Health & Medicine
Health Watch: Now, a Good Word About Good Fat
Trading a side of bread for a side of beans or even potato chips (fried in olive oil) could help lower your blood pressure. That's the conclusion of a study by Johns Hopkins and Harvard researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week that measured heart disease risk factors of 164 people with moderately high blood pressure who followed three different diets for six weeks each. All of the diets were low in saturated fat and high in fruits and veggies, but one was higher in carbs, one in protein, and one in monounsaturated fats. All decreased participants' blood pressure and other risk factors, though the protein and fat diets outperformed the carbohydrate diet. The authors say that adding these latest results to what's been known about heart-healthy eating--produce is good, saturated fats, bad--can help people lower their risk even further.
There is one note of caution, says Indiana University cardiologist Myron Weinberger, who wrote an editorial about the study in the same issue of the journal: The meals were prepared by professionals. For the rest of us, he says, eating this way "takes a great deal of planning."
Health Watch: Male Infertility and the Odds of Cancer
Testicular cancer often produces no warning signs, but researchers have now identified a big one: Men who are infertile and have abnormal sperm counts are more than 20 times as likely to be affected as other men. Researchers from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center reviewed the records of more than 3,800 men with infertility or abnormal counts and found that 10 had testicular tumors--eight of whom had no other risk factors. Men who have an abnormal sperm count or are infertile should be referred to a urologist for examination, says Marc Goldstein, surgeon in chief of male reproductive medicine and surgery at the medical center and lead author of the study, in the November Journal of Urology.
Health Watch: Getting the Scoop on Your Drugs
All drugs carry risks--some so serious that they're flagged for doctors in "black box" warnings required by the Food and Drug Administration. But a study published last week in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety found that doctors frequently don't heed the drug makers' guidance. Some 30 percent of people who took valproic acid for epilepsy, for example, weren't getting routine blood tests for liver damage. In many cases, rushed doctors undoubtedly miss the warnings entirely. But there also can be good reason to ignore them, says study author Anita Wagner, a health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School. Doctors may feel that regular testing is an unnecessary burden on patients who've been taking valproic acid for years without trouble, for example. Still, patients may want to check out the drugs they take and ask about any warnings.
Health Watch: Can Brazil Nuts and Tuna Fight Arthritis?
Scientists have long suspected that osteoarthritis, a painful condition of the joints, occurs more often in people who don't get all the nutrients they need. Now researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have found a possible link between selenium--a mineral found in foods from brazil nuts to noodles to tuna--and osteoarthritis of the knee. After adjusting for other factors such as age and body mass, they found that each increase of 0.1 parts per million of selenium in the toenail clippings of people studied correlated with a 15 to 20 percent lower risk of knee osteoarthritis. One theory: The nutrient aids in the formation of proteins that keep cartilage healthy. It's also possible that low selenium levels indicate a general lack of nutrition that plays a role. It's not a good idea to start taking extra selenium, since too much can be toxic, says lead author Joanne Jordan, a UNC associate professor of medicine and orthopedics. Better to watch your diet.
This story appears in the November 28, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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