Health Briefs.

In a rural region of China where gastric cancer is common, researchers found in a two-decade study that two approaches—antibiotics and vitamin/mineral supplements—protected against it. Both methods, as well as a garlic supplement, significantly reduced death rates from the cancer. Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute researchers enrolled 3,365 residents ages 35 to 64 (read more…)

Women that toss and turn at night might sleep better if they pass up sugary treats for fruit, suggests a new study from Columbia University. Examining records of nearly 50,000 postmenopausal women in the Women’s Health Initiative, researchers found those that consumed a diet high in refined carbohydrates—particularly added sugars and processed grains—were more likely to develop insomnia. Women with a diet (read more…)

Fresh evidence is emerging of a skin-gut axis that links type B ultraviolet (UVB) exposure to the microbiome, a finding that has implications for those suffering from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. University of British Columbia researchers divided 21 healthy young women into two groups: Nine took vitamin D supplements (read more…)

It’s long been known that vigorous, sweaty aerobics strengthen the brain and help grow new neurons, but the latest research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that practicing gentle hatha yoga enhances many of those same brain structures and functions. The analysis, published in Brain Plasticity, examined 11 studies that used brain-imaging techniques (read more…)

Drinking either not enough or too much water can decrease cognitive performance in older women, Penn State University researchers reported in the European Journal of Nutrition. In a nationwide study, 1,271 women and 1,235 men over age 60 gave blood samples, answered questionnaires (read more…)

Researchers from Beijing Geriatric Hospital, in a meta-analysis of 12 studies involving 47,523 patients with cardiovascular disease, found that those that supplemented with folic acid (vitamin B9) reduced their risk of stroke by 15 percent. Folic acid, which the study authors called a “safe and inexpensive therapy,” lowers levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to heart disease; research indicates that 0.5 to 5 milligrams daily can reduce homocysteine levels by approximately 25 percent.

by Auger Family Chiropractic

Most people would not think of chiropractic care for their child. Their rationale being, “My kid does not have a back ache so what benefit could chiropractic possibly offer?” Well, you may be very surprised. (read more…)

Eczema, or atopic dermatitis, affects one in five people over the course of a lifetime, causing itchy, red, swollen and cracked skin, especially on the arms, hands and feet. Genetics, immune system dysfunction and environmental exposure, including to chemicals, are some causes, and treatment usually involves moisturizers and corticosteroid creams. Research from China’s Chongqing Medical University (read more…)

People suffering from acute pain often turn to addictive opioid treatments, but research from the University of Utah School of Social Work published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that certain mind-body therapies significantly reduce pain and the use of opioids. (read more…)

Researchers from Cameroon’s University of Buea studied the properties of nine local vegetables and found that celery, Apium graveolens, had some of the highest levels of antifungal properties, as well as high levels of nutritional lipids, protein, vitamin C, copper, zinc and phosphorous. Also scoring high in nutritional and antifungal value were the seeds of Irvingia gabonensis, African or bush mango, sometimes used in the U.S. in weight-loss products.

Postmenopausal women are more likely to develop hypertension than men their age, but taking pumpkin seed oil daily may head off that condition, report researchers from Marymount University, in Arlington, Virginia. In a blind study of 23 participants, women taking three grams of pumpkin seed oil for six weeks had significantly reduced systolic blood pressure, as well as better blood flow in their arteries. The oil “might be effective in the prevention and treatment of hypertension in this population,” write the authors.

Bone loss leading to increased fracture risk occurs in half of postmenopausal women, but new research from Sweden offers a deterrent: a combination of three Lactobacillus probiotic strains. A total of 249 healthy, early postmenopausal women over the age of 50 (read more…)

Qigong, a traditional Chinese massage technique and movement practice, may offer hope for the one in 68 American children suffering from autism spectrum disorder. Researchers at Portugal’s Oporto University reviewed 10 high-quality studies, all of which involved massage for children as young as 2, including two which also employed slow qigong movements and breathwork for older children. Previous studies (read more…)

by Belue Farms Natural Market

Want a healthy gift for your Valentine? Consider dark chocolate—it’s not only delicious, it’s surprisingly nutritious. Dark chocolate is rich in iron and minerals like magnesium, selenium, potassium, and manganese. It also contains flavanols, catechins and polyphenols that act as antioxidants to ward off disease and protect cells from oxidative damage. (read more…)

Women eating more onions and garlic reduced their risk of breast cancer by 59 percent compared to those that ate less of these, according to a study in the journal Nutrition and Cancer. Researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Puerto Rico surveyed 660 women in Puerto Rico to (read more…)

Middle-aged and older adults that live in greener neighborhoods have a lower risk of metabolic syndrome, reports research from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in the journal Environmental Pollution. The study followed more than 6,000 British adults in a cohort initially between ages 45 and 69 (read more…)

About one in 10 babies in utero struggles with a dangerous condition known as intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), in which the flow of oxygen and nutrients through the placenta is restricted, hampering development of the growing fetus. Now, a simple solution—of mom drinking an eight-ounce glass of pomegranate juice a day— (read more…)

Chomping on more nuts daily keeps the pounds at bay, according to research published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. Using records from three long-term longitudinal studies spanning 20 years and including nearly 300,000 health professionals, the report from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public (read more…)

Adults that ate nuts two or more times per week had a 17 percent lower risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, reports an Iranian study that followed 5,432 adults for 12 years. The research was presented in August at the European Society of Cardiology. (read more…)

People that experience storm and flood damage to their homes are about 50 percent more likely to experience depression and anxiety, British researchers report. Surveying more than 7,500 people after the 2013-2014 season of severe weather, they found that those with homes damaged by wind, rain, snow or floods had mental health risks similar to living in a disadvantaged area. This occurred even when the effects of the extreme weather were relatively minor and did not force people to leave their homes.

Wedlock tends to stave off dementia, according to a new Michigan State University study. Analyzing 14 years of data on 15,000 people older than 52, researchers found those in all unmarried groups—cohabiting, divorced, separated, widowed and never married—had significantly higher odds of developing dementia than their married counterparts. The differences were most acute for those divorced, separated or widowed—about twice as prone as married people to develop dementia, with the men faring worse cognitively than the women.

Researchers at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center tested stool samples of 858 men and 877 women in Los Angeles and Hawaii with a mean age of 69—regarded as an ethnically diverse study population with varied food intakes. The study found that those with higher quality diets also had significantly better gut bacteria diversity, a factor linked to reduced risk for a variety of diseases. Diet quality and a reduced risk of developing chronic disease is strongly associated with fecal microbial diversity.

New research offers potential paths for treatment for the nearly 20 percent of patients with high blood pressure that don’t respond well to medications. University of Florida College of Medicine researchers, testing 105 volunteers, found that the populations of gut bacteria differed between hypertensive individuals with depression and those without depression. A second study by Italian researchers found that patients with heart attacks had different bacteria in their guts than patients with stable angina.

Sixth-graders that received mindfulness training each day for eight weeks experienced lower stress levels, less depression and improved academic performance compared to their peers in a control group that studied computer coding, report Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. In addition to that 100-student study, researchers surveyed 2,000 students in grades five through eight and found those that showed more mindfulness tended to have better grades and test scores. They also had fewer absences and suspensions.

A recent study published in The Journal of Nutrition used adherence to dietary guidelines and total diet scores to assess the effects of diet on cataract risk.

The researchers followed 2,173 older Australians for five and 10 years in two phases. They found that maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI) of less than 25, combined with a healthy diet, reduced the risk of developing cataracts.

Researchers followed more than 36,000 Japanese men older than 40 for an average of 13.2 years. They found that those that consumed culinary mushrooms three times a week had a 17 percent lower chance of developing prostate cancer compared to those that ate mushrooms less than once a week. Participants that ate mushrooms once or twice a week had an 8 percent lower risk. The trend was even greater for those men over the age of 50 and was unrelated to other dietary habits.

The nonprofit MomsAcrossAmerica.org (MAA) has launched its Moms Across America Gold Standard, a multi-tiered verification program for food, beverages and supplements that creates a simple, trustworthy resource for consumers while encouraging best practices by suppliers. It will be awarded to those brands that have achieved superior levels of organic practices and eco-friendly procedures, and is intended to make it simple for people to choose the healthiest products and use their wallets to take a stand against unhealthy alternatives and unethical business practices. The standard also provides a path for companies that know better and do better to prosper by shifting the buying power of millions of dedicated mothers behind their products.

Sugar-sweetened drinks, already linked to weight gain, diabetes and heart disease, carry another risk: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In a meta-review published in the European Journal of Nutrition, Iranian researchers analyzed six high-quality studies that included 6,326 men and women and 1,361 cases of NAFLD. They found those that drank the most sugary drinks had a 40 percent higher risk of developing the disease compared to those that consumed the least. Sugary drinks include soda; cola; tonic; fruit punch; lemonade; sweetened, powdered drinks; and sports and energy drinks.

Using the three-decade longitudinal health records of about 123,000 men and women from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, researchers from Brown University found that people with diets rich in vitamin A had a significantly reduced risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) skin cancer, which occurs in 7 to 11 percent of the population. “We found that higher intake of total vitamin A, retinol and several individual carotenoids, including beta cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, was associated with lower risk of SCC,” wrote the authors.

Chronic pain, affecting 10 to 25 percent of adults, disturbs sleep for two-thirds of them, increasing the risk of depression and aggravating pain symptoms. Chinese researchers analyzed nine studies of 944 chronic-pain patients and found that acupuncture treatments were significantly better than drugs at helping patients sleep. It also improved their quality of sleep as self-measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and lowered their scores of perceived pain.

Older people with dementia, often viewed as being passive and immobile, responded to simple dance movement lessons with visible humor and imagination and reported a higher quality of life after six sessions, say researchers from New Zealand’s University of Otago. The 22 participants between the ages of early 60s and mid-90s had dementia ranging from mild to advanced. They took 10 weekly classes in which the music was “reminiscent” and the movement routines were intuitively easy. “Positive responses such as memory recalling, spontaneous dancing and joking with each other were observed in every session,” reports lead author Ting Choo.

Switching to organics has quick payoffs, reducing agrochemicals in the body by 94 percent within a month, Japanese researchers report. They tested the urine of study participants looking for six neonicotinoid insecticides and another substance generated as a result of their decomposition in the human body. “I think the research results are almost without precedent a (read more…)

Caffeine has been the subject of controversy among the one in six adults worldwide that suffer from periodic migraines: Some say it triggers symptoms, while others report it wards them off. A new study from Harvard and two other teaching hospitals of 98 migraine sufferers used six weeks of daily journals to investigate the link and found that drinking up (read more…)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is much more than a brilliant scarlet tropical flower: New laboratory research from Canada’s University of Windsor found that a hibiscus flower extract selectively kills off triple-negative breast cancer cells. This is one of the most difficult (read more…)

In a Brazilian study published in the Journal of Herbal Medicine, extracts of rosemary leaves and pomegranate peels, along with a South African herb known as misty plume bush, significantly reduced the ability of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria to grow and spread in the laboratory, a finding that may help develop new strategies against the superbug.

Up to 75 percent of women deal at some point with the itchiness, discharge and sexual discomfort and pain of vaginal yeast infections caused by Candida species, the most prevalent being Candida albicans. Egyptian laboratory researchers tested fennel oil and eight other plant-based essential oils on 19 Candida albicans strains that were resistant to the antifungal medication fluconazole. They found that the fennel oil had significant antifungal properties against the strains, outperforming chamomile, jojoba, nigella, fenugreek, cod liver, peppermint, clove and ginger oils. When combined with fluconazole, fennel was effective on seven strains, theoretically lowering the need for higher doses of the medication.

Children born with low vitamin D levels have an approximately 60 percent higher risk of elevated systolic blood pressure between ages 6 and 18, reports a study of 775 Boston children published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension. Those with persistently low levels of vitamin D through early childhood had double the risk of elevated systolic blood pressure between ages 3 and 18. Higher systolic numbers increase the risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. Because infants’ vitamin D levels are determined by the mothers’ levels during pregnancy, researchers suggest exploring an official recommendation for vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy.

A three-decade study of 3,325 young people in Bristol, UK, found that kids that were bullied at age 10 had eight times the rate of depression in their teen years, and that it persisted for some into their adult years. Using detailed mood and feelings questionnaires and genetic information, researchers found that childhood bullying was strongly associated with depression. Bullied children had a greater risk of both limited depression occurrence and persistent depressive issues. Other risk factors found to be associated with depression in the children included anxiety and the mother’s postnatal depression.

A meta-review of 37 studies that included 7,887 mothers giving birth found that an injection of oriental motherwort (Leonurus japonicus), a Traditional Chinese Medicine herb used for thousands of years, decreased blood loss and other adverse events during birth at a minimal cost with few side effects.

Another reason to consider organics: A study of 529 teens and preteens linked high exposure to pesticides to a higher risk of depression. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers studied children between 11 and 17 years old in the Ecuadorian Andes, the third-largest exporter of roses. The flowers are routinely sprayed with organophosphate insecticides known to affect the human cholinergic system, a key component (read more…)

Cordyceps, a fungus that grows on caterpillars high in the Himalayas, has long been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a rejuvenating and performance-enhancing medicine. The latest Korean research shows it also boosts the immune system. Scientists tested 79 healthy adults for eight weeks, giving 39 of them 1,680 milligrams of cordyceps a day in capsules and the other 40 were given a placebo. The cordyceps produced a 38 percent increase in natural killer (NK) cell activity, which plays a role in immunity by detecting and killing virus-infected cells, tumor cells and abnormal cells.

A study of 10,386 people in Hong Kong and the United States compared mental well-being among moderate drinkers and nondrinkers, with multiple-year, follow-up periods. Men and women that were lifetime abstainers had the highest levels of mental well-being, surpassed only by women that had quit drinking.

The common kitchen herb rosemary holds promise for insomniacs. Iranian researchers tested 68 university students for a month, giving them either 1,000 milligrams of rosemary herb each day or a placebo. Those that took the rosemary herbal supplement had improved memory, reduced anxiety and less depression at the end of the month. Using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory scale, those taking the rosemary slept better, as well.

For runners, food is fuel, and a new study lays to rest debates about which diet is best. Researchers at Leibniz University, in Hannover, Germany, recruited 76 men and women runners, divided equally between vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. They had an average age of 27 and ran recreationally two to (read more…)

Cold or unsupportive mothering styles can harm a child’s health into adulthood, Loma Linda University researchers have found. Compared to adults mothered in a “warm” style, adults that had been mothered in a “cold” manner had an average of 25 percent shorter telomeres, indicating faster cellular aging, a shorter life span and (read more…)

Regular exposure to sunlight decreases the incidence of irritable bowel disease (IBD) in children, researchers from the Australian National University report. They compared 99 children with IBD with 396 healthy children using interviews with parents to establish a database. For every 10 minutes of sunlight exposure (read more…)

About one in 10 Americans develops painful peptic ulcers, open sores in the lining of the stomach and duodenum, that are sometimes caused by an overgrowth of the Helicobacter pylori bacteria. Drug therapy to eradicate the bacteria involving two antibiotics and one acid suppressant is usually successful, but about 10 percent of cases recur. (read more…)

Maqui, tiny black berries that grow wild in the rain forests of Chile and Argentina, are beloved by small birds. Now they are showing promise for computer-weary humans with dry eyes. In a recent study, Japanese researchers tested a standardized maqui berry extract on 74 people that suffered from dry eyes and eye fatigue (read more…)

People with generalized anxiety disorders affecting all aspects of life are more likely to have seasonal allergies triggered by grass or tree pollen and people with depression are more likely to suffer from chronic allergies triggered by such irritants as animal hair and dust mites, report German researchers at the Technical University of Munich. In the study of 1,782 people, they also found that food and drug allergies were unaffected by psychosocial disorders.

Healthy Bacteria Helps with Mood and Rest

In further confirmation of the importance of the gut-brain axis, 18 Italian students at the University of Verona from ages 18 to 33 that took a freeze-dried mixture of four probiotics for six weeks experienced less depression, (read more…)