Here is a round-up of stories about health....
BETA BLOCKERS COULD GIVE OVARIAN CANCER VICTIMS EXTRA 4 YEARS
Taking beta blockers could extend the lives of women with ovarian cancer by up to four years, scientists say.
The pills are commonly taken to help people deal with stress, lower blood pressure and manage heart problems.
But research suggests that they may also act as a powerful cancer medication. Health records of 1 400 women with ovarian cancer showed that those who were taking any form of beta blocker for other health complaints survived for longer on average.
And women having chemotherapy who took a particular type of beta blocker - a “non-selective” form that blocks all stress hormones - lived for an average of four years longer than those who had chemotherapy alone.
The research, by experts at the University of Texas, adds to a growing body of evidence that stress hormones accelerate the growth and spread of cancers, and suggests that using medication to reduce a cancer patient’s stress levels could help them fight the disease.
Beta blockers work by stopping the release of stress hormones from receptors in the body.
Daily Mail
WOMEN SAY NO TO CANCER DRUGS OVER BABY FEARS
A third of young breast cancer patients refuse to take effective drugs because they are worried about the impact on their fertility, a study has shown.
And of those who did start a course of tamoxifen, a quarter ended it early over concerns they would not be able to have a baby.
Taking tamoxifen for five years has been found to cut the risk of early death by 26 percent. It also slashes the chance of breast cancer returning by 47 percent.
The drug, taken as a pill once or twice a day, works by blocking the oestrogen hormone, which helps some forms of breast tumour to grow. About 600 000 prescriptions are issued in England each year.
But a major drawback of the treatment is that it cannot be taken while a woman is pregnant, for fear that it will harm a baby in the womb.
It does not actually stop women becoming pregnant - but the research suggests patients do not take it for fear it will harm their chances.
For the study, doctors at the University of Michigan examined medical records of 515 women treated for breast cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
All patients in the study were aged between 25 and 45, and each was offered tamoxifen. But many declined, giving fertility fears as a reason, and additional women gave up taking the drug before the recommended five-year period was up.
Daily Mail
TWO-THIRDS OF US CUT BACK ON SUGAR
Two in three Britons are actively cutting back on sugar following warnings from health experts that it is “the new tobacco”.
Sugar has been linked with obesity and associated ill-health - including type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, and some forms of cancer.
Now 62 percent of consumers are looking to reduce the amount in their diets, research found. Of those, a fifth claim to have stopped eating all sugary products, while 75 percent claim to be buying fewer.
Almost half of those who have changed their eating habits have ditched fizzy drinks and a third have cut down on fruit juice. One in three are buying more low-sugar products, such as reduced-sugar ketchup.
The figures - which were collated on behalf of The Grocer magazine - confirm the results of a study by the Food Standards Agency, which found that sugar has become the main food issue for consumers.
Daily Mail
DIABETES TOLL RISES
Diabetes is causing more heart attacks, strokes and amputations than ever before, official figures show.
Hospitals in England and Wales treat 200 000 cases a year in which the condition has caused complications - up 11 percent in two years.
This includes 18 000 heart attacks, 22 000 strokes and 5 500 amputations, says the National Diabetes Audit - which looked at figures from 2010/11 to 2012/2013.
Daily Mail
FISH OIL 'DOESN’T SLOW DOWN MENTAL DECLINE’
Millions of older people who take fish oil supplements to keep their wits sharp could be wasting their time.
Doubts have emerged about whether the capsules do anything to slow mental decline.
A study of 4 000 people found no evidence that omega-3 supplements help people maintain their brain power.
US scientists tracked the patients for five years, finding that the whole group declined at roughly the same rate, no matter whether they had taken the supplements.
Previous studies have associated regular fish consumption with lower rates of dementia. It is also linked to better heart health, stronger bones and lower risk of eye conditions. It has been widely assumed that omega-3 fatty acids were behind the dietary benefits of fish. They are highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be important for the growth and repair of nerves.
Daily Mail
HORMONE JABS CUT BONE FRACTURES
Growth hormone injections reduced the risk of brittle bone fractures in older women long after treatment was stopped, a ten-year study found.
They halved the fracture rate in those with osteoporosis over the period.
Eighty post-menopausal women with the condition received daily injections of either a placebo, a single unit of growth hormone or a 2.5-unit dose.
After 18 months, those taking the placebo halted the injections, but women given the hormone had jabs for another 18 months. Their bone density and fractures were monitored for seven more years. Results were compared with120 women without osteoporosis.
Women who got the larger hormone dose still had higher bone mineral density levels than those who received the lower dose or the placebo. The rate of fractures in the treated women with osteoporosis declined by 50 percent during the study.
The findings, by researchers at Sodra Alvsborgs Hospital in Sweden, were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Daily Mail
NEW DRUG 'HALVES CHOLESTEROL’
A breakthrough drug that can halve cholesterol levels without the side effects of statins has gone on sale in the UK.
Heralded as a 'sea change’ in heart treatments, Repatha is the first new cholesterol-busting medication since the 1980s.
The drug - the first alternative treatment for people who suffer unpleasant side effects from statins - reduced levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol by 55 percent in clinical trials.
It can also be taken alongside statins, and patients who took both for 12 weeks were shown to have cholesterol levels 75 percent lower than those given statins alone.
Daily Mail
TAKING ASPIRIN 'MAY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD’
Taking low doses of aspirin may do 'more harm than good’ in heart failure patients, doctors have warned.
The drug is commonly recommended for patients after they have had a heart attack or for those who are at risk of having one.
Heart failure occurs when damage to the heart leaves it too weak to pump blood efficiently round the body.
Around two-thirds of people with the condition take low doses of aspirin, usually following a heart attack.
It is thought to prevent clots forming in coronary arteries and is said to reduce the chances of heart-related problems. But a study of 8,000 Danish heart failure patients who took 75mg of aspirin per day - far less than the single standard 300mg tablets usually sold over the counter in Britain - saw no improvement in mortality rates.
And those with coronary heart failure had an increased risk of bleeding.
The researchers, from Gentofte University Hospital in Copenhagen, concluded: “Routine use of aspirin in heart failure might cause more harm than benefit.”
The study was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.
Daily Mail
STAY TRIM IN MID-LIFE TO PUT OFF DEMENTIA
A bulging waistline in middle age increases your chances of developing dementia early, research suggests.
Being overweight at 50 sped up the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, scientists found. For adults who went on to develop the illness, every extra point in body mass index (BMI) brought forward its onset by 6.7 months. A healthy BMI is between 18 and 25.
Lead researcher Madhav Thambisetty said that keeping trim “even as early as mid-life” could therefore 'have long-lasting protective effects to delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease even decades later’.
Dr Thambisetty and his team, of the US’s National Institute for Ageing, measured the BMI and mental functioning of 1 394 people aged 50 in Baltimore every other year for 14 years. They found 142 people developed Alzheimer’s - and it struck those who had had a higher BMI at 50 earlier.
The reason why obesity might accelerate the illness is still not known, the authors write in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Dr Clare Walton, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said research on obesity “has so far produced inconsistent results” but added: “We know that dementia can begin to develop years before symptoms begin and so keeping healthy through mid-life and into later life is important for reducing dementia risk.”
Daily Mail