Health File

Healthy Smile, Healthy Heart

Brushing and flossing doesn’t just prevent tooth loss—it may also be important to preventing heart disease.

U.S. researchers have found evidence that bacteria associated with gum disease plays a role in plaque formation in blood vessels in people exposed to the bacteria for a long time.

For years it’s been known there’s an association between periodontal (gum) disease and heart disease, and this research, which appeared in the Journal of Periodontology in December, sheds new light on the connection.

The research team at Howard University in Washington, D.C., made up of periodontologists, stroke specialists and researchers looking for causes of diseases, analyzed 11 earlier studies that had looked into the connection between gum and heart disease. They looked for presence of two particular bacteria associated with gum disease in the studies’ subjects, how much of it there was, as well as evidence the whole body had responded to bacterial exposure.

Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection that destroys the fibres and bone that hold teeth in the mouth. The gums separate from the teeth, forming pockets that fill with plaque and even more bacteria. Earlier research established that as people chew, toxic bacterial components are released that enter the bloodstream. This triggers the liver to make infection-fighting C-reactive protein.

Presence of C-reactive protein is evidence the body has responded to a remote infection. It’s also a predictor of increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Rises in C-reactive protein can be measured years before a diagnosis of heart disease. Levels decrease when periodontal infection is treated.

Periodontal disease affects one in three of those over 50; and it’s estimated 10 to 15 per cent of the population has severe infection. Cardiovascular disease kills more than 75,000 Canadians a year, and accounts for about a third of all deaths.

Meanwhile, people with signs of gum disease—bleeding or red and swollen gums, teeth that seem to be getting longer, loose or sensitive—can reduce their risk with better mouth care. That includes brushing and flossing more often, use of antiseptic mouthwash, having teeth cleaned regularly, and visiting the dentist more often.

Exercise Keeps Father Time Away

The benefits of exercise to health is well known, but as we age, the seductive comforts of the couch sometimes drown out that little inner voice urging us to get up and do something. Several new studies should help propel more of us out the door.

One suggests how exercise helps us live longer.

A British study of more than 2,400 twins found the cells of physically active people appear younger than those of their more sedentary peers. And the more exercise, the younger those cells appeared.

To find out why, researchers from King’s College in London took a look inside the cells of exercisers and more sedentary people to compare the length of telomeres, the protective tips on bundles of genes inside cells. As a cell divides over and over again, telomeres get shorter and shorter to the point that eventually the cell can no longer divide, and dies.

What they found was that people who exercised had longer telomeres, and the more they exercised, the longer the telomeres were. Compared to those who exercised least (about 16 minutes a week), telomeres of moderate exercisers (100 minutes a week) looked like those about five years younger, and those of moderate to vigorous exercisers (three hours a week), had telomeres that appeared about nine years younger.

Researchers concluded a sedentary lifestyle may accelerate the aging process, but stop short of saying lack of exercise causes aging, pointing out that exercisers differ in many ways from couch potatoes.

Yet to be addressed is what happens to telomeres of couch potatoes who suddenly take up exercise. Couch potatoes rushing to start an exercise program may find that coming research will show that even if taking up exercise doesn’t add to the length of current telomeres, it might help those that are left last longer.

Another study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed that overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight immediately benefit from better heart health, whether that weight loss came about by exercising more or eating less.

As we age, collagen fibres accumulate in our tissues, stiffening blood vessels and muscles, preventing the heart from relaxing completely after contracting. The study followed two groups of volunteers who lost 12 per cent of both weight and body mass index (an indicator of body fat) over a year. One group did it by restricting calories by 12 to 15 per cent; the other group exercised for an hour six days a week.

Although the dieters regained a little bit more heart elasticity than the exercisers, researchers concluded people who want to improve heart health should use whichever method is most tolerable to them. That’s good news for those who find climbing on the exercise bike a lot less objectionable than passing on dessert.

And finally, a Canadian research team at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., found two inexpensive supplements enhance the benefits of weight training, which rejuvenates muscles damaged by aging, strengthens the heart and builds bone.

Researchers gave one group of weight-training seniors aged 65 to 85 a placebo, while the other took five grams of creatine and six grams of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) daily for six months. The group on creatine and CLA lost more weight, and gained more strength than the other exercisers. Okay, it’s not dessert, but it’s still good for you.

Face Offers Clues For Hearing Loss

Combat veterans, baby boomers, fans of loud music and others plagued by tinnitus—an annoying ringing or buzzing in the ears—may find relief with acupuncture or trigger point therapy to nerves on the face and neck, recent research suggests.

Just as other senses are sharpened when eyesight dims, so sensitivity to touch on the face and neck increases when hearing cells are damaged, researchers at the University of Michigan found. By measuring patterns of activity in the neural network of normal and deaf guinea pigs, researchers found deaf animals have a stronger response in the part of the neural network that provides information to the brain about touch, vibration, skin temperature and pain.

In humans, the part of this network that provides sensations from the face and neck also bears signals that help us hear and speak. After hearing loss, nerve cells in the face and neck become hyperactive to try to make up for the loss of the signal from hearing, and this produces tinnitus in some people. Tinnitus is ‘phantom noise’—sound perceived in the head without an external source.

About 50 different tinnitus sounds have been reported, varying from high-pitched hissing to sizzling, ringing, buzzing, chirping, clicking, booming to roaring and even engine-like sounds. The noise can be intermittent or continuous and some people hear several noises simultaneously.

More than 360,000 Canadians suffer from tinnitus, reports the Tinnitus Association of Canada, and 150,000 of them have impaired quality of life. This research suggests some sufferers may find acupuncture or trigger point therapy to the face may calm down those hyperactive nerve cells and bring some relief to the ears.

Email the writer at: writer@legionmagazine.com

Email a letter to the editor at: letters@legionmagazine.com

Popularity: 10% [?]