Multivitamins found to help men avoid developing cataractsSaturday, March 08, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) Medical science is all over the place these days, with one recent study erroneously claimingthat "multivitamins" are a complete waste of money, while many other studies say they are beneficial. Well, now a new study published in the peer-reviewed journalOphthalmologyhas confirmed that daily multivitamin use in men can help protect against cataracts, one of the leading causes of blindness among the elderly.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School found, after analyzing data collected as part of the Physicians' Health Study II (PHS II), that men who supplement their diets with a daily multivitamin, along with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene (precursor to vitamin A), fare better in terms of eye health than men taking a placebo. Though slight, this reduced risk is noteworthy, as it lends credence to the health-promoting effects of multivitamins.

For the research, Dr. William Christen and his team evaluated 12,641 male doctors aged 50 years or older who participated in PHS II between 1997 and 2011. According toMedical News Today, half of the men were assigned to take the daily multivitamin regimen, while the others took a daily placebo. Neither the researchers nor the participants knew which group was receiving which treatment.

The research team followed all the men for an average of 11.2 years, tracking each new case ofcataractsor age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in both groups. At the end of the study period, they identified 945 new cases of cataracts in the placebo group and 872 cases of cataracts in the multivitamin group, which represents a 9 percent decreased risk.

For nuclear cataracts, which form even deeper in the lens of the eye, the risk reduction was even more significant. On average, the men who took themultivitaminhad about a 13 percent reduced risk of developing nuclear cataracts compared to men who took the placebo, illustrating a modest yet significant benefit associated with multivitamin use.

"Ifmultivitaminsreally do reduce the risk of cataract, even by a modest 10 percent, this rather small reduction would nonetheless have a large public health impact," stated Dr. Christen, the study's lead author, about the findings.Lutein, zeazanthin particularly beneficial in protecting against AMDThough this particular study did not show the same benefits with regard to AMD,an earlier observational study published inThe American Journal of Clinical Nutritionback in 2007determined that multivitamins and mineral supplements, particularly those that contain antioxidants beneficial to eye health, can be beneficial in protecting against the disease.

"The results of observational studies suggest that a healthy lifestyle with a diet containing foods rich in antioxidants, particularly lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as n-3 [omega-3] fatty acids, appears beneficial for AMD and possibly cataract," wrote Johanna M. Seddon and her colleagues, also from Harvard Medical School.

Based on these findings and those of similar studies, the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that individuals with intermediate or advanced AMD supplement with antioxidant vitamins and mineral supplements that include high doses of vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc and copper. And even those without AMD may benefit from taking these nutrients, which have been shown to provide long-term protective benefits against age-related blindness.

"Cataract is the most common surgery that Medicare pays for, and it's going to get worse," stated Dr. Emily Y. Chew, M.D., deputy clinical director at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, toMedscape Medical Newsabout the findings. "Anything we can do to reduce it is a major feat."

Breech babies 'have higher risk of death from vaginal delivery than C-sectionMonday 11 August 2014, Honor WhitemanCesarean section (C-section) is a surgical procedure that involves delivering a baby through an incision made in the mother's abdomen. Mothers can choose to have a C-section, or the procedure may be carried out in the event of unforeseen medical problems that may cause harm to the mother or infant.If a baby is in a breech position for delivery - the infant's buttocks or feet are in place to come out first instead of their head - a C-section may be performed to reduce the risk of subsequent complications. According to the American Pregnancy Association, 1 in every 25 full-term births is breech.The research team - led by Dr. Floortje Vlemmix of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands - notes that C-section rates significantly increased after a 2000 study - named the Term Breech Trial - claimed C-sections dramatically reduce the risk of infant mortality among breech babies, compared with vaginal deliveries.In the US, the rates of C-sections soared 60% between 1996 and 2009, from 20.7% of total births to 32.9%. The Netherlands saw C-section rates increase from 50% to 78% from 2000 to 2008.In this latest study, results of which are published in the journalActa Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, Dr. Vlemmix and colleagues wanted to see how the rise in C-section rates has impacted neonatal outcomes from breech birth.Vaginal deliveries for breech babies 'increase neonatal mortality risk 10-fold'The team analyzed data from the Dutch national perinatal registry from 1999-2007. They identified 58,320 women who delivered singleton breech babies between 37 and 42 weeks' gestation at hospitals in the Netherlands.The researchers note that mothers who had stillbirths or whose infants had birth defects were excluded from the study.Results of the study revealed that among these women, elective C-section rates increased from 24% in 1999 to 60% in 2007. This resulted in a reduction in neonatal mortality from 1.3 births in every 1,000 to 0.7 births in every 1,000, while no reduction was found among women who opted for a vaginal birth."Despite the lower percentage of women opting for or offered a vaginal delivery, and despite a higher emergency Cesarean rate during vaginal breech birth, neonatal outcome within the planned vaginal birth group did not improve," they note.Dr. Vlemmix says that regardless of evidence that C-sections improve neonatal outcomes for breech deliveries, 40% of women still choose to have a vaginal birth. Such deliveries, he says, result in a 10-fold higher neonatal mortality risk than elective C-sections.He adds:"Our findings suggest there is still room for improvement to prevent unnecessary risk to the infant. We recommend using measures to turn the baby (external cephalic version) to prevent breech presentation at birth and counseling women who want to proceed with a vaginal breech birth."Despite the positive association with C-sections in this study, concerns have been raised surrounding the long-term risks of the procedure.Earlier this year,Medical News Todayreported on a study published in the journalPLOS ONE, which claimed babies delivered by C-section aremore likely to be overweight as adults.A more recent study, published inPLOS Medicine, suggested that having a C-section for a first birth mayincrease the risk of future stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy.

Hysterectomy Does Not Raise Heart RiskWednesday 15 May 2013Contrary to some previous research, a new study from the US finds women's risk of cardiovascular disease does not go up after having a hysterectomy in mid-life, with or without ovary removal. The risk is no higher than that faced by women who reach the menopause naturally, says the new study.

Lead author Karen A. Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues, write about their findings in a report due to be published online this week in theJournal of the American College of Cardiology.

Matthews, who is a distinguished professor of psychiatry and professor of epidemiology and psychology at Pittsburgh, declares in a press statement that the results should be encouraging to middle-aged women considering a hysterectomy:

"... our results suggest that increased levels of cardiovascular risk factors are not any more likely after hysterectomy relative to after naturalmenopause," says Matthews.Hysterectomy and Risk of Cardiovascular DiseaseHysterectomy is a common surgical procedure that removes a woman's uterus. Sometimes she also has her ovaries removed, usually to reduce risk ofovarian cancer.

However, while the need for such a procedure may be obvious, for instance because ofcancer, prolapsed uterus,fibroids, or because of very heavy and painful periods, as with all surgery, the benefits have to be weighed against the risks.

Because of changes to hormones, one of the effects of having a hysterectomy before the menopause is that it usually brings on the menopause earlier.

Some previous studies have suggested hysterectomy raises long term risk of cardiovascular disease, which is the number one killer of women. And they have inferred that the risk is even higher if ovaries are also removed.

But there are objections to this view, mainly because those studies tended to evaluate cardiovascular disease risk factors years after hysterectomy and/or ovary removal without taking into account what they might have been before surgery.What the Researchers DidFor this new study, Matthews and colleagues followed 3,302 premenopausal women in the US for 11 years. The women were taking part in the Study of Women's Health across the Nation (SWAN).

At the start of the study period, when the women enrolled on SWAN, they were between 42 and 52 years of age, had an intact uterus, at least one ovary, and were not taking hormone therapy.

They underwent assessments every year over the follow up, during which time the majority reached the menopause naturally, some had hysterectomy with ovary removal, and some had hysterectomy without ovary removal.

The main reasons for hysterectomy were fibroids, heavy periods, and chronic pelvic pain.

The researchers assessed cardiovascular disease risk factors in the participants before and after hysterectomy, and compared this to the risk factors before and after the final menstrual period in those who went through the menopause naturally.

Matthews and colleagues say their study is the first multiethnic study to track prospective annual changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors relative to hysterectomy or natural menopause.What They FoundThe analysis showed thatwhile some of the before and after individual cardiovascular risk factors changes were different for hysterectomy compared to natural menopause, overall, the pattern of changes did not suggest an increase in cardiovascular risk following hysterectomysay the researchers. And this was the same in all ethnic groups.

Plus, this was the case even after adjusting for possible influencers like Body Mass Index (BMI), which did go up after hysterectomy with ovary removal.What the Reasons Might BeMathews says they are not sure why their findings disagree with earlier studies that suggest hysterectomy raises cardiovascular disease risk.

One reason could be because they did not include younger women, and hysterectomy that occurs earlier in life may result in higher cardiovascular disease risk.

Another reason, says Matthews, could be that this study excluded women who had hysterectomies because of cancer.

SWAN is co-sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research on Women's Health, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

In 2011, writing in the journalArchives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the University of California at San Francisco reported findingwomen who underwent hysterectomy with ovary removal had a reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer, and no higher risk of developing other types of cancer,heart diseaseor hipfractures.