Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Associated With Increased Kidney Stone Risk

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Kidney stones may form when the normal balance of water, salts, minerals, and other substances found in urine changes.

Thus patients with kidney stones are often advised to drink more fluids as a way to prevent future stone formation.

Drink More Fluids - Not Softdrinks!

Now, new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital finds that some beverages may be more helpful than others when it comes to preventing recurrent kidney stones.

"Our study found that the relation between fluid intake and kidney stones may be dependent on the type of beverage consumed," explained Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, a physician in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at BWH and senior author of this study. "We found that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks was associated with a higher incidence of kidney stones."

The researchers analyzed data from three ongoing cohorts, the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), and both the Nurses' Health Study I (NHS I) and II (NHS II). The total analysis involved 194,095 participants over a median follow-up of more than 8 years. Participants in all the three cohorts had been asked to complete biennial questionnaires with information on medical history, lifestyle, and medication. Questions on diet were updated every four years.

The researchers found that participants who consumed one or more sugar-sweetened cola servings per day had a 23 percent higher risk of developing kidney stones compared with those participants consuming less than one serving per week. This was true for consuming sugar-sweetened non cola as well, such as punch. They also found that some beverages, such as coffee, tea and orange juice, were associated with a lower risk of stone formation.

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The above story is based on May 16, 2013 news release by Brigham and Women's Hospital

The research has been published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN):

Pietro Manuel Ferraro, Eric N. Taylor, Giovanni Gambaro, and Gary C. Curhan. Soda and Other Beverages and the Risk of Kidney Stones. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. May 15, 2013, DOI: 10.2215/CJN.11661112

Smoking Leads to Five-Fold Increase in Heart Disease and Stroke in Under-50s

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Preventing smoking among teens and young adults could help lower health complications associated with smoking.

Smokers who are under 50 years of age have a fivefold increased risk of having a heart disease or stroke. The risk of these chronic condition doubles for smokers who are over 60 years of age, says the European Society of Cardiology.

Stopping young people taking up smoking is a key goal of the ESC joint guidelines on prevention of cardiovascular disease. Other recommendations are to avoid smoking and exposure to passive smoking, and that all smokers should be given advice and help to quit.

Passive smoking at home or in the work place increases the risk of CVD by 30%. However, smoking bans lead to rapid and sizeable reductions in hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction. People who stop smoking also rapidly reduce their risk of CVD.

Professor Tell said: "Passive smoking is much more dangerous than many people think. Increasing exposure to cigarette smoke, either active or passive, is significantly associated with atherosclerosis.''

She concluded: "Prevention of smoking is the most cost-effective way to treat and prevent cardiovascular disease. This is particularly important for children and adolescents who are susceptible to tobacco promotion and find it more difficult to quit smoking."

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The above story is based on the May 31, 2013 news release by European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Red Bean Army Semakin Gelisah

The Red Bean Army is Getting Increasingly Active!

The Utusan Malaysia on June 1, 2013 reported, "Pihak berkuasa diminta terus memantau pergerakan tentera siber pembangkang, Red Bean Army secara serius memandangkan kumpulan itu boleh mendatangkan ancaman kepada negara selain memecah-belahkan perpaduan dalam kalangan rakyat"

Crudely, it says, "The government is urged to continue seriously monitoring the movement of cyber troopers employed by the opposition in view of the threat they pose to the nation besides breaking the unity of the citizens."

Here's another possible news scoop for the sensational Utusan: 

I saw this advertisement in a restaurant in Klang which, I suspect, may be a cryptic recruitment poster for Chinese-literate cyber troopers to enlarge the Red Bean Army. 

The invitation is cleverly written in Chinese but the author of Niat Buruk Terbongkar who claimed to have uncovered a sinister plot to sinicize Malaysia within the next 10 years should be able to confirm this because of his unusual understanding of Mandarin.

He will be able to testify if indeed the Red Bean Army is trying to lure unsuspecting Malaysians with bundles of free (worth RM1.30 each!) but lard-laden Red Bean Chang.

Healthy Lifestyle Mitigates Adverse Effects of Job Strain on the Heart

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Job stress increases the risk of heart disease, but living a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce that risk, a new study says.

Mika Kivimaki and colleagues pooled individual-level data for more than 100 000 men and women in 7 prospective cohort studies.

Their lifestyles were rated in one of three categories -- healthy, moderately unhealthy or unhealthy -- based on 4 lifestyle risk factors: current smoking, physical inactivity, heavy drinking and obesity.

The researchers found that participants who reported job strain and a healthy lifestyle (no lifestyle risk factors) at baseline had about half the incidence of coronary disease* as those with job strain and 1 or more lifestyle risk factors.

"The risk of coronary artery disease was highest among participants who reported job strain and an unhealthy lifestyle; those with job strain and a healthy lifestyle had about half the rate of this disease," Dr. Kivimaki, of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London

Evidence from randomized controlled trials has shown that lifestyle changes such as weight loss and stopping smoking can reduce the risk of disease.

"In addition to stress counselling, clinicians might consider paying closer attention to lifestyle risk factors in patients who report job strain," the authors conclude.

* defined as first nonfatal myocardial infarction or cardiac-related death

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The above story is based on the May 13, 2013 news release by Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The results of the study was published online in the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

Kivimäki M et al. Associations of job strain and lifestyle risk factors with risk of coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis of individual participant data. CMAJ May 13, 2013 doi: 10.1503/cmaj.121735

Fit in Only 12 Minutes a Week

Brett Klika and Chris Jordan had shown that twelve 30-second exercises could be just as effective as other, longer workouts, see our report “The Scientific 7 minute workout"

But you are still not motivated to get up from the couch.

Now, you can get fit with only 4 minutes of exercise three times per week!

Extra Short Rounds of High-Intensity Exercise Improves Physical Fitness in Inactive Men

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's KG Jebsen Centre for Exercise in Medicine/Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG) have shown that a single bout of short high-intensity sessions (AIT) performed three times per week improves VO2max and can make for substantial differences in the fitness of inactive men.

The researchers measured changes in VO2max and traditional cardiovascular risk factors in 24 inactive but otherwise healthy overweight men after they completed a 10-week training session that involved three weekly high-intensity interval sessions.

Participants were randomly assigned to either 

1. a single 4 minutes bout of exercise (1-AIT, n = 13) or
2. 4×4 minutes bouts of exercise interspersed with 3 min recovery (4-AIT, n = 13)*

three times per week for 10 weeks

After training, VO2max increased by 10% in Group A while Group B increased its VO2max by 13%.

Both groups saw decreases in their blood pressure, but the 1-AIT the group's blood pressures showed greater decreases than their 4-AIT counterparts for both systolic and diastolic readings.

"Our data suggest that a single bout of AIT performed three times per week may be a time-efficient strategy to improve VO2max", says Arnt Erik Tjønna, a postdoctoral fellow at the center and lead author of the study. 

Tjønna says one of the advantages of this approach is that it is easy for people to incorporate into their daily lives.

Tjønna says while the results look promising, the number of study participants was small, which limits the scientists' ability to extrapolate their findings. He also noted that people who are active probably won't benefit as much as the inactive participants did from the 1-AIT training regime.

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The above story is based on the May 29, 2013 news release by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

The research has been published in PLoS ONE: an inclusive, peer-reviewed, open-access resource from the PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE:

Tjønna A, Leinan I, Bartnes A, et al. Low- and High-Volume of Intensive Endurance Training Significantly Improves Maximal Oxygen Uptake after 10-Weeks of Training in Healthy Men. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (5): e65382 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065382

FULL TEXT

* 4 x 4 Interval Training

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Fish Oil Supplements May Help Fight Against Type 2 Diabetes

Study Suggests Omega-3 Fatty Acids Increase Levels of Hormone Tied to Insulin Sensitivity

Widely-used fish oil supplements modestly increase amounts of a hormone that is associated with lower risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to a recent study.

Fish oil supplements, also called omega 3 fatty acid capsules, raise levels of adiponectin in the bloodstream.

Adiponectin is an important hormone that has beneficial effects on metabolic processes like glucose regulation and the modulation of inflammation. In long-term human studies, higher levels of adiponectin are associated with lower risks of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

“While prior animal studies found fish oil increased circulating adiponectin, whether similar effects apply in humans is not established,” said the study’s lead author, Jason Wu, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health.

By reviewing evidence from 14 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, the researchers found that fish oil supplementation may moderately increase blood level of adiponectin in humans, and these results support potential benefits of fish oil consumption on glucose control and fat cell metabolism.”

The findings quantify the potential impact of fish oil on adiponectin level, and highlight the need to further investigate populations that may particularly benefit from fish oil supplementation.

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The above story is based on the May 22, 2013 news release by Endocrine Society.

The research has been published online before print in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM):

Wu  JHY, Cahill LE, Mozaffarian D. Effect of Fish Oil on Circulating Adiponectin: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. JCEM. May 23, 2013, doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-3899

Coenzyme Q10 May Help Patients Fight Heart Failure