Wellness Watch

Vitamin D Low In US Kids

2009-08-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Seven out of 10 U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone and heart disease, according to a study of more than 6,000 children.

The striking findings of researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggest that vitamin D deficiency could place millions of children at risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease. The study is published today in the online version of Pediatrics.

Vitamin D deficiency was thought to be relatively rare in the United States. However, recent studies have documented this growing problem in adults. With cases of rickets (a bone disease in infants resulting from low vitamin D levels) rising, it became clear that many children were not getting enough of this essential vitamin, which is needed for healthy bone growth, among other biological processes.

Previous data has shown that vitamin D levels have declined during the past 20 years due to more sedentary lifestyles today and not spending as much time outdoors. The widespread use of sunscreens has also added to the problem. The body uses UV-B sunlight to convert a form of cholesterol in the skin into vitamin D.

Vitamin D supplementation can help. In the study, children who took vitamin D supplements (400 IU/day) were less likely to be deficient in the vitamin. However, only four percent of the study population actually used supplements. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which recently updated its vitamin D guidelines, now recommends that infants, children, and teens should take 400 IU per day in supplement form.

Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis Reduces Costs

2009-05-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

A new study recently released suggests the best way to fight Alzheimer's disease is to intervene decades before someone demonstrates symptoms. That sounds a bit like a "chicken and egg" situation, but read on:

"The future of this disease is to intervene decades before someone becomes symptomatic. This analysis says you can save literally billions of dollars in long-term care costs if you can intervene at an earlier stage," study co-author David Weimer of the La Follette School of Public Affairs commented in a statement. "What you don't know costs a lot of money when it comes to this disease."

The researchers analyzed two types of interventions following diagnosis. One was patient drug treatment and the other caregiver-support programs.

The study, published in the Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, found each intervention provides positive net savings, with the greatest benefits achieved using a combination of both.

Currently, Medicare does not support caregiver-intervention programs and even accounting for implementation costs, the analysis suggests it would result in net savings to governments by reducing the care burden on medical systems.

The Wisconsin Medicaid program spends almost $500 million each year on nursing home care for 11,000 dementia patients. This is a small amount of the estimated 160,000 affected people in the state, but caregiver support is sparse accorsing Mark Sager of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Premature Ejaculation Spray Appears Effective

2009-04-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

Men with premature ejaculation who used a topical spray before intercourse were able to delay orgasm six times longer than normal, Irish researchers said.

Lead researcher W. Wallace Dinsmore of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland, said the study involved 300 men with clinically diagnosed lifelong premature ejaculation from 31 centers in Britain, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

The men were randomized into two groups. One group used the PSD502 spray, which contains 7.5mg of lidocaine and 2.5mg of prilocaine and the other used a placebo spray with no active ingredients.

Every time they had intercourse during the three-month study period, each couple measured the time from vaginal penetration to ejaculation with a stopwatch. The men were asked to abstain from sexual activity or masturbation for 24 hours before each recorded encounter.

The study, published in BJU International, found the time from penetration to ejaculation increased from an average a little over three minutes in the medicated group and to just 1.1 minutes in the placebo group.

Potassium May Help Lower Blood Pressure

2009-01-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

People trying to lower their blood pressure should also boost their intake of potassium, which has the opposite effect to sodium, a U.S. study suggests.

Senior author Dr. Paul Whelton, an epidemiologist and president of Loyola University Health System, and colleagues found that the ratio of sodium-to-potassium in subjects' urine was a much stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease than sodium or potassium alone.

Researchers determined average sodium and potassium intake during two phases of a study known as the Trials of Hypertension Prevention. The researchers collected 24-hour urine samples intermittently during an 18-month period in one trial and during a 36-month period in a second trial.

The 2,974 study participants -- initially ages 30-54, and with blood pressure readings just under levels considered high -- were tracked for 10-15 years to see if they would develop cardiovascular disease.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found those with the highest sodium levels in their urine were 20 percent more likely to suffer strokes, heart attacks or other forms of cardiovascular disease compared with their counterparts with the lowest sodium levels. However this link was not strong enough to be considered statistically significant.

By contrast, participants with the highest sodium-to-potassium ratio in urine were 50 percent more likely to experience cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest sodium-to-potassium ratios. This link was statistically significant.

Healthiest States In The Union

2008-12-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

For the second year in row, Vermont has been named the healthiest state, but Louisiana replaced Mississippi as the least healthy state, researchers said.

Vermont leads the nation for all health determinants measured. The prevalence of smoking has declined to 17.6 percent of the population, there is a slower rise in obesity than the U.S. national average, and the number of people without health insurance remains low, the researchers' report said. Vermont has a low percentage of children in poverty, ready access to primary care for residents, a high rate of high school graduation and high immunization coverage.

A comparison of state rankings from 2007 to 2008 released Wednesday indicates 36 states had positive changes in their overall health scores and 14 experienced declines. The top healthiest states following Vermont are: Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah.

States with the greatest overall health score improvement from 2007 are Arkansas, New Mexico, and Kentucky. Texas and Montana have shown the least improvement in health over the last year.

Louisiana's challenges include a high prevalence of obesity, a high percentage of children in poverty and a high rate of uninsured population. Mississippi, named least healthiest state last year, improved to 49th followed by South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

For 19 years, America's Health Ranking have been compiled by the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention.

Enlarged Prostate Treatments Evaluated

2008-11-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

The treatment choice for an enlarged prostate needs careful consideration, but new surgical techniques are often overpromoted, researchers in Germany said.

For many men, the symptoms of an enlarged prostate are just annoying, but for some men, an enlarged prostate means going to the toilet so often that a good night's sleep has become a thing of the past.

One in 5 men in their 50s are affected by an enlarged prostate -- or "benign prostatic hyperplasia" -- but the majority of men in their 70s will have symptoms.

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in Cologne, Germany, evaluated treatments and concluded prostate surgery can be very effective, but the adverse effects are a major concern for many men.

"Some of the newer techniques might have fewer adverse effects, but they may be so much less effective that the symptoms return, as bad as ever, within a couple of years," Peter Sawicki said in a statement.

About 3 out of every 10 men in Europe handle their symptoms without medication or surgery, perhaps 1 in 10 will have surgery and the rest will use medications, including herbal medicines.

College Students Making Anti-Cancer Beer

2008-10-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

U.S. college students say they are using genetic engineering to create beer with resveratrol, a substance in grapes shown to reduce cancer and heart disease.

A group of Rice University students say Rice's "BioBeer" will be entered in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition scheduled for Nov. 8-9 in Cambridge, Mass. This is the world's largest synthetic biology competition.

"After last year's contest, we were sitting around talking about what we'd do this year," said junior Taylor Stevenson says in a statement. "Peter Nguyen, a graduate student, made a joke about putting resveratrol into beer, but none of us took it seriously."

But when the team began looking in earnest for a new project this spring, they discovered a good bit of published literature about modifying yeast with resveratrol-related genes. When they looked further, they found two detailed accounts by teams that had attacked both halves of the metabolic problem independently, Taylor said.

The students have focused on creating a genetically modified strain of yeast that will ferment beer and produce resveratrol at the same time.

Most undergraduates on the team aren't old enough to buy beer, but the students said it will take a while before anybody can actually consume the new product.

Erectile Dysfunction Sign Of Heart Trouble

2008-09-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

For men with type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction is a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease, Chinese researchers say.

Peter Chun-Yip Tong of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, in Hong Kong says diabetes, erectile dysfunction and heart disease share an ominous link: damage to the blood vessels by high blood sugar levels.

The same process that hinders the extra blood flow needed to maintain an erection can have even more serious consequences in the heart, the researchers say.

"The development of erectile dysfunction should alert both patients and healthcare providers to the future risk of coronary heart disease," Tong says in a statement. "Other risk factors such as poor blood glucose control, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, smoking and obesity should be reviewed and addressed aggressively."

Researchers recruited 2,306 men with type 2 diabetes and tracked them for about four years. One-quarter had erectile dysfunction at the beginning of the study but none had signs of heart disease.

The study, scheduled to be published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology

found erectile dysfunction signaled a 58 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease.

Teens Poor Sleep Linked To Hypertension

2008-08-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Researchers said that healthy U.S. teenagers 13 to 16 who slept less than 6 1/2 hours a night were 2 1/2 times more likely to have elevated blood pressure.

The study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, also said that the teens with poor sleep, or low sleep efficiency -- having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep -- had, on average, 4 mm Hg higher systolic blood pressure and were 3 1/2 times more likely to have pre-hypertension or hypertension than their peers who slept well.

The study involved 238 adolescents ages 13 to 16 years old enrolled in the Cleveland Children's Sleep and Health Study. Sleep efficiency and duration was evaluated at home for three to seven nights, where teens completed a daily sleep log and wore a wrist device that measures movement to determine sleep and wake cycles. Participants also spent one night in a clinical sleep lab, where, in addition to assessing sleep with standard devices, staff measured blood pressure nine times throughout their visit.

Participants did not have sleep-disordered breathing or other known health conditions and the results were adjusted for gender, body mass index and socioeconomic status.

Sex Builds Better Health

2008-07-29T16:59:00.001-07:00

Sex promotes both our physical and psychological health, according to experts, and here are eight ways it helps:

1) Sex Busts Stress. Scottish researchers studied the sexual activity of 24 women and 22 men, then put them in stressful situations such as public speaking. The subjects who had intercourse withstood stress better than those who either abstained from sex or engaged in other sexual activities.

2) Sex Burns Calories. Sex burns up 85 calories in 30 minutes, and 40 half-hour sessions will burn about 3500 calories, which is enough to lose a pound.

3) Sex Builds Cardiovascular Health. English researchers found fear of a stroke during sex is groundless. They followed 900 men for 20 years and found no connection. On the other hand, they found that the men who had sex at least twice a week reduced their risk of a heart attack by half compared to men who had it less than once a month.

4) Sex Builds Immunity. Having sex several times a week has been linked with raising levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A (IgA), which helps ward off colds, according to researchers at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

5) Sex Builds Bonds. Sex raises the level of the hormone oxytocin, known popularly as the "love hormone," which results in building trust and strengthening bonds. The more contact - including hugs - the higher the level.

6) Sex Lowers Pain. As the love hormone oxytocin builds, endorphins rise, which results in lowering of pain. If aches and pains are better after sex, it's because of oxytocin levels.

7) Sex Lowers Risk of Prostate Cancer. Frequent ejaculations in young men may lower the risk of prostate cancer in later years. Australian researchers studied men with and without prostate cancer, and found frequent ejaculations in men in their 20s offered protection, but found no such link for men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

8) Sex Promotes Sleep. Oxycontin is at the forefront again - it helps both men and women sleep, which in turn promotes healthy weight and blood pressure. (Although women would almost universally say it had a much stronger effect on men, who are wide-awake one minute and sawing logs the next.)

Dairy Products Don’t Help Weight Loss

2008-07-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

There have been recent claims that dairy products can help people lose weight, and the dairy industry has hyped the assertion by investing millions of dollars in commercial advertising. However, a new review of the evidence published in the journal Nutrition Reviews reveals that neither dairy nor calcium intake promotes weight loss.

Amy Joy Lanou of the University of North Carolina at Asheville and Neal Barnard with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, evaluated evidence from 49 clinical trials from 1966 to 2007 that assessed the effect of milk, dairy products, or calcium intake on body weight and BMI, with or without the use of dieting.

Evidence from the trials showed that neither dairy products nor calcium supplements helped people lose weight. Of the 49 clinical trials, 41 showed no effect, two demonstrated weight gain, one showed a lower rate of weight gain, and only five showed weight loss.

An association between calcium or dairy intake and weight loss seen in some observational studies may be attributable to other factors, such as exercise, decreased soda intake, lifestyle habits, or increased fiber, fruit, and vegetable intake.

“Our findings demonstrate that increasing dairy product intake does not consistently result in weight or fat loss and may actually have the opposite effect,” the authors conclude

How Much Vitamin D Is Enough?

2008-07-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Recommendations vary on how much vitamin D is enough but 800 to 1,000 international units is likely to benefit most adults, a U.S. newsletter says.

The July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource reports the body produces vitamin D when exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays but many people need a supplement to reach recommended levels. Many multivitamins contain vitamin D but the nutrient, also found in milk, can be purchased alone or combined with calcium.

Vitamin D deficiency is increasingly recognized as an important cause of muscle pain and weakness, the newsletter says.

Several studies have found vitamin D supplements may benefit muscle strength and balance, helping older adults stay steadier on their feet and observational research indicates low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of some cancers.

In addition, some research indicates lower vitamin D levels are associated with factors that affect cardiovascular health, including coronary artery calcification and, possibly, congestive heart failure.

In one study, researchers found a 40 percent lower risk of multiple sclerosis in women who supplemented their diet each day with at least 400 international units of vitamin D, the newsletter says.

Watermelon: Nature's Viagra?

2008-07-07T19:07:00.001-07:00

Hmm, if the watermelon farmers of America like the slogan, I will be happy to market if for *ahem* various merchandise items! I think it is a genius move that this study's results were released on July 4.

Apparently, watermelon has ingredients that deliver Viagra-like effects to the body's blood vessels and may even increase libido, U.S. scientists say.

Dr. Bhimu Patil of Texas A&M in College Station said beneficial ingredients in watermelon and other produce are known as phyto-nutrients, which are naturally occurring compounds that are able to react with the human body to trigger healthy reactions.

"The more we study watermelons, the more we realize just how amazing a fruit it is in providing natural enhancers to the human body," Patil said in a statement.

When watermelon is consumed, the phyto-nutrient citrulline is converted to arginine through certain enzymes. Arginine is an amino acid that works wonders on the heart and circulation system, and maintains a good immune system, Patil said.

"The citrulline-arginine relationship helps heart health, the immune system and may prove to be very helpful for those who suffer from obesity and type 2 diabetes," Patil said. "Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it."

Deep red varieties of watermelon are also loaded with lycopene, an anti-oxidant that protects the human heart, prostate and skin health, Patil added.

Vitamin D May Fight Heart Failure

2008-06-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Vitamin D, known to help prevent cancer and osteoporosis, may help protect the heart as well, University of Michigan pharmacologists said.

In the study, treatments with activated vitamin D prevented heart muscle cells from growing bigger -- hypertrophy, in which the heart becomes enlarged and overworked in people with heart failure. The treatments prevented heart muscle cells from the over-stimulation and increased contractions associated with the progression of heart failure

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, found that after 13 weeks, the heart failure-prone rats on the high-salt diet -- comparable to the fast food that many humans -- given the calcitriol treatment had significantly lower levels of several key indicators of heart failure than the untreated high-salt diet rats in the study. Calcitriol is a form of vitamin D prescribed by a physician to treat and prevent low levels of calcium of patients whose kidneys or parathyroid glands are not working normally.

For many people, taking vitamin D supplements and some sun exposure are good options, but for those with heart failure will likely need a drug made of a compound or analog of vitamin D that will more powerfully produce vitamin D's effects in the heart, Simpson said.

Heart Friendly Cities

2008-05-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn., is the top heart-friendly city and Nashville the least heart-friendly, American Heart Association officials say.

The study, conducted by Sperling's BestPlaces, lists the nation's 10 most- and least-heart friendly cities for women analyzed 22 factors for each location, including cardiac mortality rates for women, smoking, hypertension rates, obesity, cardiac mortality rate and regular exercise amongst women.

Nashville finished at the bottom of the rankings with high obesity and smoking rates.

The study's other heart-friendly cities are: Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Va.; San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.; Denver-Aurora, Colo.; Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.; Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.; and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.

The other least heart-friendly cities are: St. Louis; Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.; Pittsburgh; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas.; Columbus; Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio; Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.; Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio; and Indianapolis.

Regardless of where activity falls on the list, cardiovascular disease is the top killer of women in all 50 states -- killing about 460,000 women nationwide per year, or roughly one woman per minute.

However, heart disease is largely preventable by eating a heart-friendly diet, regular physical activity, and tracking blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and weight, American Heart Association officials say.

Alcoholism: Not Just For Men Anymore

2008-05-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

There is a substantial increase in drinking and alcohol dependence among U.S. women, particularly white and Hispanic women, born after 1945.

The researchers examined two large, national surveys and compared lifetime prevalence rates from the same age groups and demographics, while simultaneously controlling for age-related factors.

Richard A. Grucza, an epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicated that by looking at two cross-sectional surveys that asked the same questions in the same manner but were conducted 10 years apart, the researchers were able to compare, those age 30 to 40 years in 2001 with those 30 to 40 in 1991.

The study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that for women born after World War II, there are lower levels of abstaining from alcohol and higher levels of alcohol dependence but there was no significant tendency for more recently born men to have lower levels of abstention or higher levels of alcohol dependence.

Grucza said the findings are probably due to higher levels of alcohol problems among women, while men have been more or less steady in their levels of dependence.

Large Lumbar Belts May Not Be Helpful

2008-05-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

Those large belts people wear when they lift or carry heavy objects aren't that useful in preventing back pain, a Dutch review found.

Lead author Ingrid van Duijvenbode of the Amsterdam School for Health Professionals in the Netherlands said although many people use lumbar supports to bolster the back muscles, they are no more effective than lifting education -- or no treatment whatsoever -- in preventing related pain or reducing disability in those who suffer from the condition.

Van Duijvenbode and colleagues looked at 15 studies -- seven prevention and eight treatment studies -- that involved more than 15,000 people.

The review, published in The Cochrane Library, found little or no difference between people who used supports and their peers who didn't.

"There is moderate evidence that lumbar supports do not prevent low back pain or sick leave more effectively than no intervention or education on lifting techniques in preventing long-term low back pain," Van Duijvenbode said in a statement. "There is conflicting evidence on the effectiveness of lumbar supports as treatment compared to no intervention or other interventions."

Sex Inhibition Linked To Sexual Problems

2008-04-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Sexual inhibition is the strongest predictor of sexual problems including lifetime arousal difficulty and low sexual interest, according to a US researcher.

Study co-author Cynthia Graham, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, and colleagues studied the responses of 540 women that rated current and sexual problems, lifetime arousal difficulty and lifetime problems with low sexual interest.

The study found "arousal contingency" -- or the ease with which arousal can be disrupted by situational factors -- and "concerns about sexual function" are predictive of women's sexual problems.

"Although further research is needed to confirm these findings with other samples, particularly clinical samples of women seeking help for sexual problems, these findings suggest that high scores on sexual inhibition may help predict which women are vulnerable to experience sexual problems," Graham said in a statement. "They may also be used as prognostic factors in treatment studies."

The information was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Most Fear Losing Their Health As They Age

2008-04-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

Eighty-three percent U.S. adults fear losing their physical or mental health as they age and 78 percent fear not having enough money, a survey indicates.

A survey of 2,075 U.S. adults ages 18 and over conducted by Harris Interactive for the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers found 71 percent said they were concerned about having to leave their homes or losing their independence.

Losing a spouse/partner and/or having to live alone weighed heavily on the minds of 66 percent, as did a spouse/partner having to care for a person if he or she was to become frail or were dying -- 58 percent.

Another major concern about growing old was losing the ability to drive -- 65 percent.

Best (ahem) Relations Last 7 to 13 Minutes

2008-03-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, people actually reasearch this stuff. A random sample of Canadian and U.S. sex therapists said that sexual intercourse of seven to 13 minutes is most "desirable."

The survey of North American sex therapists found they thought an "adequate" length for sexual intercourse was from three to seven minutes; "desirable" from seven to 13 minutes; "too short" from one to two minutes; and "too long" from 10 to 30 minutes.

Researchers Eric W. Corty and Jenay M. Guardiani of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, said that lay public perceptions about how long sexual intercourse should last may be problematic and may be a factor related to perceived distress.

Dissemination to the public of these results may change lay expectations and prevent distress and may benefit couples in treatment for sexual problems by normalizing expectations, the researchers said.

The findings are published in the The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Help Wanted: Contract Malaria and Get Paid

2008-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

Within the next 18 months, medical researchers will be asking people in Seattle to volunteer to be exposed to the deadliest form of malaria to help them test the effectiveness of vaccine candidates.

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute is collaborating with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to accelerate malaria vaccine research by opening a new vaccine testing center in Seattle's south Lake Union neighborhood.

Scientists at the center will use early testing of vaccines to weed out those that don't work so they can speed up research on the ones that are effective. Malaria vaccine testing has already begun at a second site in the United States, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, and is also being conducted at labs in England and the Netherlands.

"We're particularly excited by the center's location in Seattle, a community where many people have an interest in global health issues and, as a result, are willing to volunteer for such an important cause - to help save the lives of young children in some of the world's poorest countries," said Dr. Christian Loucq, Malaria Vaccine Initiative director.

Malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes, kills more than a million people each year, most of them children. Deaths doubled in Africa over the past 20 years due to resistance to existing drugs and insecticides.

Seattle volunteers will be paid an estimated $2,000 or more to hold a paper cup containing infected mosquitoes against their arm, waiting for the insects to bite. Symptoms usually develop within nine to 11 days, and volunteers will be treated for malaria when the first parasites show up in their blood. The treatments last three days.

In the related project at Walter Reed, where hundreds of people have been exposed to the malaria virus, not one person has gotten seriously ill, said Dr. Patrick Duffy, head of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute's malaria research programs.

The compensation is for time and inconvenience and the amount must be approved by an independent panel before the study begins.

"It's a sensitive issue. They want to make sure it's fair ... but not so much that somebody would say, 'I can't turn down this opportunity'," Duffy said.

Testing subjects will get no sicker than someone with the flu and most won't even miss a day of work after being exposed to malaria and then treated, he said. They will need to stay in a downtown hotel for a few days and get daily medical tests, but can leave their room during the day because treatment for the virus would begin before it becomes contagious.

"The parasite has an incredibly complex lifecycle. It takes on many different forms during its different lifecycle stages. One form infects the mosquito. That form develops late. The form that makes people sick develops early. We'll be treating this early before the form that can be transmitted is developed," Duffy said.

After a story about the vaccine center ran in The Seattle Times on Wednesday, the project's e-mail box was filled with hundreds of inquiries from people who wanted to participate in the vaccine trials, Duffy said.

The Seattle vaccine testing center will be built this year and the first trial with just six volunteers is expected to be conducted in the summer of 2009, paid for with between $4 million and $5 million from the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which was created with a grant of $50 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Additional trials are expected to cost between $1 million and $2 million and each one would require about 26 volunteers.

The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute has been working on tropical diseases for about 30 years and is home to one of the largest malaria research programs in the United States.

Although the institute has been developing malaria vaccines of its own, the testing program will be open to vaccine candidates from around the world.

Duffy said the project at Walter Reed, where he worked before coming to the institute in Seattle, has helped one promising vaccine candidate get to the point where it is about 50 percent effective at preventing malaria.

He said that vaccine is an inspiration to everyone who is working to find a way to save people from malaria.

"We have a partially effective vaccine now and there's no reason why we can't get a fully effective vaccine," Duffy said.

High Calcium May Not Prevent Fractures

2008-02-28T19:47:00.001-08:00

Lots of calcium may not be needed to prevent osteoporosis but it is good for the colon, a U.S. health newsletter says.

The Harvard Health Letter reports that prospective studies -- studies that follow large numbers of people for many years -- don't show getting a lot of calcium is needed to prevent osteoporosis and related bone fractures.

The newsletter says that a certain level of calcium intake is undoubtedly important to keeping bones strong but amounts above that level might not do much good. However, one reason some of these studies on supplements may not have shown a benefit is because the study participants were already getting more than 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily through diet.

"Americans over age 50 are supposed to get 1,200 mg of calcium daily, but 600 mg is probably enough for most people to keep their fracture risk low," the Health Letter says in a statement.

"Still, because extra calcium might be protective against colon cancer, a daily intake of 600 to 1,000 mg is a reasonable goal."

Lack Of Vitamin D Poses Health Problems

2008-02-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

There is a line from this article that makes this story in the Seattle Times a must read. The line goes: "There is no money in Vitamin D because you can get it from the sun. No one is around to push it." Ouch.

But, I think it is no wonder why we envy our friends in California and Arizona. all that sun makes them healthy! A growing body of evidence suggests a lack of Vitamin D can raise your risk of cancer, increase risk for a heart attack, diabetes and other disorders including asthma, and at least partly account for the Northwest's region's high rates of multiple sclerosis.

Click here for the full article.

New Website Creates Health Market

2008-02-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

You can buy almost anything online these days, but try shopping the Internet for an MRI, strep throat test or even an annual physical exam and you'll run into roadblocks.

A new Twin Cities company called Carol is trying to change that with a Web site that gives consumers a "care marketplace" to search for medical services, compare quality and price and make appointments.

Carol joins an effort to transform the U.S. health care system by putting consumers in charge and letting the market do its work.

"We want to let consumers define value," said Tony Miller, Carol's founder and chief executive officer. "We don't have care competition in the marketplace today."

The free site, which went live in January, generates revenue from health care providers who become "tenants" on the site. When a consumer sets up an appointment with a clinic or doctor on Carol.com, the provider pays the site a fee.

While limited to about 30 providers in the Twin Cities area at its launch, the company is adding others and plans to serve a second U.S. market sometime this year, Miller said.

Health care experts said Carol will face challenges in getting enough doctors and health plans to participate. But they said it goes farther than previous efforts to use the Web to enhance medical choice, and they praised its ease of use.

Instead of going through a list of doctors or clinics, users tell the site what they're looking for by clicking on parts of the body.

For instance, if a consumer clicked on "entire body," then "annual exam," and chose a routine physical for women age 40-64, the results page would show six different options ranging from $207 to $335. After selecting a number of options, consumers can click "compare" and see exactly what each exam would entail. They can also read a description of the doctor or clinic's philosophy and link to ratings by MN Community Measurement, a nonprofit that measures health care performance in Minnesota.

Consumers who have insurance can type in plan information to have Carol.com estimate their out-of-pocket cost. Miller said Carol is sensitive to consumer privacy, allowing people to search the site without registering, and it won't market to individual consumers even if they do register.

"The fact that they have a basic set of providers and prices and care packages is very impressive," said Greg Scandlen, president of the advocacy group Consumers for Health Care Choices, which lobbies against government regulation of the health care market.

But Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said the site is nothing more than advertising, and he hoped it wouldn't catch on. "Among physicians, there's a belief that health care is too critical ... to be left to the usual marketplace," he said.

If the site becomes more comprehensive, Carol.com would be most useful to people with high-deductible plans, health savings accounts or those without health insurance, said Elizabeth Boehm, an analyst with Forrester Research who studies the health care customer's experience.

Weight-Loss Advice Reviewed From Magazines

2008-01-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

Women's magazines may fall short in helping readers lose weight, a recent U.S. study suggests.

The study, published in Health Communication, found more than 83 percent of weight-loss stories focus on changing individual behavior and only 7 percent examine factors such as the availability or cost of healthy foods or fitness programs.

"We blame individuals too much for circumstances that are not entirely within their control," study co-author Shelly Campo of the University of Iowa in Iowa City said in a statement. "We know people living in unsafe neighborhoods are much less likely to exercise. And fast food is cheap compared to fresh fruit and vegetables. To tell a poor person that they made a bad choice because they couldn't afford the salad fixings raises some ethical concerns."

Campo and Teresa Mastin of Michigan State University in East Lansing analyzed 406 fitness and nutrition articles published from 1984 to 2004 in six women's magazines -- three mainstream women's magazine and three aimed at African-American women. The study determined the African-American magazines were more likely to promote fad diets and less likely to offer proven strategies such as eating more whole grains.