Older dads might increase the risk of mental health issues in their children

A child's health issues have often been linked to their mother's age at time of their birth. Now a study at University of Indiana has found evidence that a father's age can influence a child's risk of developing conditions such as autism, ADHD and bipolar disorder. The children of older fathers were also seen to be more likely to consider suicide.

As reported in The Independent by Ian Johnston in his article Children of older dads face more health problem;

Scientists at Indiana University found that a child born when their father is 45 was 3.5 times more likely to have autism, 13 times more likely to have ADHD and 25 times more likely to have bipolar disorder than the child of a 24-year-old man.
Suicidal behaviour and substance misuse was twice as likely, according to the study, which is published today in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Brian D’Onofrio, who led the research, told The Times: “We were shocked by the findings. The specific associations with paternal age were much, much larger than in previous studies.”
The researchers looked at information about everyone born in Sweden from 1973 until 2001, some 2,615,081 people.
Christopher Barratt, a professor of Reproductive Medicine at Dundee University, suggested younger men should consider freezing their sperm in case they want to have a child when they are in their 40s.

(Read on)


References:

Children of older dads face more health problems (The Independent- April 4, 2014) 

A Comprehensive Assessment of Parental Age and Psychiatric Disorders (JAMA Psychiatry) 

 

Reduce all animal proteins in our diet to live longer

It has been well documented that consumption of too much red meat as an adult can lead increased risk for type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.

Now researchers in the US and Italy have gathered enough data, over a period of two decades, to conclude that individuals who have diets high in animal proteins during their middle age are four times more likely to die of cancer then their counterparts who had diets low in animal proteins. A risk some have compared with smoking. An increased risk of developing Diabetes Type 2 was also observed.

Valter Longo, a University of Southern California gerontology professor and director of the school’s Longevity Institute, who co-authored the study pointed out "The great majority of Americans could reduce their protein intake," and added "The best change would be to lower the daily intake of all proteins, but especially animal-derived proteins."

The interesting finding though was the fact that if you started eating more animal proteins after the age of 66 years, it is actually good for your health.


Here are two articles on the subject:

Too much animal-based proteins could lead to early death, study says ( Brady Dennis for The Washington Post)

It's time to kick the high-protein diet habit – before it kills you (Holly Baxter for The Guardian)


Reference:

Low Protein Intake Is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and Overall Mortality in the 65 and Younger but Not Older Population

Anger really harmful to cardiovascular health

We all lose our temper from time to time, and it never feels good. An angry outburst is almost always leaves on exhausted, unhappy and feeling drained. We've all been told a bad temper and anger are bad for us at some point in our life.
Now a research study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health, has found that the risk of a heart attack or stroke is much higher for about two hours immediately following an angry outburst. The risk for a heart attack is increased almost five-folds, whereas the risk is increased two-folds for stroke. This finding is more consistent in individuals with preexisting risk factors.
According to the researchers, 'At a population level, the risk with a single outburst of anger is relatively low - one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year could be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who were angry only once a month, increasing to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk. But the risk is cumulative, meaning temper-prone individuals will be at higher risk still.'

It is not exactly clear how anger causes the increased risk, but a constant rise in stress level might be significant. Chronic stress is known to lead to high blood pressure which itself is a risk factor for heart diseases. Use of alcohol consumption or smoking for relieving the stress might further exacerbate that risk. Yet, further research is required to fully understand how anger could lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular events and what steps might successfully abate that risk.

This study involved the data analysis of nine studies in which anger and cardiovascular events were self-reported over a period of two decades. It was published in the European Heart Journal on March 3rd, 2014.


P.S: 
References:

Angry people 'risking heart attacks' (BBC World- Health 03/03/14)

Angry outbursts may raise heart attack, stroke risk (CNN Health 03/03/14)

 

 

Reduce risk of diabetes by making small lifestyle changes...

A recent trial by researchers at University of Edinburgh specifically focusing on individuals of South Asian descent, has shown that even small changes in lifestyle can lead to weight loss and significantly reduce the risk of type 2 Diabetes. It has been seen that men of Pakistani and Indian descent are three times more likely to develop diabetes as compared to men from the general population with similar body mass indexes.

This trial titled "Culturally adapting the prevention of diabetes and obesity in South Asians (PODOSA) trial", included 171 individuals of Pakistani and Indian descent living in Scotland with impaired glycemia thus at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

As most South Asian cultural activities and traditions revolve around family and food. Participants were given detailed dietary advice by dieticians and provided culturally relevant lifestyle change plans and resources. The trials made use of professional translators and multilingual professionals for communicating instructions to participants. Also many of the manual and pamphlets were translated into participants' preferred languages, such as Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi. In contrast, the control group was given basic instructions on weight control and management, it was not culturally specific.

According to Professor Raj Bhopal of Edinburgh University's Population Health Sciences Center 'These differing approaches show us that a more family-centred strategy, with culturally tailored lifestyle advice, can produce significant benefits to people's health through weight loss.'

 Although trials in Europe and North America have not so far reported on the impact on South Asian populations separately or provided the details of their cross-cultural adaptation processes. But there might be a more positive outcome of such efforts when instructions and advice are culture specific.



P.S: Small Lifestyle changes 'lower type 2 diabetes risk' (BBC World: Health)

Heart Attacks, Strokes and Apples

We all heard our parents encouraging us to eat fresh fruit and vegetable, specially apples, and all of them used the old Victorian saying " An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away" to further motivate us. Well, more then a century later it still holds true, especially for the above 50 population.
According to an article published in the christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, a research study led by Dr Adam Briggs of the BHF Health Promotion Research Group at Oxford University came to the conclusion that about 8500 deaths from heart attacks and strokes could be averted if all adults of 50 years and above were prescribed an a apple a day. The significance of this outcome is more apparent when compared to another recent study that showed that if adults 50 and above not already on it, were prescribed statins, it could prevent about 9400 deaths from heart diseases. 
Dr. Adam Briggs says 'It just shows how effective small changes in diet can be, and that both drugs and healthier living can make a real difference in preventing heart disease and stroke.' But the researchers stress that this does not encourage individuals already on statins to stop taking them, just try adding apples to your daily diet.
Although apples appear to be exceptionally good for maintaining a healthy heart, it is clearly essential to eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetable on a daily basis to stay healthy.





P.S:
An Apple A Day Keeps The Heart Doctor Away (University of Oxford)
Apple Nutrition and Composition Facts(USDA Database)

Exercise is good.....at any age!

Many who never exercise when young think it futile to try starting in senior years of life. But a recent study has proven that multiple benefits of regular exercise can be gained even if after being inactive for decades a person took up exercising.

Here is a Reuters Health report on the study:

Exercise later in life tied to healthy aging

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It's never too late to start exercising, according to a new study that found formerly inactive seniors who took up exercise still experienced health benefits.

The study sheds light on the question of whether the slower mental and physical decline seen among active seniors extends to former couch potatoes who begin exercising later in life.

"Regular physical activity in older age is important to remain healthy. However, taking up physical activity at old age is also beneficial," Mark Hamer told Reuters Health in an email. He led the study at University College London.

These findings "underscore the importance of prevention as well as rehabilitation," said Ursula M. Staudinger, who directs the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center in New York City.

"When you start later in life you can still get gains," Staudinger, who was not part of the research team, said.

For their study, Hamer and his coauthors analyzed information on 3,454 healthy seniors involved in the ongoing English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Participants reported how much they exercised at the start of the study, in 2002 to 2003. Researchers then followed them through regular health surveys for the next eight years.

At follow-up, 19 percent of the seniors were considered to be aging healthily. That is, they had not developed any major chronic diseases or depression and had not experienced any deterioration in their physical or mental status during the study period.

Seniors who were active at least once a week at the start of the study and remained active were the most likely to experience healthy aging. But those who started exercising during the study period benefited as well, Hamer and his colleagues reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

People who remained active during all eight years were over seven times more likely to experience healthy aging than inactive seniors. Those who became active after the study started were three times more likely than inactive adults to age well.

(Complete Report)

The advantage of being bilingual and mulitlingual

A recent extensive study on the relationship of bilingualism and dementia has provided further evidence and support to the belief that bilingual individuals show a delay in onset of dementia in old age. 

Sue Hughes reports in the Medscape Neurology section;

' More evidence that speaking a second language may protect against dementia has come from a study conducted in India.

The study, published online November 6 in Neurology, was conducted by a team led by Suvarna Alladi, DM, from Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India.

"This study provides the strongest evidence yet that speaking more than 1 language delays the development of dementia," coauthor Thomas H. Bak, MD, from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, commented to Medscape Medical News. "We can't say we have proven the effect, but this is the largest and most thorough study conducted on the subject in the most appropriate population. It would be extremely surprising if the results were not real."

He explained that 2 previous studies, both conducted in Toronto, Canada, have suggested that bilingualism might postpone dementia. However, most of the bilingual participants were immigrants with very different cultural backgrounds than members of the monolingual group, which introduced a high degree of confounding.

The study involved 648 patients with dementia diagnosed at a specialist clinic, 391 of whom were bilingual. The age at onset of first symptoms was compared between monolingual and bilingual groups.

Results showed that overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than those who spoke only 1 language. The effect was consistent across the different types of dementia and was also independent of other potential confounding factors such as education, sex, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of participants.'

The fact that the new study was conducted in Hyderabad, India with a mostly bilingual population has been described as a stroke of genius. The majority Hindu population speaks Telugu, whereas the Muslim minority speaks Dakkhini. Besides these languages most Hyderabadis learn English and Hindi in school and use them in formal context. Hence it is likely for a Hyderabad resident to be fluent in 2-3 languages. 

Barbara J. King reports in the NPR Science blog;

' The patients who contributed data to the study, then, are surrounded by multiple languages in everyday life, not primarily as a result of moving from one location to another. This turns out to be an important factor, as the authors explain:

"In contrast to previous studies, the bilingual group was drawn from the same environment as the monolingual one and the results were therefore free from the confounding effects of immigration. The bilingual effect on age at dementia onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors, such as education, sex, occupation, cardiovascular risk factors, and urban vs rural dwelling, of subjects with dementia."

What exactly is it about the ability to speak in two languages that seems to provide this protective effect? Alladi and co-authors explain:

"The constant need in a bilingual person to selectively activate one language and suppress the other is thought to lead to a better development of executive functions and attentional tasks with cognitive advantages being best documented in attentional control, inhibition, and conflict resolution."

Intriguingly, when a patient speaks three (or more) languages, no extra benefits accrue neurologically. Speaking a single language beyond one's native tongue is enough to do the trick.'

Therefore not only should we try to learn more then one language whenever the opportunity arises, but we should also make an effort to make our children at least bilingual if not multilingual.  

P.S:

New Study Shows Brain Benefits Of Bilingualism (Link to Full Article)
More Evidence Bilingualism Delays Dementia ( Link to Full Article)

Exercise.....the way to so many good things!

We all know exercise is good for the body, the soul and the mind. But now there is clear proof that exercise can help improve our thinking ability and hence our mental capabilities.

Exercise 'is good dementia therapy'

"People with dementia who exercise improve their thinking abilities and everyday life, a body of medical research concludes.
The Cochrane Collaboration carried out a systematic review of eight exercise trials involving more than 300 patients living at home or in care.
Exercise did little for patients' moods, the research concluded.But it did help them carry out daily activities such as rising from a chair, and boosted their cognitive skills." (Full Article)