Face creams under the microscope

An "unprecedented" clinical trial on a high street anti-ageing cream may change the face of the skin care market in this country, dermatologists say.

At present there is a lack of clinical data to prove which creams really do slow down the skin's ageing process.

Industry is thought to have shied away from major trials in part for fear products, if effective, could then be deemed medicines and tightly regulated.

But the trial on a Boots moisturiser may prove if these fears are founded.

Chris Griffiths, professor of dermatology at the University of Manchester, has just concluded a clinical trial on the lotion, involving 60 volunteers over a period of six months.

The data is now being analysed before being submitted to a scientific journal for peer review - in what is thought to be an unprecedented process for a high street skin care product.

"If it is proven to work - and there is certainly no guarantee that's what we'll find - then the debate will start on whether there is a point at which a cream is so effective it becomes a medicine," he says.

The active ingredients in the cream include white lupin - a flower extract - and retinyl palmitate, on top of a plain moisturising base. The trial will not establish which, if any, is effective, but how the combination works together.

Truth and lies about alcoholism

The World Health Organization has recently released results of a new research, which ranks Russia as one of world s five most alcoholic countries.

The World Health Organization has recently released results of a new research, which ranks Russia as one of world’s five most “alcoholic” countries.

It seems that Russians should ring the alarm, although no one seems to be struggling against the universal addiction to alcohol in the country.

According to unofficial figures, Russians annually consume 17 liters of alcohol per capita.

People poison themselves with low-quality alcohol and succumb to alcoholism, which becomes the concern of their families and doctors.

Physiatrist and Candidate of Medical Sciences, Alexander Magalif, explains the difference between a passion for strong drinks and real alcoholism.

To find out when a person should consult a doctor, one should clearly understand what alcoholism is and how it starts.

Alcoholism is a chronic disease that involves painful and uncontrollable inclination for drinking alcohol in large quantities, frequently improving alcohol resistance, the adequate way of living, abnormal intoxication and alcohol withdrawal syndrome (hangover).

According to Alexander Magalif, a person starts to have these problems when his or her daily dose of alcohol amounts to 200 grams.

Besides, the disease starts long before a patient acknowledges that. People tend to justify their weakness by various excuses, for instance, alcohol helps them to overcome their complexes and shyness, etc.

However, this may not be an excuse, but a signal for other people to help this person, the expert considers.

Another common reason for developing addiction to alcohol is a liking to frequent parties - the so-called weekend alcoholism.

In this case people say that they can not resist their friends who invite them to a bar for a shot or two.

“If you do not want your weekend to turn into a drinking bout, you should tell your friends that you have drunken hard and you need a break,” Alexander Magalif recommends. As a rule, such a refusal is highly esteemed.

“Alcoholism is not simply a harmful habit; even your strong will can hardly help you,” Magalif says.

It is a serious disease and it should be treated accordingly.

A patient needs a normal, long-term and multiple treatment – the way chronic diseases are treated.

The most popular method of treatment is coding. But there are a lot of coding methods and it is hard to choose on your own the only one method that will suit you.

The only general recommendation for all patients is to be self-confident and to believe in their recovery.

Mother diet may influence baby's sex

Though sex is genetically determined by fathers, British scientists said women on low-calorie diets at the conception time are more likely to have a girl than a boy.

British scientists said women on low-calorie diets or skipping breakfast at the conception time are more likely to have a girl than a boy, media reports Wednesday quoting Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences as saying.

The new research by the universities of Exeter and Oxford provides the first evidence that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet, and higher energy intake is linked to males.

Women on low-calorie diets are likely to give birth to a female.

Skipping breakfast may be interpreted by the body as signaling low food availability, since it depresses levels of blood sugar.

Though sex is genetically determined by fathers, it is known that high levels of glucose encourage the growth and development of male embryos while inhibiting female ones, although the exact mechanism is unclear.

"This research may help to explain why in developed countries, where many young women choose to have low-calorie diets, the proportion of boys born is falling," said Fiona Mathews of the University of Exeter.

After studying 740 first-time pregnant mothers in Britain, Mathews and colleagues found 56 percent of those in the group with the highest energy intake at conception had sons, compared with 45 percent in the lowest group.

Smoking 'triggers deadly changes'

A key mechanism by which smoking triggers genetic changes that cause lung cancer has been unravelled.

Researchers have shown exposure to cigarette smoke slows production of a protein called FANCD2 in lung cells.

This protein plays a key role in repairing damage to DNA, and causing faulty cells to commit suicide before they go on to become cancerous.

The study, led by Oregon Health and Science University, appears in the British Journal of Cancer.

It raises hopes of improved treatments for the disease.

Lead researcher Dr Laura Hays said: "These findings show the important role FANCD2 plays in protecting lung cells against cigarette smoke and may explain why cigarette smoke is so toxic to these cells."

The researchers suspect other proteins also play a role in fixing DNA and weeding out defective cells.

However, their work showed that cells with very high levels of FANCD2 were resistant to the toxic effects of smoke - suggesting this protein is key.

The researchers created an artificial windpipe in the lab to replicate the environment of a smoker's lung.

They then studied the effects of cigarette smoke on different proteins in cells and found that FANCD2 levels were low enough to allow DNA damage.

FANCD2 is part of a family of proteins involved in an inherited condition called Fanconi anaemia.

People with the condition are more likely to develop cancers at a young age and have low levels of these proteins.

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: "This interesting piece of science adds to our understanding of why smoking is so deadly.

"Smoking is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer and causes nine out of ten cases of lung cancer.

"But the good news is that quitting works - after five years without smoking your risk of a heart attack will have fallen to half that of a smoker.

"And after ten years your risk of lung cancer will have halved too."

Gene therapy shows promise in brain disease

An experimental gene therapy treatment appears to have helped eight children with a rare and incurable neurological disorder, although it may have been responsible for the death of one, researchers reported on Tuesday. They said the treatment appeared safe and effective enough to try in more children with late infantile neuronal ceroidlipofuscinosis, or LINCL, a form of deadly Batten disease. "The treatment, in which a virus carrying the corrective gene was infused directly into the brain, appeared to slow the decline of eight out of 10 children treated," Dr. Ron Crystal of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and colleagues reported. "We are encouraged by this. It's not a cure," Crystal said in a telephone interview. Like all forms of gene therapy, the hope is that the mutant cells will take up the new gene and start working normally. Children with LINCL start showing symptoms at about age 4. They lose coordination, vision and speech and usually die unable to breathe on their own, between 10 and 12.

Obesity rates alarmingly high in the United States

New research shows "alarming levels" of obesity in most ethnic groups in the United States, principal investigator Dr. Gregory L. Burke, of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina told Reuters Health. The study also confirms the potentially deadly toll obesity exacts on the heart and blood vessels. "The obesity epidemic has the potential to reduce further gains in US life expectancy, largely through an effect on cardiovascular disease mortality (death)," Burke and colleagues warn in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Among 6,814 middle-age or older adults participating in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or "MESA" study, researchers found that more than two thirds of white, African American and Hispanic participants were overweight and one third to one half were obese. Obesity rates were far lower in Chinese Americans in the study, with 33 percent overweight and just 5 percent obese, suggesting, Burke said, that high rates of obesity should not considered inevitable.

Too much, too little sleep tied to ill health in CDC study

People who sleep fewer than six hours a night — or more than nine — are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies.

The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use.

The research adds weight to a stream of studies that have found obesity and other health problems in those who don't get proper shuteye, said Dr. Ron Kramer, a Colorado physician and a spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

"The data is all coming together that short sleepers and long sleepers don't do so well," Kramer said.

The study released Wednesday is based on door-to-door surveys of 87,000 U.S. adults from 2004 through 2006 conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Such surveys can't prove cause-effect relationships, so — for example — it's not clear if smoking causes sleeplessness or if sleeplessness prompts smoking, said Charlotte Schoenborn, the study's lead author.

It also did not account for the influence of other factors, such as depression, which can contribute to heavy eating, smoking, sleeplessness and other problems.

Smoking was highest for people who got under six hours of sleep, with 31 percent saying they were current smokers. Those who got nine or more hours also were big puffers, with 26 percent smoking.

The overall U.S. smoking rate is about 21 percent. For those in the study who sleep seven to eight hours, the rate was lower, at 18 percent.

Results were similar, though a bit less dramatic, for obesity: About 33 percent of those who slept less than six hours were obese, and 26 percent for those who got nine or more. Normal sleepers were the thinnest group, with obesity at 22 percent.

For alcohol use, those who slept the least were the biggest drinkers. However, alcohol use for those who slept seven to eight hours and those who slept nine hours or more was similar.

In another measure, nearly half of those who slept nine hours or more each night were physically inactive in their leisure time, which was worse even than the lightest sleepers and the proper sleepers. Many of those who sleep nine hours or more may have serious health problems that make exercise difficult.

Many elderly people are in the group who get the least sleep, which would help explain why physical activity rates are low. Those skimpy sleepers who are younger may still feel too tired to exercise, experts said.

Stress or psychological problems may explain what's going on with some of the lighter sleepers, experts said.

Other studies have found inadequate sleep is tied to appetite-influencing hormone imbalances and a higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, noted James Gangwisch, a respected Columbia University sleep researcher.

"We're getting to the point that they may start recommending getting enough sleep as a standard approach to weight loss and the prevention of obesity," said Gangwisch, who was not involved in the study.

Socially isolated women have increased stroke risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with a sparse social network are apparently at greater risk for having a stroke than women with plentiful social connections, researchers have found.

There have been a lot of studies linking heart disease to psychosocial factors such as low socioeconomic status, depression, and social relationships, but relatively few looking at these factors in relation to stroke, note Dr. Thomas Rutledge, of VA San Diego Healthcare System, California, and colleagues in the medcal journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

The researchers examined the relationship between social networks and stroke in a cohort of 629 women who were evaluated for cardiovascular disease risk factors as part of a 6-year study. The participants completed the Social Network Index, which measured the presence or absence of 12 types of social relationships.

Women who were more socially isolated were significantly older, in poorer health, and more likely to suffer from depression than those with stronger social networks.

A total of 31 non-fatal and one fatal strokes occurred during follow-up. Analysis revealed that socially isolated women experienced strokes at 2.7-times the rate of those with more social support.

"Few physicians take the time to ask about psychosocial characteristics like social networks or depression," Rutledge commented to Reuters Health. "Research such as this suggests that getting to know the patient beyond their blood test results could help us better understand risk and perhaps devise better treatments."

However, he added, "We still don't know how a more isolated lifestyle translates in greater stroke risk for women."

One possibility is that they may have more risk factors such as higher levels of stress hormones or larger blood pressure fluctuations, Rutledge said. "Social support has been shown to decrease one's blood pressure response to stress."

Another reason may be that social isolation affects behavior "in ways that increase risk, for example by being less compliant with their treatment medications or getting less exercise," he explained.

More studies "to identify these factors is probably the next step," he concluded.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine, April 2008.

Has America’s Obesity Hit a Plateau?

Well-rounded is a kind way of saying someone is overweight. Corpulent, portly, stout, and porcine will get the point across too, but the best way to describe excess body fat so that everyone understands the implication is "obese."

What exactly is obese? When your defined body mass index (BMI) is 30 or greater, you are classified as being obese. Your BMI is calculated using your weight and height.

The U.S. weighs in at a hefty 34 percent of adults (aged 20 and over) being obese. This is a serious health concern because obesity increases the risk of diseases and health problems, some of which may include, but isn't limited to, the following:

• Dyslipidemia (abnormal concentrations of lipids or lipoproteins in the blood)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Osteoarthritis (degenerative arthritis)
• Stroke
• Respiratory problems (including sleep apnea)
• Some cancers
• Heart Disease

According to a report released in November 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for either men or women there was no significant change between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006; but obesity prevalence for men increased between 1999 and 2006. And overall obesity rates have increased over the past 25 years.

"Since 1999, there appears to have been a leveling off in obesity among women, but the trend is less clear among men. We do know however that the gap between men and women has narrowed in recent years, with men catching up to the higher rates among women," said Cynthia Ogden, a lead author of the study and CDC researcher.

According to the study, over 72 million people-that is more than one-third of U.S. adults-were obese in 2005-2006. The highest obesity prevalence went to adults aged 40-59 as compared to other age groups. In women there was a large race-ethnic disparity where 39 percent of non-Hispanic white women aged 40-59 were obese compared to approximately 51 percent of Mexican-American women and 53 percent of non-Hispanic black women of the same age group. And 32 percent of non-Hispanic white women were obese compared with 61 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 37 percent of Mexican-American women that were 60 and older.

"In view of these alarmingly high rates of obesity in all population groups, CDC has made the prevention of obesity one of its top public health priorities," said Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "We are actively working in partnership with state and local public health agencies, the nation's schools, community organizations, businesses, medical systems, and faith communities to promote and support healthy eating, physical activity, and healthy weight."

In 1999, 14 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years and 13 percent of children aged 6 to 11 years were overweight. Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming obese or overweight adults. If one or more parent is obese or overweight, this increases to 80 percent.

With obesity rearing its lethal head in all age groups, the U.S. is facing a serious problem as its population ages and a plateau or lull certainly isn't the answer. A massive government effort to instruct and inform the populace in how to help themselves and their children build a better physical foundation to improve a healthy future is going to be mandatory.

An Aspirin a Day Keeps Breast Cancer Away

Many people take daily aspirin for a number of reasons, with the approval of a medical professional, of course. Besides previous victims of heart attack or stroke, people with risk factors for a number of related conditions—smoking tobacco, high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, stress, family history of stroke or heart attack, lack of exercise—are advised to add a daily aspirin to their diet. Now there are indications that one little aspirin a day could provide some protection against the most common type of breast cancer-estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer-which makes up approximately three-quarters of the cases. And the study that determined this was done by none other than U.S. government researchers.

The research team was led by Gretchen Gierach, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and they published their AARP (formerly the American Association for Retired Persons) Diet and Health study in the BioMed Central journal called Breast Cancer Research. And the findings of the most recent research coincide with those of Columbia University researchers in 2004. Both found positive links between daily aspirin and a lower risk for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

A total of over 127,000 women (AARP members) in the United States between and including the ages of 51 and 72 were studied, all of whom were cancer-free when the research was initiated and had no history or increased risk of cancer. At the time, about 18% were already taking a daily aspirin, and though most women reported the use of some type of aspirin product, most took aspirin less than once a week. Out of the large number of women who were tracked for seven years, from 1995 to 2003, about 4,500 of them developed breast cancer, and 3,703 of those cases were invasive.

The study was designed to explore the association of diet and health-related behaviors with cancer in older adults, but the connections between breast cancer patients and aspirin were outstanding. Findings indicated that women who took aspirin on a daily basis cut their risk of developing estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer by 16 percent.

The basic concept behind the theory is that this type of breast cancer is stimulated by estrogen and/or progestrone, and aspirin seems to interfere with this particular hormone's activity by blocking a particular enzyme and possibly reducing the amount of estrogen produced in the body. Thus, no relationship was found between aspirin and other types of breast cancer.

Aspirin is one of several drugs in the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDS) category, and the study attempted to test the effects of other NSAIDS on breast cancer as well, but none of the other drugs tested reduced the risk of hormone-positive breast cancer. It also seems that aspirin taken irregularly does not have any positive effect on the cancer and must be taken daily to be effective.

While the latest study is encouraging, it is far from conclusive. Other studies done in this category have proven inconclusive, but the fact that the 2004 study concurs with the 2008 AARP Diet and Health Study provide the necessary support to encourage further research, most specifically on the relationship between aspirin and breast cancer.

Daily aspirin should only be taken at the recommendation of a medical professional, as there are possible side effects from taking aspirin so regularly, such as ulcers and bleeding. There are also medicines that may negatively counteract the aspirin and cause problems, so it is highly important that a daily aspirin not be self-prescribed.

Sugar OK for diabetics?

Overturning decades of advice, a German public-health agency recently said that diabetics should resume eating ordinary sugar and that special foods for diabetics have no value.

The ruling was issued by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment BfR in Berlin.

New research showed it was more important for diabetics to obtain vitamins and roughage by eating fruit and vegetables daily, it said.

Diabetes mellitus comprises two diseases, type 1 and type 2, where sufferers have an unusually high sugar level in their urine.

The BfR said doctors' orders to completely eliminate ordinary sugar from the daily diet and switch to foods sweetened with fructose and other sugars instead had been wrong. More and more research studies among Americans are linking high fructose intake (often in the form of soft drinks that contain high-fructose corn syrup) to obesity.

South African dietician Dr Ingrid van Heerden agreed with the ruling, noting that the American Diabetic Association as well as the Association for Dietetics in South Africa have been saying for several years that small amounts of sugar in the diabetic diet wouldn't cause any harm.

Diabetic food doesn't fulfil purpose
In a blow to the industry that supplies special "diabetic foods", the BfR said it would not set standards for such foods because they did not fulfil their purpose. Many other foods were just as beneficial to diabetics.

Once again, Van Heerden agreed with this statement, explaining that many diabetic foods have a very high energy and fat content.

However, the blessing for sugar should not be taken as an invitation to indulge indiscriminately in cakes, sweets or chocolate.

According to the announcement, every sufferer had to adopt a sensible and moderate diet and reduce if overweight. "Diabetics can eat small amounts of sugar according to their diet prescription," Van Heerden said. "If you eat a little bit of sugar with your cereal, it will count as one of your carbohydrate portions for the day."

BfR president Andreas Hensel called for changes to EU food labelling so diabetics could see the sugar, fat, roughage and salt content of all foods.

The BfR recommendation said other prohibitions for diabetics remained in place: they should avoid greasy sausages, fatty cheeses, chocolate, cream cakes and potato crisps and eat low-fat dairy products instead.

Both types of diabetes mellitus are caused by malfunctioning of insulin production or efficiency, which leads to problems in metabolising protein, fats and carbohydrates. Therapy should aim to restore proper blood-fat levels, blood pressure and body weight.

Diabetes cuts 8 years off life

A diagnosis of diabetes means losing an average of eight years from your expected life span, new research suggests.

In addition, diabetics are more likely to develop heart disease sooner than non-diabetics, the study found.

"Having diabetes at age 50 years and over does not only represent a significant increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and mortality but also a very important loss in life expectancy and life expectancy free from cardiovascular disease," said lead author Dr Oscar H. Franco, of the University Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Unilever Corporate Research, Sharnbrook, England.

Prevention is the key
Most people with diabetes - about 95 percent - suffer from the obesity-linked type 2 form of the blood sugar illness. That means that "prevention of diabetes is a fundamental task facing today's society aiming to achieve populations living for longer and healthier," Franco said.

His team published its findings in the June 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the study, Franco's group collected data on more than 5 200 American men and women who participated in the ongoing Framingham Heart Study. These people were followed until they developed heart disease or died. In addition, the researchers noted whether they had diabetes.

Double the heart risk
According to the study, diabetic women had more than twice the risk of developing heart disease than non-diabetic women. In addition, women with diabetes who already had heart disease were more than twice as likely to die compared with non-diabetic women.

Among men, the researchers found that those with diabetes also had twice the risk of developing heart disease and faced a 1.7 times higher risk of dying after developing heart trouble, compared with non-diabetic men.

For those 50 and older, diabetic men lived an average of 7.5 years less than men without diabetes, and diabetic women lived an average of 8.2 years less. Moreover, life expectancy without heart disease still fell by 7.8 years in men and 8.4 years in women with diabetes compared with non-diabetics, Franco's group reported.

"Taking into consideration that treatment of diabetes and its complications accounts for at least 10 percent of health-care expenditure in many countries, effectively preventing diabetes will not only represent an increase in life expectancy and the number of years lived free from cardiovascular disease but may also represent important savings for health care, at least with respect to direct medical costs," Franco said.

Need for better control
One expert believes the study reflects the dangers posed by diabetes and the need for more efforts to prevent and control the disease.

"It's sobering to think about the number of years of life lost," said Dr Larry Deeb, president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. "We ought to be able to reduce the cardiovascular risk because we can manage diabetes better today, but we're not."

Deeb believes the new findings highlight the tragic results of not controlling the illness. "This is a powerful argument to people who have diabetes, that you have to control the diabetes," he said. (HealthDayNews)

CDC: Measles cases in US top 70, highest in 6 years

Measles outbreaks in several states have led to more than 70 cases so far this year, the worst in six years, health officials said Thursday.

Most of the cases have been traced to outbreaks overseas and are mainly in children who were not vaccinated for religious or other reasons or were too young, according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention. Since measles vaccinations began in the early 1960s, cases have dramatically declined in the U.S.

So far this year, the CDC has confirmed reports of 64 cases in nine states. There were no deaths, but 14 people were hospitalized, said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen.

That count doesn't include Washington state, where eight cases were reported this week. Those cases stemmed from an international church conference in suburban Seattle in March, according to the state health department.

Measles is caused by a virus that normally grows in cells that line the back of the throat and line the lungs. It spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.

Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. But about 1 in 5 measles sufferers experience more severe illness that can include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis and even seizures and death.

Of the 64 cases reported to the CDC as of last week, 63 were unvaccinated or it wasn't known if they were vaccinated. At least 54 of the cases stemmed from outbreaks in Switzerland, Israel or other countries, Allen said.

Thirteen of the U.S. cases were children younger than 1; children usually don't get their first measles shot until they're at least 1 because their immune systems are considered too immature to produce the needed response.

Such children can easily pick up infections from those around them, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine.

"We have a responsibility not only to ourselves but to everyone around us" to get recommended vaccinations, he said.

The largest concentration has been in New York City, with 22 cases. Arizona has had 15, California, 12, and Michigan and Wisconsin have each had four. Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and upstate New York also reported cases.

It's the largest number of cases since 2001 when 116 cases were reported, according to CDC records. Officials expect this year's tally to keep climbing past that mark, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The worst year for measles was 1958, according to modern public health records. More than 763,000 cases were reported that year, including 552 deaths. Outbreaks in the early 1990s led to a revision of vaccination guidelines to include children younger than school age.

Wealth Predicts Early Stroke Risk

You don't need a crystal ball to predict a person's risk of having a stroke, just look into the family portfolio. Wealth has been linked to a lower risk of strokes for Americans aged 50 to 64. Not rich? Don't despair. Once you hit the age of 65, the link between financial health and physical health disappears.

The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, with findings published in the April issue of Stroke, had researchers analyzing data that examined the effect of education, income, and wealth. Participants aged 50 and older were divided into six groups, based on their level of wealth. They followed this group of almost 20,000 for more than eight years, on average, in which time there were 1,542 strokes. The group of study participants in the poorest 10 percent had a risk of stroke three times greater than those in the richest group. "Wealth is the strongest predictor of stroke among the factors we looked at," said Mauricio Avendano, coauthor of the study.

The study comparisons also found common risk factors for stroke among people aged 50 to 74 who had less wealth, income, or education. These factors included higher rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, smoking, low physical activity, and excess weight. Dr. Avendano says that many Americans are not in strong financial shape by the time they hit 50. Without the resources, especially money, to acquire reliable, good quality healthcare, people don't get the regular or preventative care they need. "People put things off," says Claudette Brooks, director of the neurovascular lab at the stroke center at West Virginia University School of Medicine. "They don't seek care until they perceive it as being more serious than when it started."

The study authors note that financial security may affect people's risk in other ways. Psychosocial risk factors such as depression and lack of social support may play a role and are more common among lower socioeconomic groups. The authors say "wealth may increase individuals' sense of control over their lives, reducing psychosocial stress and subsequent stroke risk."

Researchers said the next step in this ongoing study is to research why wealth, income and education don't seem to influence stroke risk after the age of 65. "We expected wealth to be a strong predictor of stroke in the elderly," Avendano said. "We were surprised to see that it was not associated with stroke beyond age 65."
They speculate that it may be a case of "selective survival," where the poorer people die sooner than their richer neighbors, leaving those who reach old age among the wealthiest. Avendano and fellow researcher, M. Maria Glymour of the Harvard School of Public Health, say another explanation could be the later benefit that comes from full health coverage provided by Medicare after age 65. "It is possible, that because more people have care, the difference between the wealthy and others doesn't matter as much," Avendano said.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately 780,000 people are affected by new or recurrent strokes each year, with 27 percent under the age of 65, according to the American Heart Association. If you are male, African-American, or have a family history of stroke, you are at a higher risk. While these factors can't be changed, there are things you can do to reduce your odds; eat a healthful diet, exercise, watch your weight, and abstain from tobacco.

Cancer Fatigue: Can Ginseng Help?

Fatigue can be a debilitating symptom of cancer, and a common side effect of its treatment. Many cancer patients going through treatment experience extreme tiredness, exhaustion, and weakness, often severe enough to adversely affect the quality of their life. Rather than add another prescription to the daily dosages, ginseng may be a natural alternative that is more palatable to patients.

Ginseng, an aromatic herb, has been used in Chinese medicine for several thousand years to restore energy. It is classified as an adaptogenic herb with multiple effects, many of which are regulatory in nature. The root contains a complex mixture of saponin glycosides (ginsenosides), and even though the mechanism of action is unclear, this agent is reported to enhance the immune system and reduce fatigue.

Researcher Debra Barton, Ph.D., an associate professor of oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., notes that 90 percent or more of cancer patients suffer extreme lethargy and low energy levels throughout their treatment. Dr. Barton conducted tests on the Wisconsin species of American ginseng, all derived from a single crop, to confirm a uniform concentration of ginsenosides, the active compounds thought to offer health benefits. (Note: Wisconsin ginseng is different from other forms of American ginseng sold in health food stores, and is only available through the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin, which monitors quality control.)

The research was based on a study of 282 people who had breast, colon, or other types of cancers. After eight weeks of randomly assigned doses of ginseng (ranging from 750 to 2000 milligrams per day), 25 percent of those on the two highest doses reported their fatigue was moderately to much better. They also reported improvements in their mental, physical, and emotional well-being, while only 10 percent on the lowest dosage or a placebo reported any improvement in their energy level or general feeling of wellness.

While this is a small test, with a particular type of ginseng, it is prompting a larger study, to be conducted in 2008. Confirming the positive effects that ginseng has on fatigue and mental and physical well being would be immensely beneficial and educational to the traditional medical establishment. Currently, doctors recommend a regimen of exercise to combat fatigue, and many cancer patients are grasping for hope, and self-medicating with a variety of alternative therapies.