Drinking Decaf Coffee Maybe Good for the Liver

General Posted by anthony Date May 1, 2015

Drinking Decaf Coffee Maybe Good for the Liver Researchers from the National Cancer Institute report that decaffeinated coffee drinking may benefit liver health. Results of the study published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, show that higher coffee consumption, regardless of caffeine content, was linked to lower levels of abnormal liver enzymes. This suggests that chemical compounds in coffee other than caffeine may help protect the liver. Coffee consumption is highly prevalent with more than half of all Americans over 18 drinking on average three cups each day according to a 2010 report from the National Coffee Association. Moreover, the International Coffee Association reports that coffee consumption has increased one percent each year since the 1980s, increasing to two percent in recent years. Previous studies found that coffee consumption may help lower the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Study researchers used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999-2010). The study population included 27,793 participants, 20 years of age or older, who provided coffee intake in a 24-hour period. The team measured blood levels of several markers of liver function to determine liver health. Participants who reported drinking three or more cups of coffee per day had lower levels of bad liver enzymes compared to those not consuming any coffee. Researchers also found low levels of these liver enzymes in participants drinking only decaffeinated coffee. Dr. Xiao concludes, ÛÏOur findings link total and decaffeinated coffee intake to lower liver enzyme levels. These data suggest that ingredients in coffee, other than caffeine, may promote liver health. Further studies are needed to identify these components.Û

Alcohol and Older Adults – What You Don’t Know

General Posted by anthony Date April 29, 2015

Alcohol and Older Adults – What You Don’t Know

You can become more sensitive to alcohol as you get older. The same amount of alcohol can have a greater effect on an older person than on someone who is younger.
Heavy drinking can make some health problems worse. Common health problems that can be made worse by alcohol include stroke, high blood pressure, memory loss, and mood disorders.
Some medicines and alcohol don’t mix. Many prescription, over-the-counter, and herbal remedies can be dangerous or even deadly when mixed with alcohol. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Read the warning labels on all of your medicines.

Get your FREE copy of Older Adults and Alcohol, a booklet from the National Institute on Aging at NIH. Order online or call the information center at 1-800-222-2225. Bulk copies are available! Share this booklet with your friends and family – there is a special section on how friends and family can help. Use it to start talking about how drinking may be affecting your life. Get the facts about older adults and #alcohol from the National Institute on Aging.

Combating Senior Scams

General Posted by anthony Date April 27, 2015

Combating Senior Scams From ALFA In the last fiscal year, the United States Postal Inspection Service obtained more than 400 arrests and 410 convictions nationwide, and most of those schemes disproportionately targeted older Americans. Most of these schemes were related to foreign lottery/sweepstakes schemes, work-at-home scams and sweetheart scams. Illegal lottery fraudsters gain the trust of the victims by spending hours on the phone with them. The sweetheart scammers create male and female characters to entice potential victims, asking the to assist them in coming to the United States to meet. ÛÏVictims are drawn in by these scammers because of the personal interaction which usually takes place over the phone,Û said Cynthia Mormon, acting inspector general in charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Detroit Division. Work-at-home scheme victims receive a solicitation by mail, email or respond to an online or print job ad. Fraudsters ÛÏhireÛ older Americans without an interview or background check to work as a ÛÏpayment processor,Û who must deposit checks or money orders from the company to their own bank accounts then wire money to their employer. Additionally, the envelope stuffing scam requires the victim to pay a fee to obtain a starter packet to stuff envelopes at home. ÛÏOlder Americans, the physically challenged and Û÷shut-insÛª conveniently receive many of their purchases by mail,Û said Mormon, speaking at the Indiana State fairgrounds, Farm Bureau Building. ÛÏSadly, that makes them easy prey for mail fraud operators. The problem is compounded by operators who sell the names and addresses of their victims to other criminal elements, resulting in the repeat victimization of many older citizens.Û She noted that victims are often reluctant to tell anyone they have been victimized so itÛªs important for friends and family to know the signs of someone in the midst of potential victimization. Mormon offered these helpful tips:

When stacks of mail offering lottery tickets for sale or contest information are discovered, community members are encouraged to inquire about these mailings with their loved ones.
Relatives could volunteer to help older family members balance their checkbooks and ask about any questionable checks or sudden large withdrawals.
Offer to review credit card statements.
Offer to review mail to see if they are receiving unsolicited lottery offers.
Reiterate that no legitimate lottery requires payment before winnings are awarded.
Anyone who has received deceptive solicitations should place their phone number in the Do Not Call Registry by calling 1-888-382-1222.

Poor Sleep Quality Increases Suicide Risk for Older Adults – Stanford University

General Posted by anthony Date April 24, 2015

Poor Sleep Quality Increases Suicide Risk for Older Adults – Stanford UniversityIn a study, participants who reported poor sleep had a 1.4 times greater chance of death by suicide within a 10-year period than those who reported sleeping well.

Older adults suffering from sleep disturbances are more likely to die by suicide than well-rested adults, according to a study led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine. ÛÏThis is important because sleep disturbances are highly treatable, yet arguably less stigmatizing than many other suicide risk factors,Û said Rebecca Bernert, PhD, lead author of the study. Bernert is an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory at Stanford. Bernert said older adults have disproportionately higher rates of suicide risk compared to other age groups, making suicide prevention in elderly populations a pressing public health challenge. Using data from an epidemiological study of 14,456 adults aged 65 and older, Bernert and her colleagues compared the sleep quality of 20 who died by suicide with the sleep patterns of 400 similar individuals over a 10-year period. They found that participants reporting poor sleep had a 1.4 times greater chance of death by suicide within a 10-year period than participants who reported sleeping well. The study confirmed the relationship between depression and suicide risk, while also assessing poor sleep as an independent risk factor. ÛÏOur findings suggest that poor sleep quality may serve as a stand-alone risk factor for late-life suicide,Û Bernert said.

When comparing the two risk factors, poor sleep predicted risk better than depressive symptoms. The combination of poor sleep and depressed mood was the strongest predictor of suicide risk.Most of the studyÛªs suicide decedents were white men, a group at heightened risk for suicide in the general population, Bernert said, noting that additional research is needed to see if the correlation between disturbed sleep and suicide risk extends to women, minorities and younger adults or teenagers.Bernert recommended organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (http://www.afsp.org) and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK) as resources for people who are struggling with thoughts of suicide. Other co-authors of the study are affiliated with the University of Iowa, the University of Rochester and Florida State University. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants F31MH080470 and K23MH093490), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Information about StanfordÛªs Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, which also supported the research, is available at http://psychiatry.stanford.edu.

UK Study: Brains of Those Who Regularly Go Online Decline More Slowly Than Those Who Don’t

General Posted by anthony Date April 22, 2015

Daily Mail

UK Study: Brains of Those Who Regularly Go Online Decline More Slowly Than Those Who Don’t Surfing the internet and sending emails can prevent memory loss in the elderly and may already be helping in the fight against dementia in Britain, say scientists. An eight-year study of almost 6,500 Britons aged from 50 to 90 found that the brains of those who regularly go online are declining more slowly than those who do not. The study was conducted by Brazilian researchers using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and published in the Journals of Gerontology. Over eight years, the mental abilities of the 6,442 people were measured alongside other factors that could affect their Û÷cognitive declineÛª such as illness, wealth and education. They were given recall tests on a series of words with different amounts of time in between being asked to remember them. The researchers said that those who were current users of email and the internet were 3 per cent better at recalling the words than non-internet users. Digital literacy ÛÒ defined as the ability to plan activities online ÛÒ employs more of the brainÛªs cognitive networks, exercising the muscles in the brain to keep them healthy.

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