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Low Vitamin D Levels May Worsen Pain




Feeling more pain than usual? Consider asking your doctor to check your vitamin D level. According to an extensive review of clinical research in a new report from Pain Treatment Topics, inadequate vitamin D intake has been linked to a long list of chronic painful problems including bone and joint pain of various types, muscle pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatic disorders and osteoarthritis. Lack of vitamin D also has been implicated in the mood disturbances of chronic fatigue syndrome and seasonal affective disorder.



"Our examination of the research, including 22 clinical investigations of patients with various chronic pain and fatigue syndromes, found that these persons almost always had inadequate levels of vitamin D, “ says Stewart B. Leavitt, PhD, editor of Pain Treatment Topics and author of the report. “When sufficient vitamin D supplementation was provided, the aches, pains, weakness, and related problems in most of them either vanished or were at least helped to a significant extent."



While vitamin D isn’t a cure-all or necessarily a replacement for other pain treatments, current evidence indicates that recommending supplemental vitamin D for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorders would do no harm and could do much good at little cost, says Leavitt. “It should be considered by healthcare providers for their patients early in the course of pain management." 7/11/08


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Children Need Vitamin D, Too


If you have osteoporosis or risk factors for it your doctor has probably advised you about the importance of vitamin D as well as calcium to maintain your bones. Now research is showing the importance of vitamin D in children, particularly among those who had suffered fractures or those with underlying chronic medical conditions, such as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), which put them at risk of osteoporosis.




In a study published in the June issue of Pediatrics, doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found that 80 percent of 85 pediatric patients studied had a vitamin D insufficiency. All the patients had a history of bone fragility or underlying chronic medical conditions that put them at a risk of osteoporosis.




Osteoporosis is not just an adult disease, but is seen in children and can originate during childhood, according to the study’s authors. Vitamin D insufficiency may contribute to low bone mass or even make the underlying metabolic bone disease worsen if not treated.




Potential factors that may account for vitamin D insufficiency in various chronic medical conditions include low vitamin D intake and decreased sun exposure.




If you have a child who has suffered fractures or who has a condition or takes medications such as corticosteroids that put him at risk for osteoporosis, speak to his doctor about vitamin D supplements. 6/2/08



For more about vitamin D, see Vitamin D and Hip Fractures



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High Vitamin D Levels Associated with Lower Risk of Breast Cancer


You know that vitamin D is important for strong bones. Now research shows that having adequate levels of vitamin D may also offer a protective effect against breast cancer. In a recent study involving 1,294 breast cancer patients and an equal number of healthy controls German researchers found that women with a very low blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. (25(OH)D) – a marker for both endogenous vitamin D and vitamin D from food intake.



In addition to measuring blood levels of the marker, the investigators focused on the vitamin D receptor. The gene of this receptor is found in several variants. The researchers investigated the effect of four of these variants, called polymorphisms, on the risk of developing breast cancer. They found out that carriers of the Taql polymorphism have a slightly increased risk of breast tumors that carry receptors for the female sex hormone estrogen on their surface. No effects on the overall breast cancer risk were found. A possible explanation offered by the authors is that vitamin D can exert its cancer-preventing effect by counteracting the growth-promoting effect of estrogens.



Because this was a retrospective study, however, the authors can’t say with certainty that higher levels of vitamin D protected the healthy women or that lower levels were part of the cause – rather than the result – of breast cancer. Diagnosis-related factors such as chemotherapy or lack of sunlight after prolonged hospital stays might have contributed to low vitamin levels of breast cancer patients, they say. 4/21/08



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Macadamia Nuts Can Be Included in Heart-Healthy Diet


If you’re eating more nuts as part of an effort to lower your low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) level, don’t overlook macademia nuts, says research scientist Amy E. Greil, a recent PhD recipient in nutrition Penn State and author of a study of macadamia nuts published in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition.



In the study, researchers used controlled feeding to compare a heart-healthy diet with 1.5 ounces – a small handful – of macadamia nuts to a standard American diet. The participants had slightly elevated cholesterol levels, normal blood pressure and were not taking lipid-lowering drugs. Participants were randomly assigned to either the macadamia nut diet or the standard American diet and were provided all meals for five weeks. The participants then switched diets and continued eating only food provided by the researchers for another five weeks.



The Healthy Heart diet with macadamia nuts did reduce total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared with the standard American diet. The macadamia nuts reduced total cholesterol by 9.4 percent and low-density lipoprotein by 8.9 percent.



"Macadamia nuts have higher levels of monosaturated fats, like those found in olive oil, compared with other tree nuts," says Greil.



"We found that the reduction in LDL or bad cholesterol we observed was greater than would be predicted by just the healthy fats in the nuts alone," says Griel. "This indicates that there is something else in the nuts that helps lower cholesterol." 4/16/08



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Green Tea Boosts Antibiotics’ Effects


Want to increase the effectiveness that antibiotic your doctor prescribes? Then wash it down with some green tea, say Egyptian researchers reporting at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.



Because green tea is a common beverage in Egypt and it is quite likely patients will drink it while taking antibiotics, the researchers wanted to find what, if any, effect it would have on the medications’ action.



Testing green tea in combination with antibiotics against 28 disease causing micro-organisms, they found that in every single case green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics – in some cases close to 100 percent.



Green tea also made 20 percent of drug-resistant bacteria susceptible to one of the cephalosporin antibiotics.



“Our results show that we should consider more seriously the natural products we consume in our everyday life,” says Mervat Kassem from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Alexandria University in Egypt. In the future, he says, his group will be looking at other natural herb products such as marjoram and thyme to see whether they also contain active compounds that can help in the battle against drug resistant bacteria. 3/31/08



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Presoaking Potatoes Can Cut Health Risks of Frying


If you love French fries, but are concerned about acrylamide – a naturally occurring chemical that occurs when starch-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures – a new study out the UK offers good news: Soaking potatoes in water before you fry them can reduce levels of the health-harming chemical.



Animal studies have suggested a link between acrylamide and cancer and other health problems. Researchers at Leatherhead Food International, who made the discovery, say presoaking potatoes may reduce any risks of fried potatoes.



The study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, found that washing raw French fries, soaking them for 30 mins and soaking them for 2 hours reduced the formation of acrylamide by up to 23%, 38% and 48% respectively but only if they were fried to a lighter colour. The jury is still out on chips that are fried to a deep, dark brown. 3/7/08



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Drinking Milk Lowers Blood Pressure


For all our lives we’ve been advised to drink for healthy bones. Now research shows that drinking milk can help improve cardiovascular health, too.



After examining the diets of nearly 30,000 middle-aged and older women, Harvard researchers found that women who consumed more low-fat milk and milk products and had diets higher in calcium and vitamin D from foods were better protected against high blood pressure. When the researchers investigated the benefits of milk specifically, they found women who drank two or more servings of fat free milk each day reduced their risk for high blood pressure by up to 10 percent compared to those who drank fat free milk less than once a month.



The new findings show that benefits of milk are not limited to calcium and vitamin D it provides, because people who got these nutrients from supplements were not similarly protected. The findings also did not apply to those consume higher fat milk and milk products.



Reported in the American Heart Association journal, Hypertension, the findings do support the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet, the therapeutic eating plan recommended by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute that emphasizes low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables to help reduce blood pressure levels. 2/25/08



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New Seal Identifies Food High in Folic Acid


If you’re trying to increase your intake of folic acid to reduce methotrexate side effects or lower artery-damaging homocysteine levels, a new initiative by the March of Dimes and the Grain Foods Foundation can help.



The two organizations have created a new Folic Acid for Pregnancy seal that will be featured on select products at retail to help consumers quickly and easily identify grain products, such as white bread, that are enriched with folic acid.



Folic acid is a B vitamin the body needs to make DNA and thus is essential for cell division. Folic acid deficiency has been linked to birth defects. It also increases the risk for heart attacks and strokes.



Folic acid is found naturally in green, leafy vegetables and citrus fruits. In 1998, the FDA required that enriched flour be fortified with folic acid. Since that time, neural tube defects, including spina bifida, have declined by 26 percent, according to the March of Dimes.



While the purpose of the new seal is to identify folic acid-enriched foods for women of childbearing age, adequate folic acid intake is important for all people, particularly those with inflammatory diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, which are associated with elevated homocysteine levels. Supplementing folic acid can also reduce the risk of side effects in people taking the disease-modifying antirheumatic drug methotrexate. 1/18/08
















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Vitamin D2 Supplements May Reduce Risk of Falls


Doctors often advise older people to take a vitamin D supplement along with calcium to improve bone strength. Now research shows that supplements of vitamin D2, also called calciferol or ergocalciferol, may also reduce the risk of falls that can lead to broken bones.



Australian researchers conducted a year-long study involving 302 women age 70 to 90 who had low blood levels of vitamin D and a history of falls in the previous year. Half of the women were selected to receive 1,000 international units of vitamin D2, while the other half received a placebo.



During the study period, 53 percent of the women in the vitamin D2 group and 62.9 percent in the placebo group had at least one fall. After adjusting for height, which affected the risk of falling, vitamin D2 therapy reduced the risk of having at least one fall by 19 percent, but did not reduce the risk of multiple falls, according to the authors.



"Older people who fall frequently tend to have more risk factors for falling, including greater degrees of disability and poorer levels of physical function,” the authors write in the January 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. It is possible that chemically correcting vitamin D levels in the blood is insufficient to prevent falls in these individuals, they note. 1/16/08





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Scientists Build High-Calcium Carrot

One day, some of the best advice for building strong bones could be “eat your vegetables.”



Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M University report genetically modifying carrots to express increased levels of gene that enables the transport of calcium across membranes of plant cells, making the vegetables a better source of calcium.



“Slightly altering the gene (sCAX1) to make it a more active transporter allows for increased bioavailable calcium in the carrots,” says Kendal Hirschi, PhD, who led the study published in this week’s online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.



In an initial study in mice, researchers found that those who were fed the carrots with the altered gene could get the same amount of calcium as those who ate twice the amount of normal carrots. In a study in 30 human adults, those who ate the modified carrots absorbed 41 percent more calcium than did those who ate the unmodified carrots.



Hirschi stresses that the carrots were grown in carefully monitored and controlled environments and that much research needs to be conducted before this would be available to consumers.



He also emphasizes that no one food will solve all nutritional problems; however, further developments in this area of research could allow for more nutrients in fruits and vegetables and lead to improved health. 1/16/08



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Cooking May Preserve or Boost Vegetables' Nutrients

Want to boost the nutritional value of your vegetables? Try boiling or steaming them. Contrary to conventional wisdom, nutrients aren’t necessarily lost when vegetables are cooked, reveals a new Italian study. In fact, in some cases, the study found, cooking boosted the nutritional value of foods. In broccoli, for example, steaming was found to increase its content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds touted for their cancer-fighting abilities.



Authors of the study, published in the Dec. 26 issue of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, say scientists are seeking more complete data on the nutritional properties of cooked vegetables. However, their study suggests that cooked vegetables can be just as nutritious as raw ones – if not more so. The one known exception: fried vegetables. Frying caused a significantly higher loss of antioxidants in comparison to the water-based cooking methods, they found. 12/31/07





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Researchers to Study Effects of Omega-3 on Depression


Omega-3 fatty acid supplements are popular among people wishing to ease arthritis inflammation or improve cardiovascular health. Now researchers want to find out whether two fatty acids – docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) – are effective treatments for depression.



A five-year study will test the safety, effectiveness and tolerability of DHA and EPA against each other and a placebo in 300 adults between the ages of 18 and 80 who are experiencing significant symptoms of major depressive disorder and are in good health.



Previous studies have indicated that nutritional supplements that contain Omega-3 fatty acids can be an effective treatment for depression, but this is the first to systematically test the two specific fatty acids against each other and against placebo in a large sample of people with major depression. DHA and EPA have anti-inflammatory properties and help stabilize brain cell membranes, both of which play a role in mood regulation.



The trial is being sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital. 12/27/07





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Tufts Researchers Update Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults

Researchers at Tufts University have updated their Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults to correspond with the USDA food pyramid, now known as MyPyramid. The Tufts version is specifically designed for older adults and has changed in appearance and content. The Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults continues to emphasize nutrient-dense food choices and the importance of fluid balance, but has added additional guidance about forms of foods that could best meet the unique needs of older adults and about the importance of regular physical activity.



The Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults is available as a graphic print-out with icons representing foods in the following categories, and fluid and physical activity:



- Whole, enriched, and fortified grains and cereals such as brown rice and 100% whole wheat bread.

- Bright-colored vegetables such as carrots and broccoli.

- Deep-colored fruit such as berries and melon.

- Low- and non-fat dairy products such as yogurt and low-lactose milk.

- Dry beans and nuts, fish, poultry, lean meat and eggs.

- Liquid vegetable oils and soft spreads low in saturated and trans fat.

- Fluid intake.

- Physical activity such as walking, house work and yard work.



The original Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults, published by Tufts researchers in 1999, is widely used as an illustration in textbooks and manuals, featured in newsletters for older Americans, and in informational material prepared by the Departments of Elder Affairs in a number of states. The Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults will be published in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Nutrition. 12/21/07





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Low-Carb Diet Reduces Inflammation

A new study indicates that a diet low in carbohydrates is also more effective than a diet low in fat in reducing saturated fatty acids in the blood and reducing markers of inflammation in people with metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical disorders – including excessive abdominal fat, insulin resistance, elevated levels of harmful blood lipids and C-reactive protein – that increase risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.



In a report published in the on-line version of the journal Lipids, researchers show much greater improvement in inflammatory markers in patients on a very low carbohydrate approach compared to a low fat diet.



The study is part of a larger study currently under review showing numerous improvements in blood lipids. The current work concludes that “lowering total and saturated fat only had a small effect on circulating inflammatory markers whereas reducing carbohydrate led to considerably greater reductions in a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules. These data implicate dietary carbohydrate rather than fat as a more significant nutritional factor contributing to inflammatory processes, says lead researcher Jeff S. Volek, PhD, RD, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. 12/7/07




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Broccoli Extract Protects Skin Better Than Sunscreen

When it comes to protecting the skin from the damage of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, new research shows a broccoli extract may be more effective and longer lasting than sunscreens. The research, conducted in both animals and people, has shown that the level of erythema (skin reddening) caused by UV rays is substantially reduced when this extract is applied to the skin.



The extract, called sulforaphane, is not a sunscreen, say researchers at Johns Hopkins who first identified it 15 years ago. It does not absorb the UV light and stop it from entering the skin, as sunscreens do. Instead, it gets into the cells and causes an increase in the production of several enzymes that shield cells from UV damage. The advantage of this is that it is much longer-lasting than any sunscreen -- several days, in fact. The scientists said the protection is still there when no extract is present on/in the skin.



While protecting the skin from UV radiation is important for anyone concerned about skin cancer, it is particularly important for people with diseases such as lupus or dermatomyositis in whom UV exposure could trigger a flare. The study did not look at the effects of the extract in these situations. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 10/26/07





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Food Labeling Makes It Difficult to Get Enough Calcium

Are you getting all the calcium you need? If not, confusing food labeling may be to blame. New research shows that current food labeling leads to under-consumption of calcium and perhaps other nutrients.



The problem is that nutrients listed at the bottom of the label – the “good” nutrients most people need more of – are listed by “percent daily value (%DV).” In two studies, published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, the majority of women – and doctors – surveyed could not make the translation from %DV to milligrams. Thus, women who knew how many milligrams of calcium they needed daily could not tell from food labels how many milligrams a serving of the food contained.



The study’s authors say this is particularly worrisome for at-risk populations such as people over age 55 or pregnant or lactating women.



Results of the study were so compelling that the FDA has added information to its Web site on how to translate %DV to milligrams. 10/9/07



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Panel Concludes Aspartame Is Safe

It’s been blamed for problems as diverse as lupus, cancer, obesity and Gulf War Syndrome. But a new study fails to show a connection between the super-sweet artificial sweetener aspartame and health problems.



Looking at more than 500 reports, including toxicological, clinical and epidemiological studies dating from the 1970s to the present, an international expert panel from 10 universities and medical schools evaluated the safety of aspartame for people of all ages and with a variety of health conditions. The panel used the latest data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) to determine the most current levels of aspartame consumption.



Even for those who consumed the most aspartame, consumption levels were still below acceptable daily intake (ADI) and well below the amounts used in animal testing, according to the panel. No credible evidence was found that aspartame caused cancer, nerve damage obesity or any other adverse effects when consumed even at levels many times the ADI levels, the concluded.



Their study was published in the September issue of Critical Reviews in Toxicology. 9/14/07



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Daily Calcium and Vitamin D Cuts Fracture Risk in Elderly

People over 50 who take daily calcium and vitamin D supplements can reduce their risk of fractures by almost one-fourth, according to a new study by Australian researchers. The study, a meta-analysis of 29 studies which collectively tracked the use and effectiveness of calcium and calcium with vitamin D supplements in 63,897 people, was published in the British medical journal The Lancet.



Not surprisingly the greatest reduction in fractures was seen in people who took the supplements most -- at least 80 percent -- of the time. Taking supplements less often than that cut the benefits in half.



The optimal time to begin taking the supplements is around 50, when bone loss begins to accelerate, the analysis showed. A regular daily dose of 1200 milligrams of calcium with 800 international units of vitamin D provided best therapeutic effect. 8/29/07





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Pomegranate Juice Does Not Affect Medications


The next time you get the urge to wash down your medicine with a tall glass of pomegranate juice, go right ahead. A new study by researchers at Tufts University School of medicine has put to rest fears that the juice may interfere with the metabolism of certain drugs. Previous studies had raised concerns that pomegranate juice, like grapefruit juice, might interfere with the metabolism of certain drugs, including cyclosporine (Neoral), by inhibiting Cytochrome P450-3A (CYP3A), an enzyme that allows the body to transform and eliminate a drug.



In the Tufts study, researchers gave 15 healthy volunteers midazolam – an established test drug used to assess CYP3A activity – orally and intravenously, and then had the volunteers drink water, grapefruit juice or pomegranate juice. When they later tested the volunteers’ blood, they found that pomegranate juice had not affected the CYP3A enzyme, confirming that pomegranate juice is safe with medications. The study was published in Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 8/24/07





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