AAP General News (Australia)
08-26-2011
FED:CheckUp medical column for Friday Aug 26
A weekly round-up of news affecting your health
By Medical Writer Belinda Tasker
OBESITY WARNING
Governments need to do more to tackle the world's rising obesity problem by introducing
policies designed to help whittle down people's waistlines, experts say.
Research by Australian experts found obesity has been rising for 40 years and will
continue to do so for another four decades if governments do not take decisive, policy-driven
action.
Professor Boyd Swinburn and Dr Gary Sacks of Deakin University's WHO Collaborating
Centre for Obesity Prevention mapped the rising epidemic as part of a series of papers
published by The Lancet ahead of the first UN High-Level meeting on non-communicable diseases
in September.
"Governments have largely abdicated the responsibility for addressing obesity to individuals,
the private sector and non-governmental organisations," Prof Swinburn and Dr Sacks wrote.
"Yet the obesity epidemic will not be reversed without government leadership, regulation
and investment in programs, monitoring and research."
The researchers pinpointed the obesity epidemic as beginning in most high-income countries
in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the first half of the 20th century, people exercised less, due to increased mechanisation
and motorisation. But they also ate less, meaning obesity rates were low.
The researchers said a "flipping point" occurred in the 1970s when the sedentary population
began eating more due to the push effect of more readily available, cheaper, high-calorie
foods.
In Australia, about one in four adult woman are obese. In some regions, such as Western
Australia, obesity has overtaken tobacco as the largest preventable cause of disease.
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MS RELIEF
The go-ahead has been given in Britain for further research into a procedure which
could relieve symptoms for some people with multiple sclerosis.
The procedure, called percutaneous venoplasty, aims to improve blood flow from the
brain by using a small inflatable balloon or stent to widen narrowed veins in the neck
which carry oxygen-depleted blood.
MS affects the central nervous system by interfering with the transmission of nerve
impulses in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. An estimated 20,000 Australians have
MS.
Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is proposing
in its draft guidance that the
new procedure should be used in the context of research
only, so further evidence on its safety and clinical efficacy can be developed.
It has been suggested that there could be a link between narrowed veins - called chronic
cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI - and the progression of MS.
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SAFFRON EFFECT
New research has found that the spice Saffron could help prevent liver cancer, the
third leading cause of cancer deaths in the world.
Scientists gave saffron to rats with liver cancer and found the spice helped stop cancer
cells developing.
"In the fight against cancer there has been much interest in chemopreventive properties
of natural herbs and plants," Professor Amr Amin from the United Arab Emirates University
wrote in a study published by the journal Hepatology.
"With limited treatment options, approaches that prevent cancer development are among
the best strategies to protect against the disease."
Previous studies have found saffron has antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory
properties.
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ANTIDEPRESSANTS 'CUT CANCER RISK'
Some antidepressants could cut the risk of bowel cancer and a type of tumour that grows
in the spine or brain, British researchers say.
Tricyclic drugs, which are frequently prescribed for patients needing antidepressants,
cut the risk of bowel cancer by between 16 per cent and 21 per cent, a study has found.
They also help reduce the chance of developing a type of tumour called glioma by between
41 per cent and 64 per cent.
The study by experts at the universities of Nottingham, Warwick and Lincoln found people
had a lower cancer risk the longer they had been on the drugs and if they took them at
a higher dose.
Using GP records, the team identified 31,953 cancer cases for the study, published
in the British Journal of Cancer.
Analysis showed that people taking tricyclic antidepressants had a much lower risk
of glioma and a lower risk of bowel cancer.
Incidence of lung, breast and prostate cancer was largely unaffected by antidepressant use.
The team said the research suggests "tricyclics may have potential for prevention of
both colorectal cancer and glioma".
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DOWN DISCOVERY
People with Down syndrome often have poor balance and motor coordination because their
key eye reflexes are substantially altered, a scientist has discovered.
University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher Dr Alberto Costa studied 32 people
with the genetic disorder aged between 14 and 36.
He used special binocular goggles to measure eye movements in response to visual and
vestibular stimuli.
His focus was the cerebellum which is responsible for balance, posture and movement control.
"Although we have known for many years that the cerebellum is disproportionally shrunk
in persons with Down syndrome, we wanted to find out how their cerebella operated on a
functional level," Dr Costa said.
"We found that people with Down had much diminished optokinetic and vestibular reflexes
compared to typically developing individuals. As a consequence, it is likely that things
may appear blurry when they ride a bike or play sports."
Dr Costa's study was published by the journal Experimental Brain Research.
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