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Welcome to the e-HealthFlash newsletter, brought to you by Goshen Health System. e-HealthFlash delivers to your mailbox timely medical news and health and wellness information that matter to you and your family. To visit Goshen Health System’s Women's Health Center, click here.
Folic acid and B vitamins no hedge against heart disease
Taking supplements of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 didn’t pay off when it came to reducing cardiovascular-disease risk, say Boston researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Taking part in the study were more than 5,400 female health professionals, ages 42 and older, with either a history of cardiovascular disease or three or more coronary risk factors, such as increasing age, heredity, tobacco use, physical inactivity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Half the women took one daily combination pill of 2.5 milligrams (mg) folic acid, 50 mg vitamin B6 and 1 mg vitamin B12; the others took a placebo. Though the antioxidants significantly lowered homocysteine levels, there was no difference in the rates of heart attack, stroke or heart-related death compared with the placebo group after about seven years of follow up. Homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood, is believed to contribute to plaque buildup in the arteries and increase risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Get your girls going to avoid breast cancer
Move it, mom—and pull your daughters with you. That’s the take-away message from a data review of nearly 65,000 women to determine the relationship between exercise and premenopausal breast cancer. Regular physical activity was rewarded with a 23 percent lower risk of breast cancer, and high levels of physical activity in young women between ages 12–22 contributed most strongly. Authors of the study, which appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, say exercise wasn’t linked to a specific sport or to intensity, but to total activity. Nearly one-quarter of all breast cancers are diagnosed in premenopausal women.
That crazy earring thing
It can be a real struggle to walk past those inexpensive, oh-so-trendy earrings, but sometimes when you stop to shop, you get what you pay for. Nickel, which can be a component of inexpensive earrings, is a common cause of dermatitis—skin inflammation—on the earlobes, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Worse, continuing to sacrifice your skin for fashion can make it difficult to treat the disorder. To avoid developing a sensitivity to nickel, follow these AAD recommendations:
• Shop smart and buy jewelry labeled “nickel-free” or “hypoallergenic.”
• Wear only stainless steel, platinum or gold jewelry if you know you have a nickel allergy.
• Don’t wear jewelry that causes itching or redness or other skin irritations.
• Use 1 percent hydrocortisone cream or ointment (available over the counter) to treat nickel-induced irritation.
• See your dermatologist if symptoms don’t improve in three to five days after not wearing jewelry or if your symptoms worsen.
Diabetes takes a heavy toll on women
Having diabetes means your body doesn’t produce or properly use insulin, the hormone that’s essential to get sugar, or glucose, from food into your cells to use as energy. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, depriving your cells of energy. More than 9 million women in the United States have diabetes, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and complications can be life threatening:
• Cardiovascular disease, the common complication of diabetes, is more serious among women than men. Heart disease deaths in women with diabetes have increased 23 percent over the past 30 years, compared to a 27 percent decrease in women without diabetes.
• The risk for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is 50 percent higher in women than men. DKA, or diabetic coma, is the result of poorly controlled diabetes. When there’s no insulin, the body uses fat for energy. Ketones are a byproduct of that process. The buildup of ketones in the blood becomes toxic and can lead to coma. Before insulin therapy, DKA was the predominant cause of death from diabetes.
• Women with diabetes are nearly eight times as likely to suffer peripheral vascular disease (PVD) than women without diabetes. PVD results in reduced blood and oxygen flow to tissues in the feet and legs.
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