| | Protecting Women's Bones: Is the Secret Soy or the Asian Diet?
Could your hip bones use a little tofu? Scientists report that moderate intake of soy-at least the amount found in about 1.75 ounces of tofu-was associated with reduced risk of hip fractures among women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. That's an amount of soy "higher than the low levels of consumption in the West," noted lead researcher Woon-Puay Koh, MD, of the National University of Singapore.
The findings represent a bright spot in the mostly disappointing recent research attempting to link soy consumption to better bone health. People in Asia generally have lower rates of osteoporosis than those in the West, and scientists have speculated that high levels of soy foods in Asian diets may be part of the reason. But proof of that notion has been elusive.
In this new study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Dr. Koh and colleagues followed 63,257 Chinese men and women in Singapore, ages 45 to 74 at baseline, for an average 10.6 years. Each participant completed a food-frequency questionnaire to assess his or her dietary intake of soy foods and also answered questions on medical history and lifestyle factors.
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Rethinking Fish-Oil Pills for Heart and Brain
Two recent reports may cause you to have second thoughts about buying that bottle of fish-oil pills. Both published disappointing conclusions- one finding no difference between omega-3 supplements and placebo against cardiovascular disease, the other similarly negative for cognitive benefits. Unlike many of the previous studies linking fish-oil supplements to heart and brain benefits, these new reports were based on randomized clinical trials.
"There are strong data to indicate that people who consume fish are at lower risk of cardiovascular disease than people who do not consume fish," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director of Tufts' HNRCA Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory. "This most recent trial indicates that merely adding fish oil to the diet, without changing other components, does not improve cardiovascular disease risk."
The ORIGIN study, a large, randomized clinical trial, compared fish-oil pills with a placebo over more than six years in a range of outcomes primarily related to heart disease. Researchers tested 1,000 milligrams daily of the omega-3s DHA and EPA against a placebo in 12,536 patients with diabetes or prediabetes, average age 64.
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Exercise Works to Protect Bones; Black Cohosh Doesn't Postmenopausal women can protect their bones by exercising, but adding black cohosh-an herbal supplement thought to have estrogen-like effects-to exercise confers no extra protection. That's the conclusion of a year-long clinical trial involving 128 women who recently went through menopause.
Michael Bebenek of the University of Erlangen and colleagues randomly assigned 86 women to a vigorous exercise program that interspersed six weeks of high-impact aerobics and strength training with 10-week intervals of more moderate activity such as brisk walking and step aerobics. The rest of the women joined a "wellness" group that performed only less-strenuous activities including light walking and balancing and stretching exercise for one hour a week; this 10-week regimen alternated with 10 weeks of no exercise at all.
Half of the exercise group also received daily 40-milligram doses of black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), an herb touted as a "natural" form of hormone replacement therapy. Black cohosh has been promoted for relief of hot flashes and other meno - pause symptoms. Last year, an evidence review found mixed results in seven trials of black cohosh for menopause symptoms, but warned that women using it should be aware of the potential risk of liver toxicity. Bebenek and colleagues stated that they believe theirs is the first clinical trial to test black cohosh for benefits on bone density. Read Full Article |
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