Healthy Diet & NutritionHow to Choose the Best Energy-Boosting Bars and Gels By Sondra Forsyth articleBy The Bone, Muscle, and Joint Team at HealthHub from Cleveland ClinicContributor: Kylene Guerra, RDDo you stand in the aisle of energy bars and sports gels wondering what to choose? When it comes to offering you the best health benefits and fuel for your sports performance, not all energy bars and sports gels are equal. Below, find tips to choosing the best ones for you.Energy bars
_ Alternative HealthSt. John's Wort & Drug Interactions By Sondra Forsyth articleSt. John's wort is the most frequently used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment in the U.S. for depression and similar psychiatric disorders. The many commonly prescribed medications that St. John's wort can interact with—sometimes with serious consequences such as life-threatening “serotonin syndrome” or heart disease—are reviewed in the July 2014 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and on the web site.
_ Aging WellTesting Competency of Aging Drivers By Sondra Forsyth articleAs the American population continues to age, using tests to evaluate competency behind the wheel is critical. However, research done at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver found “significant barriers to evaluations important to the continued safety and competency of older drivers” according to a release from the university. The study was published 2014 in the journal Occupational Therapy in Health Care.
High blood pressure / hypertensionBlood Pressure Monitoring Kiosks Aren't for Everyone By Sondra Forsyth articleConvenience can come with tradeoffs. The next time you put your arm in the cuff at a kiosk that measures blood pressure, you could get an inaccurate reading unless the cuff is your size.
_ AD Drug to Prevent Brain Blood Clots By Sondra Forsyth articleExperiments done in Sidney Strickland's Laboratory of Neurobiology and Genetics at Rockefeller University in New York have identified a compound that might halt the progression of Alzheimer's by interfering with the role amyloid-β, a small protein that forms plaques in Alzheimer's brains, plays in the formation of blood clots. This work is highlighted in the July 2014 issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
Breast CancerSome Cancers Respond to Anti-Inflammatory Drugs By Sondra Forsyth articleResearch done at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis raises the possibility that some cancer patients with aggressive tumors may benefit from a class of anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The investigators published their findings in a 2014 issue of the journal Cell Reports.
_ Hepatitis CLiver Transplants for Hep C: A Surprising Finding By Sondra Forsyth articleAn international team of researchers was surprised to find that in some hepatitis C patients who receive liver transplants, genes that target the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as part of the innate immune system actually enable the patients to tolerate a foreign organ without taking immunosuppressant medication. The study was published in July 2014 in Science Translational Medicine.
_ Food Allergies & IntoleranceMilk & Egg Allergies More Worrisome Than Nut Allergies By Sondra Forsyth articleIf you’re the grandparent or parent of a child with food allergies, you know that constant vigilance is called for regarding everything your off-spring child eats. A hidden ingredient can be fatal.
_ Coming Next Week! June 30th – July 4th 2014 By Sondra Forsyth articleHere’s a sneak preview of the articles, slideshows, and blogs we’ll be posting during the coming week on ThirdAge, the biggest and best site for “boomer and beyond” women since 1997. As always, we’ll bring you the latest information from top experts about maintaining a healthy body, mind, and spirit as you navigate both the challenges and the joys of being a ThirdAger.
_ Healthy Diet & NutritionFood Ingredient Fears By Sondra Forsyth articleDaily headlines on Internet pages and blogs claim: "New ingredient X is harmful to your health." Such warnings can scare people into avoiding these ingredients without actually knowing the facts, leading some people to have food fears about ingredients such as sugar, fat, sodium, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mono sodium glutamate (MSG), and others. While some of these food fears are merited, others can be misleading.
_ Food Allergies & IntoleranceNew Tx for Food Allergies By Sondra Forsyth articleFor some people, an allergic reaction to common foods such as peanuts, milk, or eggs can cause a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. At present no effective treatment for food allergy exists, and strict dietary avoidance of known food triggers is the only preventive option available. However, ongoing trials are exploring options for oral immunotherapy (OIT) for desensitization in the treatment of Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated food allergy, as described in a Review article in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology,
_ Healthy Diet & NutritionConvenience Store Confidential: Eat Smart When You’re on the Road By Sondra Forsyth articleBy Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD Americans love hitting the open road, especially during summer. Road trips mean long hours in the car, with pit stops at gas station convenience stores — often the only options on long stretches of highway. Too often, when we fuel up our cars, we fuel up our bodies with snack choices we regret 20 miles down the road.
Aging WellA Drug to Slow Aging By Sondra Forsyth articleA drug called rapimycin may mimic the effect of dietary restriction, one of the most-researched methods for slowing the aging process, according to an article published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences/em> in June 2014.
_ “Facelock”: Passwords You Can Actually Remember! By Sondra Forsyth articleIf you have trouble remembering all your Internet passwords, Senior Moments aren’t necessarily to blame! Researchers in the UK maintain that forgetting passwords is an endemic problem for users and IT managers alike. As a solution, the scientists have developed a newly proposed alternative based on the psychology of face recognition.
_ Don’t Ruin Your Healthy Lifestyle With These Bad Habits By Sondra Forsyth articleBy LeanonLife Health and Fitness TeamA Game Plan
_ Medical CareMustaches & Oxygen Therapy = Burns By Sondra Forsyth articleFacial hair and home oxygen therapy can prove a dangerously combustible combination, according to a Mayo Clinic report published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. To reach that conclusion, researchers reviewed home oxygen therapy-related burn cases and experimented with a mustachioed mannequin, a facial hair-free mannequin, nasal oxygen tubes and sparks. They found that facial hair raises the risk of home oxygen therapy-related burns, and encourage health care providers to counsel patients about the risk.
_ Aging Well Caregiving Medical CareLong-Term Care Must Be Improved By Sondra Forsyth articleAs millions of Americans struggle to help loved ones with dementia, policymakers should consider more ways to improve long-term services and supports for the soaring numbers of people with the debilitating condition and their caregivers, according to a new RAND Corporation study done in June 2014. Thereport also offers possible ways to achieve those goals.
_ Food Allergies & IntoleranceEpiPens Not Used Often Enough By Sondra Forsyth articleSudden allergic reactions can be fatal. The most common triggers of such reactions, also known as anaphylaxis, are wasp and bee venoms, legumes (pul, animal proteins, and painkiller. The incidence of anaphylaxis is age-dependent. Although epinephrine administered by injection is a know effective antidote, the treatment is not used often enough – at least not in German=speaking countries -- , according to a study published in the June 2014 issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.