Could that glass of Chardonnay affect the condition of your skin?
Maybe, according to new research that found women with certain drinking patterns had a higher risk of developing rosacea, an inflammatory skin condition.
“We found white wine and liquor were significantly associated with a higher risk of rosacea,” said study senior author Wen-Qing Li. He’s an assistant professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Brown University.
Rosacea causes redness and flushing on the face and the neck. In some forms, acnelike outbreaks can form, and visible blood vessels can appear.
Genetics can play a role in the development of rosacea. In those with acnelike rosacea, their immune system may be reacting to a single bacterium, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
While red wine is often pinpointed as the beverage that can trigger rosacea flushing, Li said that that information tends to come from reports by patients who already have the disorder.
The new research focused on alcohol’s role in the development of rosacea. Li’s team evaluated nearly 83,000 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II from 1991 to 2005.
The researchers collected information on alcohol intake every four years during a follow-up of 14 years. Over that time, nearly 5,000 new cases of rosacea occurred.
“For white wine, compared to never drinkers, [those who drank] one to three drinks per month had a 14 percent increased risk of rosacea. For five or more white wines a week, risk increased by 49 percent,” Li said.
For liquor, five or more drinks a week raised the risk of developing rosacea by 28 percent, the study found.
Li could not say if the link would hold true for men, as the study included only women. And, he points out that “it is just an association, it is not a causal relationship.”
Li isn’t sure exactly why white wine and liquor seem to increase the risk of rosacea. However, the researchers speculated that the white wine and liquor may weaken the immune system and contribute to the dilation of blood vessels.
For now, Li said, the message is to make physicians and consumers aware of the link.
The researchers also suspect that there are different biological reasons why white wine and liquor seem to increase the development of rosacea and why red wine seems to exacerbate the condition. But they don’t yet know what those differences are, the study authors said.
Dr. Carolyn Goh, a dermatologist at UCLA Medical Center, said the new findings add to knowledge about rosacea.
“It’s interesting that they found a difference between different types of alcohol,” she said.
One of the strengths of the research is the large number of women in the study, Goh said.
Meanwhile, she said, it’s known that drinking alcohol can make rosacea flare up in those already diagnosed. “In the past, people thought red wine would cause more flushing than white wine,” she said.
Besides alcohol, other common triggers in those who already have rosacea include sunlight, caffeine, hot and spicy foods, Goh said. People with the condition report different triggers, she said, so that list may not apply to all patients.
Treatments include topical creams and ointments, Goh said. Laser treatment can help the blood vessels that stay visible after periods of flushing. For patients who have pimples associated with rosacea, oral antibiotics can help, she said.
The study is published online April 20 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
One in five Americans has hearing loss so severe that it interferes with communication, said a 2011 study published in Archives of Internal Medicine. But there may be many more people who have “hidden hearing loss,” but remain undiagnosed because the damage wasn’t detected by commonly used hearing tests, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.
People who have hidden hearing loss appear to have normal hearing when their hearing is tested using audiograms — the gold standard for measuring hearing — where hearing is typically tested in a quiet room.
The reason some forms of hearing loss may go unrecognized in the clinic is that hearing involves a complex partnership between the ear and the brain. Researchers found that the central auditory system can compensate for significant damage to the inner ear by turning up its volume control, partially overcoming the deficiency, says study lead author Richard Salvi.
“You can have tremendous damage to inner hair cells in the ear that transmit information to the brain and still have a normal audiogram,” says Salvi. “But people with this type of damage have difficulty hearing in certain situations, like hearing speech in a noisy room. Their thresholds appear normal. So they’re sent home.”
The reason hearing loss isn’t detected lies in the way hearing signals travel to the brain: About 95 percent of sound input to the brain comes from the ear’s inner hair cells.
“These inner hair cells are like spark plugs in an 8-cylinder engine,” says Salvi. “A car won’t run well if you remove half of those spark plugs, but people can still present with normal hearing thresholds if they’ve lost half or even three-quarters of their inner hair cells.”
Ear damage reduces the signal that goes the brain. That results in problems hearing, but that’s not what’s happening here, because the brain “has a central gain control, like a radio, the listener can turn up the volume control to better hear a distant station,” Salvi says.
Sound is converted to neural activity by the inner hair cells in the auditory part of the ear, called the cochlea.
The neural signals then travel from the cochlea to the auditory nerve and into the central auditory pathway of the brain. Halfway up the auditory pathway the information is relayed into a structure known as the inferior colliculus, before finally arriving at the auditory cortex in the brain, where interpretation of things like speech take place.
For people with inner hair cell loss, sound is less accurately converted to neural activity in the cochlea, but it is amplified as it travels. Once the signal gets high enough to stimulate neurons in the brain, “It’s like your brain has a hearing aid that turns up the volume,” Salvi said.
Salvi says it’s unknown how many people might have this type of hearing loss, but many older people have difficulty hearing in a noisy environment.
Spotting hidden hearing loss could be as simple as adding background noise to hearing tests.
An experimental drug called LY411575 may offer hope to people with hearing loss caused by a loss of sensory hair cells in the inner ear. The tiny hairs are vital to hearing, since sound vibrations agitate them, causing them to send signals to the brain. When the hairs are destroyed, the brain no longer receives signals that result in hearing.
The new drug works by inhibiting a protein called Notch, which keeps stem cells in the inner ear — or cochlea — from developing into new sensory hair cells. In a study of sound-deafened mice, hearing was improved in the areas where the hair cells were replaced.
Adding a few miles of biking each day to your commute might add years to your life span, new research suggests. The British study found that bicycling to work appeared to halve people’s odds for serious disease and premature death.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland looked at the commuting habits of more than 264,000 people in the United Kingdom and tracked their health over five years.
Cycling to work was associated with a 46 percent lower risk of heart disease over five years and a 45 percent lower risk of cancer compared to a sedentary commute. Risk of premature death was 41 percent lower. Walking to work was also beneficial, but not to the same degree.
Hoofing it was associated with a 27 percent lower risk of heart disease and a 36 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease. However, it wasn’t linked with a lower risk of cancer or premature death, the study found.
The study doesn’t establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between commuting by bike and longevity.
Still, “if these associations are causal, these findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike … may present major opportunities for public health improvement,” said researcher Dr. Jason Gill in a university news release. He’s with the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences.
Gill suggested bike lanes, city bike-sharing, subsidized bicycle purchases and increased accommodation of bicycles on public transit.
The researchers said cycle commuting may offer greater health benefits than walking because cyclists cover longer distances, get more intense exercise, and have higher levels of fitness than walkers.
For example, cyclists commuted an average of 30 miles a week, compared with 6 miles a week for walkers.
The study was published April 20 in the journal BMJ.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
SOURCE: University of Glasgow, news release, April 20, 2017
Additional Topics: Chiropractic and Athletic Performance
Chiropractic care is a popular, alternative treatment option which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries and/or conditions associated to the musculoskeletal and nervous system, primarily the spine. Many athletes, and civilians alike, seek chiropractic care to restore their natural health and wellness, however, chiropractic has been demonstrated to benefit athletes by increasing their athletic performance.
DENTON, Texas� Maria Paula Medina posted a dominant straight set victory but a short-handed UTEP tennis team was upended by Marshall, 4-1, on Thursday in the first round of the 2017 Conference USA Women�s Tennis Championship in Denton, Texas. The 14th seeded Miners (4-14), whose season has been plagued by injury, had to forfeit a double�s team on court three, giving the No. 3 Thundering Herd (14-9) a cushion in doubles play.
In doubles play, Raven Bennett and Duda Santos, both nursing injuries, forfeited their match on court three. The doubles point was decided when Milou Pietersz and Lois Wagenvoort fell to Anna Pomyatinskaya and Derya Turhan 6-2 on court one. Maria Paula Medina and Daphne Visscher�s close match with Rachael Morales and Maddie Silver was left unfinished at 4-4.
Though they were at a disadvantage going into doubles play, the Miners had a full line-up for singles play. Santos battled the Intercollegiate Tennis Association�s No. 117 ranked singles player in Marshall�s Turhan, dropping 6-0, 6-1. On court four, Wagenvoort fell to Pomyatinskaya 6-2, 6-1.
The Miners� first point came from Medina�s straight set dominance of the Herd�s Nikola Novackova, 6-3, 6-3 on court six. Bennett stole set one from Daniela Dankanych 7-5 but dropped the second set 6-2 at the No. 5 position. Pietersz, playing the No. 2, also won her first set against Silver 6-4, but slipped in a tight 6-5 set two.
Before Bennett and Pietersz�s matches were completed, Marshall�s Morales ended the match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Visscher on court three, ending UTEP�s run in the tournament and 2016-17 season.
El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez looks at exercise as treatment for back injuries.
Since 1992 Opioid Prescriptions Rose From 112 Million To More Than 249 Million As Of 2015
In 2004, there were enough written opioid prescriptions to ensure every American could have their own bottle. According to studies, a written prescription of a pain-killer should not be used for a back related injury; but rather, exercise is the most effective tool for recovery.
The First &�Foremost Way To Heal & Prevent Further Injury To The Back Is By Simply Moving Around
Vidan Family Chiropractic explains that �what made the body-heals the body.” They suggest exercise such as walking, stretching and yoga instead of requesting an opioid prescription.
Dr. Alex Vidan from Vidan Family Chiropractic joins us more information on the excessive use and prescription of opioids for injuries.
IFM's Find A Practitioner tool is the largest referral network in Functional Medicine, created to help patients locate Functional Medicine practitioners anywhere in the world. IFM Certified Practitioners are listed first in the search results, given their extensive education in Functional Medicine
