the Amway eSpring 10-0188, $940.

Keep in mind that you should keep your carafe water filter in the refrigerator. A water-filled carafe can become a breeding ground for microorganisms when left at room temperature.

Source

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(Fox News) A survey of 1,400 sunscreen products by the Environmental Working Group finds that most products meet new federal requirements put in place last December. The rules from the Food and Drug Administration ban terms like "waterproof," which regulators consider misleading, and require that sunscreens filter out both ultraviolet A and B rays. Previously some products only blocked UVB rays, which cause most sunburn, while providing little protection against UVA rays that pose the greatest risk of skin cancer and wrinkles.

Despite that broader protection, one in seven products reviewed by the watchdog group boasted sun protection factor, or SPF, ratings above 50, which have long been viewed with skepticism by experts. In part, that's because SPF numbers like 100 or 150 can give users a false sense of security, leading them to stay in the sun long after the lotion has stopped protecting their skin.

Many consumers assume that SPF 100 is twice as effective as SPF 50, but dermatologists say the difference between the two is actually negligible.

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(The Telegraph) A British businessman at risk of prostate cancer has become the first in the world to have the organ removed.

The 53-year-old, who has not been identified, discovered that he was carrying a “faulty” BRCA2 gene that has been linked to aggressive forms of both breast and prostate cancer.

The pre-emptive action will greatly reduce his chances of developing the disease…

The British man, who is married with children, said he was keen to avoid the fate of relatives who had suffered from either breast or prostate cancer…

As well as leaving the patient infertile, it can also lead to permanent incontinence and sexual dysfunction.

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(Science Daily)  New research from the University of Southampton has shown that blind and visually impaired people have the potential to use echolocation, similar to that used by bats and dolphins, to determine the location of an object.

The study … examined how hearing, and particularly the hearing of echoes, could help blind people with spatial awareness and navigation. The study also examined the possible effects of hearing impairment and how to optimise echolocation ability in order to help improve the independence and quality of life of people with visual impairments.

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Community: Some blind people have already started using this capability.

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(Catholic Online) Commissioned at last year's Cartagena Summit of the Americas, [a] report reflects what many in Latin America feel is a much needed, new approach to the drug war. Previous hard-line policies have resulted in decades of violence in producer and trafficking nations such as Colombia, Peru and Mexico.

The United States is being pressured by some regional leaders for an overhaul of anti-drug policies and has suggested they might be open to legalization of some narcotics if that would reduce bloodshed.

In a 200-page review, a number of South American countries say they would break with the prohibition line. They said that they are ready to no longer deploy law enforcement and the army against drug cartels after deeming the human cost of life too high.

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(Los Angeles Times) Over the last decade, former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig, a prominent lawyer, presidential advisor and biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, has urged the government to counter what he called a major threat to national security.

Terrorists, he warned, could easily engineer a devastating killer germ: a form of anthrax resistant to common antibiotics.

U.S. intelligence agencies have never established that any nation or terrorist group has made such a weapon, and biodefense scientists say doing so would be very difficult. Nevertheless, Danzig has energetically promoted the threat - and prodded the government to stockpile a new type of drug to defend against it.

Danzig did this while serving as a director of a biotech startup that won $334 million in federal contracts to supply just such a drug, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

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Community: When do we start to call it corruption? Donald Rumsfeld promoted government purchase of Tamiflu when he owned stock in the company that makes it. And Tamiflu might not even work. But who cares? The rich got richer, so all is well with their world.

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(Medscape) After more than a decade of development and more than 2 years of frequently searing controversy, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has finally been released…

According to DSM-5 Task Force chair David Kupfer, MD, although the number of disorders are "about the same" as in the last edition of DSM, several new disorders have been added, including binge eating disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and hoarding disorder…

Allen Frances, MD, who chaired the DSM-IV Task Force, [said] that he is very concerned that the "DSM 5 will result in the mislabeling of potentially millions of people who are basically normal. This would turn our current diagnostic inflation into hyperinflation and exacerbate the excessive use of medication in the 'worried well.' "

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(MedPage Today) The path to becoming a patient-centered medical home is long, rough, and varies for each practice, but getting there is essential to providing high-quality, affordable healthcare, researchers concluded.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) came to that conclusion in summarizing the results of 14 grants it issued in the summer of 2010 to understand the processes and determinants of transforming primary care practices…

"The lessons learned demonstrate that true transformation to the PCMH model is not only possible but desirable, although not without its challenges," wrote Robert McNellis, MPH, PA, and colleagues at AHRQ's Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships in Rockville, Md. "These lessons provide valuable insight that will likely be helpful to other practices considering or beginning this transformation."

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(ThinkProgress) There’s new evidence to suggest that Obamacare is impacting the health industry for the better by successfully encouraging a greater emphasis on primary care. Ensuring that Americans are receiving regular preventative care is an important tenant of the health law, since it can ultimately help lower costs by preventing people from delaying medical treatment until they’re already very sick.

For the first time ever, Americans are now spending more money on primary care physicians than they are on specialists, according to a new survey by the physician recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins. In what Merrit Hawkins’ president referred to as a “seismic shift” in medicine, primary care doctors are now the greatest source of revenue for the hospitals where they work

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Community: As we’ve seen, healthcare outcomes are better when primary care doctors are involved in the process.

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(University of Reading) New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with ageing, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia.

Scientists at the University of Reading have shown that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about one's environment, and storing the information for future navigation.

The compounds work by modulating signals in the hippocampus and cortex, which control memory and learning. The compounds were found to favourably alter a number of proteins linked to the effective storage of memories in the brain. Many of these are known to be depleted with age, making memory storage less efficient, and leading to poorer memory in old age and conditions such as dementia. Champagne slows these loses and therefore may help prevent the cognitive losses that occur during typical and atypical brain ageing…

Professor Jeremy Spencer … said: "These exciting results illustrate for the first time that the moderate consumption of champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning, such as memory. Such observations have previously been reported with red wine, through the actions of flavonoids contained within it.

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Community: If you don’t drink, you may get the same benefit from eating red grapes, drinking red grape juice, or taking a red grape extract supplement. And there are many other practical things we can do to prevent, delay, or minimize the severity of cognitive decline.

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(MedPage Today) Older patients with nonmelanoma skin cancer showed less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than those without such tumors, researchers reported.

In a longitudinal study involving more than 1,000 New York City residents older than 70, those with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer had only one-fifth the likelihood of receiving an uncomplicated Alzheimer's disease diagnosis than those without these cancers…, according to Richard B. Lipton, MD, of … and colleagues.

"We deduce Alzheimer-specific neuroprotection, because the effect is attenuated or eliminated when considering less-specific diagnoses such as Alzheimer's disease with another diagnosis ... or all-cause dementia," the researchers wrote…

Nor was the link associated with the less common but more aggressive melanoma, they stated.

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Community: There are many practical things we can do to prevent, delay, or minimize the severity of cognitive decline.

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