Bryant Chiropractic and Massage

Bringing life into healthy balance.

A new almost 2 decade long study published online 7/12/08 from the British Medical Journal reports that muscular strength in men is linked to lower all-cause and cancer mortality. This study divided the population of 8762 men aged 20-80 up into age specific thirds by 1 repetition maximal bench press and leg press, showing a decrease over all causes of death including cancer and cardiopulmonary disease, even after adjustment for hazard ratios including age, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, drinking, family history of heart disease, and baseline medical conditions.  Adjustment for cardiorespitory fitness did weaken, but did not eliminate the inverse relationship between muscular strength and cardiovascular disease death. Strength training 2-3x/wk, with the addition of aerobics is recommended.  Another study confirming the importance of strength training in men!

Recent Health News

Bryant Chiropractic and Massage

12443 Bel Red Road, Suite 310

Bellevue, WA 98005

Phone: 425-890-0142

Fax: 425-412-4949

E-mail: info@bryanthealthandwellness.com

The debate over whether vitamin C does indeed help reduce colds appears to have been honed in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, issues 1 and 4 study, 2007. After vitamin C was popularized, some more recent studies appeared to show that vitamin C does not reduce colds. This review of literature indicates that vitamin C does indeed help reduce the incidence of colds in people under short term physical stress. Review of 4 trials of marathon runners, Swiss schoolchildren in a skiing camp, and Canadian soldiers performing subarctic exercises showed that the pooled relative risk was 0.50 or 50% less days of illness over all in a cold episode when taking vitamin C, dose of .2 to 1gram/day, with 1gram/day being most common dosage used.  In reviewing 30 comparisons involving 9676 respiratory episodes, a duration of colds under vitamin C supplementation showed a reduction of 8% in adults and 13.6% in children. Another study also showed a dose dependency — a 6g supplementation showed twice the cold days suffered reduction effect of a 3g supplementation per day, which was similar to the 1g/day supplementation most common in studies. The authors recommend higher dosage studies under stress for further exploration of this topic.  The takeaway information from this review shows your individual condition matters, vitamin C does reduce incidence and duration of colds in people under physical stress, and that higher dose supplementation may show improved effect.