Multivitamins found to help men avoid developing cataracts

Saturday, March 08, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff

(NaturalNews) Medical science is all over the place these days, with one recent study
erroneously claiming that "multivitamins" are a complete waste of money, while many
other studies say they are beneficial. Well, now a new study published in the peerreviewed journal Ophthalmology has confirmed that daily multivitamin use in men can
help protect against cataracts, one of the leading causes of blindness among the
elderly.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School found, after analyzing data collected as part
of the Physicians' Health Study II (PHS II), that men who supplement their diets with a
daily multivitamin, along with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene (precursor to
vitamin A), fare better in terms of eye health than men taking a placebo. Though slight,
this reduced risk is noteworthy, as it lends credence to the health-promoting effects of
multivitamins.
For the research, Dr. William Christen and his team evaluated 12,641 male doctors
aged 50 years or older who participated in PHS II between 1997 and 2011. According
to Medical News Today, half of the men were assigned to take the daily multivitamin
regimen, while the others took a daily placebo. Neither the researchers nor the
participants knew which group was receiving which treatment.
The research team followed all the men for an average of 11.2 years, tracking each new
case of cataracts or age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in both groups. At the end
of the study period, they identified 945 new cases of cataracts in the placebo group and
872 cases of cataracts in the multivitamin group, which represents a 9 percent
decreased risk.
For nuclear cataracts, which form even deeper in the lens of the eye, the risk reduction
was even more significant. On average, the men who took the multivitamin had about a
13 percent reduced risk of developing nuclear cataracts compared to men who took the
placebo, illustrating a modest yet significant benefit associated with multivitamin use.
"If multivitamins really do reduce the risk of cataract, even by a modest 10 percent, this
rather small reduction would nonetheless have a large public health impact," stated Dr.
Christen, the study's lead author, about the findings.
Lutein, zeazanthin particularly beneficial in protecting against AMD
Though this particular study did not show the same benefits with regard to AMD, an
earlier observational study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition back
in 2007 determined that multivitamins and mineral supplements, particularly those that
contain antioxidants beneficial to eye health, can be beneficial in protecting against the

disease.
"The results of observational studies suggest that a healthy lifestyle with a diet
containing foods rich in antioxidants, particularly lutein and zeaxanthin, as well as n-3
[omega-3] fatty acids, appears beneficial for AMD and possibly cataract," wrote Johanna
M. Seddon and her colleagues, also from Harvard Medical School.
Based on these findings and those of similar studies, the American Academy of
Ophthalmology recommends that individuals with intermediate or advanced AMD
supplement with antioxidant vitamins and mineral supplements that include high doses
of vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc and copper. And even those without AMD
may benefit from taking these nutrients, which have been shown to provide long-term
protective benefits against age-related blindness.
"Cataract is the most common surgery that Medicare pays for, and it's going to get
worse," stated Dr. Emily Y. Chew, M.D., deputy clinical director at the National Eye
Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, to Medscape Medical News about the findings.
"Anything we can do to reduce it is a major feat."

Breech babies 'have higher risk of death from vaginal delivery than C-section
Monday 11 August 2014, Honor Whiteman

Cesarean section (C-section) is a surgical procedure that involves delivering a baby

through an incision made in the mother's abdomen. Mothers can choose to have a Csection, or the procedure may be carried out in the event of unforeseen medical
problems that may cause harm to the mother or infant.
If a baby is in a breech position for delivery - the infant's buttocks or feet are in place to
come out first instead of their head - a C-section may be performed to reduce the risk of
subsequent complications. According to the American Pregnancy Association, 1 in every
25 full-term births is breech.
The research team - led by Dr. Floortje Vlemmix of the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam in the
Netherlands - notes that C-section rates significantly increased after a 2000 study named the Term Breech Trial - claimed C-sections dramatically reduce the risk of infant
mortality among breech babies, compared with vaginal deliveries.
In the US, the rates of C-sections soared 60% between 1996 and 2009, from 20.7% of
total births to 32.9%. The Netherlands saw C-section rates increase from 50% to 78%
from 2000 to 2008.
In this latest study, results of which are published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et
Gynecologica Scandinavica, Dr. Vlemmix and colleagues wanted to see how the rise in
C-section rates has impacted neonatal outcomes from breech birth.
Vaginal deliveries for breech babies 'increase neonatal mortality risk 10-fold'
The team analyzed data from the Dutch national perinatal registry from 1999-2007.
They identified 58,320 women who delivered singleton breech babies between 37 and
42 weeks' gestation at hospitals in the Netherlands.
The researchers note that mothers who had stillbirths or whose infants had birth defects
were excluded from the study.
Results of the study revealed that among these women, elective C-section rates
increased from 24% in 1999 to 60% in 2007. This resulted in a reduction in neonatal

mortality from 1.3 births in every 1,000 to 0.7 births in every 1,000, while no reduction
was found among women who opted for a vaginal birth.
"Despite the lower percentage of women opting for or offered a vaginal delivery, and
despite a higher emergency Cesarean rate during vaginal breech birth, neonatal
outcome within the planned vaginal birth group did not improve," they note.
Dr. Vlemmix says that regardless of evidence that C-sections improve neonatal
outcomes for breech deliveries, 40% of women still choose to have a vaginal birth. Such
deliveries, he says, result in a 10-fold higher neonatal mortality risk than elective Csections.
He adds:
"Our findings suggest there is still room for improvement to prevent unnecessary risk to
the infant. We recommend using measures to turn the baby (external cephalic version)
to prevent breech presentation at birth and counseling women who want to proceed with
a vaginal breech birth."
Despite the positive association with C-sections in this study, concerns have been
raised surrounding the long-term risks of the procedure.
Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study published in the
journal PLOS ONE, which claimed babies delivered by C-section are more likely to be
overweight as adults.
A more recent study, published in PLOS Medicine, suggested that having a C-section
for a first birth may increase the risk of future stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy.

Hysterectomy Does Not Raise Heart Risk

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Contrary to some previous research, a new study from the US finds women's risk of
cardiovascular disease does not go up after having a hysterectomy in mid-life, with or
without ovary removal. The risk is no higher than that faced by women who reach the
menopause naturally, says the new study.
Lead author Karen A. Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues, write
about their findings in a report due to be published online this week in the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology.
Matthews, who is a distinguished professor of psychiatry and professor of epidemiology
and psychology at Pittsburgh, declares in a press statement that the results should be

encouraging to middle-aged women considering a hysterectomy:

"... our results suggest that increased levels of cardiovascular risk factors are not any
more likely after hysterectomy relative to after natural menopause," says Matthews.
Hysterectomy and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
Hysterectomy is a common surgical procedure that removes a woman's uterus.
Sometimes she also has her ovaries removed, usually to reduce risk of ovarian cancer.
However, while the need for such a procedure may be obvious, for instance because
ofcancer, prolapsed uterus, fibroids, or because of very heavy and painful periods, as
with all surgery, the benefits have to be weighed against the risks.
Because of changes to hormones, one of the effects of having a hysterectomy before
the menopause is that it usually brings on the menopause earlier.
Some previous studies have suggested hysterectomy raises long term risk of
cardiovascular disease, which is the number one killer of women. And they have
inferred that the risk is even higher if ovaries are also removed.
But there are objections to this view, mainly because those studies tended to evaluate
cardiovascular disease risk factors years after hysterectomy and/or ovary removal
without taking into account what they might have been before surgery.
What the Researchers Did
For this new study, Matthews and colleagues followed 3,302 premenopausal women in
the US for 11 years. The women were taking part in the Study of Women's Health
across the Nation (SWAN).
At the start of the study period, when the women enrolled on SWAN, they were between
42 and 52 years of age, had an intact uterus, at least one ovary, and were not taking
hormone therapy.
They underwent assessments every year over the follow up, during which time the
majority reached the menopause naturally, some had hysterectomy with ovary removal,
and some had hysterectomy without ovary removal.
The main reasons for hysterectomy were fibroids, heavy periods, and chronic pelvic
pain.
The researchers assessed cardiovascular disease risk factors in the participants before
and after hysterectomy, and compared this to the risk factors before and after the final
menstrual period in those who went through the menopause naturally.
Matthews and colleagues say their study is the first multiethnic study to track

prospective annual changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors relative to

hysterectomy or natural menopause.
What They Found
The analysis showed that while some of the before and after individual cardiovascular
risk factors changes were different for hysterectomy compared to natural menopause,
overall, the pattern of changes did not suggest an increase in cardiovascular risk
following hysterectomy say the researchers. And this was the same in all ethnic groups.
Plus, this was the case even after adjusting for possible influencers like Body Mass
Index (BMI), which did go up after hysterectomy with ovary removal.
What the Reasons Might Be
Mathews says they are not sure why their findings disagree with earlier studies that
suggest hysterectomy raises cardiovascular disease risk.
One reason could be because they did not include younger women, and hysterectomy
that occurs earlier in life may result in higher cardiovascular disease risk.
Another reason, says Matthews, could be that this study excluded women who had
hysterectomies because of cancer.
SWAN is co-sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of
Nursing Research, the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research on Women's
Health, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
In 2011, writing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the
University of California at San Francisco reported finding women who underwent
hysterectomy with ovary removal had a reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer, and
no higher risk of developing other types of cancer, heart disease or hip fractures.