Hormone Might Help Restore Female Fertility

(HealthDay News) -- A hormone called kisspeptin may offer a new treatment for infertility, according to British researchers who found that the hormone can activate the release of sex hormones that control the menstrual cycle.

The study included 10 women who were not menstruating and were infertile due to a hormone imbalance. The researchers injected the participants with either kisspeptin or saline and then measured levels of two sex hormones -- luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) -- essential for ovulation and fertility.

The women who received kisspeptin had a 48-fold increase in LH and a 16-fold increase in FSH, compared to those who received the saline. The study is the first to show that kisspeptin can stimulate production of sex hormones in infertile women, according to the study's authors.

The findings were presented at a Society for Endocrinology meeting in the United Kingdom.

"This research shows that kisspeptin offers huge promise as a treatment for infertility," study author Dr. Waljit Dhillo, of Imperial College London, said in a society news release.

"From our previous results, we know that kisspeptin can stimulate release of reproductive hormones in healthy women. We have now extended this research to show that kisspeptin treatment has the same effect in women with infertility. In fact, our current data show that kisspeptin causes a greater increase in luteinising hormone production in non-menstruating women than in fertile women in the previous study," Dhillo said.

"This is a very exciting result and suggests that kisspeptin treatment could restore reproductive function in women with low sex hormone levels. Our future research will focus on determining the best protocol for repeated kisspeptin administration with the hope of developing a new therapy for infertility," he added.

According to the researchers, kisspeptin is an important regulator of reproductive function. Animals that lack kisspeptin function don't go through puberty and remain sexually immature.

More information
The U.S. National Women's Health Information Center has more about infertility.

Hormone Replacement May Raise Women's Gallbladder Risk

(HealthDay News) -- A postmenopausal woman who uses hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may boost her risk for gallbladder disease, researchers say, although the risk appears to vary depending on how she receives the hormones.

"For women who are using HRT, their risk of gallbladder disease is less if they use a patch or gel form of HRT rather than the tablet form of HRT," noted Dr. Bette Liu, a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

"There is evidence that is developing that the patch may have less negative effects than the pill. We need to make sure that we're talking about the menopausal hormone therapy patch, not the birth control patch -- there may be less adverse effects than when taking estrogen by mouth," said Dr. Patricia J. Sulak, professor of obstetrics/gynecology at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and an obstetrician/gynecologist with Scott & White.

According to Sulak, who was not involved in the study, hormone therapy can be taken non-orally in several ways, including gels (rubbing it on), the patch and even spraying it on.

Not only are patches and gels given at lower doses, but they bypass having to be metabolized through the liver, thus reducing any effect on the gallbladder, the authors explained. The gallbladder stores bile produced in the liver, and less estrogen collected in the bile could explain the reduced risk, the team noted.

The findings were published this week in the online edition of the British Medical Journal.

HRT is still taken by large numbers of women to relieve the symptoms of menopause -- despite evidence of various health risks, including heightened odds for breast cancer and stroke.

The risk of developing gallbladder disease also increases when a woman hits menopause, and experts have long known that HRT contributes to this risk. To date, however, no one has analyzed whether the risk varies depending on how HRT is administered. A recent study did find that the risk of blood clots was lower in women taking HRT via skin patches as opposed to pills.

In the new study, Liu and her colleagues looked at data on more than one million women who had participated in the Million Women Study in England and Scotland. The mean age of participants was 56, and they were followed for an average of six years.

Women currently using HRT were 64 percent more likely to be hospitalized for gallbladder disease, but they were only 17 percent more likely to be admitted if they were using gels or patches.

Higher doses of estrogen were associated with a higher risk than lower doses. The risk also decreased the longer the woman had been off of HRT, although there was still some risk a decade after discontinuing.

The risk seemed mainly confined to estrogen. Adding progesterone did not have a significant impact on the risk of gallbladder disease.

Estrogen implants involved a level of risk that fell between those faced by users of oral HRT and those faced by users of patches or gels.

Among women using HRT, one cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) could be avoided for every 140 women using transdermal therapy rather than oral therapy over a five-year period, the team found.

According to the study, about 1.1 percent of middle-aged women in the U.K. who have never used HRT will end up having a cholecystectomy. That proportion rises to 1.3 percent among women using patches or gel and to 2 percent for women taking HRT in pill form.

"Most people will do fine with pills, but some patients who are prone to gallbladder disease or even blood clots may do better with the patch," Sulak said. "Not all women can tolerate the patch, however. They may have skin reactions, or the patch won't stay on."

More information
There's more on hormone replacement therapy at the Women's Health Initiative.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Diabetic Dilemma: Dinner With an Endocrinologist

By Sean Kelley

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I learned to avoid dining with two types of health professionals: nurses who specialize in diabetes and nutritionists. Both could quickly become food cops.

The best examples of this were my mother and the woman who is now my wife. Having had plenty of experience nursing diabetics, they quoted low carb verse and scripture every time we dined. Over the years they have all but muted their comments, and I rarely object to their company at the dinner table. Read More

Getting More Exercise, One Step at a Time

By Sean Kelley

Back when I had athletic street cred—as a soccer and rugby player and 5K specialist—I used to scoff at walkers. Although walking might be somewhat better than total lethargy, I failed to see how anyone could devote enough time to plodding around to get the benefit that one does with more aerobic activities. Besides, the mall, where such “exercisers” tended to hang out, is only open for so many hours a day.

At the height of this athletic snobbery, I likened walking for exercise to golfing as a sport: You can break a sweat doing either activity, but they’re not sports.

Of course, I was wrong. Golf is a sport, especially if you walk the course. (I’m still recovering from my last round; with 40 pounds of equipment on your back, walking from the clubhouse to the first tee burns a lot of energy). And walking, I’ve recently discovered, is substantially better for you than I thought. Read More

Health Tip: Your Diet and Sleep

(HealthDay News) -- If you've noticed that you feel particularly sleepy or more energized after eating certain foods, that's because what you eat can have an impact on how well you sleep and how awake you are during the day.

Here are examples of foods that can affect your sleep, courtesy of the National Sleep Foundation:

• Carbohydrate-rich foods, such as pastas and breads, can make you more sleepy.


• Carbohydrates work well with proteins to induce sleepiness, which makes combinations such as peanut butter on toast, cereal with milk, or cheese and crackers good bedtime snacks.


• A large meal can make you more tired, especially one with a lot of carbohydrates.
  Caffeine in foods and beverages is a stimulant that blocks hormones in the brain that make you feel sleepy.


• While alcohol may help you relax and fall asleep in the short term, over the course of the night it inhibits the sleep process and can prevent you from getting deep, restful sleep.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Rare Gene Mutation Plays Role in Longevity

(HealthDay News) -- A rare gene mutation that restricts a particular growth factor may be one of the keys to living to 100 and beyond, a new study suggests.

This mutation, which seems to decrease the activity of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), results in short stature but longer life. Exactly why this might lengthen someone's life isn't known, but the researchers say the finding might prove useful in developing anti-aging drugs.

"We found that people of a hundred years old have mutations in a gene that is related to the growth hormone pathway," said lead researcher Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "We think this is important, because that's what now happens in nature. The pony lives longer than the horse, the small dog lives longer than a large dog. Apparently, it's true for humans also."

Interestingly, this particular mutation has been found mostly among women, he added.

It might be possible, given these findings, to develop drugs that can prevent aging and age-related disease, Barzilai noted. "There are drugs being developed to decrease growth hormone in patients with tumors, because sometimes cancer is dependent on growth hormones," he said.

"Maybe we can adopt the strategy to slow aging."

The report was published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the study, Barzilai's team looked for this mutation among a population of Ashkenazi Jews who were 100, and their offspring. They also matched these offspring with people who had no history of longevity in their family. The researchers found this particular mutation was more common among those who were centenarians and their offspring. The same research team reported in December 2006 that a particular gene variant that is linked to longevity is also associated with improved mental function in the elderly.

How long growth hormones need to be restricted to produce the slowing of aging isn't known. "Do you have it during early development in the womb, in puberty, or can you have it at any stage that you wish?" Barzilai asked.

Barzilai noted that growth hormone is a very popular anti-aging therapy. Growth hormone changes the tone of the skin and fat distribution, and increases muscle mass.

"However, this study and other studies suggest that, for the purpose of aging and longevity, growth hormone might do exactly the opposite," he said. "In the short run, growth hormones are going to have positive effects, but certainly in elderly people I would suggest, and this study supports the notion, that we will kill them sooner rather than later."

One expert thinks the findings are intriguing but inconclusive.

"This is an interesting study, which has to be replicated by other researchers using a different dataset, because studies on exceptional longevity often cannot be replicated," said Leonid Gavrilov, a research associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago.

The study found a sex-specific increase in IGF-1; it showed up only among the daughters of centenarians, while sons were not affected, Gavrilov noted. "The study does not suggest any explanation, or even a hypothesis, for this sex-specific effect. General conclusions suggested in this paper may be questionable if they are not applicable to men," he said.

"It may be interesting to put this study in a context of other findings, such as being born to a young mother helps to live to 100 years," Gavrilov said.

More information
For more on aging, visit the National Institute on Aging.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Heart Hormones Beat Back Cancers in Mice

(HealthDay News) -- New research offers early evidence that hormones produced by the heart to control both blood pressure and volume could be harnessed to treat -- and possibly cure -- a wide range of cancers.

Following a month of intravenous treatment with any of four human cardiac peptide hormones, mice engineered to develop human pancreatic and breast cancer experienced dramatic results:

On average, 54 percent of those with breast cancer and 37 percent of those with pancreatic cancer were cured, without tumor recurrence or treatment side effects.

Even tumor shrinkage among non-cured mice was striking, with size reductions of 90-plus percent. And a more detailed analysis, hormone-by-hormone, revealed even stronger anti-cancer properties among certain hormones. In such best-case scenarios, the most effective hormones provoked full tumor elimination -- without surgery, chemotherapy or any other additional treatment -- in two-thirds of the mice with breast cancer and 80 percent of the mice with pancreatic cancer.

"This raises hope for turning cancer -- even when not fully cured -- into a chronic disease," said study author Dr. David L. Vesely, director of the department of molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida's Cardiac Hormone Center, in Tampa.

Vesely is scheduled to present his findings April 9 at the Experimental Biology annual conference in San Diego. The findings were originally published in the journal in vivo last year.

"For 350 years, the heart has been thought of simply as a pump," Vesely said. "But we now know it makes hormones that lower your blood pressure and get rid of salt and water. So, first we took four of them that all come from the same gene, and looked at them in laboratory cell cultures, and found that they essentially eliminated 97 percent of exposed cancer cells within 24 hours."

With funding largely from the U.S. Veteran's Administration, the research team then grew human cancer cells in 1-month-old male and female mice, focusing first on pancreatic cancer, which Vesely described as the "worst of all," given the fast pace of its development, its poor treatment track record, and a mean survival rate of just four months.

Nearly 34,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year, and 32,000 die of the disease annually.

Some of the pancreatic cancer mice received a saline solution, while others were exposed to a month-long regimen of one of four cardiac hormones: long acting natriuretic peptide (LANP), vessel dilator (VDL), kaliruretic peptide (KP), or atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP).

ANP was found to provide the best anti-cancer effect, eliminating tumors in four of five treated mice. Among those not fully cured, VDL provided the best cancer reduction -- bringing exposed tumors down to just 2 percent of their largest size.

After a year, the researchers found that all the cured mice remained cancer-free. Based on the fact that the normal life span for a mouse is about one year, Vesely and his colleagues concluded that all the treated mice ended up dying of old age, not cancer.

Vesely, who noted that his wife died of breast cancer about five years ago, then turned his focus to that cancer.

He said that in similar mouse experiments, treatments with VDL and KP hormones both produced a 67 percent tumor elimination rate.

"We never expected results this good, of course," he said. "And I don't want to get too carried away here. But if this works in humans, it would be spectacular. Because, of course, one out of every two families [experiences] cancer."

Human trials -- funded by the private San Diego-based firm Kalos Therapeutics -- are to begin within 12 to 18 months. If all goes well, Vesely predicted that a hormone treatment could become available within three years.

However, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, cautioned that while the notion of a heart hormone cancer treatment has a "seductive" appeal, much more research is required.

"Unfortunately, in general, we see a lot of experiments that seem promising in test tubes and animals but for whatever reason don't translate into anything that has treatment benefit," he said. "And specifically, in this case, we're talking about normal hormones already in circulation in our body, and normal receptors on cancer cells.

"So, in a perhaps simplistic, but nonetheless important, way, the question then arises: Why do people get cancer in the first place if this hormonal mechanism is so effective?" Lichtenfeld said. "And I do not see that the researchers clearly suggest an underlying rational mechanism to explain why this would happen and work in humans.

"So, I understand here that a researcher has lost a wife and a mother to cancer, and I know it's personal," he acknowledged. "And I've certainly learned to never say never. But it would take considerably more replication of this work before I could say this theory will gain traction."

More information
For additional information on current cancer treatment options, visit the American Cancer Society.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Stem Cells Repair Stroke Damage in Rats

(HealthDay News) -- Human stem cells helped repair stroke-related brain damage in rats, Stanford University researchers report.

The use of neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells led to improvements in the rats' physical abilities, according to the study, which is published in the Feb. 20 issue of Public Library of Science ONE. The stroke damage induced by the researchers left the rats with a weakened forelimb.

This is the first time that scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to generate neural cells that grow well in the lab, repair stroke damage in rats, and don't consistently form tumors after transplantation, according to the researchers.

While the findings show the potential of using stem cell therapies to treat stroke, the researchers noted this is a small study, and more research is needed to determine if this approach could work in humans.

In the laboratory, the researchers grew embryonic stem cells in a combination of growth hormones that prodded the cells to mature into stable neural stem cells. This was an important step, because immature cells tend to grow uncontrollably into tumors.

The neural stem cells were then transplanted into the brains of 10 rats with stroke-related brain damage. After two months, the transplanted neural stem cells had migrated to the damaged area of the brain and incorporated into the surrounding tissue. None of the transplanted cells formed tumors.

The rats that received the transplants were better able to use their forelimbs than rats that had similarly damaged brain regions but weren't given stem cell transplants.

Each year, about 780,000 people in the United States suffer strokes, according to the American Stroke Association.

More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about stroke.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Hormone Therapy Only Helps Some Older Men With Prostate Cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Adding hormone therapy to radiation treatment for fast-moving prostate cancer can save lives, but the benefit often doesn't apply to men who have other serious medical problems, a new study shows.

"The new message from this study is that there definitely is a difference in outcome, depending on the gentleman's health," said Dr. Anthony V. D'Amico, chief of genitourinary oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His report is published in the Jan. 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The old message, reported in 2004 on the five-year point of the study, was that treatment to suppress the activity of male hormones known as androgens improved survival of older men with aggressive prostate cancer, D'Amico said.

But the new report showed the benefit was limited to men without other serious medical problems. Adding hormone therapy to radiation treatment in the 206-man study decreased the rate of death significantly, but the benefit was confined to men without other health issues.

"This report is important, because it is part of a story that is emerging about hormone therapy in men with prostate cancer who are elderly," D'Amico said. "If a man is 75 and otherwise healthy, adding hormone therapy is likely to help. If the same man has had a heart attack or stroke, or if he is a smoker or diabetic, adding hormone therapy makes it worse."

In terms of clinical practice, the finding means that "before I treat him, I get him to a specialist and try to get his health cleared up as much as possible before giving the hormone therapy," D'Amico said. "If he has heart disease, I would consult a cardiologist; if a stroke, I would consult a neurologist; if diabetes, a diabetologist."

The idea is not anything new in medicine, he added. "It is the same as with a surgical procedure," D'Amico said. "You do not give the therapy until it is cleared by the appropriate specialist."

The study is relatively small and requires further confirmation, said Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate and colorectal cancer at the American Cancer Society.

"But for men trying to make a decision about prostate cancer treatment, it provides useful information for the men and their physicians," Brooks said. "A man who has had radiation treatment, if he and his doctor talk about the results of this study, it can help them make a decision about hormone treatment in a more informed way."

The results apply to "a significant percentage of older prostate cancer patients," Brooks said, noting that the average age of men in the study was over 70.

Until now, only general advice about hormone treatment could be given to such men, he said. "Now we can be a little more specific and say, 'If you don't have underlying cardiac disease or other major co-morbid conditions, the chance of having a good response to the treatment is better.' But many men with heart disease or other problems may decide they do not want to deal with the side effects of hormone treatment."

More information
Learn more about prostate cancer and its treatment from the American Cancer Society.

Oxy-Powder® Complete Cleansing System $147.75 [ learn more ] Complete Cleansing System with Livatrex™, Oxy-Powder®, Latero-Flora™, and two bottles of ParaTrex®.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Alcohol Intake on Cardiovascular Health Reviewed

News Author: Laurie Barclay, MD
CME Author: Charles Vega, MD

The latest American Heart Association guidelines caution people not to start drinking alcohol if they do not already drink alcohol, according to a review of the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol intake on cardiovascular health published in the August 23 Online First issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Accumulating scientific evidence indicates that light to moderate drinking done on a daily basis may significantly reduce the risks of coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality," write James H. O'Keefe, MD, FACC, and colleagues from the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. "In contrast, excessive alcohol intake and binge drinking are toxic to both the heart and overall health and are the third leading cause of premature death among Americans.

The purpose of the present review is to:
1) outline the specific benefits and risks of alcohol, and the threshold of intake at which drinking becomes a health danger rather than an advantage;
2) detail the mechanisms whereby alcohol confers cardioprotection; and
3) discuss the ideal quantities, drinking patterns, and beverages, and which individuals are most likely to benefit."

Research to date has shown J-shaped relationships between alcohol consumption and several adverse health outcomes, including all-cause mortality, CHD, diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, stroke, dementia, and Raynaud's phenomenon.

Some cardioprotective benefits have been demonstrated for light to moderate alcohol consumption (up to 1 drink daily for women and 1 or 2 drinks daily for men). Most studies have shown that light to moderate drinking is associated with risk reductions for CHD of approximately 30% to 35%.

Alcohol consumed in moderation seems to have an antiatherosclerotic effect, with decreased incidence of peripheral arterial disease and decreased atherosclerotic burden shown by coronary angiography, computerized tomography-detected coronary calcium, and carotid ultrasound.
Like exercise, alcohol consumption seems to be most cardioprotective when done daily and in moderation. However, increasingly excessive consumption is associated with proportional worsening of outcomes.

Because of the beneficial effects on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, insulin action, and inflammation, light to moderate alcohol intake may be particularly helpful for patients with abnormal glucose metabolism and/or insulin resistance. Light to moderate alcohol intake may be associated with reductions in the prevalence and incidence of diabetes, and a large meta-analysis with 12-year follow-up showed a 30% reduction in new diabetes in those who consumed 1 to 2 drinks daily.

The cardiovascular benefits associated with alcohol consumption protection are thought to be mediated by improvements in insulin sensitivity and HDL cholesterol. The major protective component seems to be the ethanol itself, and not the other ingredients found in different types of alcoholic beverages.

In a meta-analysis incorporating data from more than 1 million participants, consumption of 1 drink daily by women and 1 or 2 drinks daily by men was associated with an 18% reduction in total mortality, but daily intakes of more than 2 drinks in women and 3 drinks in men were associated with dose-dependent increased mortality.

Although low-dose, daily alcohol consumption has been linked to better health than less frequent use, binge drinking increases cardiovascular events and mortality, even in otherwise light drinkers.

"Alcohol should not be universally prescribed for health enhancement to nondrinking individuals owing to the lack of randomized outcome data and the potential for problem drinking," the study authors note. "Alcohol (ethanol) consumption is analogous to the proverbial double-edged sword, and perhaps no other factor in cardiovascular (CV) health is capable of cutting so deeply in either direction depending on how it is used."

Guidelines from the United Kingdom suggest that middle-aged or elderly men and postmenopausal women who drink seldom or never might consider the possibility that light drinking would benefit their health. On occasion, the reviewers have made a similar recommendation to patients who do not smoke and who have no personal or family history of substance abuse and no history of depression or bipolar disorder. However, they argue that light to moderate drinking should not be universally recommended to the general public or even to patients with cardiovascular disease.

As an analogy, they point out that observational data and findings from randomized trials using surrogate endpoints suggested that hormone replacement therapy for women and antioxidant vitamins improved cardiovascular outcomes, whereas later randomized trials with larger samples led to the opposite conclusions. They note that no randomized trials of alcohol for improving clinical outcomes have yet been performed. In observational studies, residual unmeasured confounding factors could be contributing to apparent benefits that seem to be associated with light to moderate drinking.

The investigators further note that heavy drinking has caused significant individual and societal problems and morbidity. In the past 15 years, the rates of alcohol abuse and binge drinking have been increasing, according to the findings of some studies. Alcohol abuse causes 100,000 deaths each year in the United States, and it has been deemed the third largest preventable cause of death.

Excessive alcohol consumption has been associated with increased risks for all-cause mortality, motor vehicle crashes, stroke, cardiomyopathy, cardiac dysrhythmia, sudden cardiac arrest, suicide, cancer (particularly of the breast and gastrointestinal tract), cirrhosis, fetal alcohol syndrome and sleep apnea.

"Sobering statistics warn that moderate daily drinking is a slippery slope that many individuals cannot safely navigate," the study authors conclude. "The latest American Heart Association guidelines caution people not to start drinking if they do not already drink alcohol, because it is not possible to predict in which people alcohol abuse will become a problem. Until we have more randomized outcome data, and tools for predicting susceptibility to problem drinking, it would seem prudent to encourage physicians and patients to focus on more innocuous interventions to prevent CHD."

J Am Coll Cardiol. Published online August 23, 2007.
2007;50:1009-1014.

Gene May Help Spur Premenstrual Depression

(HealthDay News) -- Scientists have discovered a gene variant linked to an increased risk of severe premenstrual depression.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, is a psychiatric condition that affects about 8 percent of women in their childbearing years. Women with PMDD experience bouts of major depression and/or anxiety and severe irritability during the second half of their menstrual cycle.

These symptoms subside with the onset of the menstrual period.

PMDD has been thought to be related to hormonal changes over the course of the menstrual cycle.

For a new study published online June 30 in Biological Psychiatry, researchers studied 91 women with a confirmed diagnosis of PMDD over at least three months. Another 56 women who had no history of mood disorders related to the menstrual cycle served as the comparison group.

The team found four specific gene variants in the estrogen receptor alpha gene, ESR1, that were more common in the women with PMDD than in the control group.

"While these are preliminary findings that require replication in larger studies, we would argue that this may explain part of the variance among women in the susceptibility to developing this mood disorder," the study's senior author David R. Rubinow, Meymandi distinguished professor and chair of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about PMDD.

Eating Disorders: A Midlife Crisis for Some Women

(HealthDay News) -- You starve yourself, shedding pounds, and it feels too good to ever stop.
Or you eat lots -- as much as you want, more than you want -- and then sneak away from your loved ones to purge it all.

But you're not 16, not 19, not 21. Not a young woman at all. You're in your 30s, 40s, or 50s. And you can't stop.

Anorexia and bulimia used to be considered health problems that afflicted teenage girls. But doctors are finding that a growing number of older women are now being diagnosed with some sort of eating disorder.

"It can happen to anybody at any stage of their life," said Dr. Alexander Sackeyfio, a psychiatrist and eating-disorder specialist at the Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "I think we're becoming more aware of it and are better at diagnosing it."

People tend to make another mistake in their perception of eating disorders -- they assume they are relatively benign psychological problems that are easily treated and without lasting physical effects, said Doug Bunnell, clinical director of the Renfrew Center in Wilton, Conn.

"People are surprised when they learn these have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis, somewhere between 10 and 15 percent," said Bunnell, who's also a member of the National Eating Disorders Association board of directors.

Anorexia produces dramatic weight loss caused by excessive or compulsive dieting. An estimated 0.5 percent to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa at some point in their lifetime, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Anorexics see themselves as overweight even though they're dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an obsessive minefield and unusual eating habits develop, such as picking out just a few foods and eating them in tiny, carefully measured quantities.

Bulimia is characterized by excessive binge eating followed by purging the food through vomiting, laxatives or over-exercising. An estimated 1.1 percent to 4.2 percent of American females will struggle with bulimia nervosa in their lifetime.

Because of the purging, people with bulimia usually weigh within the normal range for their age and height. But they still suffer the same fears about weight gain as anorexics. So, they often perform bulimic behaviors in secret, feeling disgusted and ashamed when they binge, yet relieved once they purge.

Bunnell said he's seeing more middle-age or even older women coming in for treatment of an eating disorder. But, he's not sure that all of these are new cases developing later in life.
"My experience is that virtually all the women we've seen with eating-disorder symptoms in their 30s or 40s had some prior activity in the more typical age range," Bunnell said. "It may not have been diagnosed, or just short of being serious, but there was a period when they were really struggling with it. We've not seen a lot of brand new, out-of-the-blue eating disorder cases in older women."

Other doctors believe that hormonal fluctuations that occur near menopause could set off an eating disorder, as could mid-life changes like divorce or the departure of grown children. As the family changes, some women find themselves grasping for some semblance of control -- one of the needs that an eating disorder can fulfill.

Complicating matters for the older patient is the fact that women coming in for treatment later in life may find it harder to get the help they need. For decades, the focus has been young women, and only recently has the therapeutic field begun to expand into treatment for older women -- and men, Sackeyfio said.

"No one is catering to their needs," he said. "That's the same problem that gentlemen had for a while."

Bunnell said anorexics tend to be preoccupied with their body shape or weight, and often suffer from anxiety, perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. By contrast, bulimics tend to be depressed and impulsive, often struggling with substance-abuse issues.

"The anorexic style is more overly controlled, tense and rigid, while the bulemic style is less controlled, impulsive or disregulated," Bunnell said.

Treatment for eating disorders has evolved as well, with doctors now emphasizing a team-based approach, Sackeyfio said.

"Originally, what people would look at was that it is a psychological problem, but it quickly becomes a physical problem," he said. "You need somebody who's aware of those physical changes to work with you if you're a therapist."

Ideally, someone with an eating disorder should be working with a team that includes a psychiatrist, a nutritionist and a physician, Sackeyfio said.

Most important, the people surrounding someone with an eating disorder need to understand that the patient truly is out of control and needs help, Sackeyfio said.

"They aren't spoiled brats who are trying to make people's lives harder," he said. "They really have very little control over the physical changes that they cause in their own bodies."

More information
To learn more, visit the National Mental Health Information Center.

Steam & Sauna Bathing Offers Multiple Rejuvenating & Healing Benefits

Written by The International Steam Therapy Association

Part 1
Most people laugh when they hear that the Finnish Olympic team lugs a portable sauna with them wherever they go. However, the fair-haired Nordic athletes might be doing more than simply acting out a home-sick longing for the slender birch trees and island dotted lakes of the homeland. They could be on to a secret, non-drug-induced means of giving themselves an edge in the fierce competition of modern-day Olympics.

Although most people simply consider it a pleasant means of relaxation, sweat therapy might in fact have powerful heath-enhancing effects.

In the test of time is any measure, steam bathing has certainly withstood it. For thousands of years people of all cultures have indulged in the soothing warmth of sweat baths. The Romans are well-known for their elaborate baths. The wealthy of 200 B.C. India did not consider their mansion complete unless it included a bathhouse with a steam room. The Muslim Hamman, or bathhouse, with its domed, central steam chamber is stall an integral part of life in Muslim countries. A derivation of the Hamman, the Turkish bath, has been popular in Europe for centuries.

Today, steam and sauna facilities are an integral part of the hydrotherapeutic offerings at European and American spas, and steam rooms and saunas are a common feature of health clubs and public pools. Yet, there is surprisingly little awareness of the wide ranging benefits of steam and sauna bathing. There is evidence that these sweat-inducing treatments stimulate the immune system, improve circulation, and help the body to purge itself of impurities.
Hippocrates, the founder of Western medicine more than two-thousand years ago said, "Give me the power to create a fever, and I shall cure any disease."

Although often misunderstood as a symptom of disease, fever actually is a part of the body's natural healing response. Steam baths, sauna, and other heat-inducing treatments elicit similar healing responses in the body, and consequently are often called "artificial fevers".

During a fever, the functioning of the immune system is stimulated, while the growth of bacteria and virus is forced to slow down. The production of white blood cells, the primary agents of the immune system, is increased, as is the rate of their release into the blood stream. The generation of antibodies speeds up, as does the production of interferon, an anti viral protein that also has powerful cancer-fighting properties.

Apart from stimulating the immune system, fever slows down the proliferation of invading organisms by creating an inhospitable environment. At 104 degrees F., for example, the growth rate of the polio virus is reduced up to 250 times; at 106 degrees pneumococcus, a bacterium responsible for pneumonia, dies.

Part 2
Before the advent of antibiotics, syphilitics were often infected with malaria to prevent the spread of the disease. In addition, there is evidence that the frequent fevers of malaria might function as a cancer-protecting factor. Dr. Paavo Airola in his book, Worldwide Secrets of Staying Young relates the story of the Pontine swamps near Rome in Italy, which, until a few decades ago, were a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The swamps were dried out, and the malaria disappeared. However, during the next decades, that area, which had before been almost free of cancer, saw an increase in cancerous diseases. After a generation, the cancer incidence level of that area had reached the level of the rest of Italy.

Malignant cells are selectively destroyed at temperatures of 106 to 110 degrees F., so the frequent fever attacks of people in the malaria-infected area might have mobilized the body's own defenses too frequently for a cancer to take hold.

Although the artificial fever induced by sweat therapy does not have the comprehensive effect of real fever, it still produces a striking effect on a number of bodily processes.

There is evidence that artificial fever works as an immune system stimulant by increasing the number of white blood cells in the body. In a 1959-review of studies on the effects of heat treatments, Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. Wakim and colleagues cite findings indicating that the number of white blood cells in the blood increased by an average of 58% during artificially induced fever. Researchers also have found increases in the activity of the white blood cells during induced fever.

In addition, as in the case of bodily induced fever, the raised temperature during the artificial fever reduces the growth rate of most bacteria and viruses, giving the immune system time to mobilize its own forces. Indeed, many regular steam or sauna bathers have experienced that a good, long sweat bath at the early onset of a cold or flu can help ward off the disease before in manifests as actual symptoms.

Apart from the immune system-stimulating effects of sweat therapy, many thought it as one of the most effective and painless detoxifying treatments available.

Dr. Veronica Butler, medical co-director at the Raj, a health center based on principles of Ayurveda, recommends herbalized steam baths, called swedenas, to clients as part of the ancient Ayurvedic purification treatment, known as panchakarma.

According to the classical Ayurvedic texts, for maximum results, a swedena or steam bath should be given while keeping the head cool and the client supine.

"A swedena clears the shrotas, the channels through which the biological intelligence flows," says Dr. Butler. "If impurities clog these channels, the flow of intelligence in the body becomes more susceptible to disease."

Part 3
Heat speeds up the chemical processes in the body, making steam and sauna bathing one of the simplest and most comfortable ways to rid the body of accumulated toxins. As the pores open up and the million of sweat glands start to excrete, the body rids itself of metabolic and other waste products. Sweat contains almost the same elements as urine, and for this reason, the skin is sometimes called the third kidney. It is estimated that as much as 30% of bodily wastes are eliminated by way of perspiration.

However, more than common metabolic waste products are secreted through the skin. Natural health practitioners often notice that when heavy smokers get a steam bath for a body wrap (where the body 'simmers' for up to 45 min. Under hot covers), they will leave a yellow residue on the towels. Reino Tarkianinen, President of Finlandia Sauna, reports that when the company replaces sauna benches from public baths, a thick, black layer of accumulated tar can be found underneath the benches.

In Finland, research is being done on the use of sweat therapy in the treatment of people who are chemically affected. The purifying effects of perspiration could also be behind claims that steam and sauna treatments can help cur or control such ailments as acne and arthritis.

Last but not least, steam and sauna bathing produces powerful therapeutic effects simply by increasing circulation. As the carrier of the rebuilding forces of the nutrients to all parts of the body, the bloodstream plays a crucial role in the maintenance of health.

Steam and sauna treatments have a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular system. The pulse rate increases from 75 beats per minute to between 100-150 beats per minute during a 15-20 minute treatment. This increases blood circulation, but not blood pressure, since the heat also causes the tiny blood vessel in the skin to expand, accommodating the increased blood flow. The dilation of the capillary vessels enables the bloodstream to carry great amounts of nutrients to the skin, enhancing the nutritive status of the skin. The flushed, youthful look that steam and sauna bathers maintain for up to several hours after treatment is due to this effect.

Which is the best way of taking a steam or sauna treatment?
First of all, it is good to be aware of the distinction between the two. Most people think of the heat of a sauna as dry heat and the heat of a steam room as wet, humid heat. This distinction is only partially correct. Sauna bathers in Finland splash water on the heated stones in the sauna, raising the humidity level to as much as 40%. Without that, the hot, dry sauna air can irritate the mucus membranes.

Part 4
In the hydrotherapeutic tradition used at European and America spas, sweat therapy is used in preparation for massage as a means of increasing the suppleness of the muscles and creating a deep sense of relaxation in body and mind. In the Ayurvedic tradition of India, which has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years, steam treatments are part of the traditional purification treatment panchakarma, where they are used after massage to help the body get rid of toxins dislodged during the treatment.

Sweat treatments can also be enjoyed on their own, as a workout for the cardiovascular system, a deep-cleansing treat for the body, an immune system booster, and a soothing and invigorating refreshment for the mind.

There are a few precautions to keep in mind. Because of the increase in cardiovascular activity caused by the high heat, sweat therapy is not recommended for people with heart disease or other cardiovascular problems. Individuals with high blood pressure pressure should first consult their doctor.

In addition, the treatment is not advised for pregnant women, small children, or the elderly. Do not take a sweat treatment if you have a fever or an open wound. If you have been working out, be sure that your body has had time to cool down before exposing it to the heat of a sweat bath.

Limit treatment time to 10 to 15 minutes. Drink plenty of water of herbal tea before and after the sweat bath to replace fluids lost during the treatment. The sweat glands can secrete up to 30 grams of sweat per minute, or almost one pint per 15 minutes, so dehydration is a very real possibility, if you are not careful. Fatigue and other indications of dehydration can occur with as little as 1 to 2% loss in body weight.

The main thing to keep in mind is to enjoy the process. Do not push your body beyond its comfort level; the point is not to sweat it out the longest, but to allow your mind and body to luxuriate in this health-enhancing and invigorating miniature spa treatment.

Working up a sweat is one of our oldest folk remedies. "Give me an opportunity to create fever and I will cure any illness," said the Greek physician Paramenides two thousand years ago.

Today, besides creating a relaxing sense of well-being, relaxes and loosens muscles tissue, reducing daily buildup of tension and increasing muscle flexibility:
-boosts blood circulation, which helps aching and injured muscles to recover faster, because the stronger the flow of blood, the faster metabolic waste products are carried off. -stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels, which relives pain and speeds healing of sprains and strains; -speeds up the metabolic processes of vital organs and endocrine glands resulting in a calorie loss of between 200 and 450 in a 20 minute session.

Part 5
According to Michael Marino, research associate at Lennox Hill Hospital's Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City:
"….. heat exposure stimulates the hypothalamus, the gland that normally maintains and stabilizes body temperature to dissipate the excess heat. Heart rate increases as more blood flow is diverted from the inner organs towards the extremities of the skin. This automatic "cooling" reaction is actually a form of beneficial stress, a passive kind of cardiovascular exercise that helps to keep the body's system alert and functioning well."

The beneficial stress of heat on the heart is confirmed by physical fitness expert Bernard Gutin, Professor of Applied Physiology and Education at Teacher's College, Columbia University:
"Heat acts as a form of mostly beneficial stress on the body that produces physiological changes in heightened blood pressure, stepped-up heart rate and an increase in stress hormones."
According to Dr. Paavo Aviola, an author in health matters:

"The sauna increases the eliminative, detoxifying and cleansing capacity of the skin by stimulation of sweat glands. A steam bath provides a mild cleansing process for the skin as certain body fluids are released through the skin. It also promotes healthy skin tone and texture due to increased blood circulation."

more info at:

ozone_oxygen

more discussion: Forum
· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum

The pH Miracle

Forget cholesterol counts. Forget calories and fat grams. Forget blood pressure, blood sugar, hormone levels, or any of the other markers of health you're used to at the doctor's office.

It turns out that the single measurement most important to your health is the pH of your blood and tissues - how acidic or alkaline it is. Different areas of the body have different ideal pH levels, but blood pH is the most telling of all. Just as your body temperature is rigidly regulated, the blood must be kept in a very narrow pH range - mildly basic or alkaline.

The body will go to great lengths to preserve that, including wreaking havoc on other tissues or systems.

The pH level of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. The entire metabolic process depends on an alkaline environment. Chronic over acidity corrodes body tissue, and if left unchecked will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neutral firing of your brain. In other words, overacidity interferes with life itself.

It is at the root of all sickness and disease.

If that's not enough to get you interested in balacing your body pH naturally, nondestructively, keep this mind: Overacidity is also what's keeping you FAT!

The goal then - and what this program allows you to do - is to create the proper alkaline balance within your body. The way to do that is by eating the proper balance of alkaline and acid foods.

That means 80 percent of your diet must be alkalizing foods, like green vegetables. (That percentage will go down somewhat once you've successfully rebalanced yourself.)

In addition, high quality food supplements will help you achieve and maintain pH balance.
"The pH Miracle" Dr. Robert O. Young and Shelley Redford Young, Warner Books; (May 2002)

Starting January 4th an interactive teleseminar called "pH Miracle Secrets."

ph Miracle Center

more discussion: Forum
· Addiction Forum · Ask the Doctors Forum · Ayurveda Forum · Ayurvedic & Thai Herbs Forum · Colon Cleansing Forum · Dental Forum · Diabetes Forum · Diet Forum · General Cleansing Forum · Hepatitis A, B. C Forum · Integrated Medicine Forum · Live Blood Analysis Forum · Ozone-Oxygen-Forum · pH - Alkaline - Acidity Forum · Weight Loss Forum

Spleen Cells May Prove Effective Target for Lupus Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- Research done on mice specially bred to develop lupus has uncovered an area of the spleen that may give rise to the disease.

The area is called the marginal zone of the spleen and it appears that this is where B cells from the immune system go awry and turn into cells that attack the body's own tissues and organs, researchers say.

"This current work gives rise to new possibilities for targeted therapies that are perhaps much milder and more effective than current therapies," said the study's lead author, Thomas Enzler, a visiting scholar, internist and immunologist at the University of California, San Diego.

However, he was quick to add that it would be a long time before any such potential therapy could be available for humans.

Results of the study were published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Immunity.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues and organs. The disease can affect the joints, kidneys, lungs, brain, blood or skin.

As many as 1.5 million Americans have lupus, and the disease is far more common in women than in men, according to the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA).

Previously, researchers had developed a mouse version of lupus. These mice are bred to overproduce an immune system hormone (cytokine) known as B-cell activating factor (BAFF). In humans with lupus, the BAFF cytokine is often present in much higher-than-normal levels.

B cells produce antibodies. Normally, antibodies are produced to protect against viruses and bacteria. In the case of someone with lupus, however, the B cells produce autoreactive antibodies. This means the antibodies attack normal, rather than diseased, tissue.

When the mice overproduce BAFF, they develop lupus, though the mouse version isn't exactly the same as the human version.

The UCSD researchers transplanted some of the cells from the spleens of the marginal zone of the lupus mice into mice that didn't have their own B cells. Lupus-like antibodies began to develop in these mice immediately.

The researchers also removed the spleens of some of the lupus mice when they were in the early stages of developing the disease, or the scientists interrupted the production of the B cells. When they did this, lupus was diminished or prevented.

"It seems to be that the marginal zone is really important for developing autoimmune disease in transgenic mice," Enzler explained.

Dr. Joan Merrill, medical director of the Lupus Foundation of America and head of the clinical pharmacology research program at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, said, "This is an exciting scientific paper."

But, Merrill said, people with lupus shouldn't rush to their doctors to remove their spleens. "If a lupus patient has a splenectomy, the disease doesn't go away," she said, explaining that sometimes lupus patients have to have their spleens removed due to complications of the disease, and it doesn't cure lupus.

She also pointed out that this study was done in mice and the human immune system doesn't work in exactly the same way as the mouse immune system does.

Still, Merrill added that with this study and other research, "We're beginning to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding lupus, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the future. We're trying to find better targets and develop better and safer medicines."

More information
To learn more about lupus, visit the Lupus Foundation of America.

Childhood Cancer Survivors Face Long-Term Stroke Risk

(HealthDay News) -- Long-term survivors of childhood leukemia and brain tumors are at increased risk for stroke, even years after they finish their cancer treatment, a new study finds.

This risk is especially high in people treated with cranial radiotherapy, which involves moderate or high-dose radiation therapy to the brain.

"This is the first study to show that childhood leukemia and brain tumor survivors are at an increased risk of stroke," study lead author Dr. Daniel C. Bowers, associate professor in pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, said in a prepared statement.

"These strokes can occur 10 to 20 years after diagnosis, when most people believe they are no longer at risk for new side effects of treatment, underscoring the need for long-term medical follow-up for childhood cancer survivors," he added.

The research, conducted as part of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, was published online Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Leukemia and brain tumors together account for 53 percent of all cancers diagnosed in children under age 15, according to background information in the article. Current five-year survival rates in the United States are about 80 percent for leukemia patients and 74 percent for brain tumor patients. Due to these high survival rates, it's important to study the long-term effects of treatments for these cancers, the researchers said.

Cranial radiotherapy is commonly used to treat brain tumors, while treatment for leukemia includes chemotherapy drugs that are injected directly into the spinal fluid that bathes the brain. Leukemia patients may also receive cranial radiotherapy.

This study included over 4,800 childhood leukemia survivors and nearly 1,900 brain tumors survivors, along with a control group of over 3,800 of the patients' siblings who had not had cancer.

The leukemia survivors had a stroke rate of 0.8 percent (1 in every 125), compared with 0.2 percent (1 in every 500) for those in the sibling control group. The average length of time from leukemia diagnosis to stroke was 10 years.

Among the brain tumor survivors, the stroke rate was 3.4 percent (1 in 30), but was as high as 6.5 percent (1 in 15) among those treated with both cranial radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The average length of time from brain tumor diagnosis to stroke following treatment was 14 years.

Other long-term effects of treatment for childhood cancers include secondary cancers, neurocognitive deficits, heart problems, obesity, hormone deficiencies, and shorter stature, the study authors noted.

"It is important for survivors and their doctors to know that the impact of some of these long-term effects can be reduced through careful follow-up screening and care, and education to help survivors stay healthy long after their treatment has ended," Bowers said.

More information
The American Cancer Society has more about childhood leukemia.

Why Are Kids Entering Puberty Before They Enter School?

A report was presented at the annual Pediatric Academic Society meeting describing how a preschool-age girl and her kindergarten-age brother began growing pubic hair.

This was not an isolated case; in 2004, there was similar cluster of five children, and previous clusters in outbreaks occurring along the lines of disease epidemics or environmental poisonings.

In 1979, there was an outbreak of breast enlargement among hundreds of Italian schoolchildren, most likely caused by estrogen contamination of beef and poultry.

Most commonly, these outbreaks traced to accidental drug exposures. But some physicians worry that children are at higher risk of early puberty due to the increasing availability of classes of drugs, cosmetics and environmental contaminants called endocrine disruptors.

In the case of the two children described in the report, their testosterone level was nealy100 times the normal amount. The cause was traced to a concentrated testosterone skin cream being used by their father. The children absorbed the testosterone through normal skin contact with their father.

Sex hormones like testosterone are particularly potent because they are easily absorbed through the skin and resist degradation. Other known triggers of early puberty have included a shampoo that contained estrogen and placental extract, shampoos containing lavender and tea tree oils, and industrial pollutants.

New York Times October 17, 2006

Testosterone Could Keep Older Men From Falls

(HealthDay News) -- Higher testosterone levels may help protect elderly men from dangerous falls, a new study finds.
Researchers found that older men with the lowest levels of testosterone in their blood were 40 percent more likely to fall and to have multiple falls than men with the highest levels of testosterone. Falls are a leading cause of bone fracture in older populations.

The association between falls and testosterone levels was strongest in men aged 65 to 69. The link was not apparent in men over age 80.
Testosterone levels naturally decline as men age.

Reporting in the Oct. 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a team from Oregon Health & Science University, in Portland, studied nearly 2,600 men, ages 65 to 99, who enrolled in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study between 2000 and 2002.

Researchers obtained blood samples from the men, who also filled out questionnaires on their medical history, medications, and lifestyle habits. The men also did a number of physical performance tests.

By the end of the study, in March 2005, 56 percent of the men had fallen at least once. The link between falls and testosterone levels was apparent, even after the researchers factored in the men's scores on the physical performance tests.

That suggests that low testosterone levels may raise falling risk in other ways, including impairment of vision, thinking, and coordination, the researchers said.

"These findings strengthen the link between testosterone and the health of older men, the team wrote. They added that testosterone measurements might be useful for identifying men at higher risk for adverse events."

"Moreover, these results provide additional justification for trials of testosterone supplementation in older men and should aid in the design of those studies, they said.
More information
The Endocrine Society-Hormone Foundation have more about low testosterone.

Balancing Your Hormones Without Drugs... You Can Feel Good Again $19.95 [ learn more ] Hormone imbalance can be reversed! Look and feel better than ever, just take the time to learn about yourself and read the information contained in this just released e-book about reversing hormone imbalance. Are you ready to finally look and feel great? If so... read on... - E-Book Version.(BH)

Trendy Hormone Treatments No Passage to Graceful Aging

(HealthDay News) -- Forget the fountain of youth, at least for now, and at least in the form of hormone supplements.

Neither DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) nor low-dose testosterone replacement had any beneficial effect in elderly people, including quality of life, new research has found.

"I don't find any reason for older people to take DHEA based on this study and no reason to do any extensive studies on it," said study author Dr. K. Sreekumaran Nair, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. His report is published in the Oct. 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Others, however, feel differently.

"This particular study is a small study, and it's only over two years, so I don't think it's the end of the story. We have to wait for more," said Dr. Barbara Paris, vice chairwoman of medicine and director of geriatrics at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City.

That being said, Paris also warned that people need to be careful of taking DHEA, in particular, as it is sold as a dietary supplement without need of a prescription.

"You don't know what you're getting with the pill," she said. "I don't think they're benign even though they're available without a prescription."

Both DHEA and testosterone have become celebrity hormones and are widely touted as anti-aging remedies. Best-selling author Gail Sheehy (Passages) profiled DHEA as a possible anti-aging miracle in Vanity Fair in 1996.

In 2002, however, gerontology experts issued a statement essentially calling supplements such as DHEA a waste of money.

The idea is simple: Because levels of growth hormones decline starting at about age 30, researchers have speculated that hormone replacement would have a slowing effect on aging.

Long-living humans are also known to have relatively high levels of DHEA, but the bulk of research has been done in animals, and it's unclear how the findings might apply to humans.
The new study reports on a two-year-long, randomized, double-blind study involving 87 elderly men with low levels of DHEA and testosterone and 57 elderly women with low levels of DHEA. All participants had to be at least 60 years of age.

The men were randomly assigned to receive DHEA, testosterone or a placebo. The women were randomly assigned to receive either DHEA or a placebo.

Although DHEA and testosterone levels were increased to what would be considered the "high normal" range for young people, there were no appreciable changes in volume of oxygen consumed per minute, muscle strength, sensitivity to insulin or quality of life, the study reported. There were no major adverse effects, either.

Men receiving testosterone had a small increase in fat-free mass, and men receiving either testosterone or DHEA had an increase in bone mineral density at the femoral neck. Women taking DHEA had an increase in bone mineral density at the wrist but nowhere else.

Wrist bone mineral density is probably less important than other locations. "If you break your wrist, it's not the end of the world," Paris said. "The real concern in an 80-year-old is breaking your hip. That can be a death sentence, so even if I take a supplement and I don't get a wrist fracture, that's not really so significant."

Another problem, said Dr. Bernard Roos, director of the geriatric institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is that "nobody's ever found that DHEA ever did anything that wasn't a secondary effect of either testosterone or estrogen." But, even here, the results can be highly variable. "It's unpredictable because different people convert DHEA to active hormones differently. It's almost like going to a lottery," Roos added.

In any event, experts called for more of this kind of study on anti-aging products in general.
"There are a lot of people who are buying and selling products under the banner of anti-aging medicine, and prematurely, because they haven't been evaluated in any style," said S. Jay Olshansky, professor of public health at the University of Illinois and senior research scientist at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago. "It's important that clinical trials be done and that they make these kinds of assessments," he said.

More information
To learn more, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

Older Women Not Getting Proper Breast Cancer Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- Many older women with breast cancer are being under-diagnosed and under-treated, especially in community hospitals, researchers report.

The problem is taking on added urgency because breast cancer is becoming more common as the U.S. population ages. Almost 50 percent of women with breast cancer are 65 and older, and 35 percent are older than 70. And 77 percent of deaths from breast cancer involve women over 55, the researchers noted.

Yet many older women appear to be under-diagnosed and under-treated, perhaps because they may have other serious life-threatening medical conditions. In addition, there's confusion about when or if to screen older women for breast cancer. Some guidelines suggest that women stop having mammograms at 70, while others offer no upper limit.

In the report, published in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery, Drs. David A. Litvak and Rajeev Arora of Michigan State University looked at the medical records of 354 women aged 70 and older who were diagnosed with breast cancer in a community hospital between 1992 and 2002.

The doctors found that 46 percent of the women had breast cancer that could be detected during a physical examination. In addition, even though 72 percent of the women had mammograms, the tests were mostly administered to verify the results of the physical exam. In fact, mammograms found only 54 percent of undiagnosed breast cancers.

For 70 percent of the women, the cancer was in the early stages. But 36 percent of the women and 56 percent of those 80 or older were never examined to see if the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes.

In terms of treatment, the doctors found that about 50 percent of the women had breast-conserving surgery. However, the rates of women getting chemotherapy, radiation and hormonal therapy after surgery were lower than expected and lowest among the oldest women.

And many women who were candidates for adjuvant therapy, including those whose cancer had spread to lymph nodes, were not given this additional therapy. Of the 20 percent of women whose cancer had spread to the lymph nodes, only 29 percent received chemotherapy.

Moreover, only 17 percent of the women 80 or older whose cancer had spread received chemotherapy. This rate was significantly lower than for women under 80, noted Arora and Litvak, who is now at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Orange County, Calif.

"There are misconceptions by the public and the medical community that it's OK to omit certain diagnostic tests or treatments in older patients," Litvak said. "Older people are in a special category, which means that we have to be careful about how we treat them and how we approach their cancer."

Litvak and Arora believe that older patients should receive a geriatric assessment that would help estimate life expectancy and predict tolerance to cancer treatment. In addition, screening programs should be based on an individual geriatric assessment.

"The bottom line is that we really have to start individualizing the care of older patients," Litvak said. "It doesn't make sense to have a cap on mammograms for age. It should be based on the patient's overall health and their life expectancy. The same is true for treatment."

"Most older patients tolerate and benefit from the same treatments that younger patients get," Litvak added. "You just have to be careful about how you give it."

One expert thinks not enough is known about the risks and benefits of treating breast cancer in older women.

"This is not a surprising finding," said Dr. Alan Astrow, director of hematology/oncology at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. "But we really don't know how best to treat older women with breast cancer."

For example, Astrow said, it's not known if withholding chemotherapy from older women shortens life. "Most oncologists feel that the side effects of chemotherapy in women over 80 would outweigh the benefits," he said.

Astrow thinks studies are needed to determine the value of breast cancer treatment for older women. "It could have an important public health impact," he said. "If, in fact, we are under-treating, and under-treating leads to worse outcomes, then that's something we really need to address because it affects a large number of women."

More information
The American Cancer Society can tell you more about breast cancer and older women