Harvard Health Content API

Exercise and healthier eating may help to keep cancer from returning after treatment, the American Cancer Society says. The new advice was based on dozens of studies published in the last five years. The studies found lower rates of cancer return (recurrence) and longer survival for people with better diet or exercise habits. The studies were mostly observational. The cancer survivors were not randomly assigned to one program or another. So the studies can’t prove that exercise or diet caused the better outcomes for these patients. But the cancer society said the number of studies made their results worth trusting. Most involved prostate, breast or colon cancer survivors. The new guidelines urge doctors to talk to cancer patients about moving more, eating healthier foods and losing weight, if needed.

Doctors may be able to diagnose appendicitis with a scan that uses a much lower dose of radiation, a new study finds. The study included 891 people. All of them were between ages 15 and 44. All had suspected appendicitis. Researchers randomly assigned half of them to receive a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen. The others had a standard-dose CT scan. In all, 172 people in the first group were diagnosed with appendicitis. In the standard-dose group, the number was 186. During surgery, doctors discovered that just over 3% of each group did not have appendicitis. So the low-dose scan was just as accurate as the standard scan, researchers said. The standard scan used about 8 millisieverts of radiation. The low-dose scan used 2 millisieverts, or one-quarter as much. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it April 25.

Though Americans have high levels of obesity, only 13% have high total cholesterol. That’s the finding of a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The numbers come from a survey of 6,000 adults in 2009 and 2010. They also had blood tests taken. The group was chosen to represent the variety of U.S. adults. The 13% with high total cholesterol is less than the U.S. government goal of 17%. Women met that goal about 5 years ago and men about 10 years ago. The CDC did not find out why cholesterol has dropped. But officials said they believed it was related to less smoking and more people taking drugs to lower cholesterol. The CDC released the report April 25. The Associated Press wrote about it.

Most people who can be helped by medicines to prevent migraines don’t take them, a new report says. The report offers guidelines for treatment. About 40% of people with migraines can be helped by preventive medicines, one author of the guidelines told HealthDay News. They can reduce the number of migraines by half. They can also help make the migraines shorter and less severe. But only about one-third of those who can benefit are taking the medicines, the author said. The guidelines were based on 29 studies of drug treatment for migraines. All of them compared the medicines with placebo (fake) pills. Two main groups of drugs were found to help. They are anti-seizure medicines and beta-blockers (also used for high blood pressure). Frovatriptan (Frova) can help prevent migraines around the time of the menstrual period.

A type of antidepressant sometimes used to treat autism may not help much at all, a new analysis of research finds. The study focused on drugs called serotonin receptor inhibitors (SRIs). These include drugs such as fluoxetine, citalopram and others. Some research has suggested they could help control repeated behaviors in people with autism. The new study put together the numbers from earlier studies. It included results from five published studies. These studies found a small benefit for people who took SRIs, compared with placebo (fake) pills. The new study also looked at five prior studies that were never published. When those results were combined with the published studies, the benefit from SRIs disappeared. They appeared to help only people with anxiety as well as autism. The authors say “publication bias” may account for their findings.

Diabetes treatment plans and goals should be tailored to each person, new guidelines for doctors say. The American Diabetes Association released the guidelines. They were developed jointly with the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The guidelines say the best care plan for each person depends on several things. These include age, other health conditions, finances and motivation. For example, the blood sugar goal for a younger, mostly healthy person might be near normal. But this might not be the best goal for someone older with multiple health problems. For some people, aiming for near-normal blood sugar levels can lead to many episodes of hypoglycemia (very low blood sugar). This can be risky, especially for older adults. Some may be safer if they aim for slightly higher blood sugar levels. Having other conditions increases the number of drugs people take.

Keep moving to keep your brain in good shape, a new study suggests. The research focused on a group of 716 adults without dementia. Their average age was 82. They wore a device called an actigraph on one wrist for 10 days. This device keeps track of everyday movements as well as structured exercise. People in the study also took tests to measure their memory and thinking skills. These were repeated every year for 4 years. During the 4 years, 71 people developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Those who were least active at the start of the study were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as those who were most active. People with the least intense activity were almost 3 times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as those with the most intense activity. Overall, most movement came from everyday activities such housecleaning, cooking or gardening, not structured exercise.

Two types of drugs can help to reduce the risk that early kidney disease will get much worse, a new study finds. Researchers put together the results of 110 previous studies. In those studies, people with early kidney disease were treated with drugs that lower blood pressure. They were compared with people who got placebo (fake) pills. Some of the drugs used were angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. These include captopril (Capoten), enalapril (Vasotec) and others. People who received ACE inhibitors were 35% less likely to develop end-stage renal (kidney) disease. Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) reduced risk by 23%. ARBs include candesartan (Atacand), valsartan (Diovan) and others. People with early kidney disease that had signs of getting worse received the greatest benefit from both types of drugs.