Aspirin could prevent dementia and
cancer!
Aspirin is
generally known to be useful in preventing
heart attacks and strokes, but
now researchers believe the humble aspirin could also hold the key to warding
off dementia and cancer. The claim has been made at the launch of the
largest ever study into the health benefits of the everyday medicine, which has
long been thought of as a health-booster.
A study of
15,000 people aged over 70 will be the most extensive clinical trial on the use
of aspirin to prevent disease in the elderly, Daily Mail
reported. Research team leader Mark Nelson, from Hobart’s Menzies Research
Institute in Tasmania, Australia, said: “Remember aspirin is an
over-the-counter medication; you don’t need a doctor to prescribe it, you don’t
need a doctor to tell you you’ve turned 70. So this is something that can be
done very simply, very cheaply if we find that it’s an effective strategy.”
Nelson
said the study starts next summer and results are expected in
2018. Millions of people who take the pill to fight heart disease or the
risk of a stroke benefit from its effectiveness at thinning the blood and how
it helps to prevent clotting. It cuts the danger of further heart attacks
or strokes by at least 23 per cent. Research has shown regular users have
a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, the main form of
dementia. Scientists believe its protective effect may be due to its
anti-clotting action helping blood flow to the brain.
Research
has also shown that aspirin may have a role in fighting cancer, particularly
gastro-intestinal cancers. ”Now that makes sense because you take it
orally so in aspirin you’ve got that natural component.” In the study – in
the journal Contemporary Clinical Trials – the team wants to establish whether
the benefits of a low dose of aspirin outweigh the risks linked to its use.
03.12.2013
Beware – energy drinks spike your
heart rate!
Scientists
have revealed that healthy adults who consume energy drinks with high caffeine
and taurine content have significantly increased heart contraction rates one
hour later. Jonas Dorner, M.D., radiology resident of the cardiovascular
imaging section at the University of Bonn, Germany said that they haven’t known
exactly what effect these energy drinks have on the function of the heart.
Doner said
that there are concerns about the beverage’s potential adverse side effects on
heart function, especially in adolescents and young adults, but there is little
or no regulation of energy drink sales. He said that usually energy drinks
contain taurine and caffeine as their main pharmacological ingredients and the
amount of caffeine is up to three times higher than in other caffeinated
beverages like coffee or cola. There are many side effects known to be
associated with a high intake of caffeine, including rapid heart rate,
palpitations, rise in blood pressure and, in the most severe cases, seizures or
sudden death.
In the
ongoing study, Dorner and his colleagues have used cardiac magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) to measure the effect of energy drink consumption on heart
function in 18 healthy volunteers, including 15 men and three women with a mean
age of 27.5 years. Each of the volunteers underwent cardiac MRI before and
one hour after consuming an energy drink containing taurine (400 mg/100 ml) and
caffeine (32 mg/100 ml).
The
research saw that as compared to the baseline images, MRI performed one hour
after the study participants consumed the energy drink revealed significantly
increased peak strain and peak systolic strain rates in the left ventricle of
their heart. However, the researchers have found no significant
differences in heart rate, blood pressure or the amount of blood ejected from
the left ventricle of the heart between the volunteers’ baseline and second MRI
exams. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological
Society of North America.
03.12.2013
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