The Common Cold Can Disrupt Memory and Motor Skills, So Take A Day Off!

The next time you tell yourself, "It's just a cold I can still go to work," you might want to rethink that; especially if your work involves motor skills (airplane pilots, back-ho operators) or memory (auctioneers, actors.) Researchers at Cardiff University in the UK (land of the wicked head cold) have cleverly teased out the cognitive effects of having a cold, and it's not a pretty picture. They studied 200 people--48 developed colds while the rest served as controls--and found:

"Those with colds reported lower alertness, a more negative mood, and psychomotor slowing. They were also slower at encoding new information and slower on the verbal reasoning and semantic processing tasks." 

Perhaps even more fascinating, the study (published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity) found that the changes in performance were not related to symptom severity. Possible explanations, posited by the researchers, include an increase in inflammatory proteins and neurotransmitter changes, both generated as part of the immune response. 

Mood, however, was indeed related to symptom severity...a universally known side-effect that hardly requires verification by science.

One More Reason for Sorority Sipping: Estrogen Prolongs the Effects of A Hangover

OK ladies, in case you were wondering how the men in your life can carry on the day after a party while you feel that even pushing the brew button on your Keurig is a task, we now have an answer. Estrogen blocks the hangover-preventing effects of melatonin, a hormone produced while you sleep.  Bottom line: men are better at sleeping it off. 

In a neat little study, reseachers in Buenos Aires were able to show that motor skills post alcohol bender were improved for male mice--and female mice that lacked estrogen--by pre-gaming with the sleep-inducing hormone, melatonin. Female mice with estrogen did not receive any benefit from the melatonin, the researchers explain, because estrogen blocks the uptake of melatonin.

Want To Feel Happier? Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Whether this validates good eating habits or encourages better ones, we just love this study. Researchers at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine (looking at 80,000 randomly selected British individuals) found that happiness and mental health rise in an approximately dose-response way with the number of daily portions of fruits and vegetables.

Much attention has been given to chocolate as the good mood food, now it turns out apples and carrots, celery and oranges will do the same.

In the study people who ate 4-5 portions of fruits and vegetables were more than twice as happy as those who ate 1-2 portions.  Not only were they happier, but the fruit and veggie eaters also reported being less "nervous" and "downhearted."

Well-being "peaked" according to researchers, at seven portions per day. Beyond that it's all gravy, or maybe pulp? 

Ubiquitous Chemical Linked to Heart Disease

First, the silver lining: it turns out having heart disease isn't all your fault, and it's not entirely the fault of your imperfect genes; astonishing new research (published in the gold-standard Archives of Internal Medicine) now fingers a ubiquitous industrial chemical known as PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic Acid) as playing a roll in the modern epidemic of heart disease.A simple water filter can reduce your exposure to a chemical linked to heart disease.

It's so easy to come in contact with PFOA (it's in the drinking water in much of the U.S.) that as the authors of the Invited Commentary in the Archives put it: "Perfluorooctanoic acid does not occur naturally but is present in the serum of most residents of industrialized countries." According to the research 98% of Americans have measurable levels of PFOA in their blood.

Researchers did not feed people PFOA to see what happens; they looked at blood levels of PFOA and disease patterns in more than 1,300 people.

What they found is that the higher a person's blood levels of PFOA the more likely they were to have cardiovascular disease.

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Acupuncture for Migraines and Chronic Pain? New Study Says Definitely Yes

As far as research about the effects of acupuncture goes, an article in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine is powerful. The lead author, Dr. Andrew J. Vickers, is "attending research methodologist" at arguably the most conventional medical center on the planet, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York..

But like all docs Vickers has a vested interest in patient well-being. Chronic pain is a reality of life for many Memorial patients, and alleviating pain is an important measure of quality of life, ergo the success of any treatment.

Dr. Vicker's goal was to look at all of the known research on acupuncture and pain relief; but rather than gather all of the research results and look for patterns (as most so-called meta-analyses do) these researchers asked for raw data from all the studies that met their strict criteria, and re-analyzed the data themselves.  After six years of digging through the studies of some 18,000 individuals (who received acupuncture compared to no acupuncture and fake acupuncture) Vickers and his colleagues financed by the National Institute of Health came to some solid conclusions.

“We think there’s firm evidence supporting acupuncture for the treatment of chronic pain,” Dr. Vickers told The New York Times .  

In their conclusion the authors call their result "the most robust evidence to date that acupuncture is a reasonable referral option for patients with chronic pain."

This study should free up conventional doctors to recommend acupuncture for recalcitrant chronic pain. And it may very well open the door for broader insurance coverage of acupuncture. Good news for people looking for non-drug relief of chronic back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, and migraines--all of which studies show were helped by acupuncture.

The Power of the Rose

The noble rose, rich in literary symbolism and beneficial phyto-nutrients, is having a resurgence among those seeking eternal youth. The New York Times identified some half dozen anti-aging creams employing rose oil compounds (which theoretically repair elastin and collagen) in an attempt to resurrect a childlike glow from middle-aged skin. Besides wondering who would buy a $350.00 jar of Lancome Absolue L'Extrait Regenerating Ultimate Elixer with native cells of rose leaves, the Times' trend-spotting sent iwellville scurrying to PubMed.gov (the uber-comprehensive database of the National Library of Medicine) to find out if there is any evidence to back-up the mythical power of the rose.Can a rose turn back the clock on skin and alleviate depression? Some say it can.

Science did not let us down; though, rather than help with wrinkles, there's evidence that roses can help with depression--another scourge of the loss of the bloom of youth. In April, five Turkish researchers reported in the American Journal of Natural Medicine that they had used rose vapors to halt depression in mice.

The theory: that oxidative stress (a critical route of damage in physiological stress-induced disorders like depression) would be reversed when exposed to free radical antioxidant compounds such as rutin and quercetin, present in abundance in rose vapor. Translation: Smelling roses (in this case essence of Rose x damascena Mill. grown in Turkish highlands) might reverse depression.

The kicker: it actually worked (Coco Chanel--who made rose the central note of Chanel No. 5--is proven right once again.) She would not have been surprised with the Turkish scientists' conclusion: "experimental depression is associated with elevated oxidative stress while treatment with rose oil vapor induced protective effects on oxidative stress in depression." Not just content to use the standard sucrose preference test (a reduced preference for sweets) to measure depression, the investigators from Suleyman Demirel University measured levels of reparative antioxidants in the cerebral cortex of their experimental subjects. They found significant differences in the rose-sniffing group.

Inhaling the scent of roses: is there a more elegant treatment for depression? 

Anna Wintour was no doubt blissfully unaware of this research when she recruited the mood-lifting rose for an Obama fundraiser she co-hosted last night at Sarah Jessica Parker's New York townhouse. Just hours before the scheduled dinner, The New York Post reported, dozens of plump white roses were delivered.  

Even without a rousing Presidential stump speech, the unassuming guests were guaranteed to leave a little happier after exposure to the aromatic power of the table decorations.

Is It Worth Getting An Annual Physical? It Depends...

By Woodson Merrell, M.D.

I love controversies that question the medical status quo, and so yesterday's front page of the Sunday New York Times Week in Review registered prominently on my radar. In it, Elisabeth Rosenthal --medical doctor and Times reporter-- decries the annual physical exam as "pointless" and possibly even "dangerous" as it can "lead to unneeded procedures."

She describes "batteries of screening exams for apparently healthy people" by doctors "purporting to ferret out hidden disease with the zeal of Homeland Security officers searching for terrorists."

Let's hope your doctor at the very least has the zeal of a homeland security officer. I highly recommend you find a doctor with the zeal of a person who wants to save your life.

In reality, check-up frequency should be based on a persons' health-risk profile. There are a few broad, age-related categories I use when determining whether or not a person needs an annual physical. These are based on a person being basically healthy with no significant chronic problems or major risk factors.

For a list of some major risk factors, click here.

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In Addition to That Super-Sized Soda Ban, Mr. Bloomberg...

Hizzoner the Health CopIn his latest attempt to save city dwellers from themselves Mayor Bloomberg proposes to prohibit soda-mongers from pushing oversized drinks that allow movie-goers to mainline glucose while watching a summer blockbuster. It's mind-boggling to imagine people are unaware it's unhealthy in the extreme to drink the equivalent of five cans of soda in a single go, and hard to argue with the mayor's point that such super-sizing contributes to obesity. 

Of public policy response to the obesity epidemic, the Mayor says, "I think it's fair to say that while everyone else is sitting around and complaining, New York is acting."  Our hats off to him, and while he's at it, iwellville would like to suggest a few other urban health hazards in dire need of executive action. 

Traffic is associated with high blood pressure; air pollution is associated with asthma, cancer and brain inflammation; and combined sewage overflow is associated with gastro-intestinal illness.

We'd also like to point out that while it is possible to say no to a 64 ounce soda, the average New Yorker has no control over traffic, air and water. On the other hand, the mayor does have the power to make a positive impact on the most serious urban health hazards. We hope his nanny-complex won't stop at soda, salt, trans-fats and smoking.

A World Free of the "Zombies" That Vex

You are not alone: Some 45% of people associate email with a loss of control.After reading a New York Times commentary equating email to zombies "that never stop coming", researcher Gloria Marks of the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine decided to study the effects of an email-free week. Her study, out this week, gives us all permission to turn off the zombie electrons that plague the inbox.

Those who were ordered to turn off email for a week had healthier heart rate patterns than those who were not. 

Previous studies have consistently shown people check email about 36 times an hour. Marks points out that email recipients generally need to meet the task demands of the sender; in one study 45% of people associated email with a loss of control, a crucial benchmark of unhealthy stress.

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A Twisted Tale of Spicy Tuna Rolls

Healthy ingredients, unhealthy trip to your table.On April 11th federal authorities received reports that people were getting violently ill after eating spicy tuna rolls in New York. Then reports started coming in from all over the place--Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. People in multiple states were experiencing the extreme gastrointestinal symptoms of salmonella poisoning after eating dishes with raw tuna including spicy tuna rolls and seviche. The resulting investigation lifts the veil on the origins of that pretty plate of sushi.

The fish was cleaned and frozen in India, shipped to a supplier in Cupertino, California and then sent to restaurants around the U.S.

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Pain Pills and the Need to Please

Research suggests womens' need to please could be getting them in trouble with so-called opioid prescription painkillers such as oxytocin and vicodin. Painkiller problems are reaching epidemic proportions for women, who are more likely than men to be given opioid prescriptions and to be given higher doses on average than men. Rates of toxic reactions to opioids have tripled among women since 1999, and opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations have increased for women but not for men. How did we get from "mother's little helper" to "mother's major drug problem?"

 "Women are more likely to report that their fear of disappointing others leads them to make poor decisions about their pain care."

Partially, the trouble comes from doctors who seem to hand the stuff out like candy. A study of unintentional pharmaceutical overdose fatalities reported that prescribed opioids were present in 44% of women. Drug monitoring program records show that among fatality cases, women were more than twice as likely as men to have received prescriptions from five clinicians or more per year; putting women at greater risk for polypharmacy (dangerous drug interactions), for unintential poisoning and for receiving mutliple opioid prescriptions from mutliple doctors.

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Ghosts in Your Genome?

The ghosts in your genome may be DDT (sprayed liberally in neighborhoods in the 1950s) or other chemical pollutants encountered by your parents or grandparents; or you may be passing along such ghosts from chemicals you encounter today. In new research at Washington State University the effects of environmental toxins were passed down to offspring, and even to second generation (grand-offspring if you will) of lab rats exposed to chemicals including jet fuel, plastics and the pesticide DEET found commonly in bug sprays applied to skin. The impact of the exposure was greatest in the first phase of pregnancy when gender is determined.

Earlier research from this team showed similar effects from pesticides and fungicides, but this is the first to show generational effects from a variety of environmental toxins. "We didn't expect them all to have transgenerational effects, but all of them did," Michael Skinner, the molecular biologist leading the research, told the technology website Gizmodo.

The study was funded by the U.S. Army to study pollutants that troops might be exposed to. Skinner and his colleagues exposed pregnant female rats to relatively high but non-lethal amounts of compounds widely encountered by the general public, and tracked changes in three generations of offspring. The results were disturbing.

Researchers found distinct epigenetic signatures in the animals' sperm that acted as biomarkers of ancestral exposure to toxins.

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Another Dirty Little Secret: Arsenic in Rice-Containing Foods from Organic Baby Formula to Energy Shots

Organic infant formula using organic brown rice syrup as a sweetener contained arsenic concentrations up to six times the EPA safe drinking water limitWe know that sometimes it feels like there's so much contamination in the food supply you can't eat anything. So please don't "shoot the messenger" of this alarming story.  A new study (published last month in Environmental Health Perspectives, the peer-reviewed journal of the National Institute of Health's environmental arm) found high levels of the known carcinogen, arsenic, in foods that contain rice-based ingredients--especially organic brown rice syrup, used as a "healthier" alternative sweetener to high-fructose corn syrup. Rice ingredients are increasingly present in foods in part because people are looking for wheat alternatives (for example, 15% of autistic children in the U.S. are on gluten-free diets) and partly because the industry has worked hard to develop uses for its crops.

Arsenic-based pesticides (which persist in soil indefinitely after application has ceased) were used extensively on cotton crops to control boll weevils, and today rice paddies routinely cover fields where cotton once grew.

The researchers at Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire analyzed foods containing rice ingredients (including rice flour, rice grains and rice syrup) from their local supermarkets, and identified arsenic levels above what's considered safe in drinking water. There are several areas of particular concern including rice syrups, baby formula, cereal and energy bars and energy shots. The study sites energy gels for endurance athletes listing organic brown rice syrup as a main ingredient (when consumed per manufacturer's instructions over a two hour workout) delivered more than the EPA limit for daily arsenic intake in water.

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New Use for Vitamin D: Reducing PMS Pain

Yes, we know this vitamin has become controversial.  Just when researchers were beginning to give up on D as the wonder-vitamin, a new study comes along that provides a good reason at least not be to deficient in the vitamin that comes from sunshine.

In the study (published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and conducted in Italy) women who took vitamin D experienced a 41% decrease in menstural cramping (known as dysmenorrhea) based on a standardized, self-reported scale of pain.

Even more impressive, none of the women who received Vitamin D chose to take non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as Motrin or Advil, but a full 40% of the women who received the placebo opted to take such pain-relieving pills during the study.

Amazingly the editorial in the stodgy Archives of Internal Medicine was uncharacteristically enthusiastic in its support of Vitamin D: "Encouraging all women to obtain the recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D (600 IU/d for women of reproductive age), as well as screening for low serum 25(OH)D levels among women with other risk factors for vitamin D deficiency, would be a rational interim approach." The editorial also called for more studies evaluating the impact of taking more than the recommended daily allowance.

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When Cooking "Light" Isn't

Bacon and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes qualifies as a "healthy" potato recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

We all know American culture enables junk food binging, but the nudge to overindulge seems somehow more subservise when it comes from Cooking Light magazine. This supposedly healthy, recipe-focused monthly has been pulling in diet-conscious readers for 25 years, but it seems to have developed an unhealthy obsession. While the magazine has gone through many iterations as it's tried to keep up with the nation's diet crazes for a quarter of a century, lately Cooking Light has gone hog wild for carbohydrates--which, frankly, is not in anyone's best interest.

The blood glucose level response to a fixed quantity of carbohydrates in baked potatoes is about twice the response to the same quantity of carbohydrates in pumpernickel bread.

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