Scientists, Ethicists Debate Future of Gene Editing

By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — What if faulty genes in your DNA could be easily corrected, avoiding the ravages of diseases like cystic fibrosis or certain cancers?

That is the promise of gene editing, a new technique being heralded as an enormous advancement in genetic engineering. Scientists say its speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness make it an excellent tool for replacing rogue genes that cause human suffering and early death.

But worries about the technology’s darker side have mounted ever since Chinese researchers in April reported results of an experiment to edit a defective gene in a human embryo. For ethical reasons, researchers say they used an abnormal embryo.

The team concluded that gene editing isn’t yet sufficiently reliable and precise enough to apply the technique in humans.

Nevertheless, some scientists and bioethicists worry that gene editing may be used one day to create “designer babies” and forever alter the human genome.

Experts from around the globe are gathered in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the clinical potential and ethical pitfalls of human gene editing. The three-day international summit, convened by the U.S. National Academy of Science and National Academy of Medicine with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the U.K.’s Royal Society, concludes on Thursday.

The debate swirls around a gene-editing technology called CRISPR (pronounced crisper), short for clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats.

Much like film editors delete and replace scenes in a motion picture, scientists use gene editing in the lab to clip strands of DNA at the precise site of genetic defects and splice in a fix.

To most people, “CRISPR is still an unknown term,” Rep. Bill Foster, an Illinois Democrat and the only Ph.D. scientist currently serving in Congress, said in opening remarks at the global summit on Tuesday. Yet, Foster said he has been fielding increasingly urgent requests for meetings to discuss the technology breakthrough and its implications for society.

John Holdren, a senior White House adviser on science and technology policy, told summit attendees that the Obama administration continues to hold the position that editing the human “germline” — meaning the genes passed on to future generations — “is a line that should not be crossed at this time.”

April Pyle, an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, told HealthDay that researchers have widely adopted the gene-editing tool to better understand how genes function and how to correct faulty genes. But scientists are using it in mice and cell cultures, not humans, she said.

“No one is talking about gene editing in the context of designing, changing genomes for designer babies. That’s not what scientists are doing,” she insisted.

Pyle studies Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the loss of muscle function caused by a gene mutation. Few people with DMD live beyond their 30s, according to the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, in Bethesda, Md.

“If we can correct that mutation in these patients, then we can give them back the missing gene and give them a permanent cure,” she said. “That’s the long-term goal, but the challenges are really in understanding how safe the technology is.”

Clinical applications of the technology won’t be seen until it can be perfected, ensuring that only the targeted gene is snipped, preventing “off-target” mutations in the genome, Pyle explained. Scientists also must find ways to safely deliver the technology to patients.

If perfected, gene editing would have immediate implications for treating genetic disorders involving a single mutation in a specific gene.

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, Calif., who spoke at the summit, agreed that the technology may hold great promise.

“Human gene editing used to treat existing patients, if it can be done safely, may turn out to be medically important,” she told HealthDay.

But Darnovsky added that human germline gene editing for reproduction, prohibited in some 40 countries, “would be extremely risky.”

To date, the Center for Genetics and Society has collected upwards of 155 signatures from scientists, ethicists and others calling for strengthened prohibitions that would prevent the technology’s use for genetically modified humans or designer babies.

Permitting germline editing “would likely be used for enhancement purposes by those who could afford it, and this could all too easily open the door to new forms of inequality and discrimination,” Darnovsky explained.

“We need not and should not risk those societal outcomes,” she said.

More information

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have more on human gene editing.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1lYsp91

Could Energy Drink ‘Shots’ Raise Teens’ Diabetes Risk?

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Caffeine-laden “energy shots” appear to trigger short-term insulin resistance in teenagers, Canadian researchers report.

The finding suggests that this effect might lay the foundation for developing type 2 diabetes later in life, the researchers said.

Teens who downed a tiny orange bottle of 5-hour Energy — which contains no sugar but has 208 milligrams of caffeine — were not able to metabolize sugar as efficiently as when they drank a decaf version of the same drink, the study found.

Those who drank traditional 5-hour Energy experienced a 25 percent increase in both their blood sugar and blood insulin levels compared to when they drank the decaf version, the study authors said.

“It’s the caffeine,” said senior researcher Jane Shearer, an assistant professor and diabetes researcher at the University of Calgary in Canada. “The elevated caffeine content in energy drinks is what causes this response.”

The findings were to be reported Wednesday at the World Diabetes Congress, in Vancouver, Canada. Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

According to Dr. Jan Hux, chief science officer for the Canadian Diabetes Association, the results are troubling because the teens’ blood sugar levels did not decrease even after their bodies started producing insulin, the hormone that manages blood sugar.

“You think if the insulin is high, the sugar should go down,” Hux said. “That suggests that the caffeine is causing insulin resistance. The body has to make more insulin to achieve the same effect.”

Insulin resistance is the first step in developing type 2 diabetes, Hux explained.

For the study, 20 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 were randomly given either a traditional 5-hour Energy shot or a shot of 5-hour Energy Decaf. Forty minutes later, they all were given a standard oral glucose tolerance test.

The glucose tolerance test measures the body’s ability to process sugar, and is a standard screening tool for type 2 diabetes, Hux said. Participants ingest a large dose of sugar, and then researchers take regular blood samples to see how blood sugar and insulin levels respond.

All the teens eventually tried both 5-hour Energy products, so their blood sugar and insulin response could be compared head-to-head between the caffeinated and non-caffeinated versions.

When the teens drank caffeinated 5-hour Energy, they experienced a 24.6 percent greater increase in blood glucose levels and a 26.4 percent greater increase in insulin levels during the glucose tolerance test than when they drank decaf 5-hour Energy, the researchers reported.

“The caffeine has a half-life of four to six hours,” Shearer said. “This elevated glucose/insulin response is going to last a good chunk of the day.”

No one is sure why caffeine affects the body’s ability to metabolize sugar, said Danielle Battram, a professor of food and nutrition at Brescia University College in Ontario.

Caffeine might directly interfere with insulin’s ability to control sugar levels, Battram said, or it might hamper the function of insulin by promoting the release of hormones like adrenaline that work counter to insulin.

Although this study didn’t look at long-term effects, it raises concerns about the role that caffeine-laden energy drinks might play in future risk of type 2 diabetes, Shearer said.

“For individuals who are susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes down the road, this could hasten the disease along,” she said.

However, these findings shouldn’t concern people who drink coffee, Shearer said, even though a 14-ounce cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee contains 178 milligrams of caffeine and a 16-ounce cup of McDonald’s java has 133 milligrams.

“There is really good data to show that drinking a cup of coffee is beneficial for you,” Shearer said. “That’s because, believe it or not, coffee is the main source of antioxidants for most North Americans.”

The caffeine in coffee comes in a plant-based form, accompanied by lots of other beneficial compounds, Shearer said. On the other hand, energy drinks contain a processed form of powdered caffeine that more directly affects a person’s metabolism, she explained.

The American Beverage Association (ABA) took issue with the study findings.

“Caffeine has been safely consumed, in a variety of foods and beverages, around the world for hundreds of years,” the association said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“And most energy drinks contain significantly less caffeine than a similarly sized coffeehouse coffee. Even so, energy drink manufacturers voluntarily go far beyond all federal requirements when it comes to labeling and education,” the ABA said.

“While neither this [study] abstract, nor the body of scientific evidence, suggests that energy drinks cause unique health outcomes, it is important to note that the product used in this study was not an energy drink but rather an energy shot,” the association said in its statement. “Mainstream energy drinks are non-alcoholic beverages that are regulated by the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration].”

Shearer’s research team next plans to look at the health effects of regular, full-sized energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster, which contain loads of both sugar and caffeine, she said.

Prior research has shown that people who regularly chug sugar-sweetened beverages have a 20 percent to 30 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes, Hux said.

“From those studies we know sugary beverages are a risk, and from this study we know that caffeine may amplify that risk,” Hux said.

But the human body is capable of adapting to continued doses of caffeine, Battram said, and it’s not clear the insulin resistance shown in this study will persist long enough to cause health problems.

“We don’t know if this insulin impairment you’re seeing will continue over days,” Battram said. “We don’t really know long-term what this is doing. We can’t say this is having a negative effect on us.”

More information

Visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more on caffeine.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1jzx1R7

Carrie Fisher Reveals She Was Pressured to Lose Weight for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Photo: Getty Images

Carrie Fisher said she was told to lose weight in order to reprise her role as Princess Leia in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The 59-year-old actress was expected to drop over 35 pounds to play the character she originally portrayed 38 years ago.

The star spoke about the emphasis that Hollywood places on the physical appearance of female actresses and the pressure the industry puts on them to be thin.

“They don’t want to hire all of me – only about three-quarters!” Fisher told Good Housekeeping U.K. “Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that’s how easy it is.”

Fisher explained she did what was asked of her and lost the weight but felt conflicted about her decision. “When I do lose the weight, I don’t like that it makes me feel good about myself. It’s not who I am. My problem is they talk to me like an actress but I hear them like a writer,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QfBzJt

These Before-and-After Photos Prove Good Eyebrows Change Everything

Tom Graney; Art by Elysia Berman

Another editor recently lamented how much the quality of her life improved the day she started filling in her brows—and it got us thinking. How much of a difference does grooming your brows really make? Think back to ’90s Gwen Stefani and Drew Barrymore and you’ve got your answer.

Makeup artist Lori Taylor-Davis explains, “Brows can make or break your look. Not only do they accentuate and frame the face, but also add balance to your features.” Similarly, the founder of a popular brow bar, Umbreen Sheikh, adds, “Brows can visually lift or droop the face—they are defining attributes that complement not only your face but the way you want the world to see you. Whether they are thin, full, sparse, or lush, they all have different personalities.” The best way to add thickness and structure is with a good brow pencil/powder duo and gel. Try Maybelline New York Eyestudio Brow Define and Fill Duo and Maybelline New York Eyestudio Brow Drama for easy application and serious results.

See? Brows change everything. To prove it, we commissioned some of our favorite faces (each with differently shaped eyebrows, this is a controlled experiment after all) and photographed their brows before and after a proper product application. The results prove even the most subtle of changes are fairly mind-blowing.

 

Before:

After:

In this photo, the model’s eyes look larger, bluer, and her face more defined. All by filling in her brows and highlighting her brow bones.

 

Before:

After:

This model has much rounder brows, so by brushing them up and out, it adds a bit more arch to the eyebrow and lifts her face.

 

Before:

After:

The model has thin but arched brows, which can look sparse if not groomed correctly. With the help of brow gel for hold and texture and a thin, natural-looking brow pencil, her hairs appear thicker and her eyes wider.

Now that you believe us, it’s time to learn how to pull off the look. To help everyone out, we’ve meticulously broken the process down—step-by-step—to show you how to fill, highlight, and polish your brows, no matter their shape.

Rounded, arched, or straight, we’ve got you covered.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

More from MIMI:

How to Correctly Fill In Rounded Eyebrows

The Most Popular Brow Shapes in the Country, By Zip Code

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1MX86l7

New Drug May Help Fight Heart Failure

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Millions of aging Americans suffer from heart failure, and there are still too few options to treat them. Now, research suggests that a new medication called Entresto might help these patients live longer.

The study did not involve a clinical trial. Instead, researchers analyzed data from nearly 8,400 heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction, where a weakened heart loses some of its ability to pump blood.

A team led by Dr. Scott Solomon, director of noninvasive cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, estimated the patients’ survival time if they took Entresto (sacubitril-valsartan) or Vasotec (enalapril), the current standard of care for heart failure.

The researchers projected that patients who took Entresto would live 1.5 to two years longer than those who took Vasotec.

The study in the Dec. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine was funded by Novartis, which makes Entresto.

One expert said that while the results of the study look promising for Entresto, any newly marketed drug is bound to be very expensive compared to generic options.

The Boston study “demonstrates how evolving medical research reduces death and hospitalization rates for patients suffering from this chronic disease,” said Dr. Kevin Marzo, chief of cardiology at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

However, “cost issues for the utilization of new nongeneric drugs, as always, will remain a constant barrier for widespread use of the drug,” he added.

Dr. David Friedman is chief of heart failure services at North Shore-LIJ’s Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, N.Y. He noted that a prior clinical trial had already shown Entresto to have a benefit in heart failure, “and now this data shows some years of life gained.”

Entresto may “add to our heart failure drug armamentarium to better combat this common heart condition,” Friedman said.

According to the study authors, heart failure accounts for more than 1 million hospitalizations each year in the United States and is the leading cause of hospitalization among Americans older than 65.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about heart failure.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1MX85gZ

Slowed Walking in Seniors May Signal Alzheimer’s Danger

By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Seniors who walk more slowly may have higher amounts of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s in their brains, a small, new study suggests.

Researchers found a modest association between higher levels of amyloid plaques — dense deposits of a protein known as beta amyloid — and slower walking speeds among older adults.

“These results suggest that subtle walking disturbances, in addition to subjective memory concerns, may signal Alzheimer’s disease, even in people who are fully asymptomatic and have a walking pace within the normal range,” said study author Natalia del Campo, scientific manager of the Centre of Excellence in Neurodegeneration in Toulouse, France.

“Taking into account physical parameters that are not conventionally looked at in Alzheimer’s disease, such as gait speed, may help optimize the early identification of patients at risk,” added del Campo, who is also a postdoctoral fellow at the Gerontopole Research Centre in Toulouse.

The study was published online Dec. 2 in the journal Neurology.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, an incurable, fatal disease that destroys memory, language, thinking and reasoning skills, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Increasingly, clinical research is focusing on spotting early signs of the disease that may go unconsidered prior to diagnosis.

The cross-sectional study, which allowed researchers to look at participants at one specific point in time, only establishes an association between brain amyloid levels and walking speed, but not a cause-and-effect relationship between the two, del Campo noted.

The research team analyzed 128 people (average age 76) who did not have a formal diagnosis of dementia but were considered at high risk because of memory problems. Brain scans measured amyloid plaque levels in their brains, with 48 percent registering a level often associated with dementia.

Additionally, participants underwent thinking and memory skills testing, with 46 percent classified as having mild cognitive impairment, a condition that can lead to Alzheimer’s. Walking speed was measured using a standard test timing how fast participants walked 13 feet at their usual pace, and all but two tested within normal range.

The researchers found an association between slower walking speed and amyloid buildup in several areas of the brain, including a region known as the putamen, which is involved in motor function. Amyloid levels accounted for up to 9 percent of the difference in walking speed between faster and slower walkers, according to the study.

One expert said the findings make sense.

“The way you walk is influenced by systems of the brain that set the pace, so when this part of the brain isn’t working properly, it may have an impact on gait or speed,” said Dr. Joseph Masdeu, director of neuroimaging and the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist Neurological Institute in Texas. “So, I’m not surprised by these findings.”

But Masdeu, who wasn’t involved in the study, cautioned that older adults who happen to walk more slowly than others shouldn’t panic.

“You absolutely cannot tell somebody who is beginning to have difficulties walking that they have more amyloid in their brain,” he said. “This is just a small contributor and many other systems can affect it, and many are age-related.”

Masdeu and del Campo noted that several possible explanations exist for the observed link between brain amyloid levels and walking speed.

“It is possible that amyloid accumulation and slow gait speed co-occur as the result of a common lifestyle factor such as a deficient diet through childhood or adulthood, low physical activity or smoking,” del Campo said. “It may also be explained by . . . diabetes or [high blood pressure]. We know that these are risk factors for dementia and poor motor function.”

Dr. Eric Reiman, a spokesman for the American Federation for Aging Research, agreed with del Campo and Masdeu that more research is needed.

“This interesting study provides additional support for the idea that slower walking speed may be associated with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Reiman, who is also executive director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix. “As the authors note, there are a number of factors that contribute to reduced walking speed in older adults.

“Additional studies are needed to clarify the extent to which slower walking speed could be used to help in the early detection and tracking of Alzheimer’s, the prediction of subsequent clinical decline and the evaluation of investigational disease-modifying treatments,” he added.

More information

BrightFocus Foundation offers more information on brain amyloid plaques.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1XzyNo0

How to Stay Warm (But Not Too Warm) On Your Winter Runs

Photo: Getty Images

Winter is coming, and you know what that means: ‘Tis the season for layering up on your runs. The problem? Trying to find that sweet spot between “just bundled enough” and “burning up” is much harder than it should be. Here are a few pieces you can pull on when the mercury drops that give you that perfect amount of wiggle room.

Basic (in a good way)

Photo: underarmour.com

Throw the sweat-wicking Under Armour Fly Fast Luminous 1/2 Zip ($68; underarmour.com) over a basic tank or tee for extra warmth. The zipper allows you to regulate your temperature—unzip when warm; zip up if cold. Bonus: the funky print is actually reflective, but you’d only know when light hits it.

Arm yourself

 

Photo: Roadrunnersports.com

Playful pattern aside, the Brooks Dash Arm Warmer ($25; roadrunnersports.com)—which has silicone grippers to make sure they don’t slide down— adds a colorful layer of protection against the elements. Roll ’em down to you wrists when your run heats up.

RELATED: 15 Running Tips You Need to Know

The best of both worlds

Photo: Thenorthface.com

What happens when you morph a short-sleeve tech tee with a running jacket? You get The North Face Ultra Lite Waterproof Short-Sleeve Jacket ($150; thenorthface.com), a wind and waterproof layer that warms your core while leaving arms free to move naturally.

Flash forward

Photo: Roadrunnersports.com

Don’t let this lightweight, non-bulky layer fool you; the Nike Aeroloft Flash Vest ($280; roadrunnersports.com) is the epitome of warmth thanks to its 800-fill goose down insides. Worried about overheating? Don’t be. It also has perforated holes for ventilation. What we love most: it packs into its own pocket!

Snow day

 

Photo: Newbalance.com

Outfitted with a special technology that captures heat, the New Balance NB Heat En Route Jacket ($120; newbalance.com) chases away winter chills while wicking away sweat during serious pavement pounding sessions. Bonus: a high collar protects the neck; thumbholes add hand coverage.

RELATED: 13 Super-Flexible Running Shoes for Women

Go Nordic

 

Photo: Adidas.com

Nothing sucks more than coming back from a run with numb legs— ouch! Keep your stems intact with the insulated Adidas Tech Fit Climawarm Nordic Print Tights ($55; adidas.com). They keep the warmth in and the cold out. And the snazzy side print— that’s just cute.

Heads up

 

Photo: Columbia.com

The Columbia Women’s Trail Summit Beanie ($19; columbia.com) is lined with tiny silver dots that retain warmth to help keep your noggin nice and toasty for the long run. And it has an opening to showoff your perfect fishtail braid. Nice.

Hands on

 

Photo: Lululemon.com

The barely there Lululemon Run With Me Gloves ($28; lululemon.com) keep hands heated (double up with a heavier pair if it gets really chilly) while reflective hits makes sure you’re seen when the sun goes down. And they come with an oh-so-convenient snap so you can attach them together— because loosing a glove is super annoying.

RELATED: Running With Your Dog: 17 Dos and Don’ts

White hot

 

Photo: Athleta.com

Insulated and water-resistant, the Athleta Insul8 Jacket ($278; athleta.com) stands up to chilly, snowy days with impeccable style. (Yep, you’ll want to don this down coat on non-workout days too!) Just don’t forget to stash your lip balm in one of the front two pockets—scaly, flaky lips are so not sexy. Bonus: This plush puffer’s drop hem in the back adds extra coverage for your bum.

RELATED: 7 Tips for Running Your First Race

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1NI02rW

MRI Can Spot Early Signs of Knee Arthritis: Study

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — MRIs can spot the warning signs of knee osteoarthritis in people who have normal X-rays, researchers report.

They looked at 849 people, average age of 60, who showed no evidence of arthritis in either knee in X-rays. They were deemed at high risk due to factors such as being overweight or having a history of knee injuries.

The Northwestern University team also assessed cartilage damage, bone marrow lesions and meniscus tears on MRI images taken three years apart. If the MRIs showed worsening damage during that time, the patients were at increased risk of developing knee arthritis or symptoms such as pain, stiffness and/or swelling.

Depending on the type of lesion revealed by MRI, the risk of developing knee arthritis within three years was three to 20 times greater, the researchers said.

“These worsening lesions are an early warning sign and an opportunity to intervene before a person develops the debilitating disease,” lead investigator Dr. Leena Sharma, a rheumatologist and professor of medicine, said in a university news release.

“If we employ aggressive prevention strategies in persons with these lesions before they develop knee osteoarthritis, we may be able to delay disease development or alter its course,” she added.

Those preventive measures include weight control and avoiding potentially harmful physical activity.

The study was published recently in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about osteoarthritis.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1NpbjHh

Too Much TV While Younger May Hamper Middle-Aged Brain

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Young adults who watch tons of TV, and spend more time on the couch than at the gym, may end up paying for it with diminished mental performance in middle-age, new research suggests.

“We found that low physical activity and high TV watching in young adulthood were associated with worse cognitive [mental] function” in middle-age, said Tina Hoang, a staff research associate with the Northern California Institute for Research and Education at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco.

And that finding was “particularly surprising,” added Hoang, given that the current study pointed to a negative impact on mental function in people who were mostly in their 50s. Seniors have been the focus of most prior investigations, she explained.

But, “this is really a preliminary study,” she cautioned. Hoang also acknowledged that while TV time and physical inactivity seem to be associated with diminished mental ability, the study couldn’t show whether or not such lifestyle factors actually cause mental decline. “More work is needed to really understand this relationship,” she added.

The study findings were published in the Dec. 2 online edition of JAMA Psychiatry.

To gauge the long-range mental health impact of TV and physical activity habits, investigators enlisted more than 3,200 men and women. Study participants were an average of about 25 years old when the study began. Most (55 percent) were white and 57 percent were female. More than 90 percent of the study volunteers finished high school, the researchers said.

Over the 25-year study, all of the participants completed at least three detailed lifestyle questionnaires.

The study authors defined high TV-viewers as people who watched more than three hours of TV per day during the prior year (on at least two-thirds of the questionnaires they filled out).

The researchers calculated physical activity by exercise units. These units were measured using a combination of duration of exercise with intensity of exercise. Those who scored low on physical activity were below the baseline number of exercise units for their sex, the study said.

Mental capacity was assessed by testing that looked at verbal memory skills, and the ability and speed with which participants were able to plan, organize and perform mental tasks.

In the end, the investigators found that 11 percent of the study volunteers were high TV-watchers. At middle-age, high TV-watchers were more likely to fare poorly on most mental function testing compared with low TV-watchers, the study found. The one exception the researchers discovered was that high TV-watchers did not fare worse in terms of verbal memory.

Those whose physical activity levels were ranked as low (about 16 percent of participants) were significantly more likely than those ranked high to fare poorly in terms of the ability to think quickly and perform mental tasks, the study found.

And participants who were both high TV-viewers and low exercisers had up to double the risk for poor mental performance by middle-age, compared with those who had been both low TV consumers and more physically active during young adulthood, the findings showed.

Could other “couch-potato” factors apart from TV viewing — such as poor nutrition or reading less — decrease mental performance down the road?

“We did try to control for some confounding factors, such as education, body mass index, smoking and alcohol use,” Hoang said. “But there may be others that we were not able to account for.”

Susan Albers is a psychologist in the department of psychiatry and psychology with the Cleveland Clinic in Wooster, Ohio. Albers cautioned that, ultimately, “there are too many variables and confounding factors to say that the behaviors of TV watching and a sedentary lifestyle is a direct ticket to cognitive deficits.”

Yet, she added, “there is no surprise that there is an association.” And the findings clearly highlight that “what you do in your teens and early adulthood matters,” Albers said.

“Young adults often don’t make the connection between what they do now and what happens 25 years from now,” she pointed out. “This study helps connect the dots.”

More information

There’s more on mental health and aging at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1HGFJsA

Kylie Jenner Criticized for Posing in a Wheelchair for Racy Photo Shoot

Photo: Getty Images

Kylie Jenner is facing backlash for a racy spread in the December issue of Interview magazine. In the issue, the 18-year-old reality star and youngest member of the Kardashian/Jenner family is shown straddling a table and wearing some very NSFW latex pants, but it’s the photos of her posing in a wheelchair that have many people, including disability advocates, up in arms.

Photo: Interview/Screengrab

RELATED: Kylie Jenner Explains Her Unbelievable Cleavage

Health spoke with Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability, a non-profit that focuses on increasing employment opportunities for Americans with disbilities, to weigh in on the photos. “Any effort to bring the wheelchair into mainstream media in a positive way is good. It’s often a misconception that women who use wheelchairs aren’t able to be sexy or even have sex, so to the extent that Kylie Jenner is portrayed as sexy while sitting in a wheelchair is not all bad,” she says. “However, we are concerned that this portrayal of Jenner—who is not disabled—as an inanimate object and using the wheelchair as a prop, is unfortunate. Instead of being depicted as a prop, wheelchairs should be shown as helping women live free and independent lives.”

RELATED: Kim Kardashian’s Dangerous Pregnancy Complication, Explained

Many Twitter users echoed this sentiment:

No. I don't want to see Kylie Jenner in a wheelchair. No I don't think it's edgy or cool when people don't know how to talk about disability

— emma (@Oh_EmmaGee) December 1, 2015

This right here is why I don't rate Kylie Jenner. A gold wheelchair? Disability isn't a glamorous fad. http://pic.twitter.com/5kpKgxdtPq

— zara (@zaraisfierce) December 1, 2015

This is offensive and disgusting. Ableism is real and this just reinforces it. A wheelchair as a prop? @KylieJenner http://pic.twitter.com/UgAWbyKcR5

— Gregory Brown (@Whalewatchmeplz) December 1, 2015

I don't care what Kylie Jenner does. I really don't but can we not use her siting on a wheelchair a form of fashion?

— Kailia Sage (@KailiaSage) December 1, 2015

Seriously @KylieJenner, wheelchairs aren't "limitations" they're things that give people the freedom of movement and independence.

— Ophelia Brown (@bandaidknees) December 1, 2015

RELATED: 9 Celebrities With Lupus

In the future, Glazer hopes Jenner will use her stardom to elevate the issue of how people with disabilities are depicted in the media. “She could use her platform and connections to feature real wheelchair users in a way that heightens sensitivity and awareness,” she says, adding that Jenner’s anti-bullying #IAmMoreThan Instagram campaign is a good example of this.

Although Jenner has yet to address the criticism of the shoot, Interview is defending the photos.  “At Interview, we are proud of our tradition of working with great artists and empowering them to realize their distinct and often bold visions,” a spokesperson said in a statement provided to E! News . “The Kylie Jenner cover by Steven Klein, which references the British artist Allen Jones, is a part of this tradition, placing Kylie in a variety of positions of power and control and exploring her image as an object of vast media scrutiny.”

RELATED: Khloe Kardashian on Staying Strong During Difficult Days: “You Can Only Control Yourself”

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1l8lSbC