February 18, 2002 Research Update

James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiropractic.com
www.lifecarechiropractic.com

Dietary Patterns and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in U.S. Men

Yet another "How much did we spend on this?" study. I know there are those in clinical practice that refuse to do something until volumes of research inevitably point to the obvious. This is one of those situations. Of note in this article, though, is the striking 11 times increase in risk for Western diet plus obesity. Annals of Internal Medicine: Abstract

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Physical Activity May Modulate Effects of ApoE Genotype on Lipids

Jump up and down for joy with this one. Since its initial discovery and seeming death sentence in heart disease and Alzheimer's almost 20 years ago, we are just now finding that these are NOT death sentences, but rather instructions for how these genes should be treated for a healthy lifestyle. In this case, high intensity exercise can improve lipid profile of patients with the ApoE4 genotype. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology -- Abstracts: Bernstein et al. 22 (1): 133

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Synthetic Antioxidant Prevents Diabetes in Mice

While it is wonderful (albeit not surprising) that antioxidants can lower risk or even prevent progression to diabetes (Type I), I cannot figure out why anyone would go to such extremes to synthesize antioxidants when good ole' Mother Nature has already given us more than we can currently even identify. Can you say "patent..." Diabetes -- Abstracts: Piganelli et al. 51 (2): 347

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Demyelination occurring during anti-TNF alpha therapy

With the increasing use of TNF-alpha blockade I am sure we are going to see an increase in the side effects; some of which may be unforeseen and dangerous. When you begin to mess with one of the fundamental cytokines for inflammation we can not even begin to imagine the downstream effects. Natural routes of TNF-alpha reduction would include weight loss, lowering of hyperinsulinemia, antioxidant therapy, and possibly the reduction of LPS (antigenic compounds from bad bacteria) via restoration of a healthy GI environment. Entrez-PubMed

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Antibiotics for Common Respiratory Tract Infections in Adults

This is a review of the literature that once again shows that antibiotics really are not very effective for many conditions they are currently being used for. And, besides not being effective, and besides generating resistant strains of bacteria, I am incredibly concerned about what we are doing to our overall health (and especially our infants and children) when we kill off the normal, healthy flora that is absolutely supposed to be there for proper immune system maturation. Antibiotics for Common Respiratory Tract Infections in Adults

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NSAIDs, First Occurrence of Heart Failure and Relapsing Heart Failure

I was not aware that NSAIDs will increase risk of recurrent attacks of heart failure, but it appears that this risk is quite substantial. This definately fits the mold of the new selective COX-2 inhibitors increase risk of heart failure. Remember that we do not fully understand the physiology of most processes in the human body, and blocking one pathway artificially will inevitably produce downstream effects (usually harmful) due to the blocked pathway.

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Hyaluronate Sodium Injections for Osteoarthritis

This is a nice review on this subject. Unfortunately, the results do not appear to be quite favorable. I have seen mixed results in patients that have had this procedure done. If anyone does ask me about this procedure, I always try to push them towards the preparation without the formaldehyde (hyaluronic acid) vs the formulation with (Syn-Visc). I do hope that this idea can somehow be modulated in the near future to increase the efficacy of the procedure. Hyaluronate Sodium Injections for Osteoarthritis: Hope, Hype, and Hard Truths

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ADHD in Elementary School Children in North Carolina

If this article does not scare the daylights out of you, nothing in the realm of pharmaceuticals will. 10% of children were given the diagnosis of ADHD and 7% of all children are medicated. This is an incredibly high prevalence of a childhood "disorder" and raises huge issues. First, do these children really have a diagnosable condition? If they do, than is it a result of some abnormality during fetal development or is it a current deficiency (or exposure)? Big, big questions. Next, what of the impact on the 7% of kids who have been taught that drugs are okay? Do we really want to fool ourselves that these kids will be able to "just say no" to illicit drugs later in life? Will they (and can we) justify/rationalize the difference between prescription drugs and illicit drugs? I firmly believe that, while the ADD/ADHD diagnosis does exist, it is currently overdiagnosed at a tremendous rate by doctors who do not have the training and experience to properly label these children. AJPH -- Abstracts: Rowland et al. 92 (2): 231

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