The 5 Best Books on Brain Fitness

If brain fog and too many senior moments have you worried about the future of your aging brain, you should know about AARP’s List of Best Brain Fitness Books. Among the top five is a book that I reviewed and highly recommended last year: The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of Middle-Aged Mind by Barbara Strauch who thinks that “the middle-aged mind is vastly under-estimated.”

Another top-five book is The Sharp Brains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp, which provides a macro view of the latest science, products and trends in brain health.

A New Study Suggests Annual Mammograms Are Unnecessary for Most Women

The debate over when and how often to get screened for breast cancer surfaced again this week following the release of a study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco that concluded that annual mammograms aren’t necessary for most women.  The timing of these latest findings, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when screening for early detection is being promoted, left a lot of women confused and angry. We reacted the same way in 2009, when federal guidelines recommended mammograms every two years starting at the age 50.

What makes annual screening such a hot button is the prevalence of false positives in mammography.  Besides causing a lot of fear and anxiety, these can led to more harmful and expensive interventions than required, according to those who favor less frequent screenings.  As explained in a UCSF statement released this week, ”more than half of cancer-free women will be among those summoned back for more testing because of false-positive results and about one in 12 will be referred for a biopsy.”

The study also looked at nearly 4500 women who had been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and found that roughly a quarter of all breast cancers detected by mammograms were late-stage whether women were screened every year or every other year.

Once we set aside the emotion (as in “I don’t care what these studies show, I’m going to have my annual screening!) consider what Dr. Susan Kutner, Chair of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s Breast Care Task Force had to say about this latest study on a local San Francisco Public Radio Program .

Flax Seed: If You Think It Will Help with Hot Flashes, It Just Might

Hot flashes and night sweats are the number one complaint of menopausal women.  For most women they last four to six years. For others, they can persist well into their 70s. That’s why, if there’s a glimmer of hope that something – anything – can help reduce their frequency, it’s worth a try.  Flaxseed falls into that category.  Some women find that adding a couple of tablespoons to their cereal every day helps cool them off.  Is it the estrogenic effect of the plant’s phytoestrogens that’s helping? Or is it just wishful thinking? And, as long as it helps, does it really matter? Consider these latest research findings:

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic randomly assigned 188 women to eat either a daily flaxseed bar containing 410 milligrams of lignans or one that was flax-free. Many of the study participants experienced hot flashes at least four times a day. Over six weeks, more than one third of the women in both groups had a 50 percent reduction in the frequency and severity of their hot flashes and they said that their symptoms were moderately to “very much” improved.

The Latest Bad Rap on Supplements: What Does This Week’s Study Mean to Women?

Yesterday, I set out to write about the latest findings of a government-funded research study that concluded that in older women, several commonly used dietary vitamin and mineral supplements may do more harm than good; even, in some cases, causing a small increase in the risk of death.

Death?  Really?  From Vitamin B6 and multivitamins?

There must be more to this than was being reported, so I decided to go to the source, The Archives of Internal Medicine, where the findings were published,  and read the study myself.   Here’s what I learned.

First: The Facts

Researchers assessed the use of 15 vitamin and mineral supplements (including multivitamins, Vitamins B6, C and D, folic acid, magnesium, Iron and Calcium) in relation to total mortality in nearly 39,000 women in the Iowa Women’s Health Study. The participants were just under 62 years of age when they began the study in 1986.  Supplement use, which was self-reported via a health questionnaire three times over 19 years, was widespread among these women and increased over the years.

In yesterday’s news reports about this study, we learned that the researchers found a small increase in the risk of death among older women who took dietary supplements compared with those who didn’t.  However, what wasn’t reported in many news

An Important Research Study on Vitamin D and Fish Oil That You Can Participate In

A new research study is about to get underway that will investigate whether taking daily supplements of Vitamin D and fish oil reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease and stroke.  The study’s co-director, Dr. JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School, told me during the recent conference of the North American Menopause Society, that their goal is to enroll 20,000

Women’s Health in Midlife: Scientists Present the Most Up To Date Research Findings at the NAMS Conference

Last week, I attended the annual conference of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), where 1500 attendees – physicians and scientists– gathered to hear the latest research findings concerning women’s health in midlife. The conference began appropriately with a full day devoted to hormone therapy:  what is known about the risks and benefits; the safety and impact of different delivery methods (transdermal vs. oral); the effects of
estrogen on mood and memory; and a look at the myths and facts about Bioidenticals.

Research presentations on subsequent days covered a wide range of health concerns including the possible link between hot flashes and cardiovascular disease; vaginal health, and hormone-free remedies for hot-flashes.  In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing what I learned from these presentations as well as my conversations with physicians. For now, here are some of my initial take-aways:

1. Mention bio-identicals to 1500 gynecologists, as Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, Director of the Midlife Health Center, University of Virginia, did in her presentation and you’ll hear a loud, collective groan. Suzanne Sommers and even Oprah continue to be a flash point for this group. Many of their patients want what they have without really knowing what it is they’re asking for.
2. “Adrenal fatigue” gets the same response. “It’s not a medical term,” Dr. Pinkerton explained to me. “Adrenal insufficiency, on the other hand, is a diagnosable condition that you can test for. Often, she told me, her patients self-diagnose their “constellation of conditions” such as fatigue, lethargy, and cravings for sweets, as adrenal fatigue, based on what they’re reading on the internet or in popular books.

Will a Cup of Joe Stave Off Depression?

Drinking coffee not only helps you start your day, it just might make you feel better too, according to a recent study that found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption. How much did it take to see a difference?  The women who consumed as much as 4 cups a day saw the greatest results — a risk reduction of 20 percent.

As noted in the study’s commentary, the effects of caffeine – both good and bad – has been explored in previous studies relating to cardiovascular disease, inflammation and certain types of cancers.   This is the first large-scale study of coffee consumption to evaluate a mental health outcome in women, who are particularly vulnerable to depression during periods of hormone changes such as peri- and post-menopause.  And while the results are promising, the researchers cautioned that more research is needed to confirm this finding and to determine whether usual caffeinated coffee consumption can contribute to depression prevention.

How to Select an Online Canadian Pharmacy: Tips from an Industry Insider

If you’re taking prescription medicines regularly, say for hormone balancing, or blood pressure, you’ve probably compared prices offered by the big chains like Costco or Walmart with your local pharmacy. But did you also research the cost of meds from Canadian pharmacies online? Perhaps you were concerned about their legitimacy or integrity of products. I certainly was. However, I’ve learned how to order with confidence, thanks to some tips from an industry insider that I’ll share with you here.

When searching online for Canadian pharmacies, you’ll have a lot of choices. However, the only ones you should consider are those that display a seal from PharmacyChecker.com. This is a U.S. Based company, founded by Dr. Tod Cooperman who also founded ConsumerLab.com, an independent evaluator of dietary supplements and nutrition products. (see my earlier article about this company).  They continually evaluate and monitor pharmacies operating online and through mail-order to determine that they are safe to buy from.  Their website offers a robust price comparison feature to help consumers find the lowest priced products. The participating pharmacies pay a fee to apply and have membership status as a verified, trust-worthy business, just as Good Housekeeping runs their well-known “seal of approval” program.

One in Three Women Have Incontinence or Other Type of Pelvic Floor Disorder (And Some Are in their 30s)

One third of all women in the U.S. suffer from some type of “pelvic floor” disorder,  a term that covers a number of conditions ranging from a leaky bladder, frequent urinary tract infections to a more serious “dropping” or prolapse of a pelvic organ. Many women experience early symptoms (they leak urine when they sneeze, for example) but choose not to discuss them with their doctor because they find the subject too embarrassing to talk about or they mistakenly attribute them to normal aging.

I’m Going To The Source for the Most Up to Date Info on Menopause

This week I will be attending the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society where the the latest scientific research on menopause and midlife women’s health will be presented.  I’ll be listening to and interviewing national and international experts on a wide range of health topics we’re all