5 (Scientific!) Reasons Getting Outside is Good for You

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Which of these situations sounds more appealing to you: Taking a walk outdoors or strolling through the office? Unless you’ve got a tricked-out workplace with an espresso machine and a ping-pong table, we’re going to assume you chose the former.

So why exactly does hanging out in nature make us so happy? Turns out, it’s not just our adoration for foliage that leaves us feeling Zen—being outside can actually offer relief for everything from depression to negativity. Here, a few more reasons to take an extra-long lunch today, or a walk after dinner.

It can ease depression

According to a study from the University of Michigan, group nature walks are linked to enhanced mental health and positivity, as well as significantly lower levels of depression and feelings of stress. Had a particularly hard day? Grab a friend or your significant other for a post-work mood booster.

It may improve your outlook

If you’re dreading the thought of spending another workout chained to the treadmill, move your run outdoors for a quick burst of happiness. A study from Glasgow University showed that people who walked, biked, or ran in nature had a lower risk of poor mental health than people who worked out indoors.

It could improve your focus

Can’t decide where to go on your next weekend getaway? You might want to consider a trip to the countryside. According to a study published in Psychological Science, interacting with nature gives your brain a break from everyday overstimulation, which can have a restorative effect on your attention levels.

It can strengthen your immunity

Fun fact: The latest get-healthy pill isn’t found it in your medicine cabinet—it’s in your backyard. Researchers at Tokyo’s Nippon Medical School found that women who spent six hours in the woods over the course of two days had an increase in virus- and tumor-fighting white blood cells, and the boost lasted at least seven days afterwards.

…But you can also fake it

Of course, we can’t always find the time to spend hours lounging in the grass. Luckily, you can still reap some brain-boosting benefits without leaving your house. According to a study in the Korean Journal of Radiology, people who were shown pictures of scenic, natural landscapes had heightened activity in areas of the brain associated with recall of happy memories compared to people shown urban landscapes. So put some outdoor shots at your desk or set them as your monitor background for some help in a pinch.

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Medical Implant Devices Skate Through Review Process, Studies Claim

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Every day, people receive medical implants — artificial valves, hip replacements, surgical mesh and the like — that may not have been rigorously tested before or after their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, two new studies contend.

The studies — conducted by prominent nonprofit groups and published online Sept. 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine — lay the blame for inadequate medical device testing on lax oversight by the FDA.

Manufacturers didn’t submit any scientific evidence on the safety or effectiveness of 42 out of a sample of 50 new implants in their applications to the FDA, according to a review conducted by the nonprofit National Center for Health Research. The FDA cleared the implants for use in humans.

“If you are a doctor who wants to know what the scientific evidence is that this device is safe and effective, there is no publicly available evidence,” said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research.

The FDA also doesn’t appear to rigorously pursue companies regarding required postmarket studies intended to verify the safety of medical implants following their approval, a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts reported.

The Pew researchers found that months pass before regulators and manufacturers can even agree on the parameters for these studies, and that the studies rarely result in any action beyond a change in a device’s labeling.

“We know that for a lot of the studies, there are delays of six months or more in finalizing the protocol,” said co-author Dr. Joshua Rising, director of medical devices for the Pew Charitable Trusts. “We need more information to understand why it’s taking so long to finalize some protocols, and why progress is inadequate for so many studies.”

The FDA defended its practices in a statement, saying its “approach has served the American public well by balancing the need for robust evidence to assure safety while expeditiously bringing new technologies to the patients who need them.”

The National Center for Health Research study focused on new medical devices submitted to the FDA as a modified, or “substantially equivalent,” version of a device already on the market.

Under federal law, these modified devices aren’t required to undergo new clinical testing. But manufacturers must provide data in their applications that prove the device is substantially equivalent to the prior version, including tests regarding safety and effectiveness, Zuckerman said.

Most new implants are cleared using this process, the study authors said. Fewer than 20 devices a year are approved under the more rigorous procedure for wholly unique implants, they said.

The researchers selected a representative sample of 50 new devices cleared by the FDA between 2008 and 2012, and checked the applications to see if companies included this information.

Only eight of the applications contained scientific data to show the new implants were safe, effective and comparable to their earlier versions, the researchers said.

“Some companies say explicitly that ‘no testing’ and ‘no clinical studies were performed,'” Zuckerman said. “Most of the summaries either don’t even mention any scientific evidence — which clearly is not consistent with the law — or mention it but don’t summarize the findings.” She said the law requires a summary with “sufficient detail” of scientific evidence to explain the basis for clearance.

The researchers also found that scientific data was publicly available for only 3 percent of the earlier devices that served as the predecessors for the 50 new implants.

The FDA’s statement disputed these findings, noting that the “publicly available information” upon which the authors based their conclusions “is generally limited because manufacturers are only required by law to provide either a safety summary or a safety statement for the public.”

“However, the FDA reviews a significant amount of data — far more than what is publicly available — to determine whether or not to clear an implantable device,” the statement said.

In the other study, the Pew researchers investigated post-approval studies that the FDA orders for about half of all the high-risk devices it allows on the market.

“There are times when the FDA approves a high-risk device but may have some questions it wants the manufacturer to answer after approval,” Rising said. For example, the agency may want to gather long-term safety data on products designed to last years in your body.

The researchers found that a median of 180 days lapsed before regulators and the manufacturer could agree on how the study would be conducted, and that about one-third of the active studies were making inadequate progress.

Despite this, the FDA has never issued a warning letter or a penalty owing to study delays, inadequate progress, or any other issue related to a post-approval study, the study said.

“One of the real challenges we face is that there’s not a lot of information on the FDA’s website as to the source of the delays or why progress is inadequate,” Rising said. “We hope our paper will spur further interest in these studies.”

The Pew researchers also found that only one out of 223 studies resulted in any action other than a change to the device’s label.

A former FDA official who wrote an accompanying commentary said “device regulation at the FDA is definitely improving.”

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, current secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a former principal deputy commissioner at the FDA, said, “There are some areas for further progress, but the agency has done a lot toward moving toward innovation as well as identifying safety problems earlier.”

Sharfstein said the FDA has undertaken a new postmarket surveillance plan that will label every implant with a traceable code. This code will allow regulators and scientists to better track the implants and note any safety problems that might crop up.

More information

For more about the U.S. postmarket surveillance plan, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Antibiotic Use Before Age 2 Might Raise Obesity Risk, Study Says

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Children who are given broad-spectrum antibiotics before the age of 2 may face a slightly higher risk of becoming obese during childhood, new research suggests.

Broad-spectrum antibiotics target a larger number of organisms than narrow-spectrum ones, according to the study.

“It is a reason to think about whether you need antibiotics, and which antibiotic you are picking,” said lead researcher Dr. Charles Bailey, attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bailey and his colleagues looked at the health records of nearly 65,000 children who were seen at clinics from 2001 through 2013. The researchers followed the children from birth to age 5. They tracked the height and weight of the children, and classified them as normal weight, overweight or obese.

The study authors found that 69 percent of the children were given antibiotics before age 2. On average, the children had 2.3 episodes of antibiotic use.

Children who had four or more exposures to antibiotics were 11 percent more likely to be obese than those who did not. The researchers also looked at whether the antibiotics prescribed were narrow-spectrum, which are recommended as first-line treatment of common childhood infections, or broad-spectrum. “Kids who got broad-spectrum antibiotics had a 16 percent higher risk [of obesity than those who did not],” Bailey said.

No link was found between the narrow-spectrum drugs and obesity risk.

The researchers took into account other factors affecting obesity, such as insurance status, use of steroids and having an asthma diagnosis, and the association held.

The study was published in the Sept. 29 online edition of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Bailey and his team decided to look at the possible link between early antibiotic use and obesity risk because previous research has suggested that a person’s intestinal microbe environment may be linked with obesity; antibiotic use may affect that environment.

“What we see here is an association,” Bailey said. “We haven’t proven cause and effect,” he explained.

“For most kids, obesity is not the result of one thing they do or don’t do,” he said. And the 16 percent higher risk is not great, he acknowledged, but the many factors that may drive obesity risk add up.

Parents can ask a doctor who is recommending their young child take an antibiotic if the treatment is really needed. If it is, parents can ask if a narrow-spectrum antibiotic would do the job.

The study was funded by an unrestricted donation from the American Beverage Foundation for a Healthy America to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to support the hospital’s Healthy Weight Program. The Healthy Weight Program directly funded the study, Bailey said.

The risk found is relatively small, but the finding is “certainly one more reason to be concerned that we should use [antibiotics] more carefully and more prudently,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah School of Medicine, in Salt Lake City.

If children really need an antibiotic, he said, “the good outweighs the harm.”

He suggested asking these questions if your child’s doctor is suggesting an antibiotic: “Do I really need [to give my child] an antibiotic or could we wait another day and see?” or “Is this the most narrow-spectrum to do the job?”

More information

To learn more about antibiotics, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Too Many Heart Scans May Pose Radiation Risks, Cardiologists Say

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Doctors need to make sure patients understand the radiation-related risks of heart imaging tests before sending them for such procedures, a new American Heart Association scientific statement says.

“With technological improvements, medical imaging has become an increasingly vital tool in diagnosing and treating patients with heart disease, but the rising use of the tests has led to increasing radiation exposure over the past two decades,” Dr. Reza Fazel, chair of the statement writing committee and a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in an association news release.

“Heart imaging procedures account for almost 40 percent of the radiation exposure from medical imaging,” Fazel said.

Before referring a patient for a heart imaging test, the cardiologists say, doctors need to address questions such as:

• How will the test help diagnose or treat the heart problem?


• Are there alternatives that don’t use radiation?


• What are the levels of radiation exposure, how will it affect the risk of cancer later in life and how does that compare to the risk from other common activities?

“In general, the radiation-related risk of any imaging test to an individual patient is very small and, when the test is clinically appropriate, the benefits of the test typically far outweigh any potential risks,” Fazel said.

Doctors who order heart imaging tests need to understand when each type of test is appropriate, the typical average radiation dose and the potential risks, according to the statement published Sept. 29 in the journal Circulation.

“Radiation-related risk is one of the factors that should be considered in the decision to use cardiovascular imaging with ionizing radiation, particularly in younger patients in whom the potential risk of radiation exposure is thought to be higher,” Fazel added.

When deciding on a heart imaging test, doctors also need to consider the test’s diagnostic accuracy, availability, cost, convenience and other potential risks.

Widely used types of heart imaging tests that use radiation include nuclear stress tests, cardiac CT scans, and fluoroscopy. Fluoroscopy is a technique that uses X-rays to create “real-time” or moving images of the body. Ultrasound and MRI tests do not expose patients to radiation.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about medical imaging tests.

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Doctors’ Group Issues Painkiller Guidelines

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — The risks of powerful narcotic painkillers outweigh their benefits for treating chronic headaches, low back pain and fibromyalgia, a new statement from the American Academy of Neurology says.

Narcotic, or opioid, painkillers include medications such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone (Oxycontin), methadone, fentanyl, hydrocodone or a combination of the drugs with acetaminophen.

The drugs can cause serious side effects, overdose, addiction and death. Research shows that 50 percent of patients who took opioids for at least three months are still on them five years later, according to the academy.

Studies find that while opioids may provide short-term pain relief, there is no proof that they maintain pain relief or improve patients’ ability to function over long periods of time without a serious risk of overdose, dependence or addiction, the statement says.

“More than 100,000 people have died from prescription opioid use since policies changed in the late 1990s to allow much more liberal long-term use,” Dr. Gary Franklin, of the University of Washington in Seattle, said in an academy news release.

“There have been more deaths from prescription opioids in the most vulnerable young to middle-aged groups than from firearms and car accidents,” he added. “Doctors, states, institutions and patients need to work together to stop this epidemic.”

Doctors should consult with a pain management specialist if a patient’s daily opioid dosage reaches 80 milligrams to 120 milligrams, especially if the patient isn’t showing substantial improvement in pain levels and physical function, the statement advises.

The statement, published in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal Neurology, also outlines ways for doctors to prescribe opioids more safely and effectively. These suggestions include: screening for depression and current and past drug abuse; creating an opioid treatment agreement with the patient; and using random urine drug screenings.

“More research and information regarding opioid effectiveness and management is needed, along with changes in state and federal laws and policy to ensure that patients are safer when prescribed these drugs,” Franklin said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic pain medicines.

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The Super Spice You Should Be Eating

Photo: Getty Images

Looking for an easy way to improve your whole-body health with very little effort? Add some turmeric to your diet.

This super spice does more than give curry its bright yellow hue—it has also been used in India for centuries as a medicinal herb. Now, research is backing up the claims: studies suggest that a compound in turmeric called curcumin has potent health powers, like helping the brain repair itself, delaying liver damage, and reducing your body’s negative response to eating high-fat meals.

Not sure how to bump up your intake? Try making a few of these yummy, curry-inspired dishes each week and eat your way to better health.

Chicken Stew with Green Olives

Toss a bunch of pantry staples in the slow cooker in the morning, and come home to a healthy, warming supper with a Mediterranean twist. Whip up some couscous (ready in 5 minutes!) and you’re set. Get the recipe: Chicken Stew with Green Olives

Photo: MyRecipes.com

Curried Lentil Soup

Curry, a spice mixture that contains turmeric, gives this protein- and fiber-packed vegetarian soup plenty of punch. Get the recipe: Curried Lentil Soup

Photo: MyRecipes.com

Coconut-Curry Beef

Put down that takeout menu! Whip up this Thai-inspired dish in the slow cooker, and watch everyone gobble it up. Get the recipe: Coconut-Curry Beef

Photo: MyRecipes.com

Curried Deviled Eggs with Chutney

Give this potluck favorite some exotic appeal with turmeric-filled curry powder and the sweet-spicy bite of mango chutney. Get the recipe: Curried Deviled Eggs with Chutney

Photo: MyRecipes.com

Curried Tuna Wraps

Turn plain tuna salad into a gourmet lunch with curry powder, hoisin sauce, red onion, and dried currants (swap raisins or grapes if you prefer). Get the recipe: Curried Tuna Wraps

Photo: MyRecipes.com

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40 States, District of Columbia Reporting Respiratory Virus That Targets Kids

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Forty states and the District of Columbia now have a total of 277 confirmed cases of Enterovirus D68, the severe respiratory illness that typically targets children, U.S. health officials are reporting.

Officials said the 40 states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

So far, all the cases have involved children, except for one adult, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Enterovirus D68 is part of the family of viruses that includes the common cold. It can sometimes require hospitalization, especially for children with asthma.

More cases will be confirmed in the coming weeks because the testing for Enterovirus D68 is complex and can only be done by the CDC and a small number of state-run laboratories, the CDC said.

Meanwhile, health officials are investigating whether Enterovirus D68 might be the possible cause of muscle weakness or paralysis that has occurred among nine children in Colorado within the last two months.

Tests detected the virus in four of eight of the children. The status of the ninth child is not clear. All the children are being treated at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, the Associated Press reported.

While Enterovirus 68 can cause paralysis, other germs can too, and doctors haven’t pinpointed the actual culprit in these nine cases. And doctors don’t know if the limb weakness or paralysis is temporary or will be long-lasting, the AP reported.

“That’s why we want more information” and for doctors to report similar cases, the CDC’s Dr. Jane Seward told the news service.

The first cases of Enterovirus 68 were diagnosed in August in Midwestern and Western states.

Enteroviruses are common in September as kids head back to school, with an estimated 10 million to 15 million people infected each year. But doctors believe this particular type of enterovirus is causing more severe cases than in the past.

The virus is also hard to track because it causes symptoms similar to many other infections, including the common cold, according to health experts.

Illness associated with the Enterovirus D68 infection typically lasts about a week. Children will appear to have a severe cold, with runny nose, sneezing and cough. But the illness can escalate quickly in some cases, and the child may start to have trouble breathing. It’s typically transmitted through close contact with an infected person, or by touching objects or surfaces contaminated with the virus and then touching the mouth, nose or eyes, according to health officials.

Antibiotics won’t work against a virus, and there is no antiviral treatment available for Enterovirus D68, health officials said.

The CDC is asking doctors and public health officials to consider Enterovirus D68 as a potential suspect if widespread respiratory illnesses start occurring in their communities.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthDay that good hygiene is the best defense against a child catching Enterovirus D68.

“Hand washing is paramount, and teaching kids not to touch their faces with unwashed hands is the point,” Horovitz said. “Any child or adult with flu-like symptoms or common cold symptoms should be seen, evaluated and followed by doctors for any respiratory complications.”

Children and adults should wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds on a regular basis. They also should avoid contact with people who are sick, and stay home if they themselves fall ill. Kids with asthma need to stay on top of their symptoms and take their medication, health officials said.

The virus tends to “produce severe shortness of breath in children who may not have asthma. Therefore, children with asthma must be watched closely by doctors if they contract the virus,” Horovitz said.

Enteroviruses are very common, according to the CDC. There are more than 100 types of enteroviruses. People who come down with a bad summer cold often have been laid low by an enterovirus, the federal agency said.

More information

To learn more about enteroviruses, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Drug Gives Big Survival Boost Against Type of Advanced Breast Cancer

By E.J. Mundell

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Adding the drug Perjeta to a standard medication, Herceptin, may give women with a form of advanced breast cancer a significant boost in survival, a new study finds.

The finding is limited to patients with tumors called HER2-positive that have spread (metastasized). And experts say that this type of treatment-linked boost in survival — an average of nearly 16 extra months of life — is very rare in cancer research.

Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, described the new findings as “extremely exciting.”

“Great strides have been made in treating breast cancer, and it is particularly encouraging that we now have additional treatment to offer patients with HER2-positive metastatic disease that extends survival,” she said.

“Treatment regimens continue to become more tailored to a patient’s individual cancer, lessening unwanted side effects from drugs that may not be beneficial, and focusing on treatments that have been shown to improve outcomes for a specific tumor,” added Bernik, who was not involved with the study.

Some breast tumor cells carry a “receptor” protein on their surface called HER2, which is thought to fuel the cancer.

However, certain HER2-targeted medications such as Herceptin and Perjeta (pertuzumab) aim to interrupt this process, curbing the tumor’s spread.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, about 20 percent of breast cancers are HER2-positive.

The study — funded by drugmaker Genentech and presented Sunday at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Madrid, Spain — follows a positive report for Perjeta released in 2012. That trial suggested that patients with HER2-positive cancers might benefit, but more time was needed to discover just how big the benefit might be.

The study involved more than 800 women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancers whose illness had either never been treated, or who had returned for treatment after undergoing a different regimen. Patients either received a combination of three drugs — Perjeta, Herceptin and docetaxel — or Herceptin, docetaxel and a “dummy” drug (placebo). Patient outcomes were then tracked for a median of more than 4 years.

The researchers reported that people who took Perjeta along with the other two standard medications gained an average 15.7 months in survival (56.5 months versus 40.8 months). This was equivalent to a 32 percent reduction in the odds that the patient would die over the length of the trial, the authors noted.

“Adding Perjeta to treatment with Herceptin and chemotherapy resulted in the longest survival observed to date in a clinical study of people with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer,” study lead author Dr. Sandra Horning, chief medical officer at Genentech, said in a company news release. She called the survival boost “a magnitude of improvement we rarely see in clinical trials in advanced cancer.”

However, there were some downsides to taking Perjeta, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012 for use against breast cancer. The study found that women taking Perjeta had higher rates of diarrhea, rash and a lowering of white blood cell counts compared to women taking only Herceptin and docetaxel.

And the study found that — for reasons that remain unclear — Perjeta only slowed the progression or worsening of the disease by an average of about 6 months, even though it extended overall survival by much longer.

“This prolongation of survival is unprecedented, particularly in this group of patients with higher-risk disease,” said one of the study investigators, Dr. Paula Klein, assistant professor of medicine, hematology and medical oncology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The drug comes with a hefty price tag, though. According to The New York Times, patients in the United States can expect a bill of about $5,900 for a month’s supply of Perjeta.

That’s in addition to the $5,300 monthly cost of Herceptin, the newspaper said. Klein labeled such costs the “financial toxicity” of new cancer drugs.

Experts note that studies presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

There’s more on treating HER2-positive breast cancers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

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Obese in Adolescence, Colon Cancer in Later Life?

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Obesity and inflammation in late adolescence are associated with increased risk for colon and rectal cancer in adulthood, a new study of Swedish males suggests.

The 35-year study found that 16- to 20-year-olds who were obese had more than twice the risk of developing colon or rectal cancer compared to normal-weight teens.

And teens with high levels of inflammation had a 63 percent increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, compared with those with low levels of inflammation, researchers found.

“These results are important because we know relatively little about the role of early life exposures in the development of colon cancer,” said lead researcher Elizabeth Kantor, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

However, Kantor said this study doesn’t prove that obesity and inflammation in adolescence caused the increased risk for colorectal cancer.

“We are talking about associations and cannot say whether or not they are causal,” she said. “For this reason, I think it’s important to be cautious with the conclusions of the study,” she added.

For one thing, nothing was known about the diets of the boys studied, the researchers noted.

Obesity is thought to be a cause of inflammation, which has been associated with an increased risk for a variety of cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

The study findings were scheduled for presentation Monday at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in New Orleans.

Dr. Andrew Chan, an associate professor in the department of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said there is “pervasive evidence” that obesity is a risk factor for colon cancer.

It isn’t clear, however, when obesity matters the most, he said. “We know that the development of colon cancer takes many years. So it is important to understand whether it’s obesity earlier or later in life that is more influential,” Chan said.

Kantor agreed that more work is needed to determine how obesity and inflammation might influence colorectal cancer risk at different stages in life.

For the study, Kantor’s team analyzed data on nearly 240,000 Swedish males drafted into the military from 1969 to 1976 when they were between 16 and 20 years of age.

When they were inducted into the military, the men underwent a blood test to measure inflammation in their body and had their height and weight recorded.

To identify men with colorectal cancer from this group, the researchers linked draft records with a national cancer registry. By the start of 2010, the investigators found that 501 men had developed colon cancer and 384 had developed rectal cancer.

Obesity was associated with 2.37 times greater risk of developing colorectal cancer, the researchers said.

Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, wasn’t surprised by the findings. “We have long known that obesity is associated with an increased risk of almost all cancers, and obesity is associated with inflammation,” he said.

Establishing healthful eating and physical activity patterns in childhood is crucial, he said. “A healthy lifestyle is the best defense we have against obesity, inflammation, and the dangers these portend over a lifetime,” he said.

Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

For more about obesity and cancer, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

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Rat Study Suggests Light at Night Might Hamper Breast Cancer Therapy

MONDAY, Sept. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) — A study in rats hints that exposure to dim light at night may make human breast cancer tumors resistant to the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin.

However, giving the rats a melatonin supplement prevented this light-linked resistance to doxorubicin, the most widely used cancer chemotherapy drug in the world.

Prior rat-based research by the same investigators found that exposure to dim light at night boosted human breast cancer tumors’ resistance to the breast cancer drug tamoxifen.

In the new study, rats with human breast cancer tumors were exposed to 12 hours of normal light followed by 12 hours of dim light, simulating dim light in a nighttime environment.

Half of the rodents were also given melatonin supplements during the dim light period.

Tumor growth in rats that did not receive melatonin was nearly triple that of those that did receive melatonin, the researchers reported. The researchers also found that tumors in rats that did not receive melatonin became completely resistant to doxorubicin, while tumors in rats that received melatonin remained sensitive to the chemotherapy drug and regressed rapidly.

The study was to be presented Monday at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in New Orleans. Experts note that findings in animals often fail to be replicated in humans, and studies presented at medical meetings are also considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Still, the study’s authors believe two enzymes may play a role in a resistance to doxorubicin that’s tied to dim light at night.

“When we analyzed tumors from rats that did not receive nighttime melatonin supplementation, we detected substantially increased levels of two enzymes that break down doxorubicin to a less active form,” Steven Hill, chair for breast cancer research at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, explained in an AACR news release.

He believes that an increase in the levels of these enzymes might speed the transport of doxorubicin away from cancer cells, “compared with tumors from rats receiving nighttime melatonin supplementation.”

“Tumors from rats receiving nighttime melatonin supplementation had lower levels of these enzymes,” Hill said. “So we think that melatonin helps maintain high levels of active doxorubicin in the cancer cells, whereas suppression of circadian melatonin production by exposure to light at night has the opposite effect.”

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about breast cancer treatment.

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5 Women on TV to Watch For Fitspiration

Photo: Getty Images

We can’t get enough of the women taking over our television sets this fall. Not only are they badass, but their bodies are seriously rockin’ too. They totally exemplify what it means to own your health. That’s why we were dumbfounded to find that research conducted by San Diego State’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film revealed that speaking roles for small screen female stars has declined by 2.3% this year as compared to last year.

So we decided to shine a light on five of our favorite primetime stars that are worth watching. The best part: They are all over 40, proving that women just keep getting better with age!

Jada Pinkett Smith

Gotham, Mondays at 8 pm EST on FOX

Our gorgeous October cover star, who just celebrated her 43rd birthday, let Health in on the secret to her sexy, svelte shape: “I make sure I do something physical every single day. But that doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym and freakin’ kill yourself! I do 20 minutes of cardio a day. Everybody’s thinking you gotta be in the gym for an hour and a half. Literally, I’m never in the gym longer than 45 minutes.”

RELATED: Jada Pinkett Smith on Kids, Work, and Fitness

Connie Britton

Nashville , Wednesdays at 10pm EST on ABC

When the former aerobics instructor isn’t belting out country music tunes, you can find her getting sweaty in hot yoga. The 47 year-old Dartmouth alum has been quoted as saying how much she loves the “mind-body-spirit element” of posing in the heat. (P.S. We’re team Deacon all the way!)

RELATED: Which Type of Yoga Is Best for You?

Tracee Ellis Ross

Black-ish , Wednesdays at 9:30pm EST on ABC

This fab former model (and daughter of Diana Ross!), has been linked to several fitness regimens: the Gyrotonic workout (a mixture of dance, tai chi, yoga, and gymnastics); the Tracy Anderson Method; and has posted pictures on her Instagram account of sweating it out with celebrity trainer Jeanette Jenkins. Ross recently told Upscale magazine: “I’m proud of my body—I work very hard to keep my body at 41 years old, because my booty could drop. Gravity is not a joke.”

RELATED: Total-Body Workout by Tracy Anderson

Kate Walsh

Bad Judge , series premiere on Thursday, October 2, at 9pm EST on NBC

Whether she’s strutting her stuff along the beach in a bikini or showing some serious skin on a magazine cover, we don’t think we’ve ever seen 46 look this good! How exactly does the red-haired beauty keep that killer muscle definition? She’s a fan of Pilates sessions with trainer Juliet Kaska.

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Lucy Liu

Elementary, premieres Thursday, October 30, at 10pm EST on CBS

You might be surprised to find out that this martial arts master (um, hello, did you not see her butt-kicking awesomeness in the Kill Bill and Charlie’s Angels franchises?) is also a fan of Pilates. In fact, the 45 year-old credits it with elongating her muscles and giving her a leaner frame.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/YGXZff