MRI scan of brain
From Practice Update:
CONCLUSIONS
Both adhering to a Mediterranean diet and effectively managing type 2 diabetes may support optimal cognitive function. Healthy diets, in general, can help improve memory function among adults without type 2 diabetes.
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: What else preserves brain function? The Mediterranean diet, for one.
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Posted in Dementia
Wouldn’t be surprised if she had gestational diabetes.
From Newsweek:
Eating a Mediterranean diet while pregnant could prevent women at risk of gestational diabetes from developing the condition, a study has found.
The women who took part in the study followed a Mediterranean-style diet, by eating more nuts, extra virgin olive oil, fish, white meat and pulses; while cutting their levels of red meat, butter, margarine, and cream. Researchers also asked the women to avoid sugary drinks, fast food, and those high in animal fats.
Source: Eating Mediterranean Diet During Pregnancy Could Cut Gestational Diabetes Risk: Study
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Diabetes
I like this Newman’s Own dressing. First ingredient is olive oil blend, unlike most commercial vinaigrettes that first list water or canola oil. In 2019 they changed the formula and I don’t like it as much.
C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 are measurable blood markers of inflammation in our bodies. Inflammation may be the cause of diseases like hypertension, strokes, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), and heart attacks. One theory holds that if you can reduce the level of the inflammatory markers, your risk of the aforementioned illnesses will be lower.
Olive oil is a key component of the healthy Mediterranean diet. Could that healthfulness be mediated by anti-inflammatory effects of olive oil?
Fr0m the journal Nutrition:
[Randomized controlled trials] reveal beneficial effects of olive oil by reducing levels of inflammation markers. Olive oil taken on a regular basis can be a good dietary fat alternative, especially to manage IL-6 [interleukin-6]. However, further research is required to clarify the effects of olive oil consumption on inflammation comparing to other fats. Moreover, olive oil daily dosage, different time-length intervention and follow-up periods should be taken into consideration.
These researchers found no consistent effect of olive oil on C-reactive protein (CRP).
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Uncategorized
My only file foto of teeth
Several respected researchers think that Alzheimer’s dementia may primarily be an infectious disease, particularly related to gum bacteria.
From MedScape:
LOS ANGELES — As more disappointing results emerge from anti-amyloid drug trials in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is growing interest in novel treatment approaches for this condition.
One such approach is based on the hypothesis that Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), the bacteria involved in periodontal disease, may cause AD. The biopharmaceutical company Cortexyme Inc is testing this theory with an investigational agent COR388, which targets gingipains, the toxic proteases released by Pg. Early results show the drug is well tolerated and promising in terms of biomarker findings. Organizers hope that a phase 2/3 trial of the treatment now under way will provide definitive efficacy results.
Source: Gum Disease Bacteria a Novel Treatment Target for Alzheimer’s?
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: Did you know the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of dementia?
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Posted in Dementia
You won’t see her at your home gym
From American Partisan:
If you have chronic pain or have been out of the gym a long time, build up volume (number of sets x number of reps x weight) slowly. Pick weights you can lift without pain and increase weight and volume in pain-free steps. The great thing about weight training is it allows you to easily control training variables in a safe, measurable, and repeatable manner while building work capacity and strength. If one exercise hurts, substitute for another. For example, if it hurts to back squat, substitute for a front squat….Right now, for example, I’ve built up a bit of pain in my biceps so I’ve substitute pull-ups for chin-ups which seem to take the stress off my biceps due to the weird angle between my upper and lower arms.
Cardio is built-up in a similar manner. If one thing hurts, do something else or do it only within a pain-free time-interval and intensity to prevent pain flare-ups. Develop a large variety of ways of doing cardio rather than do the same thing every day since training benefits heavily from novelty. For example, you can use the assault bike one day, the agility ladder the next, barbell complexes a third day, and agility ladders a fourth day. If you’re very overweight, start with walking.
Source: Fitness through midlife | American Partisan
The article recommends a book by Bill Hartman called All Gain No Pain. The numerous five-star reviews (and very few with lesser stars) at Amazon.com seem a bit fishy to me due to over-the-top praise and few details. Do you have an opinion on the book?
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Exercise
Salmon, a cold-water fatty fish, is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids
Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acid are associated with reduce risk of heart failure. How do you get higher levels os blood omega-3 fatty acids? One way is to eat cold-water fatty fish.
Here’s an abstract from JACC: Heart Failure:
Objectives
The aim of this study was to determine if plasma eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) abundance (%EPA) is associated with reduced hazard for primary heart failure (HF) events in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) trial.
Background
Clinical trials suggest that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 PUFAs) prevent sudden death in coronary heart disease and HF, but this is controversial. In mice, the authors demonstrated that the ω3 PUFA EPA prevents contractile dysfunction and fibrosis in an HF model, but whether this extends to humans is unclear.
Methods
In the MESA cohort, the authors tested if plasma phospholipid EPA predicts primary HF incidence, including HF with reduced ejection fraction (EF) (EF <45%) and HF with preserved EF (EF ≥45%) using Cox proportional hazards modeling.
Results
A total of 6,562 participants 45 to 84 years of age had EPA measured at baseline (1,794 black, 794 Chinese, 1,442 Hispanic, and 2,532 white; 52% women). Over a median follow-up period of 13.0 years, 292 HF events occurred: 128 HF with reduced EF, 110 HF with preserved EF, and 54 with unknown EF status. %EPA in HF-free participants was 0.76% (0.75% to 0.77%) but was lower in participants with HF at 0.69% (0.64% to 0.74%) (p = 0.005). Log %EPA was associated with lower HF incidence (hazard ratio: 0.73 [95% confidence interval: 0.60 to 0.91] per log-unit difference in %EPA; p = 0.001). Adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index, smoking, diabetes mellitus, blood pressure, lipids and lipid-lowering drugs, albuminuria, and the lead fatty acid for each cluster did not change this relationship. Sensitivity analyses showed no dependence on HF type.
Conclusions
Higher plasma EPA was significantly associated with reduced risk for HF, with both reduced and preserved EF. (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis [MESA]; NCT00005487)
Source: Predicting Risk for Incident Heart Failure With Omega-3 Fatty Acids | JACC: Heart Failure
Most of my recommended diets include twice weekly servings of cold-water fatty fish.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Heart Disease, Heart Failure
Most of the green teas I’ve tried aren’t green colored
From her letter to the editor at American Family Physician:
A rigorously scientific analysis of all the green tea research can be best interpreted as telling us there is no good evidence to support its use for conditions such as cancer, weight loss, or cardiovascular disease. The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, a resource for evidence-based, clinical information on natural medicines, rates green tea as only “possibly effective.” This rating is below their ratings of “effective” and “probably effective.”3 It raises a number of concerns about safety and interactions with other drugs, laboratory tests, and diseases. Additional concerns are that the dosage from brewed tea is variable, and commercial green tea extracts are classified as “diet supplements” under the Diet Supplement Health and Education Act and are not regulated for safety, purity, and content. Contamination and inconsistency of such products is common. In my opinion, we should not recommend green tea to our patients unless more convincing evidence is found.
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Posted in green tea
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