Newsletter - March 31, 2008

March 31, 2008 - In this Issue

Dr. Grossman to Appear on Barbara Walters Special April 1st
“Supersize Me” Vindicated in Scientific Study
How to Live to 100 Plus
Cell Phone Use Has Health Consequences
Regular Physical Activity Delays Telomere Shortening
The End of Hysterectomies?
Probiotics Are Not Perfect
Executive Health Evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center

Dr. Grossman to Appear on Barbara Walters Special April 1st

It’s not an April Fool’s joke ... Barbara Walters and ABC News will be presenting a one-hour special on “Living to 150” on Tuesday night's (April 1st) program.

Dr. Grossman was interviewed by Barbara Walters in New York last month and will appear in Tuesday's program. Ray Kurzweil and Aubrey de Grey make guest appearances as well -- along with individuals who practice caloric restriction, Alcor cryonicists and others.

It promises to be an exciting and entertaining program. Be sure to tune in to your ABC affiliate at 10:00 PM on the East and West coasts, and 9:00 PM in the Mountain and Central Time zones.

“Supersize Me” Vindicated in Scientific Study

Swedish researchers have attempted to demonstrate the scientific validity of the findings demonstrated by Morgan Spurlock in his hit documentary, “Supersize Me.” Eating fast food for just one week led to pathological elevations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a common liver test.

In a study published in the gastroenterology journal Gut, Swedish researchers reported the results of 18 healthy adults, who ate two or more fast food meals a day and limited their daily exercise to walking less than 5000 steps a day compared to a control group whocontinued eating their normal diet and exercise.

The group that ate fast food gained in average of 14 pounds over the four weeks of the study. Elevations in the liver test ALT were seen in half of this group beginning at the end of the first week and persisted to the end of the study.

How to Live to 100 Plus

According to two studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, living to 100 and beyond is neither as difficult as once thought, nor associated with as much disability.

The first study looked at physicians born prior to 1916 as part of the Physicians Health Study. Five risk factors were strongly associated with dying before 90 years of age. They were (with hazard ratios in parentheses): smoking (2.10), diabetes (1.86), obesity (1.44), and hypertension (1.28). Regular exercise reduced mortality rates by 30%.

A second study of centenarians found that two thirds were not troubled by any serious condition and that the remaining third who were affected required minimal assistance in performing activities of daily living.

Laurel B. Yates; Luc Djousse; Tobias Kurth; Julie E. Buring; J. Michael Gaziano

Exceptional Longevity in Men: Modifiable Factors Associated With Survival and Function to Age 90 Years. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(3):284-290.

Cell Phone Use Has Health Consequences

Debate continues to rage over the possible health risks associated with cell phone usage. 361 men undergoing infertility evaluations at a fertility clinic in Ohio were studied for amount of cell phone usage. The men were divided into four groups: no use at all; less than two hours a day; 2 – 4 hours a day; and greater than four hours every day.

Analysis revealed that mean sperm count, mobility, viability, and shape of sperm cells was different among the four groups with overall quality of sperm decreasing with greater cell phone exposure.

A cell phone is actually a powerful radio frequency transmitter. Holding such a device directly against your head – and brain – for several hours a day may have as yet undetermined health consequences for the more than 700 million cell phone users worldwide.

Regular Physical Activity Delays Telomere Shortening

Telomeres are the end caps found at the end of chromosomes that prevent their unraveling after cell replication. Each individual has a fixed and finite amount of telomere material, and when it is used up, well, so are you. Telomeres progressively shorten with age and a powerful antiaging strategy is thought to be preservation of telomere length.

In a study reported in the January 28, 2008 issue of the American Medical Association Journal Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr. Lynn F. Cherkas of King’s College, London reported on their questionnaire analysis from over 2400 twins. The questionnaires contained information regarding medical history, smoking, socio-economic status and physical activity over the previous year. Blood samples of the patients were then evaluated for telomere length of their white blood cells.

Overall, patients averaged a 21 nucleotide loss in telomere length per year as a result of the aging process. People who engaged in less physical activity had a greater degree of telomere shortening than those who engaged in greater amounts of activity. The physically active subjects in this study, who averaged more than three hours of physical activity per week, had telomere length that was 200 nucleotides longer than subjects who exercised the least. This would correspond to 9 ½ years of telomere shortening that did not occur in the most physically active individuals.

The authors concluded, “Adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals… This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-aging effect of regular exercise.”

The End of Hysterectomies?

A relatively new procedure known as endometrial ablation may soon supplant hysterectomy as a treatment for dysfunctional uterine bleeding. In a randomized, controlled trial, women with irregular or heavy uterine bleeding that was unresponsive to medical therapy were randomly assigned to receive either hysterectomy or endometrial ablation.

After two years of follow-up, endometrial ablation had proven to be successful in resolving the bleeding in 85% of patients. Even though hysterectomy resolved the problem in 94% of patients, adverse events such as blood clots, cardiac and respiratory complications, and need for follow-up surgery was four times more common in women who underwent hysterectomy than endometrial ablation. Postoperative infections were six times more common in hysterectomy group.

Endometrial ablation is a far more benign and less invasive procedure. Women with unresponsive dysfunctional uterine bleeding should discuss the option of endometrial ablation with their physicians before embarking on hysterectomy.

Probiotics Are Not Perfect

In our experience at Grossman Wellness Center, over 90% of the patients we see have some degree of intestinal dysbiosis, which is lack of normal bacteria and associated over growth of abnormal organisms in their colons.

This problem is relatively easy to resolve with a combination of probiotics, which are oral formulations of beneficial bacteria, and herbal compounds that help eradicate the pathological organisms. Yet, probiotics are not benign for all patients.

In a study reported in Lancet, Dutch researchers randomized 300 patients with acute pancreatitis to either receive a 28 day course of placebo or a combination of probiotics containing Lactobacillus, Lactococcus and Bifidobacterium.

Follow up at 90 days showed rates of infectious complications did not differ between the two groups. However, patients who had received the probiotics had mortality rates were twice as high as the placebo patients.It was felt that providing the probiotic bacteria increased the oxygen demands of the intestinal tract, which led to complications.

We need to realize that even a treatment as seemingly benign as probiotics supplementation can be associated with severe complications in some patients.

Executive Health Evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center

Exciting things continue at Frontier Medical Institute. Our preventive health and wellness program has become so successful that we’ve created a separate division of our clinic specifically devoted to wellness.

If you haven't yet experienced a comprehensive health evaluation, please take a moment to visit our new Grossman Wellness Center website at GrossmanWellness.com. We hope to see you in Denver soon!