Half of Americans’ Calories Come From ‘Ultra-Processed’ Foods

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — More than half of the average American diet is composed of so-called ultra-processed foods, a new study finds.

And these foods make up 90 percent of the excess sugar calories that Americans consume, the researchers reported.

Ultra-processed foods are concoctions of several ingredients, including salt, sugar, oils and fats. They also contain chemicals not generally used in cooking, such as flavorings, emulsifiers and other additives designed to mimic real foods, the researchers said.

“Decreasing the consumption of ultra-processed foods may be an effective way of reducing the excessive added sugar intake in the U.S.,” said lead researcher Euridice Martinez Steele. She’s from the department of nutrition in the School of Public Health at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Ultra-processed foods include sodas, sweet or savory packaged snacks, candy and desserts, packaged baked goods, instant noodles and soups, and reconstituted meat products, such as chicken and fish nuggets, she said.

By contrast, “processed” foods are foods made with added salt, sugar or other substances normally used in food to unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as canned foods or simple breads and cheese, the study authors said.

Too much sugar increases the risk for weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay, Steele said.

“There is one relatively simple way to avoid excessive added sugar — not replacing real food, such as minimally processed foods and freshly-prepared dishes and meals, with ultra-processed food and drink products,” she said.

In other words, drink water, pasteurized fresh milk and freshly squeezed fruit juices. And, don’t drink soft drinks, sweetened milk drinks and reconstituted, flavored fruit juices.

People should avoid products that don’t require preparation, such as packaged soups, instant noodles, prepared frozen dishes and sandwiches, cold cuts and sausages, ready-to-eat sauces and cake mixes, Steele said.

The report was published online March 9 in the journal BMJ Open.

The researchers reviewed information from more than 9,000 people. They all took part in the 2009-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Study volunteers provided information about their diets.

The researchers found that added sugars make up more than one in five calories in the average ultra-processed food product. That’s as much as eight times higher than the calories from added sugars found in other foods, Steele said.

The recommended upper limit of calories from sugar is 10 percent of daily calories, the researchers noted. In people who ate the most ultra-processed food, more than 80 percent exceeded the upper limit of sugar.

Only people who ate the least ultra-processed foods had below the recommended levels of sugar, the researchers said.

“What many consumers do not realize is that added sugars come in many forms in many highly processed foods that include desserts and sweets, but that also include foods like sausages, cereal bars, ketchup, French fries, salad dressings and frozen pizzas,” said Samantha Heller. She’s a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Medical Center in New York City.

This survey highlights the extraordinary amount of ultra-processed foods in the American diet, and the over-the-top amount of sugar and salt and fat found in these foods, she said.

One serving of a frozen French bread pizza contains 830 milligrams of salt, four different kinds of added sugars, trans fats and 21 grams of total fat, Heller pointed out.

“Another, more nefarious and insidious problem lurks in these foods as well,” she said. “Ultra-processed foods are chemically designed by the food companies to induce cravings for those foods, and sugar, fat and sodium are a big part of those formulas.”

The only way to break the chemical food cravings, and slash the intake of chemicals, calories, added sugars, fat and sodium, is to make more food at home from scratch, Heller said.

“If you made your own homemade French bread vegetable pizza, which would not take much time, you would use about 15 unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients, compared with the more than 60 ultra-processed ingredients and chemicals in the frozen food version,” she said.

Homemade pizza would likely have almost no added sugar, a fraction of the salt, no trans fats and much less fat overall, Heller said.

“You will also know exactly what’s in the dish you and your family are eating for dinner tonight,” she said. “A bit of planning and a pantry stocked with healthy foods goes a long way to saving time, money and, more importantly, your health.”

More information

For more information on a healthy diet, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Another Neurological Disorder Tied to Zika

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The list of neurological disorders potentially associated with the Zika virus continues to grow, health officials reported Wednesday.

Writing in the March 9 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, French researchers described the case of an unidentified 81-year-old man who had been in fine health before becoming feverish and then comatose while on a cruise in the South Pacific.

An MRI scan and a test of spinal fluid indicated he was suffering from meningoencephalitis, an infection and swelling of the brain.

The elderly cruise ship patient was admitted to an intensive care unit, where doctors were able to make a tentative diagnosis of Zika infection. Within several days, his condition began to improve without treatment, and 17 days after admission to the hospital he was removed from intensive care. By day 38, he was fully recovered, the investigators said in their report.

Previous research has suggested that the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus also appears to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and underdeveloped brains. The virus has also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, an immune system disorder that can occasionally lead to a fatal form of paralysis.

The virus is suspected of causing the epidemic that began last spring in Brazil, where there have been more than 5,600 suspected or confirmed cases of microcephaly. And the virus is spreading in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The man’s story and his recovery would seem to reinforce doctors’ belief that Zika is most dangerous to a pregnant woman and her fetus. Only one out of every five people infected with Zika show any symptoms, and even those who fall ill usually do not suffer severe symptoms, U.S. health officials have said.

Nonetheless, the World Health Organization said in the NEJM that, despite the lack of proof linking Zika virus with neurological disorders, “the severe potential risks demand decisive, immediate action to protect public health.”

The WHO recommends such preventive measures as intensive mosquito control; personal protection against mosquito bites; appropriate medical care for all patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome; and proper care for women before, during and after pregnancy.

The United Nations-affiliated agency is also calling for prevention of Zika virus infection through blood transfusion or sexual contract, which seems more likely than had been previously thought.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women to refrain from unprotected sex with a partner who has traveled to a Zika-affected region.

For pregnant women, the CDC has this advice:

• Consider postponing travel to any area where Zika virus transmission is ongoing,
• If you must travel to or live in one of these areas, talk to your health-care provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites,
• If you have a male partner who lives in or has traveled to an area where Zika transmission is ongoing, either use condoms the right way, every time or do not have sex during your pregnancy.

The Zika virus has now spread to over 32 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. The WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.

Last week, researchers reported that the Zika virus may cause the birth defect microcephaly by targeting certain brain stem cells and stunting their growth.

Laboratory studies indicated that Zika can infect a type of neural stem cell that gives rise to the cerebral cortex of the brain, researchers reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Worse, Zika appears to hijack these cells, using them to churn out new copies of the virus and spread more rapidly, the researchers reported.

According to the researchers, the Zika virus flourished in lab dishes containing these stem cells, causing either cell death or disruption of cell growth.

“Although our study hasn’t provided a direct link between Zika virus and microcephaly, we identify the direct cell targets of the virus and we show the virus can affect cell growth,” said study co-author Zhexing Wen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The new findings “provide a potential mechanism [for] how a Zika virus infection can lead to poor brain growth and, therefore, microcephaly,” said Dr. Sallie Permar, director of Duke University’s Laboratory of Neonatal Viral Pathogen Immunity, in Durham, N.C.

More information

For more on Zika virus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To see the CDC list of sites where Zika virus is active and may pose a threat to pregnant women, click here.

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Transplant From Incompatible Living Donor Boosts Kidney Patients’ Survival

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — In what experts call a possible “paradigm shift,” a new study shows kidney disease patients may live far longer if they receive a transplant from an incompatible living donor rather than wait for a good match.

The findings could offer another choice for kidney patients who might otherwise die waiting for a compatible deceased donor.

Specifically, experts said the results offer hope to “highly sensitized” transplant candidates.

That refers to patients who have a large number of immune system antibodies ready to attack a donor organ. It’s common among people who’ve had a prior kidney transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Patients who have had multiple blood transfusions while on dialysis, or who have been pregnant several times, can also become sensitized.

Finding a compatible donor for sensitized patients is “nearly impossible,” said study lead researcher Dr. Dorry Segev, an associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

An alternative is to transplant a kidney from an incompatible donor, with the help of special “desensitization” therapies that reduce the risk of an immune system attack on the donor organ.

Johns Hopkins pioneered the approach 15 years ago, and other transplant centers have followed suit.

Only now, though, is the long-term benefit becoming clear. Using data from 22 U.S. hospitals, Segev’s team found that more than three-quarters of patients who received a kidney from an incompatible living donor were still alive eight years later.

“This is potentially a paradigm shift,” said Dr. Michael Flessner, a program director in the division of kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases at the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which funded the study.

Flessner expects incompatible living-donor transplants will become standard practice.

Such donations are not a panacea: There is a higher risk of rejection than with transplants from compatible living donors, said Dr. Harold Helderman, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville.

And because patients receive especially powerful immune-system suppressing drugs, they can be at increased risk for infections, he noted.

“But these results show that at the end of the day, these patients have a longer lifespan,” Helderman said. “So, you accept that there are risks.”

For the study, Segev’s team followed just over 1,000 sensitized patients who received a kidney from an incompatible donor at one of 22 transplant centers in the United States. They compared the patients’ survival with that of two “control” groups: slightly over 5,000 patients on the transplant waiting list who eventually received a kidney; and roughly the same number of wait-list patients who had to remain on dialysis.

After eight years, more than 76 percent of the incompatible-donor patients were still alive. That compared with 44 percent of dialysis patients and 63 percent of those who ultimately received a deceased-donor organ.

The findings were published March 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

An incompatible transplant is no easy process. To be desensitized, patients need a procedure called plasmapheresis, which clears the blood of antibodies that could attack the donor organ. Afterward, they receive immune-suppressing drugs aimed at preventing an antibody re-emergence.

Plasmapheresis has to be repeated several times before the transplant — and often afterward as well, Flessner noted.

The desensitization process also adds about $20,000 to $30,000 to the cost of getting a transplant, according to the University of Wisconsin’s transplant center, one of the U.S. programs that performs the procedure.

But it’s still far cheaper than dialysis in the long run, Segev said in a news release from Johns Hopkins.

Right now, just over 100,000 Americans are on the waiting list for a donor kidney, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Segev and his team estimate that 32,000 of them are sensitized.

When those patients have a willing, but incompatible, living donor, Segev said, it may be in their “best interests” to have the transplant rather than wait.

Flessner agreed. “This holds out the hope of more family members being able to give this great gift,” he said. “And it really is the gift of life.”

More information

The National Kidney Foundation has more on kidney transplantation.

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For ‘Ironman’ Athletes, Study Shows Danger of Too Much Water

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Long-distance triathletes who drink too much water during competition may end up with dangerously low blood sodium levels, new research warns.

Researchers in Germany who tested nearly 1,100 competitors in the annual Ironman European Championships found more than 10 percent had developed this condition — called hyponatremia.

In its most severe form, hyponatremia can be life-threatening, experts say.

“Hyponatremia among athletes is not a new issue,” said study co-author Dr. Stefan Braunecker, of the department of anesthesiology and intensive care medicine at University Hospital of Cologne. But the 2015 death of an athlete who developed hyponatremia during an Ironman competition underscores the “still urgent importance of the topic,” he added.

The condition occurs in a “considerable percentage” of long-distance triathletes, Braunecker and his colleagues said in the March 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A dramatic dilution of sodium (salt) causes an athlete’s internal water regulation to go out of whack. Cellular swelling ensues, often accompanied by nausea, headache, a drop in blood pressure and energy, weakness, and even seizures, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

For this study, the authors tracked hyponatremia cases among nearly 1,100 triathletes who participated in the annual Ironman European Championships between 2005 and 2013. More than 900 were men.

The competition includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

Racers took about 10 to 15 hours, on average, to finish, and blood samples were collected within 20 minutes of completion.

The investigators found that 115 athletes had developed hyponatremia. Seventeen cases were deemed serious and three critical. These findings led the authors to conclude that hyponatremia is a significant and serious health concern among triathletes.

The highest risk for hyponatremia was among female athletes and/or those who took comparatively longer to finish the competition, the research team found.

Some marathon runners also develop hyponatremia, Braunecker said. A previous study found that 12 to 13 percent of marathon participants had the condition, the authors noted.

“Marathon runners do a ‘short’ run of just 2.5 to 3 hours, and do not plan their nutrition as much as triathletes do,” explained Braunecker.

The emphasis triathletes place on making sure their caloric intake will sustain them through the race appears to exert “a regulating influence” on sodium levels during competition, he said.

But both marathoners and Ironman participants struggle with extreme fatigue, alongside a temporary inability to reliably gauge true thirst. The result: “Amateur athletes tend to overestimate their water deficit and over-drink,” Braunecker said.

He suggested that race organizers offer athletes pre-competition information programs on the subject. Also, on-site emergency physicians should be prepared to screen for the condition and treat it, he said.

Athletes, meanwhile, should rigorously plan out their nutritional needs in advance, making sure to consume beverages that contain increased sodium levels, he suggested. Sodium tablets and measuring for water loss while training can also be helpful, he added.

But Dr. Lewis Maharam, chairman of the board of governors for the International Marathon Medical Directors Association, said that as safety precautions go, meal-planning comes in a distant second to simply listening to your own body.

“The big problem with all the marathons and Ironman competitions is that sponsors of fluids and electrolyte drinks stage fluid stops very close together, almost every mile,” Maharam explained.

“Inexperienced runners or Ironman athletes see these tables and think, ‘Oh . . . I should drink,'” he said. “But often that’s not the case. In fact, it’s been shown that if an athlete actually stops and drinks at all these stops, they will for sure become hyponatremic by the end of the race.”

His advice? “We tell our athletes to drink for thirst,” said Maharam. “It’s the very best way to reduce risk.”

The notion that by the time you’re thirsty you’re already dehydrated is an old wives’ tale, he added. “Thirst is the absolute best way to determine how much to drink.”

More information

There’s more on hyponatremia at the National Kidney Foundation.

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Combo Treatment Protects Pregnant Women, Fetuses From Malaria in Study

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A combination drug therapy widely used to treat malaria in adults also protects pregnant women and their fetuses from the disease, according to a new study.

Malaria is a leading cause of premature birth, low birth weight and death among infants in Africa, the researchers said.

Most Africans develop immunity to malaria by adulthood, but women lose some of this immunity during pregnancy and are given drugs to prevent infection. The recommended preventive drug is sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), but the mosquito-transmitted parasite that causes malaria is often resistant to it.

Researchers assessed whether the combination therapy dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) — commonly used to treat malaria in adults — could prevent malaria in pregnant women.

The study included 300 pregnant women in Uganda. Beginning in the 16th week of pregnancy, about one-third of the women received three doses of SP, one-third received three doses of DP and one-third received monthly doses of DP.

Evidence of malaria infection was found in half the women who were given SP, compared with 34 percent who had three doses of DP, and 27 percent who had monthly doses of DP.

Forty percent of the women who received SP had malaria parasites in their blood, compared with 17 percent of those in the three-dose DP group and 5 percent in the monthly DP group. None of the women in the monthly DP group developed malaria, compared with 41 of the 106 in the SP group.

The study, published in the March 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, was not designed to test the effectiveness of SP, but the findings suggest the treatment is losing its effectiveness, the researchers said.

“The malaria parasite’s resistance to SP is widespread, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. But we are still using the same drugs, because we have no better alternatives,” study first author Dr. Abel Kakuru said in a University of California, San Francisco news release. Kakuru is an epidemiologist with the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration in Kampala, Uganda.

DP is considered safe for adults, but this study was not large enough to determine whether it is safe for pregnant women or reduces pregnancy/birth complications, the researchers noted. The World Health Organization would need such confirmation to recommend the use of DP instead of SP.

“People are very cautious about giving drugs during pregnancy. You don’t want to take any chances that it’s going to do something bad to the fetus or to the mother,” study senior author Dr. Grant Dorsey, a professor of medicine at UCSF, said in the news release.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health funded the study.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on malaria.

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The Best Teas for Sleep, Anxiety, Bloating, Cramps, and More

Photo: Getty Images

Got a bloated belly? There’s a tea for that. And also one for the jitters, insomnia, even crippling period cramps. It turns out that herbal brews can help remedy more than a few common health complaints. Read on to find the right sip to ease your discomfort.

For bloat

Fennel tea is a hero to the digestive tract: It contains a compound that relaxes gastrointestinal spasms, allowing gas to pass and relieving bloat, according to Health‘s nutrition editor, Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD.

Try: Pukka Three Fennel ($8; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

RELATED: Best and Worst Foods for Bloating

For a pesky cough

Marshmallow tea, made from the leaves and roots of this medicinal herb, has been used for hundreds of years to quiet coughs and sooth irritated throats.

Try: Celebration Herbals Marshmallow Leaf and Root tea ($11; amazon.com; )

Photo: Amazon.com

For nerves

Chamomile tea may help calm your jitters before a stressful event. Certain compounds in the herb bind to the same receptors in the brain as drugs like Valium. A study done at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center found that people who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder experienced significant relief from symptoms after taking chamomile supplements for eight weeks, compared to folks who took a placebo.

Try: Yogi Comforting Chamomile tea ($18 for 6 boxes; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

For trouble sleeping

Lavender tea may be just want you need to nod off. Research shows that just the scent of lavender has slumber-induce properties: It has been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rate.

Try: Buddha Teas Lavender Tea ($8; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

RELATED: Best and Worst Foods for Sleep 

For menstrual cramps

Ginger tea was found to be just as effective in treating painful period cramps as Ibuprofen in a 2009 study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 

Try: Traditional Medicinals Organic Ginger tea ($21 for 6 boxes; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

For stomach pains

Peppermint tea calms the muscles of the GI system, aiding digestive processes. But if your pain is the result of acid reflux, best to skip peppermint tea. It also has a relaxing effect on the lower esophageal sphincter, which may allow more stomach acid to slip back into the esophagus.

Try: Yogi Purely Peppermint tea ($23 for 6 boxes; amazon.com)

Photo: Amazon.com

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Woman Who Had 1st U.S. Uterus Transplant Loses the Organ Due to Complication

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The first U.S. woman to receive a transplanted uterus has had the implanted organ removed due to an unnamed “sudden complication,” her doctors at the Cleveland Clinic announced Wednesday.

“At this time, the circumstance of the complication is under review and more information will be shared as it becomes available,” the hospital said in a statement.

“There is a known risk in solid organ transplantation that the transplanted organ may have to be removed should a complication arise,” the clinic added. “The medical team took all necessary precautions and measures to ensure the safety of our patient.”

The patient is a 26-year-old woman, identified only as Lindsey. Along with her husband Blake, she has adopted three children, but always longed to give birth to her own child.

“At 16, I was told I would never have children. From that moment on,” she said in a news conference held Monday, “I prayed that God would allow me the opportunity to experience pregnancy.”

Unfortunately, the loss of the implanted organ has set back that dream, Lindsey said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude towards all of my doctors,” she said. “They acted very quickly to ensure my health and safety. Unfortunately, I did lose the uterus to complications. However, I am doing OK and appreciate all of your prayers and good thoughts.”

The transplant surgery took place Feb. 24 and the Cleveland Clinic doctors who performed it said they plan more of the procedures as part of a research study. The uteruses will come from deceased organ donors. In Lindsey’s case, the uterus came from a woman in her 30s who died suddenly.

“The study, which has been planned to include 10 women, is still ongoing with a commitment to the advancement of medical research to provide an additional option for women and their families,” the Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Monday press briefing, Lindsey’s doctors stressed that any pregnancy involving the transplant couldn’t have been attempted for at least one year.

“Uterine transplant is not just about moving a uterus from here to there. It’s about having a healthy baby,” Dr. Rebecca Flyckt, an ob/gyn surgeon at Cleveland Clinic, said at the news conference. “That goal [would still be] a couple of years away.”

Before the transplant, Lindsey had six to 10 of her eggs harvested, fertilized with her husband’s sperm, and frozen. After a year, these embryos would have been implanted in her transplanted uterus, with the goal being a cesarean delivery nine months later.

After two such pregnancies, the transplanted uterus would have been removed or allowed to wither and disappear on its own, her doctors said.

Embryo transplants are used in this process because the fallopian tubes, which carry a fertilized egg to the uterus, are missing.

The doctors said they are putting a limit on how long a transplanted uterus remains in the body because women have to take powerful drugs to prevent the body from rejecting the uterus, and they do not want women to have to take these drugs their entire life.

Although this is the first U.S. uterus transplant, the technique was pioneered in Sweden. As of last September, nine transplants have been performed, resulting in five pregnancies and four births. The children born to these women are all doing well, the Cleveland Clinic researchers said during the news conference.

In Sweden, the transplanted uteruses were all from live donors.

About one in 5,000 women is born without a uterus.

The hope is that uterus transplants will give women without a uterus another option beyond adoption or surrogacy, Dr. Ruth Farrell, a bioethicist at Cleveland Clinic, said during the news conference.

“Despite the name uterine transplant, the focus is not on the uterus, it’s on women and children and families,” she said.

More information

For more on uterus transplants, visit the Cleveland Clinic.

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MS Patients May Be Prone to Other Chronic Illnesses, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have other chronic health problems than those without the nervous system disorder, a new study indicates.

Researchers looked at how common several chronic conditions — high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, chronic lung disease, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — were in nearly 23,400 people newly diagnosed with MS and more than 116,600 people without MS.

The MS patients had higher rates of all the conditions, with high cholesterol being the exception. Their rates of mental illness, particularly depression, were also high. Nineteen percent of MS patients and 9 percent of those without MS had depression, the study found.

For many of the chronic conditions, there were significant gender differences. High blood pressure occurred in 22 percent of men with MS and 15 percent of men without MS, compared to 14 percent of women with MS, and 12 percent of women without MS.

Men with MS also had higher rates of diabetes, epilepsy, depression and anxiety than women with MS. But, women with MS had a higher rate of chronic lung disease, according to the study published online March 9 in the journal Neurology.

“These findings are interesting for several reasons,” study author Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie said in a journal news release. Marrie is director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.

“It raises the question of whether there are shared risk factors for both MS and these other diseases, and if so, whether we could eventually find ways to reduce the risk of both MS and the other diseases. Also, studies have shown that MS may progress faster for people who also have other chronic conditions, so it’s important for people and their doctors to be aware of this and try to manage these conditions,” Marrie said.

However, it should be noted that the study did not prove that MS is definitely linked to any of these other conditions.

In an accompanying journal editorial, William Grant of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center in San Francisco, suggested that a possible reason for the finding is that these chronic illnesses and MS share some of the same risk factors.

“Smoking, obesity, low vitamin D and low omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to contribute to the severity of MS and, in various combinations, these other illnesses as well. Doctors will want to stress to those with MS the importance of correcting these problems,” he said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about multiple sclerosis.

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Be Wary of Imported Supplements: FDA

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — You could be putting your health at risk if you buy imported dietary supplements and nonprescription drug products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns.

Health fraud scammers often sell such products at ethnic or international stores, flea markets, swap meets or online, Cariny Nunez, a public health adviser in the FDA’s Office of Minority Health, said in an agency news release. This may be because many people who shop at these places have poor English-language skills and limited access to health care services and information, she suggested.

“These scammers know that ethnic groups who may not speak or read English well, or who hold certain cultural beliefs, can be easy targets,” she added.

For example, Native American, Hispanic, Asian and black people may have a long tradition of using herbal — or so-called “natural” — products, and many of these advertisers include the word “natural” on product labeling because they know it inspires trust in certain groups, Nunez said.

Gary Coody, the FDA’s national health fraud coordinator, warned that just because a product is labeled “natural” doesn’t mean that it’s safe. These products may contain hidden drug ingredients or be contaminated with potentially harmful chemicals, he said in the news release.

People should be suspicious about dietary supplements and nonprescription drug products that claim they are miracle cures, promise quick fixes or advertise that they can cure a wide range of diseases, the FDA officials said.

Before buying any unproven product or one with questionable claims, talk to a doctor or other health care professional, the experts said. In addition, consumers can check the FDA’s website to find out if the agency has taken any action on the product.

“Remember, dietary supplements are not drugs,” Coody said. “They are not substitutes for the drugs your health care professional prescribes. And you should let your health care professional know what supplements you are taking, because they may interact in a harmful way with prescribed medications or keep a prescribed drug from working.”

If you or someone in your family has a bad reaction after using such a product, you can file a confidential report online at the FDA’s MedWatch.

More information

The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health offers tips for wise supplement use.

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Tai Chi Could Be a Healthy Move for Your Heart

WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Tai chi and other traditional Chinese exercises may benefit people with heart disease, researchers report.

The new review of 35 studies included more than 2,200 people in 10 countries. The investigators found that, among people with heart disease, these types of low-risk activities appeared to help lower blood pressure and levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and other unhealthy blood fats.

Tai chi, qigong and other traditional Chinese exercises were also linked to improved quality of life and reduced depression in heart disease patients, the study authors added.

But the exercises did not significantly improve heart rate, aerobic fitness levels or general health scores, according to the report published March 9 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Traditional Chinese exercises are a low-risk, promising intervention that could be helpful in improving quality of life in patients with cardiovascular diseases — the leading cause of disability and death in the world,” study co-author Yu Liu, said in a journal news release.

“But the physical and psychological benefits to these patients of this increasingly popular form of exercise must be determined based on scientific evidence,” added Liu. He is dean of the School of Kinesiology at Shanghai University of Sport in China.

The association reported in the study doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between activities such as tai chi and improved heart health.

But, the researchers said they plan to conduct randomized, controlled trials — the gold standard for scientific research — to review the effect of different types of traditional Chinese exercises on chronic diseases.

More information

The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has more on tai chi and qigong.

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