1. Three Servings of Caffeinated Beverages in a Day May Trigger Migraine
It is reported that “caffeine can be both a treatment and a trigger for migraine headaches,” so researchers examined the relationship between caffeine intake and migraine and found “that having three servings of caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea and soda in a day seems to be the tipping point at which caffeine becomes a possible migraine trigger.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Medicine.
2. Soft drinks that contain sugar or low calorie sweetener may raise the risk of early death
Consumption of soft drinks, whether they are sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners, may raise the risk of premature death, new research suggests. In a study that followed more than 400,000 European adults for more than 16 years, the risk of premature death was increased in those who consumed 2 or more glasses per day of soft drinks. To take a closer look at a possible link between soft drinks and premature mortality, Murphy and his colleagues turned to the data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, a multinational study that recruited participants from 1992 through 2000. After excluding participants who already had conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes at the study’s start as well as those without data on soft drink consumption, the researchers were left with 451,743 participants, who stayed in the study for an average of 16.4 years. The average age at the start was about 51 years. During the study, 41,693 participants died. When the researchers analyzed their data, accounting for factors that could increase the risk of death, such as body mass index and smoking, they found that participants who consumed two or more glasses of soft drinks per day were 17% more likely to die early compared to those who drank less than a single serving of soft drinks per month. (On line September 3, 2019 JAMA internal medicine)
3. New testosterone nasal spray offers patients an alternative
A newly patented, testosterone-containing nasal spray developed by a psychology professor at The University of Texas at Austin could provide those suffering from testosterone deficiency and other ailments, such as anxiety disorders, with easily modulated, fast-acting results… Research has shown that while there is no difference in anxiety disorders among prepubescents, puberty introduces a sharp uptick in anxiety disorders in girls, who naturally have about one-tenth the amount of testosterone as boys… “A growing body of research points to testosterone’s importance in the etiology of anxiety disorders. These findings highlight the potential benefit of rapid increases in testosterone concentration as a means to short-circuit the mechanisms underlying the development of anxiety-related disorders, including panic disorder, social anxiety and PTSD,” said Josephs…
4. Women who experience stress during pregnancy could be more likely to have children with personality disorders, according to new research
In the first study of its kind, researchers looked at the link between personality disorders and stress in pregnancy and found children were at risk if their mothers experienced any level of stress while pregnant. Children had more than three times the risk of developing a personality disorder by the age of 30 if their mother experienced stress, compared with children whose mothers had no stress. The study included 3,626 women in Helsinki, Finland… A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving… Paranoid ideation, bizarre and eccentric reasoning, dramatization and sensationalization of minor common experiences, antisocial behavior, histrionic behavior and avoidant and dependent characteristics are all examples of personality disorders.