Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Big Sugar conspired to conceal health risks

Holy shit! Shit, shit, shit! Who can you trust? You can't do the research yourself... I guess, back to meat and green leafy veggies only. Crap... I'm heading out for a salad.

For decades the sugar industry paid off researchers to downplay the health effects of sweets and pin the blame for increased heart disease risk on saturated fat and cholesterol, a new study reveals. Combing over documents that date back half a century, a University of California, San Francisco researcher discovered that a trade group called the Sugar Research Foundation commissioned a 1967 Harvard review to discredit emerging claims about the harmful effects of sugar. Industry executives dictated what research would be included in the review and then controlled its findings, which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reports The New York Times. Ultimately, the review criticized studies linking sugar and heart disease and emphasized the harmful effects of unhealthy fats. In return, the Harvard researchers were paid the modern equivalent of about $50,000—a conflict of interest that was never disclosed publicly. For the next 50 years, millions of Americans opted for low-fat, sugary foods now associated with obesity and heart disease. “They were able to derail the discussion about sugar for decades,” says study author Stanton Glantz. “By today’s standards, they behaved very badly.”

Taken from the September 30, 2016 of The Week Magazine.

Calcium pills linked to dementia

Not sure why I didn't publish this when I wrote it back in October. Glad that the percentage of older adults with dementia is decreasing.

Crap, crap, crap. I know too many women who take calcium supplements not to be scared by this. Man, I just wish I could make good decisions in real time so that I don't need pharmaceuticals later in life! Dementia is so very scary!

Calcium supplements are widely used to ward off age-related bone loss, but a new study suggests that for some women they also bring a significantly higher risk for dementia. Researchers in Sweden tested the memory and thinking skills of 700 older women and tracked their use of calcium supplements. Women with a history of stroke who took calcium were seven times more likely to develop dementia within five years than were women who had suffered strokes but didn’t use the supplements. Among the women with signs of cerebrovascular disease, a disorder that affects blood flow to the brain, those who took calcium were twice as likely to develop dementia as the women who didn’t. These findings don’t prove that calcium supplements increase the risk for dementia, but researchers say they warrant further investigation. “People have a tendency to assume that dietary supplements are automatically innocuous,” neurologist Marc Gordon, who was not involved in the study, tells LiveScience.com. But “high levels of supplementation as opposed to just dietary intake [of calcium] could conceivably have some deleterious effects.”

Taken from the September 9th edition of The Week Magazine.

Pessimism linked to heart disease

Oh, crap.

Pessimists tend to expect the worst and never see the silver lining in bad news. New research suggests that this gloom and doom could increase their risk of death from heart disease. Finnish researchers followed 2,267 middle-aged and older men and women for 11 years and evaluated their outlook on life. Over the course of the study, the researchers found, those who scored highest on the pessimism scale were more than twice as likely to have died of heart disease as those who ranked lowest. “Your personality traits can make physical health worse,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Mikko Pankalainen, tells The New York Times. “If you’re pessimistic and have some health issues, then it’s even more important to take care of your physical health.” It’s not known why this association exists, but researchers suggest pessimism may increase inflammation and other factors that negatively affect heart health, while also making people less proactive in pursuing healthy habits.

Taken from the December 9, 2016 edition of the Week Magazine.

Dementia Rates Decline

Strong reason to control blood pressure and sugar intake. As I look back on my posts, I see so much which talks about sugar. We all need to cut it out, but crap it is hard... especially at this time of year.

The percentage of older people with dementia is on the decline, even though a cure for this devastating condition remains elusive, The New York Times reports. Based on surveys of 21,000 older adults, University of Michigan found the dementia rate among older Americans fell from about 12 percent in 2000 to roughly 9 percent in 2012. That translates to about 1 million fewer Americans suffering from the condition. The reasons for this unexpected drop aren’t clear. Scientists speculate that more people are receiving effective treatment for conditions linked to dementia, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which can impair blood flow to the brain. It’s also possible that a climb in the average education levels of older adults plays a role: Previous studies suggest that higher learning creates more complicated connections between nerve cells, which may help protect the brain against cognitive decline. But while the risk for dementia may be decreasing slightly, study author Dr. Kenneth Langa warns that the total number of Americans with dementia will continue to climb as the massive baby boomer generation moves into its 60s, 70s, and 80s. “This is still going to be a top-priority issue for families, and for health policy, now and in the coming decades,” Langa says.

Taken from the December 9, 2016 edition of The Week Magazine.

Emma Morano turns 117

We met Miss Emma here when she became the oldest living person.

Pray. Eat raw eggs. Stay single. Those are the keys to a long life, according to Emma Morano, who celebrated her 117th birthday this week. As the world’s oldest person—and the only person alive to have been born in the 1800s—Morano is a national treasure in her native Italy, where her birthday celebration was broadcast live on state TV. Journalists, relatives, and well-wishers crowded into her cozy apartment in the northern town of Pallanza, where Morano received plenty of gifts and cheek kisses. She only interrupted the festivities once, to ask, “Is there anything to eat here?” After the party, Morano took a well-deserved nap.

Taken from the December 9, 2016 edition of The Week Magazine.

It wasn't all bad...

Ed Moseley is proof that it is never too late to learn something new. The 86-year-old Atlanta man taught himself to knit after his assisted living facility challenged residents to create warm hats for the preemies at a nearby hospital. ­After getting a knitting kit from his daughter, Moseley spent hours making 55 colorful caps for the infants. He even held classes for other residents, and with the help of his caretakers, friends, and family, delivered more than 300 hand-­knitted caps to the neonatal unit. “Now I’ve graduated to large caps,” Moseley said. “I’m doing caps for all my ­grandkids.”

Taken from the December 2, 2016 edition of The Week Magazine.

I love it; what a wonderful story.