Vitamin B6 Linked to Lower Lung Cancer Risk

June 15, 2010 -- Having higher blood levels of vitamin B6 and the amino acid methionine both appear to reduce lung cancer risk in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to a new study.

"We found that vitamin B6 and methionine are strongly associated with reducing lung cancer risk in people who never smoked, those who quit, and current smokers," researcher Paul Brennan, PhD, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, tells WebMD.

Whether the link is cause and effect, he says, is not known.

In the U.S. alone, more than 219,000 new cases of lung cancer were expected in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society, with about 160,000 deaths.

The study, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund and others, is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Vitamin B6 and Lung Cancer Risk: Study Details
Brennan and colleagues evaluated levels of B6 and methionine in blood samples from participants in the large European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which enrolled more than 519,000 participants from 10 European countries between 1992 and 2000.



His team zeroed in on 899 lung cancer cases and compared them to a group of 1,770 healthy comparison-group participants, matched to the lung cancer patients by country, sex, date of birth, and when the blood was collected.

They classified the participants into four groups, depending on blood levels of vitamin B6, which helps the body break down protein, maintain red blood cells, and perform other bodily functions, and methionine, which is involved in B vitamin metabolism.

After accounting for smoking, Brennan and colleagues found that the higher the vitamin B6 and methionine, the lower the lung cancer risk.

People in the highest group for vitamin B levels had a 56% reduced lung cancer risk, compared to those in the lowest group. Those with the highest methionine levels had a 48% reduced lung cancer risk, the researchers found.

''That's quite a strong effect," Brennan says, but emphasizes that more study is needed.

Some previous research, he says, looked only at smokers and linked vitamin B6 to a reduced lung cancer risk. His study, by including never smokers and past smokers, expands the information about the link.

Vitamin B6 is found in beans, grains, meat, poultry, fish, and some fruits and vegetables. Methionine is found in animal protein, some nuts, and vegetable seeds.

Vitamin B6, Methionine, and Lung Cancer: Behind the Results
How to explain the link is not known, the researchers say. But deficiencies in vitamin B6, for instance, may raise the risk of DNA damage and gene mutations, fostering cancer development.

Methionine is involved in a complex metabolism process with B vitamins.

June 15, 2010 -- Having higher blood levels of vitamin B6 and the amino acid methionine both appear to reduce lung cancer risk in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to a new study.

"We found that vitamin B6 and methionine are strongly associated with reducing lung cancer risk in people who never smoked, those who quit, and current smokers," researcher Paul Brennan, PhD, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, tells WebMD.

Whether the link is cause and effect, he says, is not known.

In the U.S. alone, more than 219,000 new cases of lung cancer were expected in 2009, according to the American Cancer Society, with about 160,000 deaths.

The study, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund and others, is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Vitamin B6 and Lung Cancer Risk: Study Details
Brennan and colleagues evaluated levels of B6 and methionine in blood samples from participants in the large European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, which enrolled more than 519,000 participants from 10 European countries between 1992 and 2000.



His team zeroed in on 899 lung cancer cases and compared them to a group of 1,770 healthy comparison-group participants, matched to the lung cancer patients by country, sex, date of birth, and when the blood was collected.

They classified the participants into four groups, depending on blood levels of vitamin B6, which helps the body break down protein, maintain red blood cells, and perform other bodily functions, and methionine, which is involved in B vitamin metabolism.

After accounting for smoking, Brennan and colleagues found that the higher the vitamin B6 and methionine, the lower the lung cancer risk.

People in the highest group for vitamin B levels had a 56% reduced lung cancer risk, compared to those in the lowest group. Those with the highest methionine levels had a 48% reduced lung cancer risk, the researchers found.

''That's quite a strong effect," Brennan says, but emphasizes that more study is needed.

Some previous research, he says, looked only at smokers and linked vitamin B6 to a reduced lung cancer risk. His study, by including never smokers and past smokers, expands the information about the link.

Vitamin B6 is found in beans, grains, meat, poultry, fish, and some fruits and vegetables. Methionine is found in animal protein, some nuts, and vegetable seeds.

Vitamin B6, Methionine, and Lung Cancer: Behind the Results
How to explain the link is not known, the researchers say. But deficiencies in vitamin B6, for instance, may raise the risk of DNA damage and gene mutations, fostering cancer development.

Methionine is involved in a complex metabolism process with B vitamins.

Read More

Skip breakfast before exercise to burn more fat, studies say

LONDON — Running on empty may not be such a bad idea after all. Though many athletes eat before training, some scientists say that if you really want to get rid of more fat, you should skip the pre-workout snack.
Several studies suggest exercising while your body is low on food may be a good way to trim excess fat. In a recent paper, European researchers found that cyclists who trained without eating burned significantly more fat than their counterparts who ate.

Muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates, which is why athletes like Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps scarf down enormous amounts of food before a race. But if you haven't eaten before exercising, your body doesn't have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead, scientists say.

"When you exercise (after fasting), your adrenalin is high and your insulin is low," said Peter Hespel, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. "That ratio is favorable for your muscles to oxidize (break down) more fatty acids." Hespel said that people who exercise without having eaten burn more fat than they would if they had grabbed a bite beforehand.

In a study published in April, researchers at the University of Birmingham and elsewhere assigned seven people to cycle three days a week, followed by an intense session an hour later without eating. Another seven people followed the same regime, without the instruction to fast.

Though members of the group that didn't eat performed worse on the intensive training, they burned a higher proportion of fat to carbohydrates than the group that ate. The results were published by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In a 2008 study, Hespel and colleagues tested the effects on men who did endurance training without eating versus those who ate. In the athletes who hadn't eaten, the researchers found a spike in the amount of proteins needed to process fat, meaning their bodies had been primed through fasting to burn more fat.

Hespel recommends people do this kind of training before breakfast, since eating carbohydrates interrupts the process of metabolizing fat for about six hours afterward.

Though he and colleagues have primarily studied the effects of exercising without eating in young, healthy people, he thinks the method could also help people with problems like diabetes. Because exercising without eating produces muscles that are better at absorbing glucose — which is important for preventing diabetes — Hespel theorized the strategy would also help diabetics control their insulin levels.

Other experts said that even though people may burn more fat this way, it is mostly fat within the muscles that will be lost and won't make a big difference to people trying to lose weight.

"When you exercise (without eating), fat is broken down more quickly in the muscle," said Andrew Greenberg, director of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University. "You may enhance how you burn the fat in the muscles, but it doesn't affect your overall body fat," Greenberg said. He said more intense exercise may prompt the body to burn more fatty acids in other regions of the body, but that a lot of training would be required to see a big difference.

For recreational athletes interested in maximizing their exercise regimen, some experts recommend a regular training session where you deliberately do not eat beforehand.

"Science is finally catching up with what smart runners have always known," said Ron Maughan, a professor of sport, exercise and health sciences at Loughborough University in Britain. "If you have a long, hard run without breakfast once a week, that hard run will train you to burn fat," he said. "And for the rest of the week, have plenty of carbohydrates so you can train hard."

Maughan cautioned against doing too much exercise on an empty stomach. "That might help you get very good at burning fat, but you won't be very good at whatever exercise it is you're doing," he said. "Without enough fuel, you won't get the intensity of training you need to get improvements."

Others were more skeptical and said people shouldn't exercise without having at least a small snack first.

"I think it's actually a pretty bad idea," said Dr. Alexis Chiang Colvin, a sports medicine expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who has worked with professional football and hockey teams.

"If your blood sugar is low, you could wind up getting dizzy and you might not be able to exercise as well as if you were well-nourished," she said. Colvin recommended having something small like a banana before training. She also warned the strategy might make people more prone to injury and that eating was important so the body would have enough nutrients to recover from a bout of exercise.

Hespel acknowledged the method wasn't for everybody and that aside from the pain of struggling through an exercise session while hungry, there are other potential pitfalls.

"When you postpone breakfast to exercise, it is possible you might eat more afterwards," he said. "People exercising (without eating) need to respect all the normal strategies of weight control like not overeating."

Daniel Kobbina, a personal trainer who also runs a martial arts school in London, said the method requires discipline — but it works.

"If you train on an empty stomach, you'll see that six-pack a lot sooner," he said.

LONDON — Running on empty may not be such a bad idea after all. Though many athletes eat before training, some scientists say that if you really want to get rid of more fat, you should skip the pre-workout snack.
Several studies suggest exercising while your body is low on food may be a good way to trim excess fat. In a recent paper, European researchers found that cyclists who trained without eating burned significantly more fat than their counterparts who ate.

Muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates, which is why athletes like Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps scarf down enormous amounts of food before a race. But if you haven't eaten before exercising, your body doesn't have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead, scientists say.

"When you exercise (after fasting), your adrenalin is high and your insulin is low," said Peter Hespel, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. "That ratio is favorable for your muscles to oxidize (break down) more fatty acids." Hespel said that people who exercise without having eaten burn more fat than they would if they had grabbed a bite beforehand.

In a study published in April, researchers at the University of Birmingham and elsewhere assigned seven people to cycle three days a week, followed by an intense session an hour later without eating. Another seven people followed the same regime, without the instruction to fast.

Though members of the group that didn't eat performed worse on the intensive training, they burned a higher proportion of fat to carbohydrates than the group that ate. The results were published by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In a 2008 study, Hespel and colleagues tested the effects on men who did endurance training without eating versus those who ate. In the athletes who hadn't eaten, the researchers found a spike in the amount of proteins needed to process fat, meaning their bodies had been primed through fasting to burn more fat.

Hespel recommends people do this kind of training before breakfast, since eating carbohydrates interrupts the process of metabolizing fat for about six hours afterward.

Though he and colleagues have primarily studied the effects of exercising without eating in young, healthy people, he thinks the method could also help people with problems like diabetes. Because exercising without eating produces muscles that are better at absorbing glucose — which is important for preventing diabetes — Hespel theorized the strategy would also help diabetics control their insulin levels.

Other experts said that even though people may burn more fat this way, it is mostly fat within the muscles that will be lost and won't make a big difference to people trying to lose weight.

"When you exercise (without eating), fat is broken down more quickly in the muscle," said Andrew Greenberg, director of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University. "You may enhance how you burn the fat in the muscles, but it doesn't affect your overall body fat," Greenberg said. He said more intense exercise may prompt the body to burn more fatty acids in other regions of the body, but that a lot of training would be required to see a big difference.

For recreational athletes interested in maximizing their exercise regimen, some experts recommend a regular training session where you deliberately do not eat beforehand.

"Science is finally catching up with what smart runners have always known," said Ron Maughan, a professor of sport, exercise and health sciences at Loughborough University in Britain. "If you have a long, hard run without breakfast once a week, that hard run will train you to burn fat," he said. "And for the rest of the week, have plenty of carbohydrates so you can train hard."

Maughan cautioned against doing too much exercise on an empty stomach. "That might help you get very good at burning fat, but you won't be very good at whatever exercise it is you're doing," he said. "Without enough fuel, you won't get the intensity of training you need to get improvements."

Others were more skeptical and said people shouldn't exercise without having at least a small snack first.

"I think it's actually a pretty bad idea," said Dr. Alexis Chiang Colvin, a sports medicine expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who has worked with professional football and hockey teams.

"If your blood sugar is low, you could wind up getting dizzy and you might not be able to exercise as well as if you were well-nourished," she said. Colvin recommended having something small like a banana before training. She also warned the strategy might make people more prone to injury and that eating was important so the body would have enough nutrients to recover from a bout of exercise.

Hespel acknowledged the method wasn't for everybody and that aside from the pain of struggling through an exercise session while hungry, there are other potential pitfalls.

"When you postpone breakfast to exercise, it is possible you might eat more afterwards," he said. "People exercising (without eating) need to respect all the normal strategies of weight control like not overeating."

Daniel Kobbina, a personal trainer who also runs a martial arts school in London, said the method requires discipline — but it works.

"If you train on an empty stomach, you'll see that six-pack a lot sooner," he said.

Read More

Cryptococcus in Cats

Byrnes EJ, III, Li W, Lewit Y et al: Emergence and pathogenicity of highly virulent Cryptococcus gattii genotypes in the northwest United States, PLoS Pathog 6:e1000850, 2010.

The fungus Cryptococcus gatti has the potential to cause life-threatening illness in humans and animals. It is the most common systemic fungus infecting cats. In the last decade, C gatti has emerged as an important pathogen in northwestern North America, including Canada and the US. Normally it is found associated with Eucalyptus trees in tropical and subtropical regions. The emergence of this pathogen in temperate climates may indicate an expansion of its ecological niche. Genetic analysis of this pathogen, as for many others, provides important epidemiologic information. These researchers genetically characterized a number of isolates from the Pacific NW outbreak. The strains from these outbreaks, known as VGIIa and VGIIc, were found to be genetically related and are more virulent than typical strains of C. gatti. In addition, they found that the outbreak is expanding, and the diversity of hosts infected is increasing, affecting a range of mammals in urban and rural areas. The rising incidence of cryptococcosis in humans and animals in this region indicates the need for increased awareness. While still rare, it is unclear why certain humans and animals become infected (i.e. what are the risk factors?). Expansion of the outbreak into California is plausible. The precise origin of these more virulent strains remains unclear. [VT]

Related articles:
MacDougall L, Kidd S, Galanis E et al: Spread of Cryptococcus gattii in British Columbia, Canada and detection in the Pacific Northwest, USA, Emerg Infect Dis 13:42, 2007.

More on cat health: Winn Feline Foundation library
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Byrnes EJ, III, Li W, Lewit Y et al: Emergence and pathogenicity of highly virulent Cryptococcus gattii genotypes in the northwest United States, PLoS Pathog 6:e1000850, 2010.

The fungus Cryptococcus gatti has the potential to cause life-threatening illness in humans and animals. It is the most common systemic fungus infecting cats. In the last decade, C gatti has emerged as an important pathogen in northwestern North America, including Canada and the US. Normally it is found associated with Eucalyptus trees in tropical and subtropical regions. The emergence of this pathogen in temperate climates may indicate an expansion of its ecological niche. Genetic analysis of this pathogen, as for many others, provides important epidemiologic information. These researchers genetically characterized a number of isolates from the Pacific NW outbreak. The strains from these outbreaks, known as VGIIa and VGIIc, were found to be genetically related and are more virulent than typical strains of C. gatti. In addition, they found that the outbreak is expanding, and the diversity of hosts infected is increasing, affecting a range of mammals in urban and rural areas. The rising incidence of cryptococcosis in humans and animals in this region indicates the need for increased awareness. While still rare, it is unclear why certain humans and animals become infected (i.e. what are the risk factors?). Expansion of the outbreak into California is plausible. The precise origin of these more virulent strains remains unclear. [VT]

Related articles:
MacDougall L, Kidd S, Galanis E et al: Spread of Cryptococcus gattii in British Columbia, Canada and detection in the Pacific Northwest, USA, Emerg Infect Dis 13:42, 2007.

More on cat health: Winn Feline Foundation library
Join us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

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Hip Exercises Found Effective at Reducing, Eliminating Common Knee Pain in Runners, Study Suggests

A twice weekly hip strengthening regimen performed for six weeks proved surprisingly effective at reducing -- and in some cases eliminating -- knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.
The study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was based on the theory that stronger hips would correct running form errors that contribute to PFP, even though study participants were given no instruction in gait training. The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain -- the point at which the runners normally stop running because the pain is too great. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower; i.e. no onset of pain.

"I wasn't expecting such huge reductions, to be honest," Dierks said. "We've had a couple of runners who have been at level 2, but the overwhelming majority have been a 2 or below."

PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse. Once they stop running, the pain goes away almost immediately. Dierks said studies indicate PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis. His study participants showed many of the classic signs of PFP, the most prominent being their knees collapsing inward when running or doing a squat exercise move.

The pilot study thus far involved five runners and a control group that comprised another four runners. Hip strength measurements were taken before and after the runners in the control group maintained their normal running schedule for six weeks. Hip strength measurements were taken for all of the runners before and after the next six-week period in which they all performed the hip-strengthening exercises. The exercises, performed twice a week for around 30 to 45 minutes, involved single-leg squats and exercises with a resistance band, all exercises that can be performed at home. This study is part of an ongoing study involving hip exercises and PFP pain, with 11 runners successfully using the intervention. Dierks said he plans to seek funding to test the exercises on a larger group of runners.

Earlier research had focused on the feet as a possible root of PFP, with studies only recently looking more closely at the hips. Dierks said studies have found an association between PFP in women and weak hips, but his study is the first to test a possible treatment. He noted that PFP is considered "multi-factorial," so his study is examining one of several possible causes of the pain.

A twice weekly hip strengthening regimen performed for six weeks proved surprisingly effective at reducing -- and in some cases eliminating -- knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.
The study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was based on the theory that stronger hips would correct running form errors that contribute to PFP, even though study participants were given no instruction in gait training. The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain -- the point at which the runners normally stop running because the pain is too great. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower; i.e. no onset of pain.

"I wasn't expecting such huge reductions, to be honest," Dierks said. "We've had a couple of runners who have been at level 2, but the overwhelming majority have been a 2 or below."

PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse. Once they stop running, the pain goes away almost immediately. Dierks said studies indicate PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis. His study participants showed many of the classic signs of PFP, the most prominent being their knees collapsing inward when running or doing a squat exercise move.

The pilot study thus far involved five runners and a control group that comprised another four runners. Hip strength measurements were taken before and after the runners in the control group maintained their normal running schedule for six weeks. Hip strength measurements were taken for all of the runners before and after the next six-week period in which they all performed the hip-strengthening exercises. The exercises, performed twice a week for around 30 to 45 minutes, involved single-leg squats and exercises with a resistance band, all exercises that can be performed at home. This study is part of an ongoing study involving hip exercises and PFP pain, with 11 runners successfully using the intervention. Dierks said he plans to seek funding to test the exercises on a larger group of runners.

Earlier research had focused on the feet as a possible root of PFP, with studies only recently looking more closely at the hips. Dierks said studies have found an association between PFP in women and weak hips, but his study is the first to test a possible treatment. He noted that PFP is considered "multi-factorial," so his study is examining one of several possible causes of the pain.

Read More

Diabetes may double cancer risk in women

Type 2 adult-onset diabetes causes insulin-like hormones to circulate through the body. A new study finds this has a surprisingly positive effect on reducing the rate of prostate cancer in men, but is bad news for women: Type 2 diabetes may double the risk of female genital and other cancers.
The new study, led by Dr. Gabriel Chodick and Dr. Varda Shalev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, is not the first to report such a risk. But it's one of the largest to confirm these findings, and it's the first to determine the statistical differences in cancer risks for men and women.

Recently published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, the Tel Aviv University study looked at 16,721 diabetics, differentiating between men and women and defining the relative cancer risks for each group. When the study began in 2000, none of the subjects had a history of cancer. Over the following eight years, the researchers documented 1,639 cases of different cancers among people with diabetes, and compared them to occurrences of the same cancers in the healthy non-diabetic population - a sample of 83,874 people.

"For men, this study is good news," says Dr. Chodick. The study demonstrates that diabetes actually appears to have a preventative effect on conditions like prostate cancer, reducing the risk of cancers associated with insulin-like hormones by a whopping 47 percent. But the opposite is true for women, he continues. "The interaction of diabetes and female hormones appears to exaggerate the risk, and make certain organs like the uterus and ovaries more receptive to certain kinds of cancer."

While the news is something for female diabetics and their practitioners to take into consideration, there's no cause for panic, Dr. Chodick notes. Although colon and ovarian cancers are serious, their overall risk in women is generally quite low. However, he stresses that physicians should take the research into account when assessing the long-term health histories of their patients.

Dr. Chodick encourages diabetic women to be screened for colon cancer earlier and more often than those in the general population. As the occurrence of diabetes in America rises, primarily brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle, such screenings can save lives.

Type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by high blood glucose and an insulin deficiency, normally occurs in adulthood, and it can often be managed with a healthy diet, exercise, and oral medications. It affects more than 10% of all women in America over the age of 20, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Of course, wherever possible, the best approach is to avoid diabetes entirely, says Dr. Chodick, with the help of a high-fiber, low-carbohydrate diet combined with exercise.

Type 2 adult-onset diabetes causes insulin-like hormones to circulate through the body. A new study finds this has a surprisingly positive effect on reducing the rate of prostate cancer in men, but is bad news for women: Type 2 diabetes may double the risk of female genital and other cancers.
The new study, led by Dr. Gabriel Chodick and Dr. Varda Shalev of Tel Aviv University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, is not the first to report such a risk. But it's one of the largest to confirm these findings, and it's the first to determine the statistical differences in cancer risks for men and women.

Recently published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, the Tel Aviv University study looked at 16,721 diabetics, differentiating between men and women and defining the relative cancer risks for each group. When the study began in 2000, none of the subjects had a history of cancer. Over the following eight years, the researchers documented 1,639 cases of different cancers among people with diabetes, and compared them to occurrences of the same cancers in the healthy non-diabetic population - a sample of 83,874 people.

"For men, this study is good news," says Dr. Chodick. The study demonstrates that diabetes actually appears to have a preventative effect on conditions like prostate cancer, reducing the risk of cancers associated with insulin-like hormones by a whopping 47 percent. But the opposite is true for women, he continues. "The interaction of diabetes and female hormones appears to exaggerate the risk, and make certain organs like the uterus and ovaries more receptive to certain kinds of cancer."

While the news is something for female diabetics and their practitioners to take into consideration, there's no cause for panic, Dr. Chodick notes. Although colon and ovarian cancers are serious, their overall risk in women is generally quite low. However, he stresses that physicians should take the research into account when assessing the long-term health histories of their patients.

Dr. Chodick encourages diabetic women to be screened for colon cancer earlier and more often than those in the general population. As the occurrence of diabetes in America rises, primarily brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle, such screenings can save lives.

Type 2 diabetes, which is characterized by high blood glucose and an insulin deficiency, normally occurs in adulthood, and it can often be managed with a healthy diet, exercise, and oral medications. It affects more than 10% of all women in America over the age of 20, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Of course, wherever possible, the best approach is to avoid diabetes entirely, says Dr. Chodick, with the help of a high-fiber, low-carbohydrate diet combined with exercise.

Read More

Omega-3 may protect against hearing loss: Study

Increased intakes of omega-3 fatty acids, and the fish that provide them, may reduce the risk of age-related hearing loss, says a new study from the University of Sydney.

At least two servings of fish per week was associated with a 42 per cent reduction in the risk of hearing loss in over 50 year-olds, compared with people who average less than one serving per week, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Similar reductions were observed with intakes of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, with increasing intakes associated with 14 per cent reductions in the risk of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis).

“Dietary intervention with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids could prevent or delay the development of age-related hearing loss,” wrote the researches, led by Paul Mitchell.



Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the United States, affecting more than 36 million people.

Beyond omega-3

Other micronutrients have been linked to reducing the risk of age-related hearing loss. In 2007 scientists from Wageningen University reported that folic acid supplements delayed age-related hearing loss in the low frequency region in a study of 728 men and women between the ages of 50 and 70 (Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 146, pp. 1-9).

Another study, published earlier this year indicated a role for beta carotene and vitamins C and E, and the mineral magnesium in preventing prevent both temporary and permanent hearing loss in guinea pigs and mice. The animal study was presented at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology's annual conference in Baltimore in February 2009.

Fish: Food for hearing

Mitchell and his co-workers analysed data from 2,956 participants of the Blue Mountains Hearing Study. Dietary intakes of fish, and the omega-3s they contain, using food-frequency questionnaires.

Results showed an inverse association between total and long-chain omega-3 intakes and hearing loss, while increasing fish intakes also indicated a reduction in the risk of presbycusis, said the researchers.

Correlation is not causation, however, and significant further research is needed, including human intervention trials.

Listening to the market

Omega-3 is one of the stars of the nutrition industry, with the ingredients market valued at a whopping $1.6 billion by Frost & Sullivan. The fatty acids, most notably EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), have been linked to a wide-range of health benefits, including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and certain cancers, good development of a baby during pregnancy, joint health, and improved behaviour and mood.

Increased intakes of omega-3 fatty acids, and the fish that provide them, may reduce the risk of age-related hearing loss, says a new study from the University of Sydney.

At least two servings of fish per week was associated with a 42 per cent reduction in the risk of hearing loss in over 50 year-olds, compared with people who average less than one serving per week, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Similar reductions were observed with intakes of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, with increasing intakes associated with 14 per cent reductions in the risk of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis).

“Dietary intervention with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids could prevent or delay the development of age-related hearing loss,” wrote the researches, led by Paul Mitchell.



Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the United States, affecting more than 36 million people.

Beyond omega-3

Other micronutrients have been linked to reducing the risk of age-related hearing loss. In 2007 scientists from Wageningen University reported that folic acid supplements delayed age-related hearing loss in the low frequency region in a study of 728 men and women between the ages of 50 and 70 (Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 146, pp. 1-9).

Another study, published earlier this year indicated a role for beta carotene and vitamins C and E, and the mineral magnesium in preventing prevent both temporary and permanent hearing loss in guinea pigs and mice. The animal study was presented at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology's annual conference in Baltimore in February 2009.

Fish: Food for hearing

Mitchell and his co-workers analysed data from 2,956 participants of the Blue Mountains Hearing Study. Dietary intakes of fish, and the omega-3s they contain, using food-frequency questionnaires.

Results showed an inverse association between total and long-chain omega-3 intakes and hearing loss, while increasing fish intakes also indicated a reduction in the risk of presbycusis, said the researchers.

Correlation is not causation, however, and significant further research is needed, including human intervention trials.

Listening to the market

Omega-3 is one of the stars of the nutrition industry, with the ingredients market valued at a whopping $1.6 billion by Frost & Sullivan. The fatty acids, most notably EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), have been linked to a wide-range of health benefits, including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and certain cancers, good development of a baby during pregnancy, joint health, and improved behaviour and mood.

Read More

Antimicrobial Resistance in Cats

Shaheen BW, Boothe DM, Oyarzabal OA et al: Antimicrobial resistance profiles and clonal relatedness of canine and feline Escherichia coli pathogens expressing multidrug resistance in the United States, J Vet Intern Med 24:323, 2010.

Antibiotic resistance has been documented in E. coli isolates from human, animal and environmental resources. An emerging health concern is the multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of Eshcerichia coli. There have been a number of studies that demonstrate an increase in MDR E. coli associated with infections in dogs and cats throughout the United States and Europe. In this study, 376 isolates of E. coli were collected from dogs and cats from the South, West, Northeast, and Midwest regions of the United States from May to September 2005. 51% of the isolates expressed resistance to at least one drug and 44% of those isolates were single drug resistant (SDR), most commonly amoxicillin. The MDR isolates (56%) were resistant to amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and enrofloxacin; 18% were resistant to all drugs tested. The majority of the E.coli isolates were genetically and phenotypically distinct from one another. The frequency of MDR did not differ regionally in the United States. The study underscores the need to understand that MDR isolates are not only resistant to many drugs, but the level of resistance to those drugs is very high and thus might not be overcome by increasing doses, nor combination antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, implementation of a robust surveillance program for antimicrobial resistance is recommended. [VT]

Related articles:
Murphy C, Reid-Smith R, Prescott J et al: Occurrence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in healthy dogs and cats presented to private veterinary hospitals in southern Ontario: a preliminary study, Can Vet J 50:1047, 2009.

More on cat health: Winn Feline Foundation Library
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Shaheen BW, Boothe DM, Oyarzabal OA et al: Antimicrobial resistance profiles and clonal relatedness of canine and feline Escherichia coli pathogens expressing multidrug resistance in the United States, J Vet Intern Med 24:323, 2010.

Antibiotic resistance has been documented in E. coli isolates from human, animal and environmental resources. An emerging health concern is the multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of Eshcerichia coli. There have been a number of studies that demonstrate an increase in MDR E. coli associated with infections in dogs and cats throughout the United States and Europe. In this study, 376 isolates of E. coli were collected from dogs and cats from the South, West, Northeast, and Midwest regions of the United States from May to September 2005. 51% of the isolates expressed resistance to at least one drug and 44% of those isolates were single drug resistant (SDR), most commonly amoxicillin. The MDR isolates (56%) were resistant to amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and enrofloxacin; 18% were resistant to all drugs tested. The majority of the E.coli isolates were genetically and phenotypically distinct from one another. The frequency of MDR did not differ regionally in the United States. The study underscores the need to understand that MDR isolates are not only resistant to many drugs, but the level of resistance to those drugs is very high and thus might not be overcome by increasing doses, nor combination antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, implementation of a robust surveillance program for antimicrobial resistance is recommended. [VT]

Related articles:
Murphy C, Reid-Smith R, Prescott J et al: Occurrence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in healthy dogs and cats presented to private veterinary hospitals in southern Ontario: a preliminary study, Can Vet J 50:1047, 2009.

More on cat health: Winn Feline Foundation Library
Join us on Facebook
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