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1244 days ago
Exercise, healthy diet, no smoking, staying trim and moderate drinking are key: study It only takes five heart-healthy lifestyle habits to significantly reduce heart disease risk in middle-aged and older men, a new study shows. Even men being treated for high blood pressure or high cholesterol showed a reduced risk of heart disease when they quit smoking, kept slim, exercised daily, drank only a moderate amount of alcohol and stuck to a healthy diet. The 16-year study of almost 43,000 men, ages 40 to 75, was published in the July 4 issue of the journal Circulation. The study looked at the impact on health of five heart-healthy behaviors. In detail, these behaviors included keeping a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 (the threshold for overweight) and exercising daily for at least 30 minutes. Moderate alcohol consumption was defined as an average of half a drink to two drinks a day. A healthy diet included fruits and vegetables, cereal fiber, nuts, legumes, chicken and ...
922 days ago
Periodontitis viruses could trigger the malignancies, researchers say Chronic gum disease could boost a man's risk for tongue cancer, whether or not he smokes, a U.S. study finds. Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo compared 51 men with tongue cancer and 54 men without tongue cancer. Using X-rays, the researchers assessed periodontitis (chronic gum disease) in the men by calculating the amount of bone loss in the tooth cavities. The study found that men with tongue cancer had significantly greater average bone loss than those without tongue cancer -- 4.21 millimeters vs. 2.74 millimeters. "After adjusting for the effects of age, smoking status and the number of teeth, each millimeter of [cavity] bone loss was significantly associated with a 5.23-fold increase in the risk of tongue cancer," the study authors wrote. "Other oral variables (the number of dental decays, fillings, crowns and ...
905 days ago
In one large study, 10 percent of fathers reported symptoms Awareness of postpartum depression has increased in recent years. Still hidden, though, are the identities of new fathers who have suffered in silence. Almost as many men as women suffer from this type of depression, according to researchers who examined data from more than 5,000 two-parent families. In all, about 14 percent of mothers and 10 percent of fathers showed signs of moderate or severe postpartum depression, according to the study, first reported in the August 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics. "The long-standing belief of many people, including physicians, has been that postpartum depression is due to hormone changes in women that take place after childbirth," said study leader James F. Paulson of the Eastern Virginia Medical School. "Obviously, fathers wouldn't be susceptible to changes of this nature and, probably because of this, haven't been a focus of study." But now ...
892 days ago
Early study with mice suggests a potentially beneficial effect A new study with mice suggests that diets high in omega-3 fatty acids from fish might help slow prostate cancer. The comparable levels of dietary omega-3s used in the study "are much higher than the average Western diet, but they are not unachievable," said senior researcher Yong Chen, a professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Omega-3 fatty acids -- especially the "long-chain" forms found in oily fish -- have become the latest nutrition superstars, with studies suggesting they can help prevent heart disease and even cancer. The exact mechanism driving the purported anti-cancer effect is still unclear, Chen said. One leading theory contends that specific cellular enzymes metabolize omega-3s in ways that retard malignancy. However, Chen's team is investigating a much lesser-known mechanism. "It turns out that [long-chain] omega-3 fatty acids might ...
1229 days ago
Doctors should monitor heart health of patients with erectile dysfunction, study says Impotence is more prevalent among men who have more severe coronary artery disease than among men with low levels of the disease. And because impotence - erectile dysfunction - manifests itself two to three years sooner than coronary artery disease, the condition essentially serves as a "sentinel of the heart" - or early warning system for cardiac trouble, a new Italian study found. "It's an important message to get out," said Dr. Ira Sharlip, a spokesman for the American Urological Association. "There's an increasing body of knowledge that tells us that erectile dysfunction is a form of cardiovascular disease and often predates the onset of other forms of clinical cardiovascular disease, specifically coronary disease." Erectile dysfunction affects, to some degree, 52 percent of men aged 40 to 70 years in the United States and 322 million men worldwide. The ...
