Soy supplement may improve crow's feet

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By Amy Norton

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:14pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An experimental supplement derived from soy may help postmenopausal women smooth their "crow's feet" a bit, a small pilot study suggests.

The supplement, known for now as SE5-OH, is under development by a Tokyo-based drug and supplement maker, Otsuka Pharmaceutical.

It contains a compound called S-equol, which is made from fermented soy germ.

The body can produce S-equol naturally, as a byproduct of digesting soy isoflavones, plant chemicals that are structurally similar to estrogen. S-equol itself is believed to attach to estrogen receptors on body cells, and may have weak estrogen-like effects.

Skin cells are among those that have estrogen receptors, and it's thought that women's waning estrogen levels after menopause may contribute to skin aging.

So for the new study, researchers at the Japanese company looked at whether giving postmenopausal women S-equol supplements might improve the appearance of crow's feet -- those lines that begin to surface at the outer corners of the eyes sometime in middle-age, or earlier.

The researchers, led by Ayuko Oyama, randomly assigned 101 postmenopausal Japanese women to one of three groups: one that took a higher dose of the S-equol supplement (30 milligrams) every day for 12 weeks, one that took a lower dose (10 mg) and one that took placebo tablets containing only starch.

People vary in their ability to produce S-equol from eating soy, with at least half of all individuals lacking the necessary intestinal flora and therefore being "non-producers," according to Oyama's team. All of the women in the current study were tested and deemed to be non-producers.

In the end, women who used the supplement showed, on average, a modest improvement in their crow's feet versus the placebo group -- as judged by a researcher who did not know which women had received supplements and which had taken the placebo.

The findings are reported in the medical journal Menopause.

"I think it's a very interesting study," said Dr. Carolyn Jacob, director of Chicago Cosmetic Surgery and Dermatology, and a fellow with the American Academy of Dermatology.

Jacob, who was not involved in the study, said it is plausible that S-equol could affect the appearance of crow's feet.

It would have been helpful, she said, if the researchers had taken skin biopsies to see if the supplement users actually showed changes in collagen -- a protein that helps keep the skin firm and elastic.

For now, Jacob said the findings are "encouraging," and longer-term studies should look at the effects of the supplement on skin aging.

In theory, S-equol supplements could have some of the negative effects of estrogen as well, including contributing to the risks of breast or uterine cancer. Oyama's team found no effects on women's breast or uterine tissue, which they gauged using mammograms and ultrasound, respectively.

However, the researchers say, longer-term studies of the supplement's safety are still needed.

For now, there are other ways to deal with crow's feet. One is to live with them. For women who want treatment, Jacob said that both Botox and Dysport "work very well."

The drugs, which work by relaxing the muscles underlying crow's feet, are given by injection, and their effects can last several months. The side effects can include soreness at the injection site and, in rare cases, muscle weakness that can lead to a temporarily droopy brow or eyelid.

It's also possible to delay the first appearance of crow's feet. Using sunblock to protect against damage from ultraviolet light can help, Jacob said. So can wearing sunglasses or hats to keep yourself from squinting -- a key contributor to crow's feet.

SOURCE: bit.ly/t9Tnht Menopause, online September 19, 2011.

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Fish oil pills don't improve kids' braininess

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By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK | Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:16pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite some evidence that taking fish oil pills during pregnancy can help children's brain development, a new study suggests that the supplements make no difference in measures of intellect when the kids are six years old.

The findings support the results of an earlier Norwegian study that also found no differences in IQ among seven-year-olds whose mothers did or did not take fish oil supplements while pregnant and breastfeeding.

Fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that are found in fish and other foods are considered to be important for the developing fetus.

The question, however, has been whether adding more of these fats to mothers' diets through supplements will further benefit the baby.

In the current experiment, researchers asked expectant mothers during the second half of their pregnancies to take fish oil, fish oil plus a folate supplement, folate alone or a pill that did not contain any supplements.

Nearly seven years later, the team, led by Dr. Cristina Campoy at the University of Granada in Spain, gave intelligence tests to 154 children from this group.

The kids performed similarly on the tests, regardless of what type of pill their mothers had taken during pregnancy.

The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, do not mean that fatty acids like DHA are not important.

In fact, the researchers found that the children of women who had high levels of DHA in their red blood cells around the time they gave birth scored above average on the intelligence tests at age six.

These mothers, however, were not necessarily given fish oil supplements. Rather, the result could reflect mothers' intake of DHA from various sources over a longer period of time, and might mean that long term fatty acid intake "is more beneficial than receiving supplementation alone during pregnancy," the authors wrote in their study.

A recent study in Australia also found that DHA supplements did not help the visual development of babies (see Reuters Health story of May 26, 2011).

The current study did not measure the diets of the children, something that could have influenced the results, said Dr. Ingrid Helland at Oslo University Hospital, who led the earlier Norwegian research.

"It might be that subtle beneficial effects of (prenatal fish oil) supplementation are being overshadowed by other factors (genetics, social stimulation, nutrition etc)," Helland wrote in an email to Reuters Health.

She is not totally giving up on the idea that taking fish oil might be beneficial.

"If a friend would ask me if she should take supplements or not, I would recommend supplementation, but emphasize that we still do not have any scientific proof that it benefits the child," said Helland.

SOURCE: bit.ly/nW3xdX American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online August 17, 2011.

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Target heart, improve sex life?

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Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erectionErectile dysfunction is also a known harbinger of heart diseaseDoctors should inform the public of this connection, researchers sayExercise is key for heart health and blood vessel function

(Health.com) -- Middle-aged men who take steps to improve their heart health by eating better, getting more exercise, or taking cholesterol-lowering drugs may end up improving their sex lives as well, according to a new analysis of existing research.

Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection, a condition known as erectile dysfunction (ED). The new study, which appears this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that ED drugs such as Viagra aren't the only solution and aren't always enough to address the problem, says coauthor Dr. Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

"If you do take care of your lifestyle—eating right, exercising, losing weight—you respond much better to the Viagra, the Levitra, the Cialis," Kopecky says. By the same token, he adds, if these drugs become less effective "that should be a sign that...you need to take care of your lifestyle.'"

Health.com: 7 ways to treat erectile dysfunction

ED is troubling enough by itself, but to make matters worse it's also a known harbinger of heart disease. The arteries in the penis that expand during an erection can become weakened and clogged with cholesterol in the same way as the arteries that surround the heart. This is why ED often shows up three to five years ahead of life-threatening cardiovascular problems such as heart attack or stroke, especially in younger men, Kopecky says.

"The common denominator is blood flow," he explains. "If you look at a guy in his 40s who has erectile dysfunction and then you compare [him] to another guy in his 40s who doesn't have erectile dysfunction, the guy with ED is about 50 times more likely to have heart disease."

Despite this well-established link, there has been little research into whether addressing risk factors for heart disease (such as unhealthy cholesterol numbers) can also reverse ED. The studies that have been conducted have been relatively small and have looked at a single location, which means they may not apply to the population as a whole, Kopecky and his colleagues say.

Health.com: 10 heart-healthy rules to live by

To clarify the effect of heart-healthy lifestyle changes on ED, the researchers combed through the medical literature for placebo-controlled clinical trials in which men with ED modified their lifestyles or began taking cholesterol-lowering statin medications. The analysis was funded entirely by the Mayo Clinic.

In the end they focused on six studies that included a total of 740 men and were conducted in the U.S., Italy, Nigeria, and Iran. In all of the studies, which ranged in length from two months to two years, heart healthy regimens and better cholesterol numbers were associated with modest but measurable improvements on a survey that rates erectile function on a scale from 5 to 25.

The average improvement in sexual function seen in the pooled studies was three points, one point shy of the threshold experts consider "clinically important." For some men, especially those with more persistent cases of ED, a change of that magnitude would be negligible. For those with mild or occasional ED, however, it would translate into noticeable improvements in sexual function, the researchers say.

Health.com: Erectile dysfunction? Try losing weight

Dr. Kevin Billups, M.D., an associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, says that the close relationship between heart health and sexual function "hasn't become the public health message that it should be."

Doctors and other experts need to do a better of job of informing the public that a healthier heart often means better erections, adds Billups, who studies the link between heart health and erectile function but did not participate in the new research.

"That's the first thing I talk about with all the guys that come in now," he says, referring to the ED patients he sees in his urology practice. "'Are you watching your diet? What kind of exercise program are you on?' Just putting these men on the ED medications...probably isn't enough to get optimal results."

Health.com: The best foods for your heart

Even if they're told that it may improve their ED, getting men to change their lifestyle and lose weight is no easy task, Kopecky says. He stresses, however, that even small and simple lifestyle changes—such as eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily—can make a big difference.

But the "real key" is exercise, Kopecky says. Just 10 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week "does a whole lot to improve your heart function [and] blood vessel function," he says.

Copyright Health Magazine 2010

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HEALTH MANAGEMENT. Target heart, improve sex life?

Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erectionErectile dysfunction is also a known harbinger of heart diseaseDoctors should inform the public of this connection, researchers sayExercise is key for heart health and blood vessel function
(Health.com) -- Middle-aged men who take steps to improve their heart health by eating better, getting more exercise, or taking cholesterol-lowering drugs may end up improving their sex lives as well, according to a new analysis of existing research.
Nearly 1 in 5 men in the U.S. has difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection, a condition known as erectile dysfunction (ED). The new study, which appears this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that ED drugs such as Viagra aren't the only solution and aren't always enough to address the problem, says coauthor Dr. Stephen Kopecky, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
"If you do take care of your lifestyle—eating right, exercising, losing weight—you respond much better to the Viagra, the Levitra, the Cialis," Kopecky says. By the same token, he adds, if these drugs become less effective "that should be a sign that...you need to take care of your lifestyle.'"
Health.com: 7 ways to treat erectile dysfunction
ED is troubling enough by itself, but to make matters worse it's also a known harbinger of heart disease. The arteries in the penis that expand during an erection can become weakened and clogged with cholesterol in the same way as the arteries that surround the heart. This is why ED often shows up three to five years ahead of life-threatening cardiovascular problems such as heart attack or stroke, especially in younger men, Kopecky says.
"The common denominator is blood flow," he explains. "If you look at a guy in his 40s who has erectile dysfunction and then you compare [him] to another guy in his 40s who doesn't have erectile dysfunction, the guy with ED is about 50 times more likely to have heart disease."
Despite this well-established link, there has been little research into whether addressing risk factors for heart disease (such as unhealthy cholesterol numbers) can also reverse ED. The studies that have been conducted have been relatively small and have looked at a single location, which means they may not apply to the population as a whole, Kopecky and his colleagues say.
Health.com: 10 heart-healthy rules to live by
To clarify the effect of heart-healthy lifestyle changes on ED, the researchers combed through the medical literature for placebo-controlled clinical trials in which men with ED modified their lifestyles or began taking cholesterol-lowering statin medications. The analysis was funded entirely by the Mayo Clinic.
In the end they focused on six studies that included a total of 740 men and were conducted in the U.S., Italy, Nigeria, and Iran. In all of the studies, which ranged in length from two months to two years, heart healthy regimens and better cholesterol numbers were associated with modest but measurable improvements on a survey that rates erectile function on a scale from 5 to 25.
The average improvement in sexual function seen in the pooled studies was three points, one point shy of the threshold experts consider "clinically important." For some men, especially those with more persistent cases of ED, a change of that magnitude would be negligible. For those with mild or occasional ED, however, it would translate into noticeable improvements in sexual function, the researchers say.
Health.com: Erectile dysfunction? Try losing weight
Dr. Kevin Billups, M.D., an associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, says that the close relationship between heart health and sexual function "hasn't become the public health message that it should be."
Doctors and other experts need to do a better of job of informing the public that a healthier heart often means better erections, adds Billups, who studies the link between heart health and erectile function but did not participate in the new research.
"That's the first thing I talk about with all the guys that come in now," he says, referring to the ED patients he sees in his urology practice. "'Are you watching your diet? What kind of exercise program are you on?' Just putting these men on the ED medications...probably isn't enough to get optimal results."
Health.com: The best foods for your heart
Even if they're told that it may improve their ED, getting men to change their lifestyle and lose weight is no easy task, Kopecky says. He stresses, however, that even small and simple lifestyle changes—such as eating at least five servings of fruits and veggies daily—can make a big difference.
But the "real key" is exercise, Kopecky says. Just 10 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week "does a whole lot to improve your heart function [and] blood vessel function," he says.

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