Experts Say Popcorn Has More Healthful Antioxidants Than Fruits and Vegetables

Popcorn that has a minimal amount of salt and butter – many seniors love it – and there are more reasons to feast on it. Popcorn’s reputation as a snack food that’s healthy popped up a few notches recently as scientists reported that it contains more of the healthful antioxidant substances called “polyphenols” than fruits and vegetables.

Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a pioneer in analyzing healthful components in chocolate, nuts and other common foods, explained that the polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages about 4 percent water, while polyphenols are diluted in the 90 percent water that makes up many fruits and vegetables.

In another finding, the researchers discovered that popcorn hulls – the part that gets caught in teeth – has the highest concentration of polyphenols and fiber. “Those hulls deserve more respect,” said Vinson, who is with the University of Scranton (Pa). “They are nutritional gold nuggets.”

The overall findings led Vinson to declare, “Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It’s the only snack that is 100 percent unprocessed whole grain. All other grains are processed and diluted with other ingredients. One serving of popcorn will provide more than 70 percent of the daily intake of whole grain. The average person gets only about half a serving of whole grains a day, and popcorn could fill that gap in a very pleasant way.”

Vinson cautioned, however, that the way people prepare and serve popcorn can quickly put a dent in its healthful image. Cook it in a potful of oil, slather on butter or the fake butter used in many movie theaters, pour on the salt; eat it as “kettle corn” cooked in oil and sugar — and popcorn can become a nutritional nightmare loaded with fat and calories.

For more about the research, go to http://www.scranton.edu/news/articles/2012/03/popcorn-study.shtml.

Study Finds Nearly Half of People With Stroke Symptoms Not Calling 911

Despite efforts to inform the public of the urgency for rapid treatment for stroke victims and the effective treatments available, the number of patients using an ambulance for rapid transportation to a treatment center has not changed since the mid-1990s.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center said their research highlights the need for even more education about strokes.

The study, led by Dr. Hooman Kamel, a neurologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell and assistant professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, analyzed data collected by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey between 1997 and 2008. “People do not always recognize the seriousness of stroke symptoms, or instead of calling 911, they may call their primary care physician for an appointment and lose valuable time as the damage becomes irreversible,” Dr. Kamel said.

The study found that 51 percent of adults diagnosed with stroke in emergency departments nationwide arrived via ambulance, with no significant change during the 11 years. Dr. Kamel said recovery is possible with early treatment. “We have drugs and surgeries that can minimize brain damage from a stroke,’’ he said, “but they can be used only within a few short hours.”

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a 911 call should be made if any of these symptoms are experienced:

·         Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body;

·         Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding;

·         Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes;

·         Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination;

·         Sudden, severe headache with no known cause.

For more about  the study, check out http://nyp.org/news/hospital/study-stroke-symptoms-hooman.html. The Home Instead Senior Care network’s 2012 Family Caregiver Support Web Seminar Series features monthly seminars for family caregivers on a variety of topics that can help them care for their aging loved ones.  Learn more about the topics and preregister at Caregiverstress.com/familyeducation.  

Researchers Working on Pacemakers Without Batteries

A cardiac pacemaker and an implanted defibrillator are wonderful inventions for thousands of seniors, but there is the worry about batteries to keep them going and the stress of having them surgically replaced. However, scientists may be making progress on a solution – a way of using vibrations from heartbeats to power the devices.

Engineering researchers at the University of Michigan designed a device that harvests energy from the reverberation of heartbeats through the chest and converts it to electricity to run a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator.

These mini-medical machines send electrical signals to the heart to keep it beating in a healthy rhythm. By taking the place of the batteries that power them today, the new energy harvester could save patients from repeated surgeries. That’s the only way today to replace the batteries, which last five to 10 years.

“The idea is to use ambient vibrations that are typically wasted and convert them to electrical energy,” said Amin Karami, a research fellow in the University of Michigan Department of Aerospace Engineering. “If you put your hand on top of your heart, you can feel these vibrations all over your torso.”

Karami has teamed with colleague Daniel Inman, chairman of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, and other researchers on the project. They haven’t built a prototype yet, but they’ve made detailed blueprints and have run simulations demonstrating that the concept would work.

For more about the pacemaker research, go to http://aerospace.engin.umich.edu/newsevents/index.html#Pacemaker.

It’s Time for Seniors to Step Into Better Health, Fitness

Regular walking, a favorite exercise for seniors, is one of the most effective forms of activity that delivers substantial health benefits and improves heart health, the American Heart Association has said. The latest addition to the American Heart Association’s tools for persuading people to exercise is walking clubs, which are being formed across the United States.

Walking is easy to start and continue, and has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity. By joining or forming an American Heart Association Walking Club, participants can connect with others who share their goals, lifestyles, schedules and hobbies – and do it for free. An American Heart Association study revealed that American adults are 76 percent more likely to take a walk if another person is counting on them.

“I encourage our patients to engage in regular exercise, including moderate-to-vigorous intensity walking programs, and the American Heart Association’s new Walking Clubs are a great resource,” said Barry A. Franklin, Ph.D., Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Laboratories at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich.

According to an American Heart Association survey, 15 percent of American adults achieve the association’s recommended level of moderate aerobic exercise, which is 150 minutes per week. Walking for as little as 30 minutes a day will improve circulation, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and promote weight loss.

For more information about walking clubs, visit www.mywalkingclub.org.

Silent Strokes Are a New Suspect in Determining Seniors’ Memory Loss

In some cases, memory loss among seniors may be due to so-called “silent strokes,” new research suggests. Such strokes, which may not cause any noticeable symptoms, result in small pockets of dead brain cells and are found in about 25 percent of older adults, the study team noted.

“The new aspect of this study of memory loss in the elderly is that it examines silent strokes and (brain) shrinkage simultaneously,” said study author Dr. Adam Brickman, of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

 The research, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, appeared in the journal Neurology. All the study participants underwent MRI brain scans, as well as testing to gauge their capacities in terms of memory, language skills, thinking speed and visual perception.

 The brain scans revealed that 174 of the 658 participants had experienced silent strokes, and the investigators found that these seniors did not perform as well on the memory exams. This finding held regardless of whether the part of the patient’s brain responsible for memory (the hippocampus) was found to be relatively small or not.

“Given that conditions like Alzheimer’s disease are defined mainly by memory problems, our results may lead to further insight into what causes symptoms and the development of new interventions for prevention,” Dr. Brickman noted. “Since silent strokes and the volume of the hippocampus appeared to be associated with memory loss separately in our study, our results also support stroke prevention as a means for staving off memory problems.”

For more about the research visit http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?Docid=660249  

Alzheimer’s Drug May Be First to Prevent the Disease’s Progression

There is potentially good news in the research for combating the incurable disease that affects as many as 5.4 million Americans. A new drug candidate may be the first capable of halting the devastating mental decline of Alzheimer’s disease, based on the findings of a study by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif.

When given to mice with Alzheimer’s, the drug – known as J147 – improved memory and prevented brain damage caused by the incurable disease. The new compound could be tested for treatment of the disease in humans in the near future, according to researchers.

“J147 enhances memory in both normal and Alzheimer’s mice and also protects the brain from the loss of synaptic connections,” said David Schubert, the head of Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, whose team developed the new drug. “No drugs on the market for Alzheimer’s have both of these properties.”

Although it is unknown whether the compound will prove to be safe and effective in humans, the Salk researchers said their results suggest the drug may hold potential for treatment of people with Alzheimer’s. Because of the broad ability of J147 to protect nerve cells, the researchers believe that it also may be effective for treating other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease,

Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), as well as stroke.

The potential for a groundbreaking Alzheimer’s medication is providing a glint of sunlight in the otherwise gloomy outlook for those who have the incurable dementia.

For more information about the study, visit http://www.salk.edu/news/pressrelease_details.php?press_id=532.

Statins Appear to Reduce Risk of Depression in Heart Patients

New research that seems to indicate a double benefit from taking a statin. Seniors – the primary users of cholesterol-lowering statins – may look forward to less depression if they have been prescribed the drugs for heart disease, according to recently released research. That new long-term study finds that these statin users are much less likely to suffer depression than non-users.

The study, led by Mary Whooley, M.D., a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was published recently in the digital edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Dr. Whooley and her research team evaluated 965 heart disease patients for depression and found that the patients who were on statins were significantly less likely to be clinically depressed than those who were not.

They then followed the 776 patients who were not depressed – 520 who were using statins and 256 who were not – for an additional six years. Of those taking statins, 18.5 percent developed depression, compared with 28 percent of those not on the drugs.

Put another way, the patients who took statins were 38 percent less likely to develop depression than patients who did not. As the study went on, Dr. Whooley said, the difference between the two groups became more pronounced, with the patients on statins becoming less likely to develop depression and the patients not on statins becoming more likely to become depressed over time.

“This would suggest that statins may have some kind of long-term protective effect against depression, perhaps by helping to prevent atherosclerosis in the brain, which can contribute to depressive symptoms,’’ Dr. Whooley said.

For more on the study, check out www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/02/11574/statins-linked-lower-depression-risk-heart-disease-patients.