PROTIME-FITNESS HOLISTIC HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  Eat Less Meat, More Beans & Lentils for Protein, New USDA Guidelines Say By Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Dec. 13, 2024 -- Beans, peas, and lentils take center stage in newly proposed changes to dietary guidelines for Americans. In a report released this week by an advisory committee to the Agriculture Department, experts suggest that protein-packed legumes are the perfect substitute for red or processed meat. They analyzed scientific evidence on the topic to reach that conclusion. If adopted, the new guidelines would emphasize plant-based proteins and encourage people to eat more whole grains, less sugary drinks, less salt, and less processed foods. "Compelling evidence was noted in the systematic reviews in which dietary patterns that had higher levels of beans, peas, and lentils often presented in the literature as "legum" were associated with beneficial health outcomes," Port stated. Meanwhile,  "system" tic review evidence consistently...

  Weaker Handgrip Strength Tied to Higher Likelihood of Diabetes Medically reviewed by  Carmen Pope, BPharm . Last updated on Dec 11, 2024. By Lori Solomon, HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, Dec 11, 2024 -- Weaker handgrip strength (HGS) appears to be associated with a higher likelihood of having diabetes mellitus (DM) among postmenopausal women, according to a study published online Dec 3 in  Menopause . Yun Soo Chung, M.D., from the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues investigated the association between HGS and DM in postmenopausal women in Korea. The analysis included data from 4,098 postmenopausal women (aged 45 to 65) identified from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (between 2014 and 2019). The researchers found that postmenopausal women with stronger HGS were less likely to have DM. This association persisted even after adjusting for age, body mass index, and comorbidities. In women who had be...

  2019 to 2022 Saw Increase in E-Scooter/Bike-Related Injury ED Visits   By Elana Gotkine, HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, Dec. 11, 2024 -- From 2019 to 2022, there was an increase in electric-powered scooter and bike (e-scooter/bike)-related injuries resulting in emergency department visits, according to a study published online Dec. 9 in  Injury Prevention . Edwin Akomaning, Ph.D., from North Dakota State University in Fargo, and colleagues examined trends and factors associated with e-scooter/bike-related injuries and alcohol/substance use emergency department visits from 2019 to 2022 in a retrospective analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Data were included for 4,020 e-scooter/bike injury emergency department visits: 3,700 e-scooters and 320 e-bikes (weighted estimates: 279,990 and 16,600, respectively). The researchers observed a threefold increase in visits from 2019 to 2022 (22,835 to 65,892). Most of the injuries involved males (...

  Blood Test Might Help Doctors Spot Multiple Diseases By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Dec. 12, 2024 -- A blood draw is a typical part of a person's regular check-up. However, a blood sample might contain much more helpful information about a person's health than doctors currently receive. A new study shows that a routine part of a blood test called the complete blood count (CBC) could help doctors identify or predict many diseases, including heart problems, type 2 diabetes,  osteoporosis , and kidney disease, researchers reported Dec. 11 in the journal  Nature . "Complete blood counts are common tests, and our study suggests CBCs vary a lot from person to person even when completely healthy, and a more personalized and precision medicine approach could give more insight into a person's health or disease," said senior researcher  Dr. John Higgins , a pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In background notes, numbers of red bl...

  PROLONG STANDING CAN RAISE BLOOD PRESSURE A Finnish study found that prolonged standing at work negatively impacted participants' 24-hour blood pressure. In contrast, spending more time sitting at work was associated with better blood pressure. The study suggests that activity behavior during working hours may be more relevant to 24-hour blood pressure than recreational physical activity. Regular exercise is essential for controlling blood pressure. More vigorous aerobic exercise, in particular, effectively lowers blood pressure, but everyday physical activity can also benefit it. Previous studies have shown that exercise in leisure time is more beneficial for the cardiovascular system than physical activity at work, which can even be detrimental to health. 24-hour blood pressure is essential for cardiovascular health In the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study (FIREA) conducted at the University of Turku, the physical activity of ...

  Opioid Abuse Can Change the Brain By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Dec 10, 2024 -- “This is your brain on drugs,” the old anti-drug admonition says, and now a new study has found there’s something to that chestnut. Opioid addicts experienced structural and functional changes in specific regions of their brains, MRI scans show. These changes are essential to understand, given that around 2.5 million adults in the U.S. have  opioid use disorder , researchers said. There were more than 81,000 overdose deaths involving opioids in 2023. “Our goal is to understand better what could have caused these alterations to inform new treatment targets,” said researcher  Dr. Saloni Mehta , a postdoctoral associate at Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. For the study, published Dec 10 in the journal  Radiology , researchers compared brain scans of people addicted to opioids with those of non-addicts, using scans performed between...