Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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These Drugs Pull Double Duty
MONDAY, Jan. 3 (HealthDayNews) -- Call them the quick-change artists of medicine -- drugs or procedures designed to treat one problem that yield unexpected results with other conditions. Consider the case of Botox, developed from a deadly toxin for a rare condition marked by spastic eyelid blinking. And what did it become? The great wrinkle remover of its day. But that''s not all. Recently a University of Pittsburgh team of researchers has tried Botox (botulinum toxin) for men who head for the bathroom frequently because of a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) -- or an enlarged prostate. It was a small study, but the results were encouraging. The participants'' "quality of life" scale increased 57 percent. Perhaps the classic example of a drug with an unexpected benefit is aspirin. Touted for decades for its analgesic properties -- bumps and bruises, headaches, and the lot -- and then for its anti-inflammatory effect on arthritis and other joint problems, aspirin turned out to have yet another plus. For many patients a small nightly dose can help prevent heart attacks. Another candidate for the MVP of drugs is the class of anti-cholesterol agents known as statins. Emerging from Nobel Prize-winning research on how the liver works, statins were designed to prevent coronary-artery disease and heart attacks by reducing LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol. Now, statins are being tested to see if they have properties that would prevent liver disease itself, and colorectal and prostate cancer. One study suggests that statins could delay or prevent Alzheimer''s disease. Another suggests that giving statins after surgery can reduce postoperative mortality. And if statins can''t prevent liver disorders, maybe the stimulant caffeine can do the trick. A study reported last year by National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers suggested that drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages may perk up liver function in people at high risk of liver disease. Similar results were shown in a study on caffeine and diabetes. There''s also alcohol, arguably the oldest of all medicines. Many studies have found that a daily drink, particularly red wine, is beneficial to one''s heart. There''s early evidence that the cardiovascular benefit of such light drinking might outweigh the potential liver damage for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) who have been instructed not to drink at all. Outside the realm of drugs is the world of medical tests, where an exam for one problem may reveal another. Perhaps a test may reveal a value that might be a telltale marker for a seemingly unrelated condition. Take Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), for instance. EBV is a common virus that usually comes and goes uneventfully. Some people develop mononucleosis from it. Now, there''s preliminary evidence that the presence of EBV is related to the degree of treatment success for nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare tumor that was responsible for Babe Ruth''s death. Finally, a new blood test for kidney function seems to predict heart function as well. A study reported last year found that the new kidney test, which measured blood levels of a molecule called cystatin C, gave a highly accurate prediction of the likelihood of survival for patients who suffered heart attacks. The study of 726 patients with a type of heart attack called non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome found that 55 percent of those with the highest blood levels of cystatin C died, compared to 7 percent of those with the lowest levels, the report said. More information For more information on heart disease, visit the American Heart Association.
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