Coffee is brainfood

Coffee will make your brain last longer, reports the NY Times:

After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. People who drank more than five cups a day also were at reduced risk of dementia, the researchers said, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions.

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Red wine substance featured on 60 Minutes

A CBS News 60 Minutes report examined claims that a substance in red wine (Resveratrol) could improve health and lengthen lives.

I have been taking resveratrol for several years.

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Best diet for prevention of heart disease

NY Times reports that the winner, hands down, is the "Mediterranean diet":

“The Mediterranean diet is one people can stick to,” said Dr. Ozner, author of “The Miami Mediterranean Diet” and “The Great American Heart Hoax” (BenBella, 2008). “The food is delicious, and the ingredients can be found in any grocery store.

“You should make most of the food yourself,” Dr. Ozner added. “When the diet is stripped of lots of processed foods, you ratchet down inflammation. Among my patients, the compliance rate — those who adopt the diet and stick with it — is greater than 90 percent.”

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A checklist for surgeons? Duh.

According to a Reuters report "Simple checklist cuts accidental deaths in surgery."

Checklists save lives? Who would have thought?

Pilots. Pilots have known that checklists help avoid crashes for decades:

A simple checklist to confirm a patient's name, what procedure is to be done, check allergies and count needles and sponges to make sure nothing got left inside halved the rate of surgery-related deaths, doctors reported on Wednesday.

The checklist, similar to those used by pilots before every flight, also slashed the rate of complications, the World Health Organization team reported.

Pilots journey with the customer, the same can't be said of a surgeon's patients. That's probably why in 2009 checklists are still viewed as some kind of "innovation" within the medical community.

The moral of this story? Don't be afraid to fly, but watch out for your local hospital.

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Chronic diseases of the West now major killer in poor countries

FT reports that not only are more people becoming obese in the developing world, they are dying of these diseases far faster than people living in the West:

A theory is emerging that people in poor countries are more vulnerable to chronic diseases. The reason might be that they often have low birth weights. The “thrifty phenotype” hypothesis argues that underweight babies are programmed to expect food scarcity and so store fat very readily. When they find food in ample supply later in life, this might increase their risk of obesity. Those with low birth weight certainly appear to be particularly vulnerable to chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Also, people in poor countries might suffer worse once they acquire a chronic disease. For instance, hypertension appears to affect Africans more severely than sufferers on other continents. South Asians seem to develop heart disease four to five years earlier than their white counterparts, and their diabetes seems to be more aggressive. The reasons for this are still unclear.

Blame the exportation of America's junk food culture to all corners of the globe.

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Even a little exercise does a lot of good

The NY Times reports:

. . . physical activity reduces the risk of cognitive decline, and studies have also found that diabetes increases the risk of dementia. Earlier studies had also found a link between Type 2 diabetes and dysfunction in the dentate gyrus.

Sheri Colberg-Ochs, an associate professor of exercise science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., said her research has found that regular exercise, even light physical activity, can offset the potentially negative effects of Type 2 diabetes on cognitive function. It is not clear what the mechanism is, she said, but may have something to do with the effect of insulin.

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