High Grades in High School Lead to Better Adult Health

Having a higher education level is often linked to improved health in many clinical studies, seemingly because those who have more years of screening are more likely to have jobs with health insurance benefits and therefore are more likely to stay on top of annual checkups and preventative screenings. A new study shows that it isn’t only the quantity of education years that keep you healthy, but also the quality – those with better grades are more likely to be healthier adults.

The Higher the Class Rank, the More Likely to Be in Good Health at Retirement Age

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which included more than 10,000 high school graduates from 1957. The cohort has been interviewed six times since they graduated 53 years ago, answering questions about work, life, family and health.

Read: Women's Health Insurance Linked to Education

Pamela Herd, study author and associate professor of public affairs and sociology found that those who had a higher rank in high school (meaning those with higher grades) were less likely to have experienced worsening health between 1992 and 2003, when they were approaching retirement age. They were also more likely to report fewer chronic conditions.

The researchers suspect that the finding was at least partly explained by “conscientiousness”, meaning a conscientious student might simply be more diligent about taking care of his or her health and avoiding behaviors such as tobacco smoking. But without psychological data, says Herd, that link cannot be firmly established.

Read: Tying Education to Future Goals Boosts Grades

She also believes that skills such as critical thinking learned through high school academics leads to making wise healthcare decisions later in life. “What you learn in school may actually matter for your health,” Herd says.

The researchers hope that the findings could be used for public policy initiatives, such as emphasizing overall academic performance instead of just test scores. Herd also hopes it speaks to the importance of staying in school.

Herbalife, Usana Have 1000 Times Lead As Ensure, Boost

In newly released lab results from one of the nation’s largest labs with a presence in over 30 countries, both Usana and Herbalife have lead levels that are over 1000 times the lead allowed under California law when taken as directed daily. The new results also revealed that the average lead content for non multi level marketing health drinks averaged 0.607 micrograms per day while Usana and Herbalife combined for a whopping 9.760 micrograms of lead per day. %26quot;I do not care what your liberal interpretation of Proposition 65 might be,%26quot; said attorney Christopher Grell, %26quot;but these percentages are astounding and will hopefully catch the eye of California regulators.%26quot;

Also released today was the results of a 10 year study conducted by multi level marketing expert Robert Fitzpatrick where he analyzed 11 multi level marketing company’s, five of which are publicly traded.

In that study,

Mr. Fitzpatrick reveals the truth regarding the myth of the multi level marketing business opportunity by uncovering three undeniable truths: on average no net income is earned by MLM distributors from door to door "retail" sales the sales forces of Herbalife, Usana and the other company’s analyzed are churned (lost money/quit/replaced) at rates between 60-90% each year and 99% of all sales representatives each year in the sample of companies analyzed earned on average less than $13 a week in commission income.

According to Mr. Fitzpatrick in the report prepared for Mr. Grell, "The (income) figure represents a significant financial loss for virtually all that join these schemes. As extreme as the loss rate is, this figure is conservatively understated because it is calculated before all business expenses, inventory purchases and taxes are factored, which would increase total losses and the percentage of those losing."

Fewer Heart Disease Deaths In Massachusetts As Smoking Declines

If more states introduce tobacco control programs for their residents who are regular smokers, the number of U.S. deaths due to coronary heart disease might drop, finds a new study that looks at an ongoing Massachusetts initiative.

A connection exists between coronary heart disease and cigarette smoking, and the new study determines how a reduction in smoking affected the number of related deaths in Massachusetts between 1993 and 2003. The state introduced its Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP) in 1992, which received funding through a special cigarette tax, and the researchers say they expected to find it helped control the rate of smoking.

“California was the first state to have a statewide program like the MTCP and they witnessed substantial declines,” said lead author Zubair Kabir, M.D., who at the time of the study was a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. “So it was not surprising that Massachusetts, the second state, would see such declines as well, which reflect the impact of a comprehensive, integrated and — at the time — well-funded program.”

The study appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Kabir and his colleagues examined data from daily smokers ages 25 to 84. They found that between 1993 and 2003, coronary heart disease mortality declined 31 percent — from 199 deaths to 137 deaths per 100,000 persons each year. Smoking prevalence declined from 20.5 percent to 14.5 percent

Based on these results, the researchers calculated that 425 fewer coronary heart disease deaths were attributable to decreased smoking during the 10-year period. They concluded that expanding comprehensive tobacco control programs, such as MTCP, to other states could avoid more tobacco-related disease deaths.

Audrey Ferguson, health promotions manager at the American Lung Association of Indiana, agreed with the authors’ conclusion.

“The American Lung Association strongly supports comprehensive statewide tobacco control efforts, including increased tobacco taxes and smoke-free workplace legislation,” she said. “We recognize that tobacco use does not affect just the lungs or the heart of the tobacco user. Everyone would see health benefits from a comprehensive tobacco control plan.”

The MTCP was not immune to roadblocks, however. According to Kabir, budget cuts stalled state funding for the program in 2002, but it is now active again.

Nevertheless, he added that, “Although funding has risen somewhat since 2002, now around $12 million per year, it is nowhere near the levels seen at the height of the program in the late 90s.”

Most Bingers Are Not Alone In Drinking

New research strongly suggests that binge drinking often occurs in settings that dramatically increase the risk of injury to bingers and others, a disturbing finding considering that binge drinking accounts for approximately half of the 75,000 alcohol-attributable deaths in the United States every year and opens the door to a host of dangerous risk behaviors.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologist Timothy Naimi, M.D., M.P.H., who presented his data during the Conference of State and Territorial Epidemiologists national conference this week in Denver, almost half of all binge drinking occurs in public places. Two-thirds of the time, beer is the beverage of choice among binge drinkers, and it is readily available, even to underage drinkers.

Dr. Naimi’s findings are from a CDC study that examined data from 14,150 respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey Binge Drinking Module during 2003 and 2004. The results confirm that binge drinking can have serious consequences.

"Overall, 12 percent of binge drinkers reported driving during or soon after binge drinking," Dr. Naimi says, "meaning they were risking injury or death not only for themselves but also their passengers, other drivers and pedestrians."

The study found that 42 percent of those who drove after binge drinking were coming from a bar or club, and that 20 percent of those binge drinking at bars and clubs subsequently operated a motor vehicle. On average, they consumed more than eight drinks during their most recent binge bout. In addition, many binge drinkers were not old enough to legally purchase alcohol. However, 20 percent of underage respondents reported being able to buy their own alcohol at a store, bar, or restaurant.

While there are a number of effective policies to reduce excessive drinking, Dr. Naimi concludes that current prevention efforts are "grossly inadequate." He says research supports the aggressive implementation of effective evidence-based strategies to reduce binge drinking, such as increased alcohol taxes and enhanced enforcement of minimum legal drinking age laws. The research also points to the need to continue or step up surveillance of the context in which binge drinking occurs.

Pomegranate Fights MRSA and Other Superbugs

The rind of pomegranate appears to deliver a powerful punch against the highly resistant staph infection called MRSA, along with other superbugs that haunt hospital and nursing home patients. Researchers from Kingston University in Surrey report that pomegranate can be used in a topical medication to fight such serious and deadly infections.

MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a strain of staph that is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat it. MRSA infections can be acquired in the community or in a healthcare facility and is transmitted primarily through skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared surfaces that have been contaminated with the organism. A report in the AAOS Now notes that the number of hospital admissions for MRSA in 2005 were triple those in 2000 and ten times higher than in 1995. An October 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that of the 94,360 US patients who developed MRSA in 2005, nearly 20 percent (18,650) died.

Currently, 85 percent of MRSA infections are healthcare related. The death rate, length of hospital stay, and the cost of treating patients who have MRSA are more than twice that of other hospital admissions. While older adults and people who have a compromised immune system are most at risk of hospital-acquired MRSA, otherwise healthy, younger people can acquire community associated MRSA, which is responsible for serious skin infections and pneumonia.

The researchers from Kingston University conducted a series of tests over three years and found that when they mixed pomegranate rind with two other natural substances—metal salts and vitamin C—the ability of the rind to fight infections greatly increased. They hope their discovery can lead to the development of a topical medication to treat drug-resistant infections and perhaps even lead to a new antibiotic. A new effective antibiotic would be a significant breakthrough given the rise of infections that are resistant to the antibiotics currently on the market.

While the pharmaceutical industry typically focuses on one specific active molecule when developing a drug, the Kingston University researchers found that when they combined three natural ingredients, they achieved a much more potent product that could kill or inhibit drug-resistant microbes from growing. Declan Naughton, professor of biomolecular sciences at Kingston, noted that “there was synergy, where the combined effects were much greater than those exhibited by individual components.”

The research team found that while pomegranate rind mixed with metal salts was most effective against MRSA, the addition of vitamin C helped fight other common hospital infections. Unlike antibiotics and other medications, which are associated with significant side effects, Naughton said that using foods as the basis for treatment meant that patients would be much more likely to tolerate its use.

Pomegranate is being investigated for a wide variety of health-related uses, ranging from fighting prostate cancer to obesity, heart disease, and impotence. Preliminary studies in humans suggest that tannins found in pomegranate can reduce oxidative stress, while metabolites called ellagitannins may be helpful in combating prostate cancer.

The fact that a combination of pomegranate, metal salts, and vitamin C has been effective against MRSA and other superbug infections is “potentially significant,” says Anthony Coates, professor of medical microbiology at St. George’s in London. “The need for new antibiotics is acute,” he said. Although more research is needed, Coates noted that “Most antibiotics come from nature, so it is very valid to look at natural sources.”

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