healthbriefs
A Bus Pass to Green Well-Being T
here’s a way to simultaneously help both Planet Earth and one’s own health, report scientists from Imperial College London, in England. The researchers examined four years of data from the country’s De- partment for Transport National Travel Survey begin- ning in 2005, the year before free bus passes were available for people ages 60 and older. The study team found that those with a pass were more likely to walk frequently and take more journeys by “active travel”— defined as walking, cycling or using public transport. Staying physically active helps maintain mental well-being, mobility and muscle strength in older people and reduces their risk of cardiovascular dis- ease, falls and fractures. Previous research by Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes published in The Lancet has shown that just 15 minutes of moderate daily exercise lowers the risk of death in people over
60 by 12 percent, and another study at Newcastle University found that 19 percent of Britain’s adults achieve their recommended amount of physical activity through active travel alone.
Public health organizations in the UK believe that “incidental” exercise, such
as walking to and from bus stops, may play a key role in helping seniors keep fit and reduce social exclusion.
E
COFFEE AND VISION LOSS LINKED
asing up on java consumption or switching to decaf may be a wise
move for coffee lovers, according to a scientific paper published in Investiga- tive Ophthalmology & Visual Science. The study links heavy consumption of the caffeinated beverage to an in- creased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma, a condition in which fluid builds up inside the eye and puts pres- sure on the optic nerve. This leads to some vision loss and in serious cases, total blindness. Researchers obtained data from
78,977 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 41,202 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study that focused on caffeinated coffee, tea and cola servings. They found that drinking three or more cups of caffein- ated coffee daily was linked with an increased risk of developing the eye condition, especially for women with a family history of glaucoma. However, the researchers did not find associa- tions with consumption of decaffein- ated tea, chocolate or coffee. “Because this is the first [such]
study, confirmation of the U.S. results in other populations would be needed to lend more credence to the possibil- ity that caffeinated coffee might be a modifiable risk factor for glaucoma,” says Doctor of Science Jae Hee Kang, of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts. “It may also lead to research into other dietary or lifestyle risk factors.”
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