Staying Healthy Archive

Don't ignore back pain, height loss, or osteoporosis. They could be signs of a compression fracture.

You didn't fall, and you didn't do anything strenuous. So it may come as a surprise when the bad back pain you've been experiencing turns out to be one or more broken bones in your back. "A common story is that someone bends down to put something in the dishwasher or steps off a curb a little hard and puts additional load on their spine. The weakened bone is not adequate to take that load, and it collapses," says Dr. Julia Charles, a rheumatologist and bone cell researcher at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

What weakens the spine?

Your spine contains about 30 bones called vertebrae, stacked on top of each other like a roll of quarters. Each vertebra consists of an external bone surface (like plaster), and an inside filled with a honeycomb of support rods called trabeculae.

News briefs

We already know that a diet rich in red meat is linked to many health problems, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. Now a Harvard-led study published online June 12, 2019, by BMJ suggests that boosting your red meat intake increases your risk for early death. Scientists analyzed questionnaire answers about health and diet provided by more than 81,000 healthy men and women between 1986 and 2010. In particular, researchers looked at whether changes in red meat consumption during an eight-year period of the study affected the risk of death eight years later. The findings: An increase of just half a serving of processed red meat per day was associated with a 13% higher risk for dying young from any cause; an additional half-serving of unprocessed red meat increased the risk by 9%. On the flip side, decreasing total red meat consumption and increasing the consumption of nuts, fish, poultry without skin, dairy, eggs, whole grains, or vegetables was tied to a lower risk of death. The takeaway: Try to curb your appetite for red and processed meats like bacon, salami, and hot dogs. Eat more poultry, fish, or plant-based proteins (like beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds), along with the other components of a healthy diet.

Image: © Pavlo_K/Getty Images

News briefs

A study published online June 10, 2019, by Circulation suggests that scaling up three healthy lifestyle changes could increase the life spans of almost 100 million people around the world. Researchers — led by a team from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — evaluated global data on death rates, blood pressure levels, the use of blood pressure medications, sodium and trans fat intake, country, age, and gender. They estimated that a worldwide push to lower blood pressure, reduce salt intake by 30%, and eliminate the consumption of trans fat could delay more than 94 million deaths from cardiovascular disease in the next 25 years. More than half of those deaths would be among adults ages 70 or older, and more than half of all deaths would be among men. Regions that would see the most benefit are outside the United States — in East Asia, South Asia, the Pacific, and parts of Africa. But we can all benefit from the three lifestyle changes. Trans fat has already been banned in foods in the United States. But if your blood pressure isn't under control, it's time to talk to your doctor about treatment and to reduce sodium intake to well under 2 grams per day.

Image: © CatLane/Getty Images

News briefs

As we reported last year, advances in digital health monitoring — such as implantable sensors to detect irregular heartbeats — are changing the way health is managed. The gadgets are programmed wirelessly and can transmit information to your doctor's office or to other gadgets, such as an external blood sugar monitor that tells an implanted pump how much insulin to release. But it's unclear if the devices are safe from hackers who could illegally access your information, steal your identity, and even make an implanted device malfunction. Now the FDA is warning that certain insulin pumps — the Medtronic MiniMed 508 series and MiniMed Paradigm series pumps — are at risk of being hacked. Medtronic recalled the pumps in June, estimating that at least 4,000 people are at risk. The FDA says Medtronic will provide alternative pumps.

Talk to your doctor to get the process started or if you're concerned that your pump's settings have been changed. In March, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued similar warnings about 750,000 Medtronic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. Medtronic did not recall them but is working on a software update to improve security.

This approach to eating has numerous health benefits. What's the best way to follow it?

For years, the Mediterranean diet has been touted for its heart- and cancer-fighting abilities, and countless studies have backed up its reputation as one of the world's healthiest eating patterns.

So what is the best way to begin eating the Mediterranean way? Approach it as a lifestyle and not a structured, rules-oriented diet, suggests Dr. Qi Sun, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

On call

Q. I've always been a night owl, but now really drag in the morning. Is it too late to adjust my sleep-wake times?

A. It's never too late to reset your sleep-wake schedule. In fact, by doing so, you can improve your quality of life and potentially your overall health.

The plank pose is perfect for strengthening your core.

Almost every move you make revolves around your core — from picking up items on the floor, to twisting to see if the coast is clear when driving, to playing with your grandkids.

Your core is made up of several muscle groups (see "To the core"), so keeping each one equally strong and healthy can be a challenge.

The right athletic footwear can protect against injuries.

When one's feet hurt, one hurts all over. That saying, often attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates, is as true now as it was more than 2,000 years ago.

One of the best ways to prevent age-old foot pain and the soreness that can come with it, like in the knees, hips, and back, is to invest in quality athletic footwear.

In the journals

Eating large amounts of red meat can raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, but new research suggests you should curb your intake of white meat, too. The findings were published online June 4, 2019, by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers randomly assigned 113 healthy adults, ages 21 to 65, to follow a four-week diet with high levels of either red meat, white meat (chicken and turkey), or plant-based protein (such as nuts, whole grains, soy products, and legumes). Afterward, LDL levels in the high-red-meat diet group rose, as predicted, but the researchers found that high levels of poultry had the same effect on LDL levels as red meat.

At least one additive — a preservative called propionate — could be linked to diabetes and obesity.

Scientists are giving food additives and other ingredients more scrutiny these days, thanks to new technology that allows them to get an up-close view of how individual molecules affect the body. And they are already discovering some surprising information that could change what you put on your plate in the future.

Consider propionate, or propionic acid, a naturally oc-curring fatty acid and a common preservative found in everything from bread and animal feeds to pudding and cheese. A study published online April 24 by Science Translational Medicine found that this ingredient may disrupt the metabolism, triggering the body to produce excess glucose (blood sugar), which could lead to diabetes and obesity.