HEALTH TIP: Ginger helps ease nausea in chemo patients
Ginger, long used as a folk remedy for soothing tummyaches,
helped tame one of the most dreaded side effects of cancer
treatment — nausea from chemotherapy, the first large study
to test the herb for this has found.
People who started taking ginger capsules several days
before a chemo infusion had fewer and less severe bouts of
nausea afterward than others who were given dummy capsules,
the federally funded study found.
“We were slightly beside ourselves” to see how much it
helped, said study leader Julie Ryan of the University of
Rochester in New York.
Results were released Thursday by the American Society of
Clinical Oncology and will be presented at the group’s
annual meeting later this month.
But don’t reach for the ginger ale. Many sodas and cookies
contain only flavoring — not real ginger, Ryan said. Her
study tested a drug-like ginger root extract, and it’s not
known if people could get the same benefits from ginger
teas or the powdered ginger sold as a spice.
Still, ginger capsules may offer a cheap, simple way to
fight nausea, which is far more than just a quality-of-life
issue, doctors say. Some cancer patients cut treatment short
or refuse chemo altogether because of nausea, hurting their
chances of beating the disease.
Medicines do a good job of curbing vomiting, but nearly
three-fourths of chemo patients still suffer nausea, which
can sometimes be worse, Ryan said.
“Patients ask all the time, ‘What else can I do?”‘ said Dr.
Richard Schilsky, a cancer specialist at the University of
Chicago and president of the oncology society.
Long-touted folk remedy
Ginger has long been touted for stomach upsets, ranging from
motion sickness to morning sickness during pregnancy. Studies
have had mixed results.
The new one used a specially formulated gelcap containing
concentrated, purified ginger root extract made by Aphios
Corp. of Woburn, Mass.
The study involved 644 patients from cancer centers around
the nation who had suffered nausea in a previous round of
chemotherapy. Two-thirds had breast cancer and the rest,
other forms of the disease. They were placed in four groups
and given one of three doses of ginger (the equivalent of
one-half, 1 or 1 1/2 grams of ginger per day) or dummy
capsules in addition to standard anti-sickness medicines.
Patients took the capsules for five days, beginning three
days before chemo treatment. They rated their nausea symptoms
on a seven-point scale on the first day of each of three
treatments.
All of the ginger doses significantly reduced nausea, and
the middle and lowest doses gave the best results. Patients
taking ginger scored their nausea an average of two or more
points lower on the nausea scale, about a 40 percent
improvement over their previous chemo treatments without
ginger, Ryan said. Those given dummy pills reported hardly
any difference.
Timing may have been key to success: An earlier study found
ginger did no good when patients waited until the day of
treatment to start taking it. In the new study, researchers
wanted to see if having ginger in the system ahead of time
would help.
Pre-empting the problem
“It was just a different way of thinking to treat nausea,
to try and pre-empt it,” Ryan said.
Ginger caused no side effects in the new study, but doctors
say people should talk with their doctors before trying it
because it can interfere with blood clotting, especially
during cancer treatment or if taken with the blood thinner
Coumadin or other commonly used medicines. It’s also a risk
for people having surgery, the American Cancer Society warns.
The National Cancer Institute paid for the study, and
researchers had no ties to the ginger capsules’ maker,
Aphios. The company already sells a different type of ginger
capsule as a dietary supplement, but hopes to seek federal
Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its new ginger
formulation as a drug to treat nausea, said chief executive
officer Trevor Castor.
As dietary supplements, 50 to 100 ginger capsules sell for
$6 to $30, Ryan said.
“We can’t specifically say if any other form besides the
form in our study would work,” she added.
Still, it is heartening that ginger may offer hope as a
cheap and simple way to ease the burden of chemotherapy on
patients and their families, said Dr. Durado Brooks of the
Cancer Society.
“It’s difficult to watch someone suffer, to watch someone
be miserable. So anything we can do to help alleviate
chemotherapy symptoms is very welcome,” he said.
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FDA seizes $1.3M in dietary supplements
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced
the seizure of more than 23,300 bottles of dietary supplement
products because of a safety risk. The federal agency said
the supplements, worth about $1.3 million, would be destroyed
because they contain unapproved food additives and-or new
dietary ingredients for which there is inadequate information
to assure they do not present a significant or unreasonable
risk of illness or injury. The products — distributed by LG
Sciences LLC of Brighton, Mich. — were marketed for use by
body builders and distributed on the Internet and in retail
stores under the names “Methyl 1-D,” “Methyl 1-D XL” and
“Formadrol Extreme XL.” “The FDA has no scientific informa-
tion concerning the safety of the condemned products or
their ingredients and, thus, cannot determine whether they
represent a hazard to consumers,” the agency said. “Under
the circumstances, consumers who use or have used the pro-
ducts should discuss their use with their health care pro-
fessionals.”
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Mammogram rates decline slightly
WASHINGTON — A slight drop in the number of mammograms
nationwide means more women may fail to detect breast cancer
at an early stage, U.S. health officials said. There has been
a decline in the number of women having annual mammograms in
nearly every state, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention reported. Reasons for avoiding mammograms may include
inconvenience, cost and fear of pain, The Washington Post
said Tuesday. The CDC study found results similar to a 2007
National Institutes of Health study which said the percentage
of women 40 and older having yearly mammograms increased
between 1987 and 2000, leveled off for three years and then
declined. “The 2010 target for all women, 70 percent, was
met in 2000, but the proportion fell to 66 percent in 2005,”
said Stephen Taplin, a scientist at the National Cancer
Institute. Early breast cancer detection means the disease
often can be treated before it spreads and increases the
risk of death, said Katherine Alley, who heads the breast
health program at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md.
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Potassium flow linked with schizophrenia
BETHESDA, Md. — A U.S. study has linked a potassium brain
channel gene to schizophrenia, suggesting a molecular treat-
ment target for the mental illness. Researchers at the
National Institute of Mental Health, led by Dr. Daniel -
Weinberger, found the expression of a previously unknown form
of a potassium channel gene was 2.5 times higher than normal
in the brains of people with schizophrenia. The NIMH scien-
tists and colleagues at the National Institute on Child
Health and Human Development said they found inhibiting the
suspect channel might help correct disorganized brain act-
ivity in schizophrenia — without risk of the cardiac side
effects associated with some existing anti-psychotic medi-
cations. “The end game in linking genes with complex dis-
orders like schizophrenia requires that we not only demon-
strate statistical association, but also show how a gene
version acts biologically to confer risk,” said Weinberger,
director of the NIMH’s Genes Cognition and Psychosis Program.
“We found schizophrenia-like effects in brain circuitry and
mental processing in perfectly healthy people who carry the
risk-associated version of this potassium channel gene, even
though they don’t show any psychotic behavior.” The research
that included Stephen Huffaker, now a Harvard University med-
ical student, is detailed in the journal Nature Medicine.
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U.S. probes heparin link in deaths
DEERFIELD, Ill. — U.S. health officials are investigating
whether the blood thinner heparin is linked to two patient
deaths, the product’s maker says. Baxter International Inc.
of Deerfield, Ill., said Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and a Delaware hospital were looking into
whether medical providers were using heparin contained in
intravenous bags when the patients died, The Chicago Tribune
reported. The use of heparin has been suspended at Beebe
Medical Center in Lewes, Del., Friday, where five patients
were reported to have had such problems as bleeding in the
brain, the company said. “We have not received similar re-
ports of adverse events from any other hospitals regarding
this widely used product,” Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner
told the Tribune. FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley said the Beebe
situation “appears to be an isolated incident.”
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Cells supporting neurons also kill neurons
MONTREAL — Canadian researchers say they’ve discovered cells
that support neuron survival also play a role in the death of
neurons located in the eye. Researchers from the University
of Montreal and McGill University said their findings might
lead to improved therapies for some neurological disorders,
including glaucoma and retinal artery occlusion. The scien-
tists said in many neurodegenerative diseases, a main factor
that kills neurons is excessive levels of the neurotrans-
mitter glutamate. Diseases that occur as a result of high
glutamate levels include hypoxic-ischemic stroke, seizures,
dementia and neurodegeneration. For years, the main explan-
ation for the toxic effects of glutamate was that it over-
excites neuronal cells via activation of glutamate receptors,
thereby killing them. “The most interesting aspect of our
study and the reason we are so excited is that the pathway
leading to glutamate-induced nerve cell death involves …
glial cells,” Adriana Di Polo, a University of Montreal neuro-
scientist, said. “Through careful experimentation we now know
that glutamate activates signaling pathways in glial cells
that then lead to neuronal death.” Glial cells are the most
abundant cell type in the nervous system and are thought of
as providing support, nutrients and an optimal environment.
However, the scientists said their study indicates glial
cells also have a more sinister side, allowing them to in-
duce or exacerbate neuronal death in pathological conditions.
The study is reported in The Journal of Neuroscience.
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Folic Acid Supplementation Helps Ensure Full-Term Pregnancy
A healthy pregnancy begins before conception. Health
conditions, medications, and dietary considerations, as
well as habits and lifestyles of hopeful mothers can have
an impact on the health of their unborn children. By
addressing health issues and knowing the risk factors
before becoming pregnant, would-be mothers can prevent
problems that might later affect their babies.
Almost 12 percent of babies born in the United States are
born prematurely (before the completion of 37 weeks of
pregnancy), although full-term pregnancies last about 40
weeks. These babies are at greater risk of having breathing
difficulties, learning difficulties, and developmental
disabilities in addition to being less likely to survive.
Finding a way to prevent premature birth could improve the
health of thousands of babies annually. Although there is
currently no sure way to prevent premature birth, studies
have indicated that mothers who consume lower amounts of
folic acid may experience shorter pregnancies. To test this
theory, doctors from the University of Texas followed the
progress of nearly 35,000 pregnancies during which a number
of women had taken folic acid supplements for at least 12
months prior to becoming pregnant, while others took the
supplement for shorter periods of time, and still others
took no supplements at all. Of the total, over 1,600 of
the expectant mothers gave birth to their babies prematurely.
The results of the study revealed that taking folic acid
supplements for a least one year prior to conception
reduced spontaneous premature birth occurring between 20
and 28 weeks by 70 percent, and also reduced premature
births between 28 and 32 weeks by 50 percent. These findings
were made in comparison to the rate of premature births
resulting from mothers who did not take the supplements.
Folic acid appeared to have no effect on births occurring
between 32 and 37 weeks. In addition, no reduction in
premature births was seen in those women who took the
supplements for periods less than one year. The results
of the study were published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Women who plan to become pregnant have long been advised
to take folic acid daily, or at the very least, after
stopping contraception and continuing through a minimum
of 12 weeks of pregnancy. This is recommended to reduce
the risk of birth defects including spina bifida and
anencephaly, which are known neural tube defects (NTDs).
According to researcher Dr. Radek Bukowski women are
advised to take 0.4mg of folic acid daily, which is the
same amount advised for prevention of NTDs, well before
they plan to become pregnant. He held that folic acid most
likely reduces the risk of infection, which is a common
cause of premature births.
The opinion of some experts is that mass medication could
prevent up to 150 cases of spina bifida annually, as well
as provide better general health for millions of adults.
The results of the new study could lead to renewed appeals
for folic acid to be added to bread.
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