There may be a link between veteran’s exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange and other herbicides used during the Vietnam War and an increased chance of developing serious heart problems and Parkinson’s disease.

A study from the Institute of Medicine released Friday suggests there is a stronger connection than previously thought about the health risks to Vietnam veterans.

The Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, is mandated by Congress to review every two years evidence about the effects of Agent Orange exposure.

American forces sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants over parts of Vietnam from 1962 to 1970. Military authorities used the defoliants in an attempt to thin out the dense jungle the North Vietnamese forces used as cover.

American troops and others exposed to the chemicals later complained of numerous health problems. It is still not know the full extent of potential problems.

Researchers reviewed several studies that showed links between higher exposure levels of Agent Orange and greater incidence of ischemic heart disease, a condition involving reduced blood supply to the heart, and determined Vietnam veterans likely face an increased chance of ischemic heart disease.

Veterans exposed to the chemicals may be at a greater risk to develop ischemic heart disease even if they have other risk factors such as smoking, age, and weight.

The conclusion on Parkinson’s was based on a review of 16 studies that looked at herbicide exposures among people with the disease or Parkinson’s-like symptoms. But the results related to Parkinson’s disease are less certain because of the lack of studies specifically investigating Parkinson’s rates among Vietnam veterans.

The Veteran’s Affairs Department is reviewing the study in order to determine the full extent of the toxic effects of Agent Orange in an effort to give exposed Vietnam veterans the disability benefits they need to properly treat their condition(s).

For more information please see:

Labels: agent orange, heart disease, North Vietnamese, Parkinson's, Veteran, Vietnam

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medicine Association, women who use hormone therapy after menopause may be at a higher risk of ovarian cancer, and the risk remains elevated for up to two years after women stop taking estrogen. What’s more, even a relatively short duration of hormone therapy, less than four years, is associated with a 30 to 40 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer in current users, researchers said.

Hormone therapy has been linked to health hazards in the past. Notably, part of a long- term government run study known as the Women’s Health Initiative was stopped early in 2002 because women who took hormones for many years had an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, heart disease, and blood clots in their lungs and legs. Since then, the use of hormones, once offered to millions of older women to treat menopause symptoms and potentially protect against heart disease, has dropped dramatically. Breast cancer rates have also dropped, most likely because of decline long- term hormone use, experts say.

“Women currently taking hormones seem to reduce their risk of ovarian cancer by quitting hormone use,” says study author Linda Steinrud Morch of Rigshospitalet- Copenhagen University, in Denmark. “The risk warrants consideration when deciding whether to use hormone therapy, particularly if a woman has a special predisposition for ovarian cancer. She should consider not taking hormones.”


For more information see: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/14/ovarian .cancer.hrt/index.html

Labels: blood clot, breast cancer, heart disease, Journal of American Medicine Association, menopause symptoms, ovarian cancer

A federal investigation has revealed that heart attack survivors enrolled in a study using Chelation, which involves periodic infusions of the drug Disodium ETD, were not told enough about potential dangers from the drug, including death.

Findings from the investigation were revealed this week by the U.S. Office for Human Research Protections in a letter to the three medical centers leading the study, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida; the University of Miami; and Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

The probe found that several doctors doing the study had been accused of poor practices by state medical boards or involved in insurance fruad, and that at least three are convicted felons. Federal officials recommended corrective steps to researchers, but have allowed to study to go on while the probe continues. This decision has angered critics. Arthur Caplan, Chief of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania stated, “This study should not be going on. It is incredibly unethical to subject anyone to these risks.”

Disodium ETD carries a risk of kidney failure, bone marrow problems, shock, low blood pressure, convulsions, heart rhythm problems, allergic reactions and breath troubles, reported the American Heart Association.

For additional information see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31715589/ns/health-heart_health/

Labels: Duke University, heart attack, heart disease, insurance fraud, medical boards, Mount Sinai Medical Center

Fish oil and vitamin D will be studied to see if either or both lowers a healthy person's risk of developing cancer, heart disease or a stroke. Vitamin D deficiency is connected with higher rates of cancer, heart problems and/or stroke. Fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acid, are widely promoted for heart health.

The study will consist of 20,000 people with no history of heart attacks, stroke or a major cancer, women 65 or older and men 60 or older. Participants will be randomly assigned to take vitamin D, fish oil, both nutrients, or placebo pills for five years.

One quarter of the study participants will be African Americans. People with a dark complexion are unable to make much vitamin D from sunlight. A deficiency in vitamin D may help explain why African Americans have higher rates of cancer, stroke and heart disease. It may also explain why people from Northern regions, where the sunlight is weaker in the winter, are more likely to develop cancer.

The National Cancer Institute, along with other federal agencies, will sponsor the $20 million study. Pharmavite LLC of Northridge, Calif., will provide the vitamin D pills, and Ocean Nutrition Canada Ltd. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, will provide the omega-3 fish oil capsules.

For more information please see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31491531/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

Labels: cancer, Children Vitamins, Fish Oil, heart disease, sunlight, Vitamin D

The FDA recently sent General Mills a Warning Letter informing General Mills that certain statements made in the advertisements for Cheerios violate the Food and Drug Act. The FDA determined that these claims were improper because the claims would cause Cheerios to be classified as a drug, rather than a food. This would violate the Food and Drug Act because General Mills has not taken the proper steps to have Cheerios approved as a drug.

The claims made by General Mills that would cause Cheerios to be categorized as a drug, rather than a food, are:

• "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks"
• "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol."

The problem with these statements, according to the FDA, is that they are not adequately supported by scientific studies. However, this appears more to be an issue of semantics than safety, as the FDA recognizes that soluble fiber from whole grain oats (the main ingredient in Cheerios) is associated with lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease. General Mills does state on the front of the Cheerios box that the whole grain oats found in Cheerios contain soluble fiber, which can lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. However, the above claims about lowering cholesterol appear on the back of the Cheerios box. The FDA suggests that the claims regarding cholesterol on the back of the box would have been proper if General Mills had put them on the same side of the box as the claim about soluble fiber.

Adverse events associated with pharmaceutical drugs and devices are suffered and reported on a daily basis. Many of these drugs and devices cause serious, life-threatening injuries. In the case of Cheerios, however, the FDA recognizes that there are no safety concerns associated with Cheerios, and in fact, consumption of whole grain foods such as Cheerios is encouraged. The public would be better served if the FDA focused their efforts toward policing these dangerous drugs and devices, rather than picking on Cheerios, which the FDA admits is safe and encourages people to consume as part of a healthy diet.

Labels: Cheerios, cholesterol, coronary, drugs, FDA, fiber, food, heart disease, oats, soluble fiber, whole grain

Middle-aged adults who get too little sleep are more likely to develop high blood pressure. Missing just one hour of sleep a night over five years raises risk of high blood pressure by 37 percent.

"People who didn't sleep as much were at greater risk of developing hypertension over five years," Kristen Knutson of the University of Chicago reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday.

Adults typically should sleep between seven and nine hours a night, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sleeping too little has different negative health affects depending on age. In children, lack of sleep has been shown to raise rates of obesity, depression and high blood pressure. In older adults, it increases the risk of falls. And in the middle-aged, it raises the risk of infections, heart disease, stroke, cancer and high blood pressure.

The team studied 578 adults with an average age of 40. They took blood pressure readings and measured how long each person slept. Only 1 percent slept eight hours or more.

The study participants on average slept six hours. Each hour of lost sleep raised the risk of high blood pressure.

"If you compare six hours of sleep to five hours of sleep, the five-hour sleepers will have 37 percent greater odds of developing hypertension," Knutson said.

Men, especially African American men, slept less then Caucasian women.

"These two observations suggested the intriguing possibility that the well-documented higher blood pressure in African Americans and men might be partly related to sleep duration," Knutson and colleagues wrote.

Please see: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/169/11/1055

Labels: 6 hours, cancer, despression, fungal infections, heart disease, high blook pressure, kate cooper, obesity, Sleep, snore, stroke

Labels: bottle, drinks, food, heart disease, plastic, pregnant