Health Tip: Depression Among Seniors

(HealthDay News) -- Depression affects more than 6 million people aged 65 or older in the United States, but only about 10 percent of them are treated, the Cleveland Clinic says.

The clinic offers this list of risk factors for depression in seniors:

• Living alone without much social interaction.
• Having persistent pain or illness.
• Being overly afraid of dying.
• Having a family history or personal history of depression or suicide attempts.
• Having had a recent bereavement, such as the death of a close family member.
• Having problems with drugs or alcohol.
• Taking certain medications, alone or combined with other medications.
• Problems with body image after a surgery or major illness, such as cancer or heart disease.

Studies yield a variety of findings about the benefits of prayer – and intercessory prayer

Two studies on the benefits of intercessory prayer contradict each other, while a study by Sheffield Hallam University finds that people who make frequent prayer part of their lives are less likely to be depressed or anxious. ... Continue Reading

Integrative medicine: A good alternative in a bad economy

Doctors specializing in integrative medicine look to herbal remedies, vitamin supplements and other forms of alternative medicine to promote good health – and smart healthcare purchasing. ... Continue Reading

Who's Who in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine

Week of February 23, 2009

Joseph Mercola, DO
Dr. Mercola is a pioneer in communicating natural health principles on the internet and has the most visited natural health website in the world, Mercola.com. He has been interviewed on CNN, the Today Show, ABC Evening news and has two NY Times bestselling books.
At the upcoming 17th World Congress on Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine in Orlando(April 23-25, 2009), Dr. Mercola will be presenting, How Sunshine May Reduce Cancer by 50%, a review of optimal therapeutic ranges and crucial laboratory details that are necessary to properly interpret the results. Also will explain how recent studies impact many practical considerations of optimal UV and sun exposure to optimize vitamin D therapy. . For more information, call 1-888-997-0112. ... Continue Reading

Dr. Pati's Framework for Anti-Aging Medicine

Are you on a quest for anti-aging remedies? Is there such a thing, a magic pill or a secret solution? Yes, the search for magic pills, the age control genes and the secret remedies continues hotly pursued in the world of research. Yes, there is a growing body of evidence that the human life span can be extended, with some Japanese Okinawans living upwards of 120. But is it the extension of life that intrigues us? Or is it the possibility that we may live as productive, happy and disease-free people if we use restorative approaches to correct imbalances in hormones, nutrition, toxins, mind and body, allowing our body does what it does best; keep us healthy. ... Continue Reading

One in four centenarians hit by depression

Results of a recent study suggest that at least one in four centenarians suffer from depression, yet few have been diagnosed with the disease. ... Continue Reading

Depressed diabetics have higher glucose levels

New research suggests that diabetics who suffer from depression have higher blood glucose levels than diabetics who are not depressed. ... Continue Reading

Experts question use of antidepressants after stroke

The use of antidepressants to treat depression in patients who have suffered a stroke does not always achieve the desired effect, research reveals. ... Continue Reading

Depression commonplace in people with heart disease

The American Heart Association has issued new guidelines recommending that all patients with heart disease should be routinely screened for depression. ... Continue Reading

Social isolation impacts upon mental and physical health

Social isolation has a significant impact upon mental and physical health, and should be classed among smoking and obesity as a major risk factor to health, according to the authors of a new book. ... Continue Reading

Depression affects more than 1 in 20 Americans

New statistics revealed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that more than 1 in 20 Americans aged 12 and over are suffering from depression. ... Continue Reading

Homefirst/Clear Mind

Homefirst have developed this digestive supplement containing pro-biotics and digestive enzymes to prevent uncomfortable heart burn, acid and irritable bowel syndrome. 70 million digestive aids are consumed daily and work by blocking acid in the stomach. Studies have shown that this has led to a 44% increase in bone fracture and a 60% increase in pneumonia amongst men.

Clearmind modulates brain wave patterns and can be used to treat ADD, anxiety, depression and migraine. Pre-designed sessions are available but the machine also reads EG in real time so tailored sessions can be created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stI8rJtiJjU

Study results aren't definitive, but emotional issues require attention

Study results aren't definitive, but emotional issues require attention
by Theresa Tamkins


If you're a fan of Desperate Housewives or Sex and the City, this may come as a bit of a shock: A large chunk of women in their 30s and 40s aren't obsessed with finding a hot new lover; they're worried about a lack of interest in sex with their current partner—or anyone else, for that matter.

As many as one in four women of any age report sexual dissatisfaction, and when it comes to middle-aged women, one survey found that 42% to 68% said they never or rarely experience sexual desire. Yikes!

So on behalf of women everywhere, let's say thank you to the researchers and their guinea pigs who recently tested a testosterone spray as a possible remedy for women ages 35 to 45.

Although testosterone is thought of as a "male hormone," women do produce the hormone in their ovaries and adrenal glands. While estrogen production starts to plummet around the time of menopause, testosterone declines much more slowly. Can testosterone help you get your mojo back?

To find out, a team led by Susan Davis, MD, PhD, of Monash University in Australia, tested three doses of an experimental testosterone spray (not yet FDA approved, so you can't buy it) against a placebo spray in 260 women.

None of the women had undergone menopause, and all had at least one sexual "event" per month, either alone or with a partner. However, they had all experienced a decline in sexual satisfaction in recent years that concerned them (and had relatively low testosterone levels).

The good news is that all the women had more satisfying sex during the 16-week study. But studies like this often yield murky results, and that's the case here. It's not clear if the spray had anything to do with it. Only women taking the medium dose of testosterone had more events per month (0.8 events to be exact) than placebo users, while those taking the high and low doses had the same amount of satisfying sex as the placebo users. In other words, just being in the experiment may have cause the "more satisfying" result.

"My take-home message from that study was that there’s no evidence now of useful benefit from testosterone in premenopausal women. That was the situation before the study, and that’s still the situation," said Rosemary Basson, MD, director of sexual medicine at the University of British Columbia, who also wrote an editorial published with the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Basson is concerned about the lack of safety data on testosterone; it's unclear if—like estrogen—it will increase the risk of certain cancers. And an accidental pregnancy while taking testosterone is a very bad idea. It can cause the fetus to develop ambiguous genitalia, or genitals that are somewhere between male and female. One woman in the study had an unplanned pregnancy, but luckily she was in the placebo group and had a healthy baby.

Another potential drawback? Unwanted body hair (hypertrichosis). At the highest dose, 28% of women had hair growth—often at the spot on their belly where the spray was administered.

Experts recommend that women who are worried about their sex life take stock of their mental health (depression is a classic mood-killer) and their relationship with their partner.

"Desire or lack thereof is the canary in the coal mine and tells you something is wrong but doesn’t tell you what is wrong," says Andrew Goldstein, MD, author of the book Reclaiming Desire. "Women can have decreased desire for many reasons. They can have decreased desire because their partner is a jerk. Testosterone isn’t going to make their husband vacuum, take out the garbage, or pick the kids up from school."

However, he thinks testosterone could have potential for some women, and the drug deserves more study.

"Whereas it may be natural to have a decreasing sex drive, that doesn't mean it's necessarily desirable," he says.

'Testosterone link' to depression

Older men with lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone in their blood may be more prone to depression, a study suggests.
A study of about 4,000 men aged over 70 found those with lowest testosterone were three times more likely to be depressed than those with the most.

Researchers suspect the hormone may affect levels of key brain chemicals.

The study, by the University of Western Australia, features in Archives of General Psychiatry.

Research has found that women are more likely to be depressed than men until the age of 65, when the difference between the genders almost disappears.

Testosterone levels decline with age - but there is wide variation.

The Australian team studied 3,987 men over the age of 70. Each gave blood samples and took part in tests to determine whether they were depressed.

In total 203 of the participants were assessed as being depressed.

They had significantly lower levels of both total testosterone, and free testosterone, which is not bound to proteins.

The researchers then adjusted the data to take account of factors such as educational attainment and body fat levels.

They found those men whose level of free testosterone was in the bottom 20% were three times more likely to be depressed than those in the top 20%.

The researchers said further work was required to confirm their findings.

But their work raised the possibility that treatment to boost testosterone levels in older men may be an effective way to treat depression.

Raised death risk

A previous study of 800 men over the age of 50 found that those with low levels of testosterone had a 33% increased risk of death over an 18-year period than those with higher levels.

They appeared significantly more likely to have a cluster of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

This raises the possibility that men with low testosterone levels may be prone to depression because they are also more likely to be in poor physical health.

However, the Australian researchers concluded that this could not fully explain the link, and that some other factor must also be in play.

Testosterone replacement therapy has also been shown to help elderly men with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Research has suggested that levels of testosterone in men of all ages are falling.

Professor David Kendall, an expert in pharmacology at the University of Nottingham, said there was a wealth of evidence to show that testosterone levels were linked to mood.

For instance, farmers had long castrated their stock to pacify them.

Research on animals had also shown that removal of their gonads blocked the action of anti-depressants on key mood-controlling chemicals in the brain.

"It would be no surprise that low testosterone reduces mood," he said.

"Testosterone therapy offers a relatively simple intervention, potentially, for some groups of older depressives with hypogonadism (low production of sex hormones)."

Professor Stafford Lightman, a hormone expert at the University of Bristol, said testosterone potentially had many small effects which could raise the risk of depression. For instance, low levels had been linked to poor cognitive performance.

However, he warned that depression, particularly in elderly people, was often the result of many different, inter-relating factors, and warned against placing too much emphasis on one in isolation.

"My view is that low testosterone could be a contributory factor to depression, but probably not a very powerful one," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7274481.stm

Most Older Americans Living Longer and Better

(HealthDay News) -- Older Americans are living longer than ever and enjoying better health and financial security, a new report finds.

Yet there continue to be lingering disparities between racial and ethnic groups.

In 2006, there were an estimated 37 million Americans 65 and older -- 2 percent of the population. By 2030, it's estimated at 71.5 million people will be 65 and older -- almost 20 percent of the population, according to the report, Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of Well-Being.

"This report comes at a critical time," Edward Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics, said Thursday in a prepared statement. "As the baby boomers age and America's older population grows larger and more diverse, community leaders, policymakers and researchers have an even greater need for reliable data to understand where older Americans stand today and what they may face tomorrow."

The report examined five broad areas of well-being: economics, health status, health risks and behaviors and health care.

Even though life expectancy for Americans continues to increase for those 65 years of age, it is lower than in countries such as Canada, France Japan and Sweden. For example, Japanese women 65 years of age live 3.2 years longer than women in the United States. Among men, the difference is 1.2 years, according to the report.

In terms of overall health, key indicators such as smoking rates, flu and pneumonia vaccinations and screening for breast cancer have improved but have leveled off in recent years.

As for chronic conditions, women reported higher levels of arthritis compared with men. Men reported higher levels of heart disease and cancer. Among African-Americans, there were higher levels of high blood pressure and diabetes compared with whites. Hispanics reported higher levels of diabetes than did non-Hispanic whites.

The number of people 65 and older who are obese increased from 22 percent in 1988-1994 to 31 percent in 2000-2006. At the same time, there was no significant change in the number of older people who engaged in physical activity. In fact, most days Americans 65 and older reported spending half their time watching television. Those 75 and older, however, spent more time reading and relaxing and thinking, compared with people 55 to 64 years old.

In addition, as people aged, they spent less time visiting friends or attending social functions. Socializing declined from 13 percent of those 55 to 64 to 10 percent of those 75 and older. And, time spent devoted to sports, exercising, recreation and travel also declined with age, according to the report.

Older people's ability to obtain, process and understand health information or services -- called health literacy -- declined with age. Thirty-nine percent of people 75 and older had below basic health literacy, compared with 23 percent of people ages 65 to 74, and 13 percent of people 50 to 64.

Escalating health-care costs, particularly for prescription drugs, also affected older Americans: From 1992 to 2004, costs rose from $8,644 to $13,052. In 2004, prescription drugs made up 61 percent of out-of-pocket health costs for older Americans, the report found.

These costs are expected to be mitigated by the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. From 2006 to 2007, the number of people enrolled in the program increased from 18.2 million to 19.7 million, according to the report.

Despite these rising costs, many older Americans are more economically secure. From 1974 to 2006, the number of older Americans living below the poverty line decreased from 15 percent to 9 percent. In addition, the number of older Americans with higher incomes increased from 18 percent to 29 percent.

However, racial disparities existed, with net worth among whites 65 and older six times that of older African-Americans. And, more older Americans, particularly women, continued to work after 55.

The report was prepared by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, which represents 15 agencies responsible for collecting data on aging. The last report was released in 2006.

One expert thinks that lack of physical activity and lack of social activity are the two biggest factors affecting the health of older Americans.

"It's kind of sad when you think about all the money and all the effort that has gone into physical activity awareness and that the actual amount has not increased over the last 10 years," said Colin Milner, chief executive officer of the International Council on Active Aging. "What that is saying is, we're doing something wrong."

Milner thinks new ways of getting people to be more active are needed. People don't realize that only a little physical activity can have a major impact on their health, he said.

"People see athletic activity, and they say: 'Forget it. I can't do that, I'm old,' " Milner said."We can save roughly $77 billion in health-care costs by increasing physical activity," he noted.

Milner said he's also concerned that older people spend too much time watching TV and becoming socially isolated.

"How long is it going to be before we engineer socialization out of our lifestyle," Milner said. "By 2020, depression will be the second-leading cause of premature death according to the World Health Organization. And now, you're taking socialization out of a lifestyle."

More information
To see the full report, visit the U.S. Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics.

Vitamins: D for disease-free

Dreary winters are infamous for inducing depression. But being starved for sunlight can do more than kick you into a psychic hole.
A growing body of evidence suggests it can raise your risk of cancer and increase susceptibility to heart attack, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

The reason is vitamin D, an essential nutrient produced in abundance by skin exposed to the sun’s rays. Long dismissed as being important mainly for strong bones, the so-called sunshine vitamin is now recognized as a key player throughout the body, including the immune system.

Increased use of sunscreen has turned a seasonal shortfall into a year-round condition for many people. A recent survey in Britain found 87 percent of adults tested during winter, and more than 60 percent in summer, had subpar vitamin D levels.

Doctors in many parts of the world report a resurgence of childhood rickets, soft bones caused by lack of vitamin D.

Supplements offer a cheap and easy solution. But Bruce Hollis, a leading vitamin D researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina, and other researchers argue the recommended intake is too low to provide many health benefits.

A Canadian medical organization advises that pregnant and nursing women take 10 times the amount suggested in the U.S.

“You’re more likely to live longer, and you’re less likely to die of serious chronic disease if you have adequate vitamin D on board,” said Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine. “It may well be the most important nutrient of the decade.”

When Lisa Hill, 54, went to her doctor complaining of joint pain, she was surprised to get a diagnosis of vitamin D deficiency. “I had never heard of it,” she said.

Many doctors once scoffed at the notion of vitamin D deficiency, but testing has become more routine and is covered by most insurance.

University of Washington heart surgeon Donald Miller Jr. tested 78 of his patients and found three-quarters had “insufficient” levels of vitamin D.

“It was really pretty shocking,” Miller said.

In addition to strengthening bones, muscles and joints, high vitamin D levels have been linked to lower rates of colon, prostate, breast, esophageal and pancreatic cancer.

Harvard scientists found that high levels of vitamin D reduced children’s odds of developing asthma, while researchers in Pittsburgh reported that pregnant women with low vitamin D had greater risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous form of high blood pressure.

Formed in skin cells exposed to UVB, the invisible form of light that causes sunburn, vitamin D and its breakdown products act throughout the body.

The compounds are believed to regulate as many as 1,000 genes, including genes that weed out precancerous cells and genes that slow the runaway reproduction typical of cancer.

Molecular geneticist John White and his colleagues at McGill University in Montreal discovered vitamin D also switches on an arm of the immune system that kills bacteria — including the bug responsible for tuberculosis.

“It’s a kind of front-line response to infection,” he said.

http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/500707.html