FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- Weight control through diet and exercise can prevent most cases of type 2 diabetes in American women over age 50, a new study finds.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., analyzed data from more than 150,000 postmenopausal women who were followed for more than 10 years. Hispanics and Asians were about twice as likely as whites to develop diabetes; blacks were two to three times as likely.
Those differences were largely due to modifiable lifestyle factors such as diet, physical activity and smoking, the researchers said.
The study also found that a large reduction in diabetes risk among women would occur in all four racial and ethnic groups if they maintained a healthy body weight, ate a healthy diet and were physically active.
Maintaining a body-mass index (BMI) of less than 25 appeared to be particularly important in reducing diabetes risk. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
"Our work shows that among numerous races [and] ethnicities, the women with both high body-mass index and low levels of physical activity are far more likely to develop diabetes," primary investigator Dr. Yunsheng Ma said in a medical school news release. "A healthier diet and adequate levels of physical activity significantly lower that risk for most women."
The study was published July 23 in the journal Diabetes Care.
Type 2 diabetes, the more common type, means the body doesn't produce or properly use the hormone insulin, which is needed to convert food into energy. Untreated, type 2 diabetes can cause damage to the heart, eyes, kidneys and other organs.
More information
The U.S. National Diabetes Education Program has more about diabetes prevention.
A 10-year-old girl was hospitalized after being struck by a shuttle bus in downtown San Francisco Wednesday afternoon, a police spokesman said.
The collision was reported near the corner of Market and Battery streets just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Officer Carlos Manfredi said.
The girl was taken to San Francisco General Hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, Manfredi said.
The driver of the commercial shuttle bus stopped and cooperated with police, who are continuing to investigate the incident.
This was the second injury of a pedestrian by a car in downtown San Francisco Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier, a woman was struck by a car while apparently jaywalking in San Francisco?s Financial District but is expected to survive, police Officer Gordon Shyy said.
The collision was reported at about 12:40 p.m. near California and Drumm streets.
The pedestrian, a woman around 50 years old, ran across California Street behind a San Francisco Municipal Railway cable car and was struck by an eastbound vehicle whose driver did not see her, Shyy said.
The woman was taken to a hospital with complaints of pain to her head and wrist, Shyy said.
The driver remained at the scene, cooperated with investigators and was not cited, Shyy said.
(Reuters) - Investors wiped $10 billion off the value of Facebook Inc on Friday, taking the recently listed shares to a new low, after the social network offered no forecast and analysts said mobile investments would put future earnings under pressure. The 17 percent slide in the shares took Facebook's market capitalization??
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Lower vitamin D could increase risk of dying, especially for frail, older adultsPublic release date: 26-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Smit Ellen.Smit@oregonstate.edu 541-737-3833 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A new study concludes that among older adults especially those who are frail low levels of vitamin D can mean a much greater risk of death.
The randomized, nationally representative study found that older adults with low vitamin D levels had a 30 percent greater risk of death than people who had higher levels.
Overall, people who were frail had more than double the risk of death than those who were not frail. Frail adults with low levels of vitamin D tripled their risk of death over people who were not frail and who had higher levels of vitamin D.
"What this really means is that it is important to assess vitamin D levels in older adults, and especially among people who are frail," said lead author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University.
Smit said past studies have separately associated frailty and low vitamin D with a greater mortality risk, but this is the first to look at the combined effect. This study, published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined more than 4,300 adults older than 60 using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
"Older adults need to be screened for vitamin D," said Smit, who is a nutritional epidemiologist at OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Her research is focused on diet, metabolism, and physical activity in relation to both chronic disease and HIV infection.
"As you age, there is an increased risk of melanoma, but older adults should try and get more activity in the sunshine," she said. "Our study suggests that there is an opportunity for intervention with those who are in the pre-frail group, but could live longer, more independent lives if they get proper nutrition and exercise."
Frailty is when a person experiences a decrease in physical functioning characterized by at least three of the following five criteria: muscle weakness, slow walking, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintentional weight loss. People are considered "pre-frail" when they have one or two of the five criteria.
Because of the cross-sectional nature of the survey, researchers could not determine if low vitamin D contributed to frailty, or whether frail people became vitamin D deficient because of health problems. However, Smit said the longitudinal analysis on death showed it may not matter which came first.
"If you have both, it may not really matter which came first because you are worse off and at greater risk of dying than other older people who are frail and who don't have low vitamin D," she said. "This is an important finding because we already know there is a biological basis for this. Vitamin D impacts muscle function and bones, so it makes sense that it plays a big role in frailty."
The study divided people into four groups. The low group had levels less than 50 nanograms per milliliter; the highest group had vitamin D of 84 or higher. In general, those who had lower vitamin D levels were more likely to be frail.
About 70 percent of Americans, and up to a billion people worldwide, have insufficient levels of vitamin D. And during the winter months in northern climates, it can be difficult to get enough just from the sun. OSU's Linus Pauling Institute recommends adults take 2,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily. The current federal guidelines are 600 IU for most adults, and 800 for those older than 70.
"We want the older population to be able to live as independent for as long as possible, and those who are frail have a number of health problems as they age," Smit said. "A balanced diet including good sources of vitamin D like milk and fish, and being physically active outdoors, will go a long way in helping older adults to stay independent and healthy for longer."
###
Researchers from Portland State University, Drexel University of Philadelphia, University of Puerto Rico and McGill University in Montreal contributed to this study. It was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and a grant from OSU.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Lower vitamin D could increase risk of dying, especially for frail, older adultsPublic release date: 26-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Smit Ellen.Smit@oregonstate.edu 541-737-3833 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A new study concludes that among older adults especially those who are frail low levels of vitamin D can mean a much greater risk of death.
The randomized, nationally representative study found that older adults with low vitamin D levels had a 30 percent greater risk of death than people who had higher levels.
Overall, people who were frail had more than double the risk of death than those who were not frail. Frail adults with low levels of vitamin D tripled their risk of death over people who were not frail and who had higher levels of vitamin D.
"What this really means is that it is important to assess vitamin D levels in older adults, and especially among people who are frail," said lead author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University.
Smit said past studies have separately associated frailty and low vitamin D with a greater mortality risk, but this is the first to look at the combined effect. This study, published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined more than 4,300 adults older than 60 using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
"Older adults need to be screened for vitamin D," said Smit, who is a nutritional epidemiologist at OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Her research is focused on diet, metabolism, and physical activity in relation to both chronic disease and HIV infection.
"As you age, there is an increased risk of melanoma, but older adults should try and get more activity in the sunshine," she said. "Our study suggests that there is an opportunity for intervention with those who are in the pre-frail group, but could live longer, more independent lives if they get proper nutrition and exercise."
Frailty is when a person experiences a decrease in physical functioning characterized by at least three of the following five criteria: muscle weakness, slow walking, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintentional weight loss. People are considered "pre-frail" when they have one or two of the five criteria.
Because of the cross-sectional nature of the survey, researchers could not determine if low vitamin D contributed to frailty, or whether frail people became vitamin D deficient because of health problems. However, Smit said the longitudinal analysis on death showed it may not matter which came first.
"If you have both, it may not really matter which came first because you are worse off and at greater risk of dying than other older people who are frail and who don't have low vitamin D," she said. "This is an important finding because we already know there is a biological basis for this. Vitamin D impacts muscle function and bones, so it makes sense that it plays a big role in frailty."
The study divided people into four groups. The low group had levels less than 50 nanograms per milliliter; the highest group had vitamin D of 84 or higher. In general, those who had lower vitamin D levels were more likely to be frail.
About 70 percent of Americans, and up to a billion people worldwide, have insufficient levels of vitamin D. And during the winter months in northern climates, it can be difficult to get enough just from the sun. OSU's Linus Pauling Institute recommends adults take 2,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily. The current federal guidelines are 600 IU for most adults, and 800 for those older than 70.
"We want the older population to be able to live as independent for as long as possible, and those who are frail have a number of health problems as they age," Smit said. "A balanced diet including good sources of vitamin D like milk and fish, and being physically active outdoors, will go a long way in helping older adults to stay independent and healthy for longer."
###
Researchers from Portland State University, Drexel University of Philadelphia, University of Puerto Rico and McGill University in Montreal contributed to this study. It was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and a grant from OSU.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), greets supporters at his party's headquarters in Mexico City, early Monday, July 2, 2012. Mexico's old guard sailed back into power after a 12-year hiatus Sunday as the official preliminary vote count handed a victory to Pena Nieto, whose party was long accused of ruling the country through corruption and patronage. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), greets supporters at his party's headquarters in Mexico City, early Monday, July 2, 2012. Mexico's old guard sailed back into power after a 12-year hiatus Sunday as the official preliminary vote count handed a victory to Pena Nieto, whose party was long accused of ruling the country through corruption and patronage. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) shows his election ink-stained thumb after casting his vote at a polling station in Mexico City, Sunday, July 1, 2012. Mexico's more than 79 million voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a president, who serves one six-year term, as well as 500 congressional deputies and 128 senators. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Women look at electoral booklets listing candidates before voting at a polling station in Oaxaca, Mexico, Sunday, July 1, 2012. Mexico's more than 79 million voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a president, who serves one six-year term, as well as 500 congressional deputies and 128 senators. (Photo AP/ Bruno Gonzalez)Oaxaca. (AP Photo/ Luis Alberto Cruz )
Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), left, speaks to supporters accompanied by his wife Angelica Rivera at the party's headquarters in Mexico City, early Monday, July 2, 2012. Mexico's old guard sailed back into power after a 12-year hiatus Sunday as the official preliminary vote count handed a victory to Pena Nieto, whose party was long accused of ruling the country through corruption and patronage. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Oaxaca, Mexico, Sunday, July 1, 2012. Mexico's more than 79 million voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a president, who serves one six-year term, as well as 500 congressional deputies and 128 senators. (Photo AP/ Bruno Gonzalez)Oaxaca. (AP Photo/ Luis Alberto Cruz)
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? The party that ruled Mexico with an iron grip for most of the last century has sailed back into power, promising a government that will be modern, responsible and open to criticism.
Though Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate Enrique Pena Nieto's margin of victory was clear in the preliminary count from Sunday's election, it was not the mandate the party had anticipated from pre-election polls that had at times shown the youthful, 45-year-old with support of more than half of Mexico's voters.
Instead, he won 38 percent support, about 7 points more than his nearest rival, according to a representative count of the ballots, and he went to work immediately to win over the two-thirds who didn't vote for him, many of whom rejected his claim that he represented a reformed and repentant party.
"We're a new generation. There is no return to the past," he said in his victory speech. "It's time to move on from the country we are to the Mexico we deserve and that we can be ... where every Mexican writes his own success story."
But his top challenger, leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, refused to concede, saying he would await a full count and legal review. He won roughly 31 percent of the vote, according to the preliminary count which has a margin of error of 1 percentage point. Lopez Obrador in 2006 paralyzed Mexico City streets with hundreds of thousands of supporters when he narrowly lost to President Felipe Calderon.
This time, only about 700 gathered at his campaign rally and he canceled plans to proceed to the Zocalo, the main square he filled as recently as Wednesday.
"We have information that indicates something different from what they're saying officially," he said. "We're not going to act in an irresponsible manner."
The PRI for 71 years ruled as a single party known for coercion and corruption, but also for building Mexico's institutions and social services. It was often accused of stealing elections, most infamously the 1988 presidential vote. But PRI governments were also known for keeping a lid on organized crime, whose battles with government and each other under Calderon have taken more than 50,000 lives and traumatized the country.
Repeating a popular belief of many Pena Nieto supporters, Martha Trejo, 37, of Tampico said, "He'll stabilize the cartels. He'll negotiate so they don't hurt innocents."
Pena Nieto in his victory speech vowed he won't make pacts with organized crime, but rather will focus on curbing violence.
Many predict he will build on Calderon's economic and security strategies but, working with a more friendly congress, may have more success. The main test of a new PRI will be how it handles corruption.
"We know there is some local corruption in the PRI with organized crime," said Andrew Selee of the Washington-based Mexico Institute. "The question is, 'Will they ignore it or go after it aggressively?'"
The vote Sunday went smoothly with the usual protests at polling places that ran out of ballots and a few arrests for small cases of alleged bribery or tampering of ballots. Josefina Vazquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party, Mexico's first woman candidate for a major party, conceded almost immediately after the polls closed and exit surveys showed her trailing in third place. The preliminary count gave her roughly 26 percent.
Her party unseated the PRI after 71 years in 2000 with the victory of Vicente Fox, who won more than 40 percent of vote, and again with Calderon in 2006, who won by a half percentage point over Lopez Obrador.
"I think this will be a major setback," businessman Leonardo Solis, 37, said of the PRI victory. "I don't think they've changed much, but we'll see soon enough."
Still, the PRI may actually lose seats in Congress despite winning the presidency. The PRI-led coalition with the Green Party had about 37 percent of the congressional vote, with 80 percent of ballots counted on Monday. The coalition won about 46 percent in the last legislative vote three years ago.
And while the PRI recaptured the governorships of the states of Jalisco and Chiapas, both of which it lost more than a decade ago, it was also at risk of losing Tabasco, Lopez Obrador's home state. Democratic Revolution had a lead of less than 1 percentage point there with 88 percent of the vote counted.
At the PRI headquarters in Mexico City, a party atmosphere broke out with supporters in red dancing to norteno music. The vote count same in slowly and it was too early to say if the PRI would retake at least one of the two houses of Congress and some of the governorships nationwide.
Pena Nieto, who is married to a soap opera star, also has been dogged by allegations that he overspent his $330 million campaign funding limit and has received favorable coverage from Mexico television giant Televisa.
University students launched a series of anti-Pena Nieto marches in the final weeks of the campaign, arguing that his party hasn't changed since its days in power.
Pena Nieto praised their protests Sunday as a positive sign of the democracy and said he, too, wants to see Mexico change.
"You have given our party a second chance," he said. "We will honor that with results."
___
Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon, Michael Weissenstein, Olga Rodriguez, Carlos Rodriguez and Galia Garcia-Palafox contributed to this report from Mexico City.
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Public release date: 26-Jul-2012
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