Arthritis of the knee is striking Americans at younger ages, new research has found, but shedding a few pounds if you're overweight may reduce your risk.
The studies were to be presented Saturday at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, in Chicago.
Nearly 6.5 million Americans between the ages of 35 and 84 will receive a diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis in the next decade, according to these new projections.
"The diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis is occurring much earlier," said study author Dr. Elena Losina, co-director of the Orthopedics and Arthritis Center for Outcomes Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
When she compared the age at diagnosis in the 1990s to ages in the 2010s, "the average age at diagnosis has moved from 69 to 56," she said.
It strikes some earlier than the average age, of course. Losina found that adults aged 45 to 54 will account for nearly 5 percent of all knee osteoarthritis (OA) cases in the 2010s, while they represented only 1.5 percent of the knee OA patients in the 1990s.
Losina suspects that obesity and knee injuries, both of which have become more common in the past decade, may be helping to drive the increase in knee OA among younger people.
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Monday, November 7, 2011
Avoiding gluten is getting easier, but for many people doing so may not be smart
Recently I’ve noticed an expanded gluten-free food section at my grocery store, a new gluten-free menu at a favorite Greek restaurant and even glamorously gluten-free eye shadows at a high-end makeup counter. Along with the requisite celebrity and sports star proponents, at least two friends of mine credit their choice to forgo gluten — a complex protein found in wheat, barley and rye — with weight loss, an energy boost and myriad other benefits.
So what’s fact and what’s the latest health-fad hype? There’s still some gray area, but some studies indicate that a growing number of people do have a problem digesting gluten, says family medicine and chronic pain specialist Gary Kaplan, director of the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine in McLean. He notes that this number includes everyone from children with wheat allergies to the estimated 1 percent of Americans who have celiac disease — a serious autoimmune disorder that interferes with absorption of nutrients, causing wide-ranging health problems — and can’t tolerate even a picogram of gluten.
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So what’s fact and what’s the latest health-fad hype? There’s still some gray area, but some studies indicate that a growing number of people do have a problem digesting gluten, says family medicine and chronic pain specialist Gary Kaplan, director of the Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine in McLean. He notes that this number includes everyone from children with wheat allergies to the estimated 1 percent of Americans who have celiac disease — a serious autoimmune disorder that interferes with absorption of nutrients, causing wide-ranging health problems — and can’t tolerate even a picogram of gluten.
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Friday, November 4, 2011
Too posh to push? More C-sections on demand in U.K.
Pregnant women in Britain, where the government provides free health care, may soon be able to get a cesarean section on demand thanks to a rule change that critics describe as the health system caving into the "too posh to push" crowd.
Currently, British women who can’t afford to pay private doctors for their baby’s delivery have been allowed to have planned C-sections only if there are health concerns for mother or baby. Emergency C-sections are done when the situation demands it.
But new guidelines set to take effect later this month say pregnant women "with no identifiable reason" should be allowed a cesarean if they still want it following a discussion with mental health experts.
"It’s about time women who have no desire to view labor as a rite of passage into motherhood be able to choose how they want to have their baby," said Pauline Hull, who has had two children by cesarean because of medical reasons. "The important thing to me was meeting my baby, not the experience of labor."
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Currently, British women who can’t afford to pay private doctors for their baby’s delivery have been allowed to have planned C-sections only if there are health concerns for mother or baby. Emergency C-sections are done when the situation demands it.
But new guidelines set to take effect later this month say pregnant women "with no identifiable reason" should be allowed a cesarean if they still want it following a discussion with mental health experts.
"It’s about time women who have no desire to view labor as a rite of passage into motherhood be able to choose how they want to have their baby," said Pauline Hull, who has had two children by cesarean because of medical reasons. "The important thing to me was meeting my baby, not the experience of labor."
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
In Some Cases, Even Bad Bacteria May Be Good
Overuse of antibiotics has led to the creation of drug-resistant bacteria — so-called superbugs, like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. But now some researchers are exploring an equally unsettling possibility: Antibiotic abuse may also be contributing to the increasing incidence of obesity, as well as allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and gastroesophageal reflux.
Among those sounding the alarm is Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center. In a commentary published in August in the journal Nature, he asserted that antibiotics are permanently altering microbial flora of the human body, also known as the microbiome or microbiota, with serious health consequences.
The human gut in particular is home to billions of bacteria, but little is known about this hidden ecosystem. Take Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium associated with an increased risk of ulcers and gastric cancer. Many doctors are quick to prescribe antibiotics to kill it even when the patient has no symptoms.
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Among those sounding the alarm is Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center. In a commentary published in August in the journal Nature, he asserted that antibiotics are permanently altering microbial flora of the human body, also known as the microbiome or microbiota, with serious health consequences.
The human gut in particular is home to billions of bacteria, but little is known about this hidden ecosystem. Take Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium associated with an increased risk of ulcers and gastric cancer. Many doctors are quick to prescribe antibiotics to kill it even when the patient has no symptoms.
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Prolonged Sitting May Increase Risk of Certain Cancers
More than 173,000 cancer cases diagnosed each year may be due to physical inactivity and prolonged periods of sitting, USA Today reported.
A new analysis blames physical inactivity for about 49,000 cases of breast cancer and 43,000 cases of colon cancer each year, as well as an estimated 37,200 cases of lung cancer, 30,600 cases of prostate cancer, 12,000 cases of endometrial cancer and 1,800 cases of ovarian cancer.
"This gives us some idea of the cancers we could prevent by getting people to be more active," said epidemiologist Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Canada. “This is a conservative estimate. The more physical activity you do, the lower your risk of these cancers."
The estimations were based on national physical activity data and cancer incidence statistics, as well as a review of more than 200 cancer studies worldwide.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/03/prolonged-sitting-may-increase-risk-certain-cancers/#ixzz1cfrRxgjU
A new analysis blames physical inactivity for about 49,000 cases of breast cancer and 43,000 cases of colon cancer each year, as well as an estimated 37,200 cases of lung cancer, 30,600 cases of prostate cancer, 12,000 cases of endometrial cancer and 1,800 cases of ovarian cancer.
"This gives us some idea of the cancers we could prevent by getting people to be more active," said epidemiologist Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Canada. “This is a conservative estimate. The more physical activity you do, the lower your risk of these cancers."
The estimations were based on national physical activity data and cancer incidence statistics, as well as a review of more than 200 cancer studies worldwide.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/11/03/prolonged-sitting-may-increase-risk-certain-cancers/#ixzz1cfrRxgjU
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Trauma, stress may contribute to bowel disorder
Major psychological and emotional events experienced over a lifetime may contribute to the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a new study.
Researchers looked at 2,623 people and found that psychological and emotional traumas -- such as divorce, death of a loved one, house fire, car accident, and mental or physical abuse -- were more common among adults with IBS than those without the condition.
Dr. Yuri Saito-Loftus, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was scheduled to present the findings Monday at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Washington, D.C.
"While stress has been linked to IBS, and childhood abuse has been reported to be present in up to 50 percent of patients with IBS, at a prevalence twice that of patients without IBS, most studies of abuse have focused on sexual abuse with sparse detail and also have not looked at other forms of psychological trauma," said Saito-Loftus in an ACG news release.
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Researchers looked at 2,623 people and found that psychological and emotional traumas -- such as divorce, death of a loved one, house fire, car accident, and mental or physical abuse -- were more common among adults with IBS than those without the condition.
Dr. Yuri Saito-Loftus, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was scheduled to present the findings Monday at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in Washington, D.C.
"While stress has been linked to IBS, and childhood abuse has been reported to be present in up to 50 percent of patients with IBS, at a prevalence twice that of patients without IBS, most studies of abuse have focused on sexual abuse with sparse detail and also have not looked at other forms of psychological trauma," said Saito-Loftus in an ACG news release.
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"Freshman 15" weight gain is a myth
The idea that college freshmen gain an average of 15 pounds in their first year of school is a myth -- the average is really between 2.4 pounds for women and 3.4 pounds for men, the co-author of a new study said Tuesday.
"Not only is there not a 'Freshman 15,' there doesn't appear to be even a 'college 15' for most students," said Jay Zagorsky, research scientist at Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research and co-author of a study on college weight gain.
No more than 10 percent of all college freshmen actually gained 15 pounds or more -- and a quarter of freshmen reported actually losing weight during their first year.
The results show that college students gain weight steadily during their college years, with women gaining on average seven to nine pounds, and men between 12 and 13 pounds.
Zagorsky said that most of us do gain weight as we get older, and "it is not college that leads to weight gain - it is becoming a young adult."
Zagorsky said that women who do not go to college gained about two pounds and non-college males gained about three pounds during the year they could have been freshmen. That means that college freshmen are only gaining about a 1/2 pound more than similar people who did not go to school, says Zagorsky.
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"Not only is there not a 'Freshman 15,' there doesn't appear to be even a 'college 15' for most students," said Jay Zagorsky, research scientist at Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research and co-author of a study on college weight gain.
No more than 10 percent of all college freshmen actually gained 15 pounds or more -- and a quarter of freshmen reported actually losing weight during their first year.
The results show that college students gain weight steadily during their college years, with women gaining on average seven to nine pounds, and men between 12 and 13 pounds.
Zagorsky said that most of us do gain weight as we get older, and "it is not college that leads to weight gain - it is becoming a young adult."
Zagorsky said that women who do not go to college gained about two pounds and non-college males gained about three pounds during the year they could have been freshmen. That means that college freshmen are only gaining about a 1/2 pound more than similar people who did not go to school, says Zagorsky.
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