Calcium Supplements May Raise Odds of Heart Death in Women

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Women eating a high-calcium diet and taking calcium supplements adding up to more than 1,400 milligrams a day may be running nearly twice the risk of dying from heart disease, a large Swedish study suggests.

Both men and women take calcium supplements to prevent bone loss. The new findings come on the heels of another recent study that found a similar increased risk of death related to calcium intake among men.

"Many older adults increase dietary intake of calcium or take calcium supplements to prevent bone loss and there had been speculation that increased calcium intake with or without vitamin D could improve cardiovascular health," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, an American Heart Association spokesman who wasn't involved in the study.

However, a number of recent studies have suggested that higher dietary intake or calcium supplementation may not only not improve cardiovascular health -- they may be associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events and mortality, said Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at University of California, Los Angeles.

The new report was published in the Feb. 12 online edition of the BMJ.

To see if calcium supplements raised the risk of dying from heart disease, a team led by Dr. Karl Michaelsson, a clinical professor in the department of orthopedic surgical sciences at Uppsala University in Sweden, analyzed data collected on more than 61,000 women enrolled in a study on mammograms.

Over 19 years of follow-up, nearly 12,000 women died -- almost 4,000 dying from cardiovascular disease, about 1,900 from heart disease and 1,100 from stroke, the researchers found.

The highest rates of death were seen among women whose calcium intake was higher than 1,400 milligrams a day, the researchers noted. On the other hand, women who took less than 600 milligrams of calcium a day were also at an increased risk of death.

Moreover, women taking 1,400 milligrams of calcium a day and also using a supplement had even a higher risk of dying than women not using supplements, Michaelsson's group found.

All in all, women getting more than 1,400 milligrams of calcium a day were more than twice as likely to die than women getting 600 to 999 milligrams a day, the researchers said.

The U.S. Office of Dietary Supplements recommends 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day for most adults.

According to the study authors, diets very low or very high in calcium can override normal control by the body, causing changes in blood levels of calcium.

Rather than worry about increasing calcium intake of those getting enough through their diet, emphasis should be placed on people with a low intake of calcium, the authors suggest.

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Rooney Mara at a Side Effects event

Rooney Mara wears a Balenciaga suit to the Side Effects photocall during the Berlin Film Festival - Celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks from GLAMOUR.COM

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Health Tip: Prevent Produce Problems

Title: Health Tip: Prevent Produce Problems
Category: Health News
Created: 2/12/2013 8:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 2/12/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Steve Wilcox & Louise Brierley-Ingham, together 14 months

Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!

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The 4-Hour Chef Trailer Competition – Winner and Honorable Mentions

Ya’ll rock! (Picture: Broken down on the roadside, pre-Burning Man).

Without further ado, the results of the video trailer competition!

All entries were viewed by me and my esteemed panel of judges, elves, and magic robots. As explained in the original post, the winner provided the best combination of creativity, book explanation, and total view count.

The winner of the $2,500 USD and 60-min call with me (should he choose) is Vince Wong. Congrats, Vince! Be on the look-out for an email from my team. Well done, sir.

Vince Wong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb6Oq7vD-cw

CREDITS:

Directed / Produced by: Vince Wong
Script by: Vince Wong / Jared Croslow
Cast: Vince Wong / Bruna Silva
Camera Operations: Hall & Max
Camera Assistants: Mink / Ploy
Sound Design: Hall & Max / Audio Jungle
Editing / Special FX: Vince Wong / Jared Croslow
Location: Red Sky Bar, Centara Grand Hotel, Bangkok Thailand (Thank you for last minute official location approval, and for the complimentary cocktails!)

Vince’s blog: http://www.vincewong.com
Vince’s 4-Hour Workweek success story — 37+ countries in 2 years, $200,000+ earned in first 9 months.

There were so many great videos, it was hard to keep count. The below is just a small sample. I once again concluded that — yes — I have the best readers out there. What a blast…

Contenga International: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXzrD8mfMpo

The Draw Shop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJwOtmAWKk

Brent Thacker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiRccPXVlDk

Benedict Westenra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhipixFZDOc

Tri Mahon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB92hYNuVTs

Thanks again, all!

###

Odds and Ends: Elsewhere on the Internet

If you missed it, here are two videos from my appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He’s a super chill dude and a legitimate fan of the books. It was a wonderful experience.

Posted on February 11th, 2013

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David Beckham at Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League match

All eyes (and camera phones) were on a very well-groomed David Beckham, who cheered on his new team Paris Saint-Germain from the side lines during their Champions League match yesterday.

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Praising Kids for Efforts, Not Qualities, May Help Them Succeed

By Barbara Bronson Gray

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Telling your young children that they are smart may not be all that wise.

A new study found that it's probably not helpful for parents to shower their young daughters or sons with commentary meant to boost self-esteem. Instead, the right kind of praise and encouragement may help children be more open to change and eager for the harder tasks that provide opportunities to learn.

The research suggests that toddlers whose parents regularly said things like "You tried really hard on that," rather than "Wonderful," may have an edge as early as five years later when it comes to taking on challenges. This type of praise sent by parents early on can affect how the children size up their capabilities, researchers said.

"Telling kids they're intelligent rather than praising the positive steps they're taking to solve a problem as they play can make them question their intelligence when they encounter something that's harder for them to do," said study author Elizabeth Gunderson, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at Temple University, in Philadelphia.

Gunderson said parents tend to establish one of two "praise styles" early on, either focusing on what a child is doing or, instead, on his or her personal characteristics. So, while one parent might say something like "You kept trying until that puzzle piece fit in there," another might instinctively say, "You're good at that."

Focusing on the process or activity -- in this case, finding the right puzzle piece -- communicates that effort and actions can lead to success. Focusing on the child's characteristics seems to unintentionally telegraph that his or her ability is fixed, she explained.

Despite any differences in parents' natural style, parents can be taught to deliver more process-oriented praise, Gunderson said. "This research has definitely influenced what I do with my own 1-year-old son," she added.

For the study, published Feb. 12 in the journal Child Development, the researchers videotaped 53 toddlers and their parents interacting at home for 90 minutes. The parents were told that they were participating in a study of child language development, to avoid having them focus on what they were specifically saying to their children.

From the tapes, instances in which parents praise their children were analyzed by whether they emphasized strategies, effort and action or positive qualities of the child. The researchers noted factors such as race, ethnicity and income level of the parents to help ensure the study results were not affected by that data. They did not assess, or control for, the child's level of intelligence.

Then, five years later, when the children were about 7 to 8 years old, the researchers followed up with the same families, assessing whether the children seemed to prefer easy or challenging tasks, and if they were easily frustrated when they hit a stumbling block.

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Little-Known Virus Sends Many Kids to Hospital

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Chances are you've never heard of human metapneumovirus. But, it's quite possible that you've been sick with this respiratory germ at some point in your life.

Discovered only 12 years ago, human metapneumovirus (HMPV) shares many symptoms with the flu. And, like the flu, most people who get it are miserable for a short time and then get better with no complications.

But the virus can cause serious illness, and in a recent study in U.S. children, researchers found that 6 percent of children who were hospitalized had HPMV, while 7 percent of pediatric emergency room visits were due to the virus.

"It turns out that human metapneumovirus is one of the most common causes of acute respiratory infections," said study senior author Dr. John Williams, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.

"Everyone knows about flu and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus], but it's just in the last couple of years that HPMV is making it into the medical school textbooks. For otherwise healthy children and adults, it tends to be a minor illness, like a cold, but populations that are vulnerable to one of these viruses are vulnerable to all of them," said Williams, who added that this generally includes the very young, the very old and people with underlying health problems, such as asthma or chronic heart disease.

"Now, that we've discovered this leading cause of respiratory infections in kids, it gives us a target for a vaccine," he noted.

The study was supported by a grant from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Human metapneumovirus was only discovered in 2001, though it was likely causing disease for many years before it was identified, according to background information in the study. And, although it's been a dozen years since the disease was discovered, it was still unclear how often people were infected, and how severe the illness could be.

To track down these answers, Williams and his Vanderbilt colleague Dr. Kathryn Edwards, along with other researchers, collected data on the virus from hospitals in three U.S. counties from 2003 through 2009.

They found the virus in 200 of 3,490 children (6 percent) hospitalized during that time period. Of 3,257 outpatient clinic visits, they found 7 percent of children had HPMV. And, of 3,001 children seen in emergency rooms, 7 percent had the virus. The researchers also tested 770 children who weren't having any symptoms, and found the virus in 1 percent.

Annually, one out of every 1,000 hospitalizations in children less than 5 years old was due to human metapneumovirus. In those less than 6 months of age, the rate of hospitalization due to HPMV was three per 1,000. In children aged 6 months to 1 year, that number was two per 1,000, according to the study.

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