Vitamin C Protects Against Osteoporosis By Preventing Bone Loss, Mouse Study Shows

Vitamin C may have protective effects osteoporosis, according to a new study in mice.

If replicated in people, the findings could have "profound public health implications," study researcher Dr. Mone Zaidi, M.D., a professor and director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Bone Program, said in a statement. "What this study shows is that large doses of vitamin C, when ingested orally by mice, actively stimulate bone formation to protect the skeleton. It does this by inducing osteoblasts, or premature bone cells, to differentiate into mature, mineralizing specialty cells."

The PLoS ONE study was conducted in two sets of mice -- one group had had their ovaries removed, a procedure that is known to decrease bone mineral density. The other had "sham" ovary removal surgeries, so their bone mineral density was not decreased.

Then, the researchers split up the mice that had their ovaries removed into two groups. One group received a large amount of vitamin C over an eight-week period, while the other was not.

Researchers found that the mice that had had their ovaries removed but were not given vitamin C had lower bone mineral density than those that received the vitamin C.

Plus, the mice that had their ovaries removed and took the vitamin C had similar bone mineral density levels as the mice that had the sham ovary removals, according to the study.

However, the researchers noted that more studies must be done to see if the findings also apply to humans. But "if so, the findings could be ultimately useful to developing nations where osteoporosis is prevalent and standard medications are sparse and expensive," Zaidi said in the statement.

In 2008, a study from Tufts University showed a link between high vitamin C and less bone loss in elderly men, though the results were not seen in women, WebMD reported.

The researcher of that Journal of Nutrition study, Katherine L. Tucker, Ph.D., told WebMD that vitamin C's powers may come from its antioxidant effects: "Antioxidants are needed to protect against oxidative stress, therefore protecting against inflammation. Inflammation drives bone resorption, which is basically taking calcium away from the bones. Vitamin C, theoretically, should help slow that resorption."

Green Tea Can...

Protect The Heart 

A few cups of any tea have been linked with a lower risk of heart disease, but green tea in particular seems to keep heart arteries "flexible and relaxed" to better handle changes in blood pressure, Time.com reported. The antioxidants known as flavonoids keep the endothelial cells working properly, which in turn helps to prevent clogged arteries.

Boost Immunity 

The studies mostly come from the lab rather than real life, but some experts believe that the same EGCG catechin can fight off viruses. In one study, green tea prevented a particular strain of the cold virus from replicating. It's thought to work thanks to a boost to the number of "regulatory T cells" in the body, a marker of stronger immune system functioning.

Fight Obesity 

Green tea can aid in weight loss and prevent weight gain, making it a useful tool in the fight against our ever-expanding waistlines. Five cups a day seems to up the body's natural fat-burning abilities, Health.com reported. And in a 2011 study, mice gained weight more slowly when they were given green tea along with a high-fat diet.

Improve Functioning In Old Age 

In a study of 14,000 adults over the age of 65, the ones who drank the most green tea coped the best with the aging process. Everyday activities like bathing or dressing were easier for the seven percent who drank at least five cups a day, HuffPost reported. While some of this benefit may be chalked up to healthier lifestyles in general, the researchers said something about green tea itself still seems to play a role.

Prevent Diabetes 

Both black and green tea are thought to have blood-sugar-lowering effects that could stave off diabetes, according to WebMD. But a 2006 study of more than 17,000 Japanese adults found that drinking at least six cups of green tea a day lowered a person's risk of diabetes by about a third, while other types of tea didn't offer any protection, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Lower Cholesterol 

Those same polyphenols seem to block cholesterol absorption, contributing to lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels. However, the effect is not enormous -- a 2011 study found LDL levels dropped only about five or six points. "If someone is already taking medication for their cholesterol, they should stick with it and not to trade it for green tea," study author Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, told Reuters Health.

Improve Memory 

That same famed EGCG also seems to protect your grey matter. Green tea sparks new brain cell growth, according to a 2012 study conducted in mice, bolstering memory and learning.

Green Tea Benefits: How The Drink Improves Your Health

The health benefits of tea stretch across the spectrum -- green, black or white all promise to fight free radicals and hydrate you, among other benefits.

But green tea may have the advantage on one front: It's less processed and therefore the good guys (antioxidants, in particular one variety called EGCG) are more concentrated, WebMD reported.

Now, new clues are emerging as to just how powerful green tea really is. It's long been linked to fighting cancer, but researchers presented new evidence about how green tea prevents or slows the growth of prostate and breast cancers.

In a small new study, men who drank green tea had less prostate tissue inflammation and lower levels of the protein PSA, higher levels of which are often used as an indicator of prostate cancer, than men who didn't drink it, thanks to the antioxidants called polyphenols in the drink, WebMD reported.

The polyphenols were also seen to hinder two proteins that spur tumor cell growth in a study of 40 women with breast cancer, LiveScience reported.

While experts agree that more research is still needed, this only adds to the body of work linking green tea to healthy, happy living. And it doesn't only play a role in cancer prevention. Here are some of the other ways that green tea can help your health. Did we forget something? Tell us in the comments.

Yoga Can Help With Insomnia

Looking for a low-impact exercise routine with high returns for health and sleep? Try yoga.
The pleasures and benefits of yoga are widely understood: Yoga can improve physical strength and flexibility, improve breathing, reduce stress and enhance mental focus. What may be less well known are the positive effects that yoga can have on sleep.

A new study indicates that yoga can help improve sleep among people suffering from chronic insomnia. Researchers at Harvard Medical School investigated how a daily yoga practice might affect sleep for people with insomnia and found broad improvements to measurements of sleep quality and quantity.

In this study, researchers included people with different types of insomnia, evaluating people with both primary and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that develops on its own, independent of any other health problem or sleep disorder. Secondary insomnia develops as a symptom or consequence of another medical condition. Many illnesses and health problems are associated with insomnia, including cancer, chronic pain conditions such as arthritis and fibromyalgia, and depression. Medications taken for chronic or acute health conditions can also trigger insomnia, as can the use (and abuse) of substances such as alcohol.

Researchers in this study provided their subjects with basic yoga training, then asked them to maintain a daily yoga practice for eight weeks. The study participants kept sleep diaries for two weeks before the yoga regimen began and for the duration of the eight-week study period. In the sleep diaries, they kept a record of the amount of time spent asleep, number of times they awakened during the night, and the duration of time spent sleeping between periods of waking, in addition to other details about nightly sleep amounts and sleep quality. Twenty people completed the eight-week evaluation, and researchers analyzed the information in their sleep diaries to evaluate the influence of yoga on the disrupted sleep of chronic insomnia. They found improvements to several aspects of sleep, including:

• Sleep efficiency
• Total sleep time
• Total wake time
• Sleep onset latency (the amount of time it takes to fall asleep)
• Wake time after sleep onset

There isn't a great deal of research into the effects of yoga on sleep and its potential value as a treatment for sleep problems and disorders. But we have seen other scientific evidence in recent years of yoga's effectiveness in improving sleep:

• This study of 410 cancer survivors found that yoga was linked to improved sleep quality, reduced feelings of fatigue, reduced frequency of use of sleep medication, and an improved sense of quality of life among patients who practiced yoga twice a week for 75-minute sessions.
• This research looked at the effects of yoga among post-menopausal women with insomnia and found that yoga was linked to a reduction in symptoms and the severity of the sleep disorder. This study also found yoga linked to lower stress levels and an enhanced sense of quality of life.
• In this study of women with osteo-arthritis and sleep problems, an evening yoga practice was linked to significant improvements in sleep efficiency and a decrease in the frequency of individual nights of insomnia.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder among American adults, with 10-15 percent of the population suffering from chronic insomnia. As many as 40 percent of adults in the U.S. experience some type of insomnia every year. Older people, women, and those with other health problems are at higher risk for insomnia. Despite its prevalence, insomnia, like many other sleep disorders, remains significantly under-diagnosed, according to recent research. This study showed that while 1 percent of the population surveyed had a clinical diagnosis of insomnia, 37 percent of those surveyed showed symptoms of insomnia.
Insomnia may be common, but if left untreated its health consequences can be anything but benign. Chronic insomnia is associated with a number of serious medical conditions:

Insomnia is associated with high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. This large-scale study found that people with insomnia had significantly elevated risk of heart attack. Insomnia is also associated with inflammation in the body, which is itself a risk factor for heart problems and other serious illnesses.

Research indicates that lack of sleep can have negative effects on cognition, and the brain. This study linked insomnia with destruction of gray matter in the brain. This group of four studies, conducted independently of one another, found evidence that poor and fragmented sleep may contribute to impaired cognition as we age.
Insomnia has been found linked to both anxiety and depression. The relationship between sleeplessness and these mental health disorders is still being understood, including whether one condition precipitates the other. But insomnia, depression and anxiety share a deep and difficult connection.

Lack of sleep, and disrupted sleep, is also associated with obesity. We've seen extensive research that shows under-sleeping is linked to weight gain and the diseases associated with obesity.


With so much at stake, finding effective treatment for insomnia is an important endeavor. Sometimes medication can be an appropriate choice, but any treatment is best to begin with basic lifestyle changes. Yoga and other regular forms of exercise can help to form the basis of a long-term, sustainable lifestyle that helps you sleep more, and better.

Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™

FDA: Fungus in patients found in tainted steroids

NEW YORK (AP) — NEW YORK (AP) — The fungus found in tainted steroid shots matches the one blamed in the national meningitis outbreak that has killed 20 people, federal health officials said Thursday.

The match confirms the link between the outbreak and the maker of the steroids, New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. Officials previously said they found fungus in more than 50 unopened vials from the company, but needed more tests to determine the kind of fungus.

The specialty pharmacy has been at the center of a federal and state investigation into 257 fungal meningitis cases. The death toll rose Thursday to 20.

The victims in the outbreak had all received steroid shots made by the pharmacy, mostly to treat back pain. The company last month recalled three lots of the steroid made since May. It later shut down operations and recalled all the medicines it makes.

The fungus was found in one steroid batch made in August, according to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The initial recall involved about 17,700 single-dose vials of the steroid sent to clinics in 23 states. As many as 14,000 people got shots from the three lots. The FDA and CDC said Thursday that tests were continuing on the other two batches.

The company released a statement Thursday afternoon that said, in part; "We are eager to review these findings as part of our continued cooperation with the CDC and FDA to identify the cause of this contamination."

The fungus in the vials — Exserohilum rostratum— is the same as that found in at least 40 people sickened with fungal meningitis, said the CDC's Mary Brandt, whose lab did the testing.

"We were able to link the organism in these vials to the organism in the patients," she said.

The FDA-CDC announcement did not say how many tested vials had that kind of fungus.

Exserohilum is common in dirt and grasses, but it rarely causes illness and has never before been identified as a cause of meningitis, CDC officials have said.

Meningitis is caused by the inflammation of meninges, which are protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Tainted spinal injections would directly put germs into that part of the body.

Also on Thursday, the CDC said New York has reported a fungal illness, making it the 16th state with outbreak cases. The others are Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Officials say 254 of the cases are meningitis related to shots for back pain. Three others are infections in the joints, including the New York case.

The new death reported was in Michigan, bringing its total to four.

Banana Boat recalls sunscreen over fire risk

WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of Banana Boat sunscreen is recalling some half-million bottles of spray-on lotion after reports that a handful of people have caught on fire after applying the product and coming in contact with an open flame.

Energizer Holdings said Friday that it is pulling 23 varieties of UltraMist sunscreen off store shelves due to the risk of the lotion igniting when exposed to fire.

The recall includes aerosol products like UltraMist Sport, UltraMist Ultra Defense and UltraMist Kids.

A company spokesman said there have been five reports of people suffering burns after using the sunscreen in the last year. Four burn cases were reported in the U.S. and one in Canada.

More than 20 million units have been sold since UltraMist launched in 2010, the spokesman said.

The problem appears to be caused by UltraMist's spray valve, which is over applying the product, Energizer said in a statement. As a result the lotion is taking longer to dry, which raises the flammability risk.

"If a consumer comes into contact with a flame or spark prior to complete drying of the product on the skin, there is a potential for the product to ignite," the company said.

UltraMist's label warns users: "Keep away from sources of ignition — no smoking."

But dermatologists say most people don't read such labels.

"So many people put this on outside, while they're on their way to activities, so I just don't think people are aware of that," said Michele Green, a dermatologist at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.

Green said aerosol sunscreens have become popular in recent years because they're faster and easier to apply than traditional creams.

Doctors and burn experts said Friday the problem appears to be extremely rare.

"I've been doing this for 30 years and I've never seen or heard of this happening before," said Darrel Rigel, professor of dermatology at New York University. Rigel pointed out that the flammable ingredients in aerosol — including alcohol — are common to many products, including hairspray and spray-on deodorants.

"I think you just have to use common sense and not be near an open fire when you put on aerosol anything," said Rigel, a past president of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dan Dillard, executive director of the Burn Prevention Network, said the group was contacted earlier this year about two burns related to spray-on sunscreen. One case involved a man who was standing near a barbecue grill, the other involved a woman working with welding equipment. Both cases resulted in second and third degree burns.

"We've found no evidence of this happening before the incidents that came to our attention," Dillard said.
St. Louis-based Energizer Holdings said it has notified the Food and Drug Administration about the recall, which it undertook voluntarily.

Consumers who purchased the products are being told not to use them. More information is available from the manufacturer at 1-800-SAFESUN.

CDC warns of laundry pod dangers

Your Friday morning health roundup:

Detergent danger: Parents and other caregivers should keep concentrated pods of laundry detergent out of the reach and sight of children, says a new warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC joined poison centers to analyze 1,000 reported cases in which children were exposed to any kind of laundry detergent and found those who got their hands (and often their mouths) on the concentrated packets were more likely to vomit, choke, cough and become lethargic than those exposed to other kinds of detergent. The cases were first reported in the spring but experts still don't know why the detergent packets make kids so sick. (NPR)

Uncrustable recall: Smucker's Uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sold to schools are the latest products to join a long list of foods recalled over salmonella linked to the facilities of peanut-processor Sunland, Inc. Sandwiches sold in stores are not affected and those sold to schools have all passed their expiration dates, according to the J.M. Smucker Co. (Associated Press via NBC News)

Accident report: About 12,000 U.S. children die in accidents each year and boys face nearly double the risk of girls, the CDC reports. The largest toll, in terms of years of life lost, is in infants, followed by teens; the biggest threats are traffic accidents, followed by suffocation and drowning. (HealthDay)

Today's talker: It's hard to buy shoes when your size is 24, 10E and hard to do much walking when you have no well-fitting shoes. That was the plight of America's tallest man, Igor Vovkovinskiy of Rochester, Minn. But now Vovkovinskiy, who is 7 feet, 8 1/2 inches tall, is sporting three new pairs of sneakers from Reebok -- made especially for him after he took to Facebook and Twitter to raise money for custom-made shoes. Reebok made the shoes for free and promises more in the future. Vovkovinskiy tells the Rochester Post-Bulletin that he's looking forward to walking to the hardware and grocery stores -- and taking off some of his 430 pounds.