Potassium To Help Blood Pressure?

People trying to lower their blood pressure should also boost their intake of potassium, which has the opposite effect to sodium, a U.S. study suggests.

Senior author Dr. Paul Whelton, an epidemiologist and president of Loyola University Health System, and colleagues found that the ratio of sodium-to-potassium in subjects' urine was a much stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease than sodium or potassium alone.

Researchers determined average sodium and potassium intake during two phases of a study known as the Trials of Hypertension Prevention. The researchers collected 24-hour urine samples intermittently during an 18-month period in one trial and during a 36-month period in a second trial.

The 2,974 study participants -- initially ages 30-54, and with blood pressure readings just under levels considered high -- were tracked for 10-15 years to see if they would develop cardiovascular disease.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found those with the highest sodium levels in their urine were 20 percent more likely to suffer strokes, heart attacks or other forms of cardiovascular disease compared with their counterparts with the lowest sodium levels. However this link was not strong enough to be considered statistically significant.

By contrast, participants with the highest sodium-to-potassium ratio in urine were 50 percent more likely to experience cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest sodium-to-potassium ratios. This link was statistically significant.

Pistachios May Improve Heart Health

Inclusion of pistachios in a healthy diet beneficially affects cardiovascular disease risk factors in a dose-dependent manner, U.S. researchers said.

Sarah K. Gebauer, a post-doctoral research associate at Pennsylvania State University, conducted a randomized, crossover design, controlled feeding experiment to test the effects of pistachios added to a heart healthy moderate-fat diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors.

The participants ate a typical American diet consisting of 35 percent total fat and 11 percent saturated fat for two weeks. They tested three diets for four weeks each, with about a two-week break between each diet.

All three diets were variations of a cholesterol-lowering diet. The diets included, as a control, a diet with no pistachios and about 25 percent total fat and 8 percent saturated fat. The pistachio enhanced diets had 10 percent to 20 percent of the energy supplied by pistachio nuts, respectively.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that compared to the control diet, the 20 percent pistachio diet lowered low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, about 12 percent and the 10 percent energy pistachio diet lowered LDL cholesterol by 9 percent, which suggests a 9 percent to 12 percent decrease in coronary heart disease risk.

Ginseng Extract Promising For Colds

Three-day doses of COLD-fX -- using ginseng -- in a trial of children in Canada were well tolerated with no serious adverse events, researchers say.

The positive findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, show promise for its future development as a cold and flu remedy for children.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Canadian trial was conducted in collaboration with the University of Alberta in Canada and was designed to measure the safety and tolerability of COLD-fX for treatment of cold and flu in children.

Seventy-five children between the ages of 3 and 12 were recruited in Edmonton in the winter of 2005 to 2006 and 46 developed an upper respiratory tract infection. Within 48 hours of onset, they were randomly assigned to receive acute three-day treatments with either a placebo or COLD-fX -- at two weight-based dosage levels.

Large scale clinical studies in the next fiscal year will test for efficacy to further support the use of COLD-fX for treating colds and flu in children, the researchers said.

Frankincense Reduces Knee Arthritis Pain

An enriched extract of "Indian Frankincense," or the herb Boswellia serrata, has been shown to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthrits, U.S. researchers said.

B. serrata has been used for thousands of years in the Indian system of traditional medicine.

The study, published in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, found patients taking the herbal remedy showed significant improvement in as little as seven days.

Dr. Siba Raychaudhuri of the University of California, Davis, said the high incidence of adverse affects associated with available medications for osteoarthritis -- the most common form of arthritis -- has created great interest in the search for an effective and safe alternative treatment.

The 90-day, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 90 people to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 5-Loxin -- an enriched extract of B. serrata in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.

At the end of the study, both doses of 5-Loxin conferred clinically and statistically significant improvements in pain scores and physical function scores in the patients.

Aspirin Helps Prevent and Treat Osteoporosis

A new weapon in the battle against osteoporosis may be the humble aspirin. Researchers at the University of Southern California, School of Dentistry have found that aspirin appears to prevent and treat osteoporosis in two ways. It prevents the death of bone-forming stem cells and also prevents improper bone resorption.

Osteoporosis, which occurs when bone is lost too quickly or isn’t replaced quickly enough, affects 44 million Americans. Although both men and women suffer from the condition, 68 percent are women.

Women lose bone at the greatest rate during the first few years following menopause, so researchers studied mice whose ovaries had been removed, causing them to develop osteoporosis in much the same way as post-menopausal women.

When researchers injected the mice with aspirin, bone density was not affected. “When we gave a large amount of aspirin to the mouse by injection, it did not work,” said Associate Professor Songtao Shi, “but when we gave a low dose in the mice’s water for a long period of time, similar to a human dosage, the bone mineral density increased.”

The study creates the possibility of someday using aspirin to prevent both heart disease and osteoporosis.

Turmeric May Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Turmeric, an Asian spice used in curry, may help reverse inflammation associated with obesity and reduce type 2 diabetes risk, U.S. researchers said.

Dr. Drew Tortoriello of Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center and colleagues discovered that turmeric-treated mice were less susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes, based on blood glucose levels and glucose and insulin tolerance tests.

The research team also discovered that turmeric-fed obese mice showed significantly reduced inflammation in fat tissue and liver compared to controls.

The researchers speculate that curcumin -- the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant ingredient in turmeric -- lessens insulin resistance and prevents type 2 diabetes in these mouse models by dampening the inflammatory response provoked by obesity.

"It's too early to tell whether increasing dietary curcumin -- via turmeric -- intake in obese people with diabetes will show a similar benefit," Tortoriello said in a statement. "Although the daily intake of curcumin one might have to consume as a primary diabetes treatment is likely impractical, it is entirely possible that lower dosages of curcumin could nicely complement our traditional therapies as a natural and safe treatment."

The findings are scheduled to be published in Endocrinology and were presented at ENDO, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Licorice Extract Helps Treat Canker Sores

"Canker sores," or recurrent aphthous ulcers, can be treated with a licorice root extract, U.S researchers say.

Lead author Michael Martin of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues examined the effects of an over-the-counter medicated adhesive patch -- with extract from the licorice root -- for treatment of canker sores versus no treatment.

The study, published in General Dentistry, found that after seven days of treatment, ulcer size in the group who received the adhesive patch with licorice extract was significantly lower, while ulcer size in the no-treatment group had increased 13 percent.

The most serious side effect of canker sores is sharp pain in the mouth, which can interfere with an individual's quality of life and affect their eating, drinking or speech, Martin said.

"In addition to speeding healing of the canker sores, the adhesive patch helped to reduce pain after just three days of treatment," Martin said in a statement.