Study finds it’s linked to higher death risk, but replacing the hormone may not help, experts say

From HealthDay

Men aged 40 or over with low levels of testosterone may be at increased risk of fatal heart attacks or death from any cause, a British study suggests.

In fact, “The magnitude of the effect was very similar to that of [high] cholesterol or blood pressure,” said lead researcher Dr. Kay-Tee Khaw, professor of clinical gerontology at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.

However, more work is needed to see whether testosterone supplements should be recommended for men with naturally low levels of the hormone, she said.

“We need to replicate these findings,” Khaw said. “We hope we can entice other investigators to look at testosterone levels and see if these findings are confirmed.”

Her team published the findings in the Nov. 27 issue of Circulation.

The study included more than 11,600 men ages 40 to 79 who were free of known cardiovascular disease and cancer at the start of the trial. It was done because “there have been lots of studies suggesting that low testosterone may not be good for health,” Khaw said. “So, we wanted to see if this could be demonstrated in a large population. Testosterone is hard to measure, the test can be expensive.”

The men were divided into four groups based on their blood testosterone levels.

Those men in the highest quarter of testosterone readings — with at least 19.6 nanomoles of the hormone per liter of blood — had a 41 percent lower risk of dying over 10 years than those in the lowest quarter of testosterone readings — less than 12.5 nanomoles of testosterone per liter of blood.

One major question is whether low testosterone is a risk factor itself or just a marker for other risk factors, said Dr. Victor Montori, associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He has done his own studies on testosterone replacement therapy.

“It does not mean that replacing or normalizing levels of testosterone would reverse the outcome,” he said. “There are other hormones in the blood that are related to other risk factors, such as diabetes and hypertension.”

In any case, a testosterone replacement regimen “would not be a walk in the park,” Montori said. “It would be a major intervention.”

According to Dr. Jorge Plutzky, director of the Vascular Disease Prevention Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the experience of women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) shows that hormonal regimens can have their dangers.

Beginning in the 1990s, millions of older American women took HRT, which replaced two female hormones, estrogen and progestin. Early trials had indicated that the therapy might reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke in older women.

Instead, the Women’s Health Initiative, a major study released in 2002, found that women taking HRT were at increased incidence of stroke, blood clots and breast cancer, noted Plutzky, who is also a spokesman for the American Cancer Society. HRT prescriptions dropped off precipitously after the study’s release.

So, much more research is needed on the link between testosterone levels and mortality before doctors can recommend the regimen to men, Khaw said. Such studies might provide “insights and better understanding of disease mechanisms, such as how and why testosterone might be related to poorer health through, for example, insulin metabolism, lipid metabolism or inflammation,” she said.

From RevolutionHealth

If you’re looking for a once-in-a-lifetime meal, you’re likely to find it at El Bulli, a restaurant on the Spanish coast in Catalonia that’s been called the best in the world by Restaurant Magazine. Though the dishes are wildly inventive, the ingredients are definitely salt of the earth: fresh fish, olive oil, garden-warm fruits and vegetables. In other words, foods commonly eaten in sun-drenched Mediterranean countries.

In recent years, these same foods have been hailed as a way to prevent illness and promote overall good health, leading many experts to conclude that the Mediterranean diet can benefit people across the globe.

Gifts from the Greeks

Mediterranean food first attracted scientific attention 50 years ago, when researchers noticed that people throughout Crete and southern Italy often lived well into their 80s and 90s without any sign of heart disease, cancer or other chronic ailments.

Since then, hundreds of studies have confirmed that a traditional Mediterranean menu

lots of dense, whole grain peasant bread and pasta, seasonal vegetables and some cheese and fruit, all spiked with olive oil and washed down with red wine

can indeed substantially lower your risk of heart attack and stroke.

This way of eating may also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes and cut your chances of developing emphysema, asthma and hay fever. In addition, recent research suggests that it may ward off some cancers.

What seems to make the Mediterranean menu so healthful isn’t any one food, but the whole eating-low-on-the-food-chain package, says Jennifer Nelson, a registered dietitian and director of clinical dietetics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “All ethnic eating is plant-based and unprocessed. It’s a wonderful, fresh way of looking at things that goes beyond the usual fast-paced, put-it-in-boiling-water, nuke-it way of eating.”

The specifics

A food pyramid is designed so the foods that make up most of your diet are at the base, and those that should be eaten in smaller quantities and less often are at the top. In the Mediterranean scheme, an abundance of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts, olive oil and dairy foods are daily fare. Fish, chicken, eggs and sweets are recommended just a few times a week, and red meat is limited to no more than 12 to 16 ounces per month.

Here’s a closer look at how this all stacks up:

Whole grains and potatoes. Wonder Bread may have been a staple of 1950s America, but unrefined grains have always been the starch of choice in most of the rest of the world. Whole grains including breads, pasta, rice, couscous and polenta, have more complex taste and texture, and have been shown to cut your risk of heart disease and diabetes. While starchy, white potatoes have come under fire lately for their high carb content, in the Mediterranean they’re often eaten in small portions or used sparingly in a larger dish.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds. There’s simply no downside to fruits and vegetables

they’re low in calories and fat and high in the fiber and nutrients that stop high blood pressure, heart disease, some types of cancer and age-related eye disease. Can’t get past the boiled broccoli of your youth? The Mediterranean plan features options like grilled artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. Dry beans such as garbanzos (aka chickpeas

think hummus) and small amounts of nuts add quality protein.

Extra virgin olive oil. Experts used to think that a low-fat diet equaled a healthy heart. But it’s now clear that the kind of fat you eat is important, too. That’s where extra virgin olive oil comes in. Walter Willet, M.D., a professor of epidemiology and nutrition and the chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, says that unlike saturated or trans fats, olive oil lowers bad cholesterol and encourages good cholesterol, making it a fat that actually helps your heart. Still, olive oil is loaded with calories. Six teaspoons a day will give you all the benefits without expanding your waistline.

Cheese and yogurt. Cultured dairy foods like Greek yogurt and feta cheese are a big part of most Mediterranean cultures and may help intestinal health as well as provide calcium and protein. They’re often eaten every day but in modest amounts.

Fresh fish, poultry, eggs. It takes just 6 ounces of fish a week to knock points off your blood pressure and improve brain function in growing children. Seafood is even more important when it comes to your heart

cutting your risk of heart disease by as much as a third and halving your chances of sudden cardiac death. Chicken and eggs (no more than four a week, including those used in baking) play a supporting role.

Sweets. Desserts like gelato, baklava and French pastries should be eaten sparingly. Fruit is the most common dessert in the Mediterranean.

Red meat. Most of the arches in the Mediterranean date back thousands of years and definitely aren’t golden! Because it’s high in saturated fat and has been linked to some kinds of cancer, limit red meat (such as hamburgers) to a few times a month or avoid it completely.

Red wine (optional). A glass of vino a day, sipped slowly with your meal, can help ward off heart attacks. Because the benefit is in the fruit, not the alcohol, grape juice packs the same punch.

To help you spot Mediterranean-style foods, Oldways, a Boston-based nonprofit organization that promotes healthful eating, has designed a logo featuring an amphora

a traditional Mediterranean jug or vase

that will appear on some supermarket products. Look for it starting in late summer 2007.

From WTPONews.com

Government health regulators recommended adding label precautions about neurological problems seen in children who have taken flu drugs made by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its safety review of Roche’s Tamiflu and Glaxo’s Relenza. Next week, an outside group of pediatric experts is scheduled to review the safety of several such drugs when used in children.

FDA began reviewing Tamiflu’s safety in 2005 after receiving reports of children experiencing neurological problems, including hallucinations and convulsions.

Twenty-five patients under age 21 have died while taking the drug, most of them in Japan. Five deaths resulted from children “falling from windows or balconies or running into traffic.”

There have been no child deaths connected with Relenza, but regulators said children taking the drug have shown similar neurological problems.

While FDA said it isn’t clear whether the problems are directly related to the drugs, it recommends adding language about the possible side effects to labeling for physicians who prescribe Tamiflu and Relenza.

Besides being a drug side effect, the agency said the behaviors alternately could result from an unusual strain of flu or a rare genetic reaction to the drug.

Company representatives were not immediately available for comment.

From HealthScout

Eating disorders rose significantly among American boys between 1995 and 2005, according to a study that examined weight control behaviors among high school students.

The study, based on an analysis of national data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, identified a large increase in all forms of weight control behaviors among males, including dieting, diet product use, purging, exercise and vigorous exercise.

Hispanic males were most likely to practice weight control, while white males were least likely, said the study authors, led by Y. May Chao of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

They also found a significant overall increase in dieting and diet product use among female adolescents. White females were most likely practice weight control while black females were least likely, the researchers said.

The increased weight control behavior noted in males suggests growing social pressure for males to achieve unrealistic body expectations, thus increasing the risk of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders, the study authors said.

“Considering that males have negative attitudes toward treatment-seeking and are less likely than females to seek treatment, efforts should be made to increase awareness of eating disorder symptomatology in male adolescents, and future prevention efforts should target male as well as female adolescents,” the researchers wrote.

The study was published online in the International Journal of Eating Disorders