The Brain In A Bucket
Archives
All entries, chronologically...
A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has uncovered further evidence of the benefits of a balanced diet that replaces white bread and pasta carbohydrates with unsaturated fat from avocados, olive oil, and nuts — foods typical of the so-called “Mediterranean diet.” In a report prepared for the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Orlando next week, the Johns Hopkins investigators say swapping out certain foods can improve heart health in those at risk for cardiovascular disease, even if the dietary changes are not coupled with weight loss.
Women with a history of high blood pressure before getting pregnant have a higher risk of depression than women who develop pregnancy-related hypertension, according to a new study. The study, which appears in General Health Psychiatry, looked at 2,398 women receiving prenatal care at an obstetrics clinic in Seattle, Washington, evaluating them for depressive symptoms and evidence of pre-existing hypertension or pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Chronic use of stimulant medication to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children does not appear to increase risk for high blood pressure over the long term, but it may have modest effects on heart rate, according to follow-up data from the NIMH-funded Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). The study was published online ahead of print Sept 2, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Yoga is commonly seen as a practice beneficial to body and mind. Increasingly, yoga is being taken a step further and applied as a form of complementary and alternative medicine in treating psychiatric disorders. Can this ancient lifestyle practice for spiritual awareness stand up to testing standards required by modern science to prove that it is an effective treatment? Included in this report is a link to download the full text study.
The potato’s stereotype as a fattening food for health-conscious folks to avoid is getting another revision today as scientists report that just a couple servings of spuds a day reduces blood pressure almost as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain. Scientists reported on the research, done on a group of overweight people with high blood pressure, at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.
A new study suggests smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and being overweight in middle age may cause brain shrinkage and lead to cognitive problems up to a decade later. The study is published in the August 2, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Forty years ago, Americans could expect to live slightly longer than Europeans. This has since reversed: in spite of similar levels of economic development, Americans now live about a year-and-a-half less, on average, than their Western European counterparts, and also less than people in most other developed nations. How did Americans fall behind?
Adolescent girls whose diet resembles one recommended for adults with hypertension appear to have smaller gains in overall body mass index (BMI) over 10 years, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals [1]. “Excess weight during childhood leads to numerous health problems and is even associated with premature death as an adult,” the authors write as background information in the article.
The number of young adults in the United States with high blood pressure may be much higher than previously reported, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers analyzed data on more than 14,000 men and women between 24 and 32 years old in 2008 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, known as Add Health, funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Evidence continues to build that lifestyle modifications help control blood pressure (BP) levels. Data evaluating the consumption of coffee and alcohol and the impact of low fitness levels will be presented at the American Society of Hypertension, Inc.’s 26th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exposition (ASH 2011) and will be featured in the May 22 ASH press briefing.
