Your Health by John Denniston

Sugar-sweetened soft drinks may raise gout risk

Soft drinks sweetened with sugar or fructose may dramatically increase the risk of gout in men, according to a 12-year study of more than 46,000 men age 40 and older. Gout is a painful, treatable arthritis that usually affects small joints such as the big toe.
Men who drank two or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks daily were 85 percent more likely to develop gout than were men who drank less than one serving a month. Fruit drinks sweetened with fructose also increased the risk of gout.
Diet soft drinks did not increase the risk of the ailment, according to the study published in BMJ Online First.

Remember to take a nap to help your memory

A new study by the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Sleep and Cognition has confirmed what many of us already believe: A “power nap” during the middle of the day can help you remember things—but only if you learned them well to begin with.
A 45-minute nap apparently can “set” facts and make them easier to recall, according to the small study on “declarative memory,” textbook learning such as memorizing words or facts. A study group that napped after learning certain facts remembered things better than a group that didn’t nap, but researchers said the benefits of napping varied greatly depending on how well people learned the information originally. The study was reported in the journal Sleep.
Statins can help all diabetics, international study concludes

British and Australian researchers say that virtually all diabetics should be treated with cholesterol-fighting drugs known as statins.
In an analysis of almost 19,000 people with diabetes, the researchers found that standard treatment with statins lowered the incidence of heart attacks and strokes by more than 4 percent. The study was reported in the journal Lancet.
Statins, such as Lipitor, are the world’s top-selling drugs and have been shown to cut the risk of heart attack and stroke. Many diabetics already take statins, but the study called for wider use, except for children and pregnant women.

Miserable in middle age? Most people are, study says

Middle age is the pits, according to an international study of happiness and well-being.
Regardless of gender, culture, wealth or education, middle age is when you have the highest probability for depression and misery, the analysis of 2 million people in 80 countries found. Globally, the worst age is 44, while in the United States, men hit their low point in their early 50s, and women hit it around 40.
For the average person, happiness and positive mental health are high in the 20s, fall to a low in the 40s, but return to the higher levels after 50, according to the analysis for the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Youthful heavy drinking may lead to later-life problems
Heavy drinking in your younger years may increase your risk of heart disease and stroke in your later years, even if your drinking became moderate in middle age, according to a study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, Calif.
According to the study of almost 3,000 adults who were questioned about their lifetime drinking habits, those who were heavy drinkers in their youth and then tapered off to moderate drinking were almost 33 percent more likely to have developed metabolic syndrome—vascular risk factors such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure and abdominal obesity—than those people who drank moderately throughout their lives.
The study was reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

 March is National Kidney Month

According to the National Kidney Foundation, one in nine Americans has chronic kidney disease, but it goes undetected in most people until it has reached a critical stage. The leading causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. Symptoms include fatigue, poor appetite, muscle cramping at night and difficulty sleeping.
March 13 is World Kidney Day, with worldwide events planned to promote awareness of this silent killer, and the National Kidney Foundation of the Virginias is offering free health screenings in Central Virginia.
More information, including dates and times for the health screenings, is available at www.kidneyva.org or at (804) 288-8342.

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