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Daily consumption of diet soda, fruit juices linked to increased dementia and stroke risk

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Researchers have established a link between daily consumption of diet soda, artificially sweetened drinks and fruit juices to increased risk of dementia and stroke.

The study by scientists at Boston University School of Medicine found that people who frequently consume sugary beverages and fruit juices are at an increased risk of having poorer memory, smaller overall brain volumes and smaller hippocampal volumes – an area of the brain important for memory.

Number of studies have shown that access sugar has adverse effect on health of humans. For this reason beverage companies have come up with diet soda alternative of sugary drinks, but it turns out that artificially-sweetened beverage consumption has been linked to cardiometabolic risk factors, which increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease and dementia.

Data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) involves analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and cognitive testing data from 4,000 participants over the age of 30. Scientists measured the relationship between beverage intake and brain volumes as well as thinking and memory. The researchers then monitored 2,888 participants age 45 and over for the development of a stroke and 1,484 participants age 60 and older for dementia for 10 years.

The researchers point out that pre-existing conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high blood pressure did not completely explain their findings. For example, people who more frequently consumed diet soda were also more likely to be diabetic, which is thought to increase the risk of dementia. However, even after excluding diabetics from the study, diet soda consumption was still associated with the risk of dementia.

Fitness tracker saves life of 73-year-old US woman

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A fitness tracker has garnered a lot of attention lately – not for its feature or how accurate the readings are – but how it managed to save the life of a 73-year-old US woman.

The story has its roots in a a 73-year-old woman in the US Patricia Lauder buying a fitness tracker with the aim of improving her health and losing weight. Lauder started using the tracker. A few weeks back she started feeling unwell and assuming that she might be suffering from bad cold or walking pneumonia she underwent a number of tests, all of which came out negative.

Things turned for the worse and she started experiencing shortness of breath and fatigue, while walking even very short distances in her own home. She noticed that her device was recording a rise in her usual resting heart rate of 68-70 beats per minute by five points a day. Then one day her heart rate spiked to 140 beats per minute.

Lauder called the ambulance, and was taken to the University of Connecticut’s John Dempsey Hospital in the US. A CT Scan showed that she was suffering from two large blood clots in her lung arteries. These clots, known as pulmonary embolisms, were causing her lungs and heart to be stressed and over-pressurised.

Her lung artery pressure spiked to 65, when 25 is normal, while her heart was over-working and had become enlarged. The mortality rate of a pulmonary embolism is over 30 per cent when it is massive, said JuYong Lee, who treated Lauder. These risky lung blood clots can over-pressurise the heart, leading the body’s blood pressure and oxygen level to drop significantly. The biggest risk factor for developing a pulmonary embolism is deep vein thrombosis, when a blood clot forms in a vein, most often in the leg, and can travel up to the lungs.

Turmeric might not be as healthy as you think claims new study

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According to a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, turmeric isn’t as good for health as generally believed – a claim that could be deemed outrageous by millions of people around the world.

Turmeric is referred to as one of the best natural medicines out there for a number of diseases and is even blessed with the title of “Queen of Spices”. Turmeric is used to treat cold, coughs, skin infections, among other diseases. The therapeutic properties of turmeric have been proved by a number of studies with many claiming that the medicinal plant boosts immunity and has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Now a new study claims that all these are just myths and that turmeric has no therapeutic benefits. Researchers at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, claim that curcumin – turmeric’s main compound – is an “unstable, reactive, non-bioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead (for drug development).”

“Curcumin is a cautionary tale,” Michael Walters, PhD, a medicinal chemist at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and the lead author on the study, told Nature. The new findings go against thousands of research papers, including 120 clinical trials.

However, Guido Pauli, PhD, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told Nature that turmeric contains many other complex chemical compounds that are worthy of additional research.

Lidl Kania Gravy Granules recalled after paint thinner chemical contamination found

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Unsafe levels of chemical used in paint thinner – xylene – was found in two batches of Kania gravy granules sold at Lidl UK after which the supermarket chain has issued a recall of the affected products.

According to Food Standards Agency (FSA) UK, the xylene contaminant levels in the two batches of gravy granules exceed those set to minimise this risk because of which the affected products are recalled as a precaution. Only the two below mentioned batches are affected and no other batch is affected, FSA has said in a press release.

Kania Gravy Granules for Meat and Kania Gravy Granules for Chicken, both of which have a ‘best before’ use date of end of October 2017, November 2017. The affected products come in 300g pack size.

“Lidl UK is recalling Kania Gravy Granules, Meat and Chicken, 300g, Best Before Date October 2017 and November 2017
only”, Lidl UK noted in a press release. “If you have bought the above product, do not eat it. Instead, return it to a Lidl UK store for a full refund.”

The supermarket has revealed that point-of-sale notices will be displayed in all its retail stores that are selling these products, explaining to customers why the products are being recalled and telling them what to do if they have bought the product.

According to FSA, exposure to xylene through food products represents a health risk and it can cause adverse effects such as headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. According to Public Health England, exposure to the chemical can cause causing irritation of the mouth, throat, nose and lungs and in severe cases lead to heart problems, liver and kidney damage and coma.

Tax on sugary drinks has potential to cut childhood obesity, improve health

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Sugar tax will be introduced in the UK from April 2018 and this particular move will not only cut down childhood obesity, but has potential to improve health of hundreds of thousands of adults and children in the UK, a new study has shown.

According to the study published in Lancet Public Health journal passing on half of the cost of the levy to consumers there will be a bump of about 20 per cent in the prices of high and mid-sugar drinks. This increase in prices is predicted to reduce consumption of the sugary drinks and this in turn will reduce the obesity and improve health of children as well as adults. The study predicts a reduction in number of obese adults and children by 81,600, cases of diabetes by 10,800, and decaying teeth by 149,000.

For their study researchers modelled different ways in which the soft drinks industry may respond to the levy. First is that they will reformulate the drinks to reduce sugar content and thereby evade the levy. Second is that they will pass some of the levy to consumers by raising the price of sugary drinks. Finally the third mechanism could be them using marketing to encourage consumers to switch to lower sugar drinks.

For each response they identified a realistic better and worse case scenario for health, by estimating the likely impact on rates of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

The study finds that an industry response that focuses on reducing sugar content is likely to have the greatest impact on health, with additional benefits if industry increases the price of high and mid-sugar drinks, or can successfully use marketing to persuade consumers to switch to low sugar drinks. Reduction of sugar content by 30 per cent and a 15 percent reduction for moderately sugary drinks could result in 144,000 fewer adults and children being obese. Such a step would also lead to 19,000 fewer new cases of Type 2 diabetes each year and a yearly reduction of 269,000 teeth affected by decay.

“Children stand to benefit the most, so this study is a clarion call to industry to fulfill their moral obligations to promote child wellbeing,” said Neena Modi from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.