Indian Medicine

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating a moderate amount of vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables, seems to lower a man's risk of developing colorectal cancer, researchers found.

"Our results suggest that regular consumption of fruit and vegetables protects against colorectal cancer," study chief Dr. Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, told Reuters Health.

"Considering other health benefits of fruit and vegetables, people are encouraged to consume more fruit and vegetables," Park added.

Fruits and vegetables, which are packed with potentially cancer-fighting compounds like vitamin C, carotenoids, folate, fiber, and flavonoids, have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, but hard data for humans are lacking.

Park and colleagues looked at associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of colorectal cancer in 488,043 men and women aged 50 to 71 years in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Over the course of 5 years, 2,972 developed colorectal cancer.

Results showed that men who consumed very low amounts of fruit and vegetables (less than 1 serving per day) had 26-percent greater risk of having colorectal cancer than those who consumed low to high amounts (2 or more servings per day).

Men who ate the most servings of vegetables daily had an 18 percent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer compared with men who ate the fewest servings, they report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Women with the highest daily servings of vegetables appeared to have a slightly increased risk of colorectal cancer, compared with women reporting the lowest daily servings of vegetables.

But the authors caution that this gender difference may be explained by reporting errors, noting that in past studies women have over reported foods perceived as healthy.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, July 15, 2007.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The carbohydrates present in a diet can influence the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in older adults, according to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"AMD appears to share several carbohydrate-related mechanisms and risk factors with diabetes-related diseases, including (eye) and cardiovascular disease," write Dr. Allen Taylor, of Tufts University, Boston, and colleagues. "However, to date, only one small study has addressed this issue."

To investigate further, the researchers conducted a study of 4,099 participants, aged 55 to 80 years, in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study.

The team classified a total of 8,125 eyes into one of five AMD groups based on the severity of the disease and other factors.

Regular consumption of a diet with a high-glycemic index - a diet containing carbs that quickly raise blood sugar levels -- significantly increased the risk of AMD relative to regular consumption of a diet with a low-glycemic index.

The researchers calculate that 20 percent of AMD cases could have been prevented if subjects had consumed diets with a low-glycemic index.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The COX-2 inhibitor etoricoxib and the older agent naproxen are both safe and effective for the treatment of arthritis, according to a report in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Dr. Sean P. Curtis, of Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey, and colleagues studied etoricoxib at 60 milligrams once-daily versus naproxen 500 milligrams twice-daily over a 138-week period in patients with arthritis at 80 clinical centers in 19 countries. Nearly 1,000 patients were included in the study.

Etoricoxib and naproxen were comparable in their ability to reduce pain throughout the entire study period, the report indicates.

Both treatments were generally well tolerated and the side effects seen with each were similar. Still, more naproxen-treated patients were likely to discontinue the drug due to side effects than patients in the etoricoxib group.

"Regardless of treatment group, the most common (side effects) in the three study periods overall were upper respiratory infection and (high blood pressure)," they report.

The investigators also note that the study was not designed to compare the risk of gastrointestinal or heart side effects with each drug.

SOURCE: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, July 2007.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Very young infants, especially boys, who were exposed to tobacco smoke in the womb tend to have higher systolic blood pressure - the number on top of the reading -- than their unexposed counterparts, results of a study in the Netherlands suggest.

Multiple investigations have revealed evidence of an association between mothers who smoke during pregnancy and higher blood pressure in their offspring, note Dr. Cuno S.P.M. Uiterwaal and colleagues in the medical journal Hypertension. However, they add, the question remains as to whether the association occurs in the women or during the postnatal period.

To investigate, Uiterwaal's team at the University Medical Center Utrecht measured blood pressure and heart rate among infants who were about 1 month old. Included were 363 infants whose mothers did not smoke, 63 whose mothers did not smoke but were exposed to smoke, and 30 whose mothers did smoke during pregnancy.

Blood pressure was measured three times in the lower leg of infants while they were sleeping. In comparing outcomes, the authors accounted for the possible influence of birth weight, gender, infant age at measurement, infant feeding, and maternal age.

Maternal smoking was associated with a statistically significant 5.4 mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure. Further analysis showed that the effect was not significant in mothers who were just exposed to smoking, and was limited to boys of mothers who smoked.

Girls' blood pressure was not affected significantly. No differences in diastolic blood pressure or heart rate were observed in boys or girls after adjustment.

Uiterwaal and associates intend to track these subjects during childhood to see if the relationship between tobacco smoke and blood pressure at birth is maintained later in life.

Source: Hypertension September 2007.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While medication initially appears to provide some advantages over behavioral therapy and community care for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), over time, the added benefit of medication may disappear, new research suggests.

The results of a study of 579 children with ADHD, conducted by the National Institutes of Mental Health, have indicated that medication usage, alone or in combination with behavioral therapy, provides better patient outcomes than just behavioral therapy or routine community care after 14 and 24 months.

In the present investigation, Dr. Peter S. Jensen, from Columbia University in New York, and colleagues reevaluated 485 of the original 579 children after 36 months.

The researches found no statistically significant differences in disease symptoms, social skills, reading scores, impairment, or diagnostic status between the groups on combination therapy or the group on medication alone at 36 months, according to the report in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The authors note that all of the groups showed significant improvements in symptoms at 36 weeks compared with symptoms at the beginning of the study.

"It would be incorrect to conclude from these results that treatment makes no difference or is not worth pursuing," the researchers state. There was no "control," or placebo group in the study and all of the groups showed improvements at 36 months compared with the time they entered the study. "It is possible that all of the treatments worked, the authors continued, "but at different rates or during different time periods."

Other factors that may have influenced the children's outcomes include an age-related decline in symptoms, changes in drug doses, and stopping or starting drug treatment, the authors add.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, August 2007.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.