Indian Medicine

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Gummy bears containing a sugar substitute called xylitol seem to reduce cavity-causing bacteria on young children's teeth suggesting, researchers say, that candy could be turned into a weapon against tooth decay.

Xylitol is a natural sweetener found in various berries, corn, birch and other plant sources. Research has shown that the sugar substitute reduces levels of mutans streptococci (MS) bacteria, which are known to cause cavities.

This is because xylitol differs from others sugars, like table sugar and glucose, which MS bacteria use for energy. MS bacteria "take in" xylitol, but can not break it down to use for fuel, explained lead investigator Dr. Kiet A. Ly of the University of Washington in Seattle.

"So in the process of trying to break down xylitol, they expend energy and don't get any in return," Ly told Reuters Health. "That reduces their ability to reproduce and multiply and leads to a reduction in number."

Xylitol-containing chewing gum is available, but it's not considered suitable for young children. So Ly and his colleagues tested the effects of xylitol-sweetened gummy bears in 154 elementary school children.

Each child was given four gummy bears, three times per day, during school hours. Some children received xylitol-containing gummy bears, while the rest were given candies sweetened with maltitol, another sugar substitute.

At the beginning of the study and six weeks later, the researchers measured the amount of bacteria in plaque samples from the children's teeth.

In the end, both the xylitol and maltitol gummy bears reduced levels of MS bacteria in the children's mouths, the researchers report in the online journal BMC Oral Health.

According to Ly, the findings suggest that gummy bears containing either sugar substitute could benefit children's oral health. But, he added, there has been little research on maltitol, and more study is needed to confirm the current findings.

The next step is to show that xylitol gummy bears actually prevent cavities in young children.

Ly said he and his colleagues are collaborating on just such a study with researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

He noted that the xylitol gummy bears were created for the current study and are not yet on the market.

SOURCE: BMC Oral Health, online July 24, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In women with a certain type of migraine, a version of a gene called MTHFR appears to increase the risk of stroke, according to a report in the journal Neurology.

The effect was only seen in women who had migraine with aura. In addition to the migraine headache, they also experience visual, auditory, or other physical sensations. Seeing flashing lights is a common type of aura.

Because the biology underlying the link between migraine with aura and stroke remains unclear, it would be premature, at this point, to recommend genetic testing for migraine patients, Dr. Tobias Kurth, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues state. Instead, doctors should continue to counsel their migraine patients about risk factors they can change, such as stopping smoking or controlling their blood pressure.

The new findings are based on a study of 25,001 white women enrolled in the U.S. Women's Health Study and had information on the MTHFR gene. When the study began, 3,226 women reported migraines, including 39.5 percent with auras.

A total of 625 strokes, heart attacks, and related events were logged during roughly 12 years of follow-up.

Migraine with aura coupled with the "TT" form of MTHFR increased the risk of stroke by fourfold. By contrast, this coupling did not raise the risk of heart attack.

This study should be repeated with another large group of patients, with more specific information on migraine and aura status, and using criteria from the International Headache Society, the authors state. In particular, the impact of patient age and gender needs to be assessed, they add.

SOURCE: Neurology, August 12, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Colorado health officials said they found a Salmonella-tainted jalapeno in the home of someone sickened in a recent outbreak of the food poisoning -- a vital clue in tracking down the source of the illness.

The pepper carried bacteria with the same unusual strain of Salmonella saintpaul that has made 1,307 people sick in the United States, the state health department said.

"The pepper was purchased at a local Wal-Mart, likely on June 24, and the individual became ill on July 4. This is the first pepper linked directly to an ill person in this outbreak," the health department said in a statement posted on its Web site this week.

On Friday, U.S. health officials said they had traced the outbreak to jalapeno peppers from Mexico. The only other tainted pepper was found last week at a distribution facility in McAllen, Texas.

The Food and Drug Administration has said peppers grown in the United States are not involved in the outbreak.

Investigators had focused early in the probe on tomatoes as a possible culprit. Last week, regulators lifted their warning on tomatoes, not because they were cleared from suspicion but because any that could have been contaminated would have spoiled and been discarded by that time.

Mexican officials have been angered by the FDA's statements.

Last week, Enrique Sanchez, director of Mexico's National Sanitation and Farm Food Quality Service, called the decision "arbitrary" and said it could have an "enormous" harmful impact on the local jalapeno industry.

Some members of Congress have also said they do not believe the investigation has been handled well. The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations plans a hearing on the matter on Thursday.

Salmonella poisoning, which causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps is very common, with 40,000 cases and 400 deaths each year in the United States alone.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Research shows that boosting levels of potassium in the diet may lower a person's risk of developing high blood pressure and may decrease blood pressure in people who already have "hypertension."

High blood pressure remains the chief reason for visits to doctors' offices and for prescription drug use in the U.S., two researchers from Nashville, Tennessee note in a special supplement to The Journal of Clinical Hypertension this month.

Dr. Mark C. Houston, from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Dr. Karen J. Harper from Harper Medical Communications, Inc. in Nashville, also point out that a healthy intake of potassium is thought to be one reason why vegetarians and isolated populations have a very low incidence of heart disease.

In isolated societies consuming diets low in sodium and high in fruits and vegetables, which have and therefore high levels of potassium, hypertension affects only 1 percent of the population, they note. In contrast, in industrialized societies, where people consume diets high in processed foods and large amounts of dietary sodium 1 in 3 persons have hypertension.

The typical American diet contains about double the sodium and half the potassium that is currently recommended in dietary guidelines. Low potassium is intake is thought to contribute to the prevalence of high blood pressure in Americans.]

Based on their review of published studies on the topic, Houston and Harper say if Americans were to boost their potassium intake, the number of adults with known high blood pressure could fall by more than 10 percent. In 2006, the American Heart Association issued new guidelines calling for Americans to get 4.7 grams per day of potassium.

"An increase in potassium with a decrease in sodium is probably the most important dietary choice (after weight loss) that should be implemented to reduce cardiovascular disease," Houston and Harper contend.

Some studies also show that diets containing at least 500 to 1,000 milligrams magnesium daily and more than 800 milligrams of calcium daily may help lower blood pressure and the risk of developing high blood pressure.

"A high intake of these minerals through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables may improve blood pressure levels and reduce coronary heart disease and stroke," Houston and Harper conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Hypertension, July 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Frequent urination during night, a condition doctors call nocturia, appears to be fairly common among men with obstructive sleep apnea, Japanese researchers report.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common problem in which soft tissues in the back of throat temporarily collapse during sleep causing brief moments in which the patient stops breathing. The disorder, which can cause daytime sleepiness, may be effectively treated with a breathing device that pushes air into the throat to prevent the tissues from collapsing.

Dr. Yoji Moriyama of Gifu University School of Medicine and colleagues assessed the occurrence of nocturia and other urinary symptoms in 73 men with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Nocturia was defined as needing to void two or more times each night.

Patients were classified according to the frequency of night-time urination and age: younger than 50 or 50 years and older.

The researchers' findings are published in the journal Urology.

Nocturia was present in 30 patients (41 percent). The risk of nocturia was directly related to the severity of sleep apnea and the association was particularly strong in patients younger than 50 years of age. Other voiding symptoms were not associated with nocturia in these patients.

SOURCE: Urology, June 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.