News/Information

~Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine

People who take one diet soda a day are nearly three times more likely than non-diet soda drinkers to suffer a stroke or to become demented, according to a study published this week (Stroke, April 20, 2017). Both sugar drinkers and artificial-sweetener drinkers were at increased risk for having smaller brains and advanced brain aging.

The study shows only an association between consuming diet sodas and increased rates of strokes and dementia. The authors caution that "Clinical trials are needed to establish whether the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages is causally related to [strokes or] dementia." Meanwhile, they recommend that "people drink water on a regular basis instead of sugary or artificially sweetened beverages.”

~Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine

Less than six percent of North Americans suffer from vitamin D deficiency, but nearly 20 percent take vitamin D pills. It is true that it is difficult to get adequate levels of vitamin D from sunshine during the winter months, but vitamin D is not a miracle vitamin that treats and prevents all sorts of diseases. A recent study of 5,108 men and women showed that vitamin D pills did not help to prevent heart attacks (JAMA Cardiol, published online April 5, 2017), and another study showed that large doses of vitamin D did not help to prevent cancer (JAMA, Mar 28, 2017;317(12):1234-1243).

~Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine

Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV) that cause cancers of the mouth and sexual organs are the most common sexually-transmitted diseases in the United States today, infecting 20 percent of people under age 60 (CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, April 6, 2017). The Communicable Disease Center estimates that these cancer-causing viruses infect 80 million Americans, with more than 14 million of the new infections occuring among teenagers. They found that almost 31,000 new cases of cancer each year from 2008 to 2012 were attributable to HPV and that most could be prevented with immunization.

Dr. John Nolte came accross this article in Cardiology News, presented by MDedge, and wanted it to share it.

Nutrition expert to heart patients: ‘Eat some cheese’
Publish date: January 10, 2017
By: Bruce Jancin , Cardiology News

FROM THE AHA SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS

NEW ORLEANS – While many Americans have been dithering over the relative health benefits of high- versus low-carbohydrate diets, various pop-culture weight loss programs, vegetarianism, gluten-free living, and other nutritional matters, a quiet revolution in mainstream scientific thinking has occurred regarding the role of full-fat dairy products.

Saturated fatty acid–rich dairy products, formerly viewed as the enemy of cardiovascular health, have gone from foe to friend, according to Arne Astrup, MD, professor and head of the department of nutrition, exercise and sports at the University of Copenhagen.