CheckUp medical column for August 7
A weekly round-up of news affecting your health
By Margaret Scheikowski
KIDS URGED TO BE SUPERHEROES
Aussie school kids can don their favourite superhero costume to help raise money to fight muscular dystrophy.
The progressive muscle-wasting disorder with 60 different variations, caused by errors in genes, affects one in 600 Australians.
Organisers of the third annual National Superhero Week, running from August 31 to September 4, hope to better the 2014 event when more than 20,000 office workers and school kids took part.
"The superhero theme allows kids to dream of being their favourite superhero," says Muscular Dystrophy Australia's executive director Boris Struk.
As well as letting kids with the disorder know that MD shouldn't hold them back from their aspirations, the organisers want all children to know they can be superheroes by looking after their friends with disabilities.
TRANSPLANT HOPE
Young children at risk of developing diabetes have new hope following a successful transplant procedure for a seven-year-old boy in Adelaide.
Gary Wanganeen is doing well after being the first child in Australia to have his islets transplanted from his pancreas to his liver.
He had been diagnosed with hereditary pancreatitis which had left him in almost constant pain with the only possible treatment the removal of his pancreas which would have left him a diabetic.
Instead a team of South Australian surgeons removed his pancreas and sent it to a medical research team in Melbourne who isolated the islets, the cells responsible for producing insulin, before sending them back to Adelaide where they were infused into the young boy's liver.
Professor Toby Coates, from the Royal Adelaide Hospital transplantation team, says the operation has given Gary a much better chance of avoiding diabetes and offers similar hope for other children.
"By removing his pancreas and isolating the islets, his pain will be much better, allowing him to come off opiates and hopefully have a much better childhood and adult life," Professor Coates said.
PASS THE CURRY
Eating spicy food frequently has been linked to living longer in a Chinese study.
But the researchers say it's too early to say that people should eat spicy food to improve their health.
The study, published in The BMJ, involved 487,375 people aged 30-79 years while those with a history of cancer, heart disease and stroke were excluded.
Their health was monitored over a number of years, during which there were 20,224 deaths.
People who ate spicy foods almost every day had a 14 per cent lower risk of death compared to those who consumed spicy foods less than once a week.
"Compared with participants who ate spicy foods less than once a week, those who consumed spicy foods one or two days a week were at a 10 per cent reduced risk of death," the researchers said.
Frequent consumption of spicy foods also was linked to a lower risk of death from cancer, and ischaemic heart and respiratory system diseases.
Fresh and dried chilli peppers were the most commonly used spices by those who ate spicy foods weekly.
SOME BETTER THAN NONE
Just 15 minutes a day exercise reaps in the health benefits for those over 60.
French and Swiss scientists found that even a little moderate to vigorous physical activity seemed to curb the risk of death among the group.
The analysis, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found much of the benefit seemed to be for a reduced risk of dying from heart disease/stroke.
The reduction in deaths from all causes was considerably greater in older women than in the men.
The researchers say the benefits of 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity are well known but older people often found it difficult to reach that target.
So they investigated if any regular amount of activity below this level was linked to greater longevity in this age group.
In concluding that just 75 minutes was beneficial, they said the recommended targets might be too high for older folk and may discourage them.
"The fact that any effort will be worthwhile may help convince those 60 per cent of participants over 60 years of age, who do not practice any regular physical activity, to become active."
