***Antidepressant use associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk ***
As if people on antidepressants don't have enough to worry about.... The risk of developing diabetes was 3 times greater. This is no light contribution. While I would have many (if not most) psychotherapists down my throat for this one, this may be not only a physiological association, but also an "attitude" association as well. Mainstream medicine, intentionally or not, promotes a "victim" mentality. The problem is not within, it's without so take this med and you'll be fine. There's no more personal responsibility here then with obese people suing McDonald's. So you find many chronic diseases tracting together. This association between diabetes risk and antidepressant treatment would just be yet another in a long list of treatment for one chronic disease increasing the risk for another. Great for the drug companies but not so much for the patients... Depression symptoms, antidepressant medication use, and risk of developing diabetes in Diabetes Prevention Program participants. American Diabetes Association 2006 Scientific Sessions; June 9-13, 2006; Washington, DC. Abstract 896-P.

***Risk of Death or Reinfarction Associated With the Use of Selective COX-2 Inhibitors and Nonselective NSAIDs After Acute Myocardial Infarction***
Let's just clear this up. You've had a heart attack. You've got some neck or LBP so you decide to pop some pain meds. Probably not a good choice. All NSAIDs in this study were found to increase risk of death or second heart attack. So, all us chiropractors should soon see referrals pouring in from the cardiologists actually read medical journals and don't want their patients to die off sooner....

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/25/2906

***Postmenopausal hormone therapy increases use of health services***
This started as more of a rheotorical question, but continues to gain some urgency..."Why the heck is this class of drugs still on the market?" We see no benefit with the exception of short term hot flash management, and here we see the use of HRT associated with (as Ross Perot would put it...) a "huge sucking sound" on healthcare dollars. And this class of drugs is STILL covered by insurance!! Talk about reimbursing for medical "un" necessity!! But they won't reimburse for massage therapy because there's not enough evidence.... http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W9P-4JSG788-32&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2006&_alid=418434983&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6688&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=dadf1a68a7215854a5e745858fcd4133

***Utility of Childhood Non–High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Predicting Adult Dyslipidemia and Other Cardiovascular Risks***
Sometimes I think that our current adult population is a lost cause and we need to accept some write offs and focus everything on our children. The evidence showing that most, if not all, chronic diseases begin in youth is strong and continually increasing. If we continue our failed attempts at educating the adult population w/ weak, non-specific goals (eat whole grains, exercise, eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies...) then when we turn around, we'll find ourselves already behind the 8-ball with the current adolescents. We remain too soft on our recommendations from both the government and our national organizations. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/1/201

***Omega–3 Fatty acids from fish or fish-oil supplements, but not alpha-linolenic acid, benefit cardiovascular disease outcomes in primary and secondary-prevention studies***
Sometimes I think we get to a point where additional studies seem to be a waste of resources and we ought to just accept a fact and move on (i.e. breast feeding is good for babies, cigarette smoking is bad for us...). We are definately there with fish oil. And of course, adding in omega 3 and monounsaturated fatty acids into your diet as much as possible is going to be a good thing on almost every chronic disease because they have an anti-inflammatory action. This review does not find the same benefits from ALA (found in higher levels in flax), but we have always known the human convesion from ALA to EPA is pretty low. But, in ALA's defense, we have see positive effects of this fatty acid on other aspects of our health as well. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/1/5

***Estimation of optimal serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D for multiple health outcomes***
For those of you that have not heard me rant about how the public health recommendation to demonize sunlight (ok, so I'm paraphrasing here...) are having major negative impacts on our health. Vit D is actually a hormone, and deficiencies can have far reaching effects from bone health to insulin resistance to depression to autoimmune disease. Current dietary guidelines fall short at what research recommends by at least one order of magnitude. I typically recommend 2,000-4,000 IU/day to patients at risk for Vit D deficiency. http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/1/18

***Content of redox-active compounds (ie, antioxidants) in foods consumed in the United States***
Wow!! Gotta love this article. Chip in some bucks, get the full text and mount it over your bed. The list of the most powerful food compounds did surprise me a little...walnuts and pecans were among the most powerful 10. Spices and herbs were considered as having a heavy contribution. Not surprisingly, most food categories of those consumed in the US had little or no antioxidant potential. I would like to see how the average grade school lunch that "meets or exceeds federal guidelines" would fare... http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/1/95

***Gastrointestinal Candida colonisation promotes sensitisation against food antigens by affecting the mucosal barrier in mice***
While this is a mouse study, the concept is pretty readily accepted in functional medicine circles. If anyone has seen thrush growing in the back of an infants mouth and made an attempt to scrape it off would see the red, raw mucosa underneath. The same thing will happen along the entire lining of the GI tract w/ candida overgrowth. So when you disrupt this important barrier between our environment and our internal mileue, all hell can break loose. When that barrier becomes more permeable ("leaky gut") then compounds that are not supposed to enter our bodies get through, heading straight to the liver and creating additional work for the liver to process as well as activating the immune system via the Kuppfer cells of the liver. Again, another example of how our society's overuse of antibiotics can contribute to chronic disease. http://gut.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/55/7/954

***Migraine and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Women***
I continue to drone on about how migraine is a systemic condition that needs to be addressed from a whole-body standpoint. If we do not, we see the long term ramifications and increased risk of many chronic diseases. This particular study finds a relationship between migraine and cardiovascular disease in women. So, everyone with migraines being treated with Topamax (wow--have the drugs reps been doing their jobs or what?? I've had more patients coming in on Topamax in the past 6 months than all other yrs combined!!) should really re-assess this approach as it does not fix the underlying physiological imbalance that is putting them at risk for chronic diseases such as stroke and CVD. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/3/283

***Undiagnosed dysglycaemia and inflammation in cardiovascular disease***
I remember some years back getting into an email "argument" with a cardiologist who thought that my estimates of the very high prevalence of cardiovascular patients that were insulin resistant was exceedingly high. He thought maybe 2%. Talk about way off. I just hope he's not actually practicing cardiology... This article found sugar handling problems in up to 57% of the patients w/ CVD. Now, math was never my strong point, but isn't 57 > 2?? http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2362.2006.01679.x

James Bogash, DC and Amy Strock, DC
1830 S. Alma School Rd, Bldg 7, Ste 135, Mesa, AZ 85210
(Alma School Road, just south of the Superstition Freeway/Highway 60)
Chiropractic Health Care Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert & Tempe, Arizona
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