Nonhormonal Treatments for Hot Flashes Prove Effective

Nonhormonal Treatments for Hot Flashes Prove Effective

JAMA Internal Medicine recently published results from a clinical trial researching the side effects of hormonal and nonhormonal treatment for minimizing hot flashes. The clinical trial was part of the Ms-FLASH clinical trial network low dose oral estradiol, low-dose venlafaxine, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and placebo in reducing vasomotor symptoms in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. The study found that participants who took estradiol showed a 53% reduction in hot flashes while women who took venlafaxine showed only a 48% reduction.

Lifestyle Interventions May Prevent Aging

What can anti-aging experiments on mice tell us about preventing aging in humans? A new article in Nature claims that aging experts are now calling for more research on preventing chronic illnesses rather than simply treating them with pills and surgery. Research has looked into multiple pathways to prevent aging in mice. Experts agree that similar research should be done for humans. More doctors are beginning to understand that lifestyle interventions such as changes in diet and exercise can slow down the aging process and perhaps help people to avoid chronic illnesses altogether.

3-D Mammography Improves Breast Cancer Detection

Breast cancer detection may have gotten a little easier using a new test called tomosynthesis. A new article in The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the addition of the new test may reduce the number of false/positive results than when performing a mammogram only.  Tomosynthesis is different from a routine mammogram in that it moves around the breast, creating multiple pictures from many angles. What you get in the end is a 3-D image of the breast tissue, allowing doctors to give a much more accurate diagnosis of breast health.

Medical Device Used in Hysterectomies May Spread Uterine Cancers

A medical device commonly used to perform hysterectomies may be spreading potentially fatal cancers in women. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that Columbia University doctors have found that close to 1 in 370 women who underwent a hysterectomy using a power morcellator was found to have previously undetected cancers of the uterus. The Food and Drug Administration issued a similar warning last April after reporting that nearly 1 in 350 women who had uterine fibroids surgically removed using the same tool were also found to have undetected uterine cancers.

Boomers Need to Eat More Protein

The Washington Post reports that it is possible for even active adults to begin to lose muscle mass after age 40. This fact has a huge impact on baby boomers’ future physical well-being. Not eating enough protein may lead to loss of independence as an older adult. Increasing daily protein intake to 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight can reduce the aging process according to a 2009 study in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.