Baby boomer women 'drinking heavily'

Problem drinking among the young may be declining, but those over 50 are drinking more - and taking more drugs. say researchers.

Baby boomers are suffering the effects of easy access to cheap alcohol, experts say

More and more women over 50 are drinking heavily, prompting fears for their health, experts have said.

While risky drinking is in decline among other age groups, there is a "strong upward trend for episodic heavy drinking" among baby boomers.

Rahul Rao, visiting researcher at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Ann Roche, director of the National Centre for Training and Addiction at Flinders University in Australia, have published their research in The British Medical Journal.

They were particularly concerned about women whose drinking is prompted by retirement, bereavement, change in home situation or social isolation.

"Alcohol misuse in the older population may increase further as baby boomers get older because of their more liberal views towards, and higher use of, alcohol," the researchers wrote.

"A lack of sound alcohol screening to detect risky drinking may result in a greater need for treatment, longer duration of treatment, heavier use of ambulance services, and higher rates of hospital admission."

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said that, while much had been made of a decline in youth drinking, not enough attention had been paid to the growing problem among older people.

He said: "The over 50s have seen a time when alcohol has become increasingly affordable and have been bombarded with sophisticated alcohol marketing messages telling them they can't live a fulfilling life unless alcohol is at the centre of it.

"What they haven't been told is that alcohol is linked to over 200 types of illness and injury, including seven types of cancer.

"If we are to turn the tide of alcohol harm we need measures which tackle the affordability, availability and promotion of alcohol, starting with the introduction of a minimum unit price which would reduce rates of death, illness and hospital admission numbers caused by alcohol."

Katherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: "This is the first generation in living memory that has had easy access to cheap alcohol in shops and supermarkets and now we are seeing the consequences in later life.

"We need to take stock of this situation and prevent future generations from developing alcohol problems in older age through price increases and stricter controls on alcohol promotions."

Mr Rao and Ms Roche also warned that doctors will need extra skills to cope with a "rapidly growing problem" of drug misuse among baby boomers.

They said doctors would need "improved knowledge and skills" in assessing and treating older people at risk of misusing opiate prescription drugs, cannabis, and, increasingly, gabapentinoid drugs used to treat neuropathic pain and anxiety.

Vaginal seeding after Caesarean 'risky', warn doctors

New mothers should not embrace the trend of "seeding" their babies with vaginal bacteria, say doctors.

It exposes children born by Caesarean section to bacteria that could have coated their bodies if they had been born vaginally.
The idea is bacteria help train the immune system and lower the risk of allergies and asthma.
But doctors in Denmark and the UK said there was too little evidence and it may be doing more harm than good.
Being born by Caesarean section is linked to a higher risk of some immune-based diseases.
And there is growing medical interest in the role of the microbiome - the microorganisms that call our bodies home - in preventing disease.
Swabs
Seeding involves taking a swab of vaginal fluid and rubbing it into the newborn's face, skin and eyes.
A report, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said more than 90% of Danish obstetricians (pregnancy and birth doctors) had said they had been asked about vaginal seeding.
It said there was no evidence of any benefit to seeding as there was only one proper study of the technique and it involved just four babies.

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However, it warned of clear risks to the baby, including infections such as group-B streptococcus, E. coli and a range of sexually transmitted infections.
Dr Tine Clausen, the report author and a consultant at Nordsjaellands Hospital in Denmark, said: "We know that women and their partners are increasingly speaking to their doctors about vaginal seeding."
She told the BBC News website: "I really understand, it's a fascinating thought that you're able to mimic nature by doing the seeding, but it's based on some theoretical thoughts and we don't have evidence to support it."
Dr Clausen said a swab may not contain the same bacteria as those transferred during a vaginal birth and any bacteria were more diluted because of blood and amniotic fluid in the vaginal tract during labour.
Her advice to women is to "avoid unnecessary [Caesarean] sections, aim for breast feeding for at least half a year and to have early skin-to-skin contact".
Each of which does have a beneficial impact on a child's microbiome.
In the UK, about a quarter of babies are born via Caesarean section
Dr Patrick O'Brien, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "There is no robust evidence to suggest that vaginal seeding has any associated benefits.
"We would therefore not recommend it until more definitive research shows that it is not harmful and can in fact improve a child's digestive and/or immune system."

High doses of vitamin B tied to lung cancer risk, study says

Men who took high doses of vitamin B6 and B12 supplements had a higher risk of lung cancer, and the association was highest among current smokers, according to a study published Tuesday.

The study found a 30% to 40% increased risk of lung cancer among men taking these vitamins from individual supplements -- not from multivitamins or diet alone. But the effect seemed to be driven by current smokers who far exceeded the recommended daily amounts of the vitamins, according to study author Theodore Brasky, an epidemiologist in the division of cancer prevention and control at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
"I think these results point to a synergism" between high-dose B vitamins, smoking and lung cancer risk among men, Brasky said.
Current male smokers taking the highest levels of vitamin B6 had triple the risk of lung cancer over six years, compared with those who didn't take supplements. For vitamin B12, that risk nearly quadrupled. These levels were more than 11 times the recommended daily amount of B6 and 23 times that of B12.
"If you look at B-vitamin supplement bottles ... they are anywhere between 50-fold the US recommended dietary allowance (to) upward of 2,100-fold," Brasky said. B12 injections have also become "in vogue" in recent years, he said.
In smaller quantities, these vitamins are involved in several vital processes in the body, including DNA replication. But many high-dose supplements, he said, claim to boost energy and provide other unproven benefits.

"That's marketing. That's not science," he said.
The study was limited to roughly 77,000 Washington state adults, ages 50 to 76. This included 139 cases of lung cancer among more than 3,200 current male smokers. Over 93% of participants were white.
There were too few cases of lung cancer among nonsmokers to include them in the full analysis. An increased risk of lung cancer was not seen among women or with the vitamin B9, also known as folate.
Other researchers have found different results. Some studies linked vitamin B6 with lower lung cancer risk, and another found that B12 had no impact on risk. The authors of the new study said that the discrepancy could be because some of these studies measure B vitamins in the blood and not through dietary surveys, like they did. Or it may be that lung cancer itself raises levels of these vitamins in the body.
"I think it's hard to say" why these studies contradict each other, said Elizabeth Kantor, an epidemiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who has studied dietary supplements and cancer risk. She was not involved in the latest research. "Is it the disease process that affects the blood levels? I think that the door remains open on that."
A focus on B vitamins may not be the most effective way to protect against lung cancer, experts warn.
"Combustible tobacco smoke is the No. 1 most important factor, not just only in lung cancer but in many cancers," Brasky said.
Cigarette smoking is a factor in 80% to 90% of lung cancers in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smokers are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from it than nonsmokers. Lung cancer kills more Americans than any other kind of cancer.
"When we're talking about what to be concerned about most: If you're a male smoker and you want to take B vitamins, you can stop smoking," Brasky said.
"Smoking is the most important thing here, and that's preventable."

To B or not to B?

"In the average person in this country, it's tough to be deficient" in B vitamins, Brasky said.
Those who are -- those with anemia or celiac disease, for example -- will feel tired and run down. For them, supplements might help.
But taking "megadoses" of these supplements doesn't do much for the average healthy person, Brasky said, nor does it cause immediate harm. The body tends to get rid of excess vitamin, he said.
"There's always this black box between what people say they eat or take and what is actually absorbed," said Regan Bailey, an associate professor of nutrition science at Purdue University and a former nutritional epidemiologist with the National Institute of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. She also was not involved in the new study.
Stomach acid and digestion, Bailey said, are able to "rip out" B12 from food so that the body can absorb it. Some synthetic supplements, however, may be more easily absorbed.
Vitamin B12 is found in animal products like meat, eggs and milk. Americans get most of their B6 from fortified cereals, beef, chicken, fruits and starchy vegetables.
Too little of these vitamins is thought to carry cancer risk, too. Errors can happen when building new strands of DNA, causing them to break. And genes responsible for cell division may be thrown off by these changes, the study authors said.
In high concentrations, however, the exact relationship between the vitamins and lung cancer is unclear. If the vitamins are indeed responsible for increasing the lung cancer risk, Brasky said, another question would be whether B vitamins are hastening the development of a lung cancer that's already there or leading to new cancers.
Bailey warned that we are nowhere close to claiming that these high-dose supplements cause cancer. She added that the dietary survey the researchers used -- which calculated the average daily intake over the prior 10 years -- can be imprecise. But Brasky said that adults generally recall which supplements they've taken, allowing researchers to get a good idea of their average doses.
People mostly take dietary supplements because they think they will make them healthier, not because they are trying to add nutrients to their diet, Bailey showed in a 2013 study. And those who take vitamins may be hard to study, she said, because they fall into two very different categories.
"In my mind, people take supplements because they're sick and trying to get better or because they're healthy and want to stay that way," she said.
In a study in October, Kantor showed that about half of American adults have consistently taken dietary supplements over the years. The use of B12 grew 40% from 1999 to 2012, while the use of B6 dropped by a smaller amount.
"There might be one reason why somebody takes something, but it can have other effects on our bodies," Kantor said. "We don't know the whole host of effects."
The good news, Bailey said, is that most people aren't taking the single-vitamin, high-dose supplements that go far beyond recommended levels.
"Most people are taking multivitamins," she said, "and for that, there's really been no (cancer) association, which I think is a success story."

Does Baby Powder Cause Cancer? A Jury Says Yes. Scientists Aren't So Sure

If you're a woman, there's a good chance you've used Johnson's Baby Powder at some point. It smells good, and it can keep you dry.

But is it dangerous?

Dr. Daniel Cramer says yes. He's a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He says talc — the mineral in talcum powder — can cause ovarian cancer.

"Overall, women may increase their risk in general by about 33 percent by using talc in their hygiene," Cramer says.

On Monday, a California jury awarded Eva Echeverria $417 million in a case against Johnson & Johnson. Echeverria, who is suffering from terminal ovarian cancer, claimed it was caused by Johnson's Baby Powder, which she used on her perineum for decades.

Hers wasn't the first jury award against the company. And thousands more cases are pending.

It has opened a long-simmering question about whether talcum powder used in the genital area can cause cancer.

Cramer, who has served as a paid consultant on several ovarian cancer cases against Johnson & Johnson, published one of the first studies noting an association between talc and ovarian cancer in 1982.

"This story goes back a long, long way, back into the '70s when people noted that ovarian cancer had many similarities to asbestos exposure," he says. "Meanwhile another group in England found talc that was deeply embedded in ovaries and said there might be a story here."

In fact, talc is a mineral that is sometimes mined alongside asbestos. And asbestos, a known carcinogen, was found in the past in some talc products.

After his first study on the talc-cancer association, Cramer followed up with an article in 1985 calling on companies like Johnson & Johnson to put warning labels on their talcum powder products.

Johnson & Johnson declined to be interviewed for this story. The company said in a statement that it plans to appeal the California verdict.

"We are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder," wrote company spokeswoman Carol Goodrich in a statement. "In April, the National Cancer Institute's Physician Data Query Editorial Board wrote, 'The weight of evidence does not support an association between perineal talc exposure and an increased risk of ovarian cancer.' We are preparing for additional trials in the U.S., and we will continue to defend the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder."

Some researchers agree that the link between talc and ovarian cancer isn't all that clear.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, in 2010 called talc a possible carcinogen.

"It's not proof positive," says Joellen Schildkraut, a professor of public health at the University of Virginia. "These studies are suggestive. They support the idea."

Her research shows there's a stronger link between talc and ovarian cancer among African-American women than there is among white women. But to her, even that link isn't proof.

"I would not call this conclusive. It's consistent with other reports in the past. It's suggestive of a stronger association, but it is not conclusive," she says.

There are theories about how talcum powder could cause cancer. If women put it on their underwear or on feminine products, it could get into their reproductive system. Then, talc particles could make their way to the ovaries — research has already shown that can happen, and talc has been found in ovarian tumors. The talc could then cause irritation and inflammation that, over time, could lead to cancer.

"We can say that it is associated with an increased risk [of cancer]," says Shelley Tworoger, a cancer epidemiologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. "And there are biologic mechanisms by which we think that talc could actually impact ovarian cancer. But I would stop short of saying that it necessarily causes ovarian cancer."

But she says there's certainly enough information out there to guide women.

"Why use it?" she says. "I don't know if I should say this or not, but ... why not just be safe and not use it?"

The symptoms of whiplash and how to claim compensation for an injury in the UK

There are lots of ways to you can suffer a whiplash injury, but car accident is the most common

Whiplash is suffered by hundreds of road accident victims every single day. If it happens to you, the law says you are entitled compensation

Many of us don't realise the severity of whiplash and the impact leave on a person's life.


There really are quite a few different ways to suffer from this elusive injury. Some can leave you feeling the pain for days, others months, and some never really go away.

What is whiplash?

Whiplash is often referred to as a neck sprain or neck strain. It is an injury to the soft tissues of the neck and back and is defined as an injury caused by a severe jerk to the head, typically in a car accident. It's common in urban traffic accidents, and while symptoms can take 6-12 hours to develop, they could keep getting worse for several days.

What is the most common cause of whiplash?

The most common cause of whiplash is a rear shunt car accident where one vehicle runs into the back of another. Whiplash can occur at an accident of any speed, and even happen at speeds as low as 5 to 8.

Greater injury can occur if a person’s head is turned at the time of impact or if they are surprised and unprepared for the collision. A history of neck injury may also contribute to increased whiplash pain. The amount of pain a person suffers after an accident is complicated by that individual’s susceptibility to injury-which can be difficult to predict.

What are the symptoms?

Stiffness in the neck- soreness and difficulty moving the neck, especially when trying to turn the head to the side.
Blurred vision- a lack of sharpness of vision resulting in the inability to see fine detail.
Headaches- a tightening around the head and neck, followed by aches.
Lower back pain- any pain between the bottom of your ribcage down to the top of your legs.
Dizziness- a sensation of spinning and losing one's balance.
Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
Sleep disturbances
Irritability
Tingling or numbness in the arms
Difficulty concentrating

How to treat whiplash?

If you’ve been injured, you should seek the advice of a medical professional. Most whiplash symptoms of the back and neck can be treated with ‘over the counter’ painkillers and ice to reduce pain, swelling, and muscle spasms.

In some cases a short course of spinal mobilization can help in restoring normal positioning of the muscles and joints to allow for an active therapy program. Physical therapy helps to increase circulation, restore range of motion, and promote healing.

How long does whiplash last?

Whiplash generally only lasts a few days, but can last more than a year in severe cases.

Can whiplash come back?

Like any injury, whiplash pain can reoccur. However, with the right treatment and care you should expect to make a full and permanent recovery.

What is the average whiplash payout?

There are many factors which are taken into account when whiplash compensation is being calculated.

The severity of the injury dictates the level of general damages paid, but financial losses and how the injury has impacted your way of life can also make up a significant part of the claim.

The majority of whiplash injuries are classified as minor, with an average recovery time of around 4-5 weeks. 90% of people fully recover within three months. For these cases, the approximate range of compensation payouts is between £1,000 and £5,000. For most of the other 10% or so, where there is neck pain that lasts for a few years, the range is around £5,000 to £8,700, escalating to around £16,000 where there is permanent or recurring pain.

At the other end of the scale, a small minority of patients suffer permanent cervical spine damage, resulting in chronic pain or headaches and a variety of other symptoms, which are frequently exacerbated by long-term depression. For these people, compensation up to £95,000 can be paid.

Looking to claim?

If this is sounding all too familiar to you because you’ve been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, Accident Advice Helpline can assess your case and see if you can make a personal injury claim by calling:

Freephone: 0800 740 8782

Why Some Say the Eclipse Is Best Experienced in a Crowd

Right about now, maybe you’re looking at your bank account and reports of unprecedented traffic and wondering why you thought it was a good idea to experience the eclipse in the particular spot you chose.

You felt original, planning to watch near a mountain of cars (Carhenge, near Alliance, Neb.) or along the moon’s limb (Glendo, Wyo.). But then you saw that thousands of other people had the same idea.

Some are warning of a “zombie apocalypse,” as hordes of befuddled sky-gazers strain the resources of towns more accustomed to hosting pancake breakfasts than managing Coachella-size gatherings.

Don’t worry. Here are four reasons human behavior researchers say that you made the right decision to experience the eclipse in a crowd — even if the portable toilets overflow.

Achieving Maximum Emotional Intensity

Why is it that excitement can feel so much more intense when we’re in a group with others feeling the same emotion? Fergus Neville, a social psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, believes this results from seeing our own emotions reflected in the faces of others around us, which validates our own experience and amplifies the intensity of our feelings.

Using a variety of tools, including surveys and heart rate measures, he has tried to assess this magnification process.

“I think that you can have the experience with small groups, but that the more people you see in your group who are sharing your experience, then the stronger the validation effect and thus the stronger the experience,” he said in an email.

Perhaps this is worth keeping in mind the day before the eclipse, as you drive around trying to find a store that hasn’t yet sold out of water.

Connecting with Strangers

If you asked people, “What’s missing in your life?,” it’s unlikely that many would respond, “Emotional intimacy with strangers.”

But if you ask soccer fans what they like about watching a match with a crowd, Dr. Neville has found, intimacy turns out to be a favorite part of the experience.

Given the macho, aggressive reputation that some sports fans have, Dr. Neville said people are often surprised by that finding. What it hints at is something other researchers have found as well: Many of us who seem not to want to interact with strangers — actually do. We just don’t know how to make it happen in normal life.

So why is it much easier to do in some crowds than others? The critical ingredient, researchers say, is a sense of shared social identity. That’s something that is pretty much guaranteed in a field full of people in matching glasses, waiting for the moon to cover the sun— regardless of whether you hang out in the same kinds of places normally.

Chris Cocking, a social psychologist at the University of Brighton, recalled standing amid a sea of friendly strangers during the total eclipse in his hometown, Cornwall, England, in 1999. He was there to enjoy the spectacle, not to study the group, but it was clear to him that something special was transpiring as the shadow zoomed across the Atlantic.

“It gave you a sense of psychological connection,” he said. “It was amazing.”

No Need to Fear the Crowd

Many places in the path of totality — the approximately 70-mile-wide strip across America where the moon will obscure 100 percent of the sun — have never facilitated a crowd anywhere near as large as the those expected on Aug. 21. Reports of towns of 200 swelling to 20,000 and national parks surpassing visitor records can incite anxiety.

This past weekend in Charlottesville was a tragic reminder of how group dynamics can go awry. But a crowd that gathers to protest something, researchers say, operates differently than a crowd that gathers to enjoy an experience. And in either case, more people doesn’t necessarily translate into more danger.

“The fear of crowds flows from the idea that crowds are irrational and that they need to be controlled,” said Clifford Stott, a social psychologist at Keele University in Britain.

But a large body of research from the past decade, he said, has shown that “people don’t panic — people self-regulate.”

That’s not to say that local officials are off the hook. Helping ensure that there’s sufficient water and emergency services requires planning. It’s also crucial that even when authorities feel like their resources are strained, they continue to remind themselves that people are there for something positive and capable of responding to thoughtful communication.

Yes, this may sound absurd, but the way a large group is perceived has been found to have an impact on how it’s managed, which in turn affects how the people within it behave.

“Treating crowds as dangerous and antagonistic can be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Stephen Reicher, a social psychologist at the University of St. Andrews who has written extensively about crowd dynamics.

It’s Like Nothing Else

Birds go silent. Spiders start dismantling their webs. What happens to the humans at totality?

“From a physiological point of view, if you took someone from bright sunlight and put them in a dark closet, the effects of just being in darkness could potentially be the same,” said Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine, who helped discovered seasonal affective disorder, a dramatic example of the sun’s impact on human behavior.

But just because there’s no research to show how we’re affected beyond that, that doesn’t mean we’re not, he said.

Based on his own experience of totality in 1998, he said, “The adrenaline rush you get must be similar to parasailing or coming down in a parachute.”

And it’s that feeling, amplified by the enthusiasm of strangers, that is inspiring him to travel to a hub of clogged wireless networks to experience it yet again.