News roundup: echinacea, diabetes, cancer

News from the world of medicine:


Researchers have demonstrated that an antibiotic called "monensin" prevents the growth of prostate cancer cells. Evidenceemerged in a project investigating the effects of nearly 5,000 drugs and micromolecules on the growth of prostate cancer cells. Researchers found that small amounts of compounds -- disulfiram (Antabus), thiram, tricostatin A, and monensin -- can prevent the growth of prostate cancer cells without significant effects on the growth of the normal human prostate epithelial cells.

Researchers at Harvard have identified a substance found primarily in dairy fat that appears to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. Known as trans-palmitoleic acid, it is present in the fat of ruminant animals such as cows, sheep, and goats. In the Harvard study, people with the highest levels of the fatty acid in their blood had a threefold lower risk of developing diabetes over time than people with the lowest levels. They also had healthier HDL, or good, cholesterol levels, lower body fat, and less insulin resistance.

The vitamin D levels of newborn babies appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections during infancy and the occurrence of wheezing during early childhood, but not the risk of developing asthma. The results support the theory that widespread vitamin D deficiency contributes to risk of infections.

Despite its popularity as a natural remedy for treating the common cold, a new study suggests echinacea does not substantially reduce the severity or duration of the common cold.

Women with breast cancer who take multivitamins with minerals appear to face lower odds of having their cancer come back or dying. "Multivitamins appears to especially benefit women undergoin gradiation treatment," says researcher Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, of Columbia University's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City. The study doesn't prove cause and effect. The association could be explained by other factors.

Lose friends, save your joints

It seems that garlic, and other allium vegetables, such as onions and leeks, have the effect of preventing hip osteoarthritis. Scientists discovered this in a careful study of 1,000 twins in Britain.

They found that in those who consumed a healthy diet with a high intake of fruit and vegetables, particularly alliums such as garlic, there was less evidence of early osteoarthritis in the hip joint. They found that that a compound called diallyl disulphide limits the amount of cartilage-damaging enzymes when introduced to a human cartilage cell-line in the laboratory.

"While we don't yet know if eating garlic will lead to high levels of this component in the joint, these findings may point the way towards future treatments and prevention of hip osteoarthritis," said Dr. Frances Williams, lead author from the Department of Twin Research at King's College London.

Probably a good signal to buy stock in companies selling breath mints.

Can whole milk reduce the risk of diabetes?

New research suggests that whole-fat dairy products -- generally shunned by health experts -- contain a fatty acid that may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The fatty acid is called trans-palmitoleic acid, and people with the highest blood levels of this fatty acid reduce their odds of diabetes by 62 percent compared to those with the lowest blood levels of it.

In addition, "people who had higher levels of this fatty acid had better cholesterol and triglyceride levels, lower insulin resistance and lower levels of inflammatory markers," said study author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, co-director of the program in cardiovascular epidemiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health.

Whole milk has more trans-palmitoleic acid than 2 percent milk, and 2 percent milk has more of this fatty acid than does skim milk.

Should you start drinking whole milk?

Mozaffarian said it's difficult to know exactly how many servings of dairy it would take to get to the highest levels of trans-palmitoleic acid, but said it was likely three to five servings a day, depending on the type of dairy consumed.

However, he said, it's too soon to make any dietary recommendations based on the results of just this finding.

"This study confirms that something about dairy is linked very strongly to a lower risk of diabetes, but no single study should be enough to change guidelines," he said, adding that he hopes this study will spur more research.

Tell you doctor.

New insights on breast cancer

In recent years, women have heard only bad news about the use of estrogen and progestin to ease symptoms of menopause. Researchers halted a major government study of so-called combination therapy, when women taking these hormones were shown to have a higher risk of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke.

Now, The New York Times reports, there is some second thinking.

A controversial new review of data suggests some good news: certain women who take estrogen alone, without progestin, to treat menopause symptoms may actually be protected from breast cancer.

The review drew immediate criticism from researchers who said it was merely a rehash of old data. But the oncologist behind the report, Dr. Joseph Ragaz, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, said the evidence that estrogen can protect against breast cancer had been largely ignored, and that it was time to shine a spotlight on the findings.  

“The data were absolutely missed. They weren’t emphasized, and they weren’t brought to the attention of oncologists,” said Dr. Ragaz, who said he had no ties to any drug firms. “These data are nevertheless very much important because they add to the evidence for estrogen being protective.”

Details at the link. And there's more news on Vitamin D.

More than half of women with breast cancer have low vitamin D levels, British researchers report. 

"Women with breast cancer should be tested for vitamin D levels and offered supplements, if necessary," says researcher Sonia Li, MD, of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex, England. The findings were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Exercise before you eat in the morning

Exercising in the morning, before eating, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of a bad diet, a new study shows.

Belgian researchers divided men into three groups and fed them a lot of calories. One group didn't exercise, one exercised after breakfast, and one exercised before breakfast.

The group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”

Why this happened isn't entirely clear, but there are clues.

As has been known for some time, exercising in a fasted state (usually possible only before breakfast), coaxes the body to burn a greater percentage of fat for fuel during vigorous exercise, instead of relying primarily on carbohydrates. When you burn fat, you obviously don’t store it in your muscles. In “our study, only the fasted group demonstrated beneficial metabolic adaptations, which eventually may enhance oxidative fatty acid turnover,” said Peter Hespel, Ph.D., a professor in the Research Center for Exercise and Health at Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and senior author of the study.

At the same time, the fasting group showed increased levels of a muscle protein that “is responsible for insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscle and thus plays a pivotal role in regulation of insulin sensitivity,” Dr Hespel said.

In other words, working out before breakfast directly combated the two most detrimental effects of eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. It also helped the men avoid gaining weight.

These men exercised rather vigorously, so it's not known whether my wimp workout would have any effect. One doctor said, however, that something is better than nothing.

Breakthroughs in our understanding of Alzheimer's

Dark brown amyloid plaques

A surprising new study is part of a wave of unexpected findings that are enriching scientists’ views of the genesis of Alzheimer’s disease.

For years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid. The latest research proves that wrong: It turns out that most people with Alzheimer’s seem to make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. They just can’t get rid of it.

If researchers could find a way to speed up disposal, perhaps they could slow down or halt the disease. Researchers have also found that amyloid, in its normal small amounts, seems to have a purpose in the brain — it may be acting like a circuit breaker to prevent nerve firing from getting out of control. But too much amyloid can shut down nerves, eventually leading to cell death. That means that if amyloid levels were reduced early in the disease, when excess amyloid is stunning nerve cells but has not yet killed them, the damage might be reversed. 

About all the new research:

The result of all this work is a renewed vigor in the field. After years in which it was not clear how to attack this devastating disease, scientists have almost an embarrassment of riches. The research is in early stages, of course, and there are many questions about which discoveries and insights will lead to prevention or a treatment that works. 

There is a new hopefulness that this terrible disease may eventually be conquered. “We are much closer and quite optimistic that we will be able to do it,” Dr. Richard Mohs, Alzheimer’s group team leader at Eli Lilly, said.

Doctors respond to Obamacare

For all the times that President Obama promised "you'll get to keep your doctor" under his health-care reforms, he apparently failed to ask any practicing doctors.

A recent survey finds that countless MDs will respond to ObamaCare by limiting which patients they'll see.

The Physicians Foundation asked 2,400 doctors and American Medical Association members what they thought of the new law; a full 67 percent were against it.

More important, it asked how they'd cope with the new rules (which don't fully kick in until 2014). Sixty percent said they feel compelled to "close or significantly restrict their practices to certain categories of patients." And 59 percent said the "reform" would oblige them to spend less time with the patients they do have.

Of course, many doctors already limit how many patients they'll take on who depend on government insurance (whose fees rarely cover an MD's costs). But it'll get worse under ObamaCare: In the survey, some 87 percent said they would significantly restrict Medicare patients and 93 percent said they'd significantly restrict Medicaid patients.