WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU

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· MENTAL ACUITY: Eat more vegetables to stay sharp

· DRUGS RESEARCH: Companies spend a tiny fraction on the

poor and the developing world

· TENNIS ELBOW: Doing nothing is better than drugs

 

· BREASTFEEDING: OK, breast may be best, but. . .

 

· HEPATITIS C: Hospital patients are new group at risk

 

 

 

 

 

 

MENTAL ACUITY: Eat more vegetables to stay sharp

 

 

Most of us worry that we might lose some of our mental sharpness as

we get older. But instead of resorting to crossword puzzles, sudoku

challenges and reading the family encyclopaedia, we could instead

eat lots of vegetables every day.

 

The over-65s who eat up to three servings of vegetables a day reduce

the decline in their cognitive abilities by up to 40 per cent

compared with those who eat almost no vegetables.

 

The protective effect didn't seem to get much better than that, even

among those who ate more than four servings of vegetables a day.

 

The discovery has been made by the Chicago Health and Aging Project

(CHAP), which has tracked the health of a group of 3,718 people over

a 10-year period.

 

Fruit didn't seem to have the same beneficial effects, even when

eaten in high quantities, researchers found.

 

(Source: Neurology, 2006; 67: 1370-6).

 

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DRUGS RESEARCH: Companies spend a tiny fraction on the poor and the

developing world

 

 

 

Any of you who desperately cling to the hope that the pharmaceutical

industry is there for the benefit of mankind need to look at the

latest statistics for global health research.

 

While health research spending is rising by about $10bn (£5.5bn)

every year, virtually none of it is going towards the diseases that

afflict the poor and the developing world.

 

In 2003 – the most recent year when figures were available – around

$129bn (£72bn) was spent on health research, but less than 7 per

cent went on communicable diseases.

 

The rest, which came from drug companies and government agencies,

concentrated on the `lifestyle' diseases of the West.

 

The Global Forum for Health research reckons that the remainder came

from philanthropic and non-profit organisations such as the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

If so, that means that drug companies spend almost nothing every

year on diseases of the developing world and of the poor – those

sectors where they can't get a handsome return.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 936).

 

 

 

 

 

TENNIS ELBOW: Doing nothing is better than drugs

 

 

 

Tennis elbow, or lateral humeral epicondylitis, is a minor, if

painful, problem that's usually caused by the overuse of a joint.

It eventually clears up on its own, although this can take up to a

year.

 

Instead, doctors will probably give a corticosteroid injection, and

it is a `quick fix', as previous research has endorsed. In fact, a

sufferer given an injection is immediately better off – he has less

pain and better movement – than the patient who just has

physiotherapy or, indeed, the one who decides to sit it out.

 

But a new study has discovered that the good effects of the

injection wear off very quickly – and, in fact, slow recovery.

 

Researchers tested the three approaches – injection, physiotherapy

and `wait and see' – on a group of 198 tennis elbow sufferers.

 

Physiotherapy was better than `wait and see' in the first six weeks,

but the speed of recovery was no quicker. Those who had the

injection were worse off in the medium- to long-term compared even

with those in the `wait and see' group because it slowed full

recovery. In other words, the injection was worse than doing

nothing.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 939-41).

 

 

 

 

 

BREASTFEEDING: OK, breast may be best, but. . .

 

 

 

There seems to be an implicit understanding within the medical

profession that breastfeeding isn't quite good enough on its own.

While new mothers are tentatively encouraged to exclusively

breastfeed their newborn, they are also told about the advantages of

solids, especially after the first few months.

 

Scores of new mothers have told us over the years that they were

advised to supplement immediately, or that their milk supply wasn't

rich enough, or that their milk didn't have all the vital

ingredients for a developing baby.

 

A new report adds weight to this unspoken prejudice. It has tracked

the progress of 12,686 people who were aged between 14 and 22 years

when they were first interviewed in 1979. Since then, they have

been interviewed annually and, more recently, biennially. And guess

what? Those who were breastfed are no smarter than those who had

milk substitutes as babies.

 

If we turn a blind eye to the very unscientific basis of the study,

we're a little mystified by the purpose of the exercise. Very few

mothers set out to breast feed in order to have smarter children;

instead they see it as the best start for their babies, giving them

immediate natural immunity.

 

Still, it's grist to the obstetrician's mill. As he walks away from

the hospital bed, he can now say, with full scientific

authority: " And another thing, Mrs Smith, breastfeeding isn't going

to make your child any smarter. "

 

These moments are precious, precious.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 945-8).

 

 

 

 

 

HEPATITIS C: Hospital patients are new group at risk

 

 

 

Hepatitis C is a virus that can cause liver damage and cancer,

sometimes fatally. Body fluids and the sharing of contaminated

needles can spread it, and so high-risk groups include homosexuals

and drug addicts.

 

But there's a new addition to that group – the hospital patient.

Fourteen elderly patients at a nursing home in Maryland contracted

hepatitis C after being infected by a contaminated vial. Of those,

11 developed jaundice and one died of liver failure.

 

Researchers discovered that the nursing home had poor hygiene

standards. Syringes were being re-used and needles were left lying

around.

 

They also discovered that the virus could survive outside of the

human body for at least 21 hours.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 296:

 

 

 

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