health briefs
Take Echinacea to Reduce Anxiety
Echinacea extract may be helpful for situation-induced anxiety, indicates a new study from Hungary’s Institute of Experimental Medicine, in Budapest. The researchers tested 64 middle-aged people that had scored high on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. They were given either 80 milligrams Echinacea angustifolia root extract or a pla- cebo every day for seven days, followed by a three-week washout period during which no pills were taken. Those taking the echinacea started experiencing less anxiety than the placebo-takers by day seven, and scored significantly lower in “state anxiety”, marked by arousal connected to specific dangers or threats. Measures of “trait anxiety”, in which anxiety is an ongoing personal characteristic, improved slightly compared to the placebo group. Improvements were maintained even during the washout period.
Breathe Cleaner Air
to Help Bone Health Air pollu- tion has long been linked to lung cancer, stroke and respiratory disease, and now research has found that it can lead to osteoporosis, as well. Researchers from the
Barcelona Institute for Global Health studied the bone mass and density of 3,717 people living in villages near Hyderabad, India. These were com- pared to fine particulate air pollution levels, which averaged more than three times the recommenda- tions of the World Health Organization. The re- searchers also surveyed in-home cooking over wood, coal and other biomass sources. The results showed that exposure to ambient air pollution was associated with lower levels of bone mass, and that cooking over fires did not have that effect. “Inhalation of polluting par- ticles could lead to bone mass loss through the oxidative stress and inflammation caused by air pollution,” says lead author Otavio T. Ranzani.
8 Austin Area Edition
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Consume Grape Seed Extract to Improve Cholesterol
and Lower Inflammation Grape seed extract, an antioxidant-rich supplement that is a byproduct of the wine and juice indus- try, significantly improves both total and LDL cholesterol levels and triglyc- eride levels, and lowers markers of inflammation, concludes a meta- review of 15 randomized trials in the journal Phytotherapy Research. Researchers from Iran, Canada and Croatia concluded that the popular extract also improves fasting glucose levels, but has little effect on HbA1c or HDL cho- lesterol levels.
Try Pine Bark to Improve
Erectile Function and Cholesterol
Erectile dysfunction, an early diabetic indicator, responds to treatment with pine bark extract, Slovakian researchers report. They tested 53 diabetic and non-diabetic patients with erectile dysfunction, giving half of them the extract (marketed as Pycnogenol) and the other half a placebo for three months. The pine bark extract im- proved erectile function by 45 percent in the diabetes group and 22 percent in the non-diabetes group. It also lowered LDL cholesterol by 21 percent and reduced blood sugar levels in the diabetes group.
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