January 2014 Health Newsletter


In a new double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial involving 613 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Vitamin E was shown to slow the functional decline of Alzheimer's. AD affects approximately 5 million older Americans and is marked by irreversible, progressive deterioration in memory and thinking skills. In this study, mild to moderate AD patients received either 2,000 IUs of vitamin E daily or a placebo. Over the average follow-up time of 2.3 years, researchers estimated those patients receiving the vitamin E had slowed their functional decline in activities of daily living (ADLs) by 19%. ADLs include things such as making meals, getting dressed and holding a conversation. According to researchers, this translated into a delay in progression of mild to moderate AD by 6.2 months. Another significant finding was that caregiver time was reduced by approximately 2 hours per day in the vitamin E group. Previous studies have also shown Vitamin E effective in those with moderately severe AD. It's important to note that those considering vitamin E supplementation to treat AD only do so under the supervision of a physician as vitamin E can interfere with blood thinners, cholesterol drugs and other medications.


Most people are aware that chiropractors are experts in dealing with back issues. As shown in a recent case study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, chiropractors are also equally trained in successfully diagnosing and treating many cases of headaches. In this case study, chiropractic care was delivered to a 54-year-old woman suffering from chronic debilitating headaches for the previous 11 months. After just five chiropractic manipulative therapy and adjunct treatments over 6 weeks, the patient experienced resolution of the headaches. If you or someone you know if suffering from headaches, call your local chiropractor today for a no obligation consultation.



When going under the knife, the expectation would be to treat and/or cure a problem that can't be treated successfully through less invasive means. However, new research indicates that many surgeries involving the knee are often times no better than doing no surgery at all. In a new study, 146 patients aged 35 to 65 years with knee symptoms consistent with a degenerative medial meniscus tear where knee osteoarthritis was not present underwent either an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or sham surgery. Fast forward a year after the real or sham surgeries and researchers found no significant difference between those two groups. Arthroscopic surgery on the meniscus, the cartilage in the knee joint, is the most common orthopedic procedure in the US. This study highlights the need to consider and try more non-invasive treatments prior to undergoing surgery, which has it's own associated risks.


According to statistics among children and teens recorded over the last 10 years, kids are becoming healthier. Results come from surveys conducted on sixth through tenth graders taken in 2001-2002, 2005-2006 and 2009-2010. Improvements were seen in several areas including the number of days kids were physically active for at least 60 minutes, number of days they ate breakfast, number of hours of TV watched per day and the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed. Unfortunately, while the numbers improved, they did so only very slightly. Also, the percentage of kids considered obese from 2005-2006 through 2009-2010 did not change from 12.7%. So while we've seen a slight improvement in certain areas, researchers say there is still much to do and much room for improvement.