January 8, 2001 Research Update

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

Elevated IGF-1 May Indicate Increased Risk of Early Breast Cancer

Elevated IGF-1 has also been linked to prostate cancer. These findings continue to worry me with the use of human growth hormone (HGH) as an anti-aging "miracle." Want to live longer? Cut your caloric intake by 30%, which has consistantly and repoducably extended life spans in other mammals.

Int J Cancer 2000;88:828-832 Elevated serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) may identify women who are likely to develop breast cancer before age 50. In postmenopausal women, the authors found that the various blood tests were not predictive of breast cancer risk. However, in premenopausal women, increased levels of IGF-1 were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The odds ratio for breast cancer was 1.60 in the highest quartile of IGF-1 level compared with the lowest. After adjusting for IGFBP-3 levels, the risk of breast cancer was slightly reduced, the researchers note. "The results on IGF-1 represent a substantial achievement, given the nearly complete lack of biological markers at our disposal to conduct observational and intervention studies in pre-menopausal women, who represent more than one-fourth of all breast-cancer cases," the researchers conclude.

Some HRT Regimens May Increase Risk of Postmenopausal Stroke

Okay, okay...so why would someone want to take HRT again?? I just cannot figure it out. Reasons for taking HRT are several. Lowering risk of heart disease is one of these reasons; and yet research may indeed be pointing to an INCREASED risk for CVD with HRT use. Prevention of osteoporosis is another reason; HRT does not fix osteoporosis, it just slows its progression. Osteoporosis starts decades earlier and does not suddenly start at menopause. Try less animal proteins, more fruits and veggies, soy products, high quality calcium supplements and exercise to reduce and maybe even reverse osteoporosis.

Ann Intern Med 2000;133:933-941,999-1001 Twenty years of prospective follow-up in the Nurses' Health Study shows that daily estrogen doses of 0.625 mg or higher plus progestin may increase the risk of stroke by up to 45%. Dr. Grodstein's group found that that the age-adjusted relative risk of a major coronary event was 0.54 for current users of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) compared with women who never used HRT. While they observed little overall difference in the relative risk of stroke among users and non-users of HRT, stroke risk varied by daily estrogen dose. Stroke risk was lower among women who received estrogen at 0.3 mg/d compared who those who took 0.625 or 1.25 mg/d. And among women taking 0.625 mg/d of estrogen combined with progestin, the authors observed a 45% higher risk of stroke compared with those who never took HRT. In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Deborah Grady and Stephen B. Hulley, of the University of California at San Francisco, sugg! est that "hormone therapy may have mixed effects, causing thrombotic events while improving the lipoprotein profile." If that is the case, they speculate that prothrombotic activity may be more damaging to the small vessels of the cerebrovascular circulation than to the larger vessels of the coronary circulation.

Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation in Overweight Children

Inflammation is a causative or contributing factor in almost all chronic diseases in man. With many of today's children overweight, eating poor diets and not getting enough exercise, this finding of chronic low grade inflammation is a very poor prognostic factor in their health. Pediatrics -- Abstracts: Visser et al. 107 (1): e13 http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/1/e13

Screening for Celiac Disease in Healthy 2.5-Year-Old Children

This study points to a higher than previously believed incidence of gluten allergy (found primarily in wheat). Throw in dairy, corn and soy sensitivities and the numbers of infants and toddlers would grow. So why do many patients look at me strange when I suggest that allergies may be contributing to their child's ear infections, constipation, asthma or frequent colds? Allergies do not always manifest as overt rashes and hives--the sooner we get this idea out of our heads and realize that food allergies/sensitivities are major contributors to disease, the better our overall health will be. Pediatrics -- Abstracts: Carlsson et al. 107 (1): 42 http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/1/42

Perinatal Factors Tied to Asthma in Childhood

C-section is a risk factor for development of childhood asthma. Sometimes research arises that supports concepts that you have been promoting for some time. Follow this: a newborn's first exposure to Lactobacillus is through the vaginal vault during delivery; this does not happen with C-section. This finding further supports the idea that probiotics are protective against atopy and asthma.

J Asthma 2000;37:589-594 Children delivered with the help of procedures such as cesarean section appear to be at greater risk of childhood asthma than other children, according to UK researchers. Dr. Baizhuang Xu, of Imperial College School of Medicine, London, and colleagues note that perinatal factors have been reported to be associated with asthma and allergic disorders later in childhood. To investigate, the researchers examined obstetric complications and the incidence of asthma at the age of 7 years in a cohort of 8088 Finnish children who had been followed since birth. Children whose birth was accompanied by special procedures were at greater risk of asthma, they report in the October issue of the Journal of Asthma. The adjusted odds ratio was increased to 1.38 for cesarean section and 1.32 for vacuum extraction. The use of forceps and other procedures raised the odds ratio to 2.14. In addition, children with a low Apgar score at 1 and 5 minut! es after birth were at heightened risk of later asthma compared to those with an Apgar score of 9-10. These results, the investigators conclude, "encourage further evaluation of the association between obstetric complications and risk of asthma among children in other populations."

Pediatric Overmedication Can Occur With Multiple Cold Medications

My question on this topic would be, why are children being given so many medications? Letting a cold in a child run its natural course is a healthy and safe practice. The child needs this chance for his or her body to learn to fight off infections. The symptoms of a cold are NOT symptoms...they are mechanisms that the body uses to defeat invaders.

(article) Pediatricians at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have voiced an added concern this cold season: they fear that parents may not appreciate how easy it is to give a child an overdose of cold medication. "It is essential that parents read the label of an over-the-counter cold medication carefully before selecting a medicine for their child because the risk to children from the misuse of cold medications is still widely underestimated," said James Kaltenback, MD, of South Jersey Pediatric Associates, a division of Children's Health Associates.The pediatricians' chief concern is that children may be getting an overdose of fever reducers, which can affect the liver or the kidney. Some children's cough and cold medications contain a fever reducer, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen. But often, parents who are unaware of these ingredients may give their children an addition! al fever-reducing medication. For this reason, 64% of the surveyed pediatricians believe it is very important that children's cold medications do not contain fever reducers.Pediatricians are urged to alert parents to the potential dangers of over-the-counter cold medications. One example is the over-the-counter fever reducer acetaminophen, found in some children's cold medicines such as Tylenol, Dimetapp, and Triaminic. Acetaminophen became the preferred fever reducer in the 1970s after studies showed a link between aspirin and Reye's syndrome, a potentially fatal disease in children and teens. Recent studies indicate that too much acetaminophen could adversely affect a child's health.

CVD in Offspring Linked to Maternal Malnutrition in Early Gestation

I often say that it's never too early and never too late to make changes towards a healthy lifestyle. This mantra of mine really seems to be coming under assult lately!! We really need to focus on maintaining proper nutrition throughout periconception, pregnancy and lactation. For the high numbers of women experiencing nausea preventing proper nutrition, ginger has worked wonders for many women.

Heart 2000;84:595-598 The first evidence to link maternal malnutrition during early gestation with the development of coronary heart disease in offspring is reported by Dutch researchers. "Prenatal undernutrition had permanent effects on cardiovascular risk factors, Dr. Roseboom told Reuters Health. "We found that people who were exposed to the famine in early gestation had an increased risk of coronary heart disease in later life." The prevalence of coronary heart disease in those exposed to famine during early gestation was 8.8% compared with 3.2% for those not exposed. However, the investigators observed no increase in the prevalence of coronary heart disease in subjects exposed to famine during middle and late gestation, compared with the nonexposed group. Although individuals with coronary heart disease tended to have lower birthweights and smaller head circumferences at birth, Dr. Roseboom's group found the relationship between early e! xposure to famine and coronary heart disease to be independent of birthweight. These findings suggest "that we may be able to prevent coronary heart disease by optimizing maternal diet during pregnancy," she concluded. "Pregnant women are very eager to change their lifestyle for the sake of their babies, so it may be a very efficient way of preventing coronary heart disease in future generations."

Gamma-Tocopherol Associated w/ Lower Risk of Prostate Cancer** This concept of antioxidants lowering levels of many diseases is nothing new, but I thought I would use this chance to enlighten. Gamma-tocopherol is what most people think of when Vit E is mentioned, but nature actually makes many types of tocopherols. By eating whole fruits, veggies and whole grains we get a wide range of these tocopherols.

J Natl Cancer Inst 2000;92:1966-1967,2018-2023 High concentrations of gamma-tocopherol, the most common dietary form of vitamin E, are associated with a statistically significant reduction in the risk of prostate cancer, study results suggest. Dr. Kathy J. Helzlsouer, of Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, and a multicenter team conducted a nested case-control study of 117 men with prostate cancer and 233 cancer-free men. Concentrations of selenium, gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol were measured in plasma and toenail samples. The researchers report that higher concentrations of alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol and selenium were associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer, but only the association with gamma-tocopherol was statistically significant. The risk of developing prostate cancer was five times lower in men with the highest fifth of gamma-tocopherol levels than in men with the lowest fifth. The beneficial effects! of alpha-tocopherol and selenium appeared to be related to levels of gamma-tocopherol, according to the report. For these substances, "protective associations with prostate cancer risk were observed when gamma-tocopherol concentrations were above the control subject-based median value," the authors write in the December 20th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The results suggest that increasing the concentration of gamma-tocopherol may magnify the risk reduction, according to the report. In an editorial that accompanies the study, Dr. Edward Giovannucci, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, notes that the findings raise the question of whether displacement of gamma-tocopherol by alpha-tocopherol in vitamin E supplements has adverse health effects. "The balance of these agents, as well as potential modifiers of risk, such as smoking, should be considered in the design and interpretation of results of future ob! servational and intervention studies," he concludes.