News

Another nail has been driven into the coffin of the "homocysteine hypothesis" -- the belief vitamin supplements can help ward off heart disease.

Homocysteine is an amino acid that circulates in the blood stream. People who have elevated levels of homocysteine seem to be prone to heart attacks and strokes. Some doctors believe this amino acid contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease, just like high blood pressure and bad cholesterol. And they have speculated that if homocysteine levels are reduced -- by a simple combination of vitamin supplements -- the risk of heart disease should be driven down as well.

But two studies, released this week at an American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta, failed to yield the expected results.

One of the studies, led by Eva Lonn of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., involved 5,522 patients deemed to be at risk of heart disease. About half the volunteers took a daily mix of B vitamins (folic acid, plus B6 and B12). The rest of the participants got placebos for the five-year study.

The other study, which was similar in design and involved 3,749 patients, was led by Kaare Harald Bonaa of the University of Tromso in Norway.

In both trials, those who took the real vitamins experienced a dramatic reduction in homocysteine levels. However, they were no less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than those who got placebos.

These latest results seem to back up similar findings from another large study, the results of which were published in 2004 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"It is disappointing," Dr. Lonn said in an interview. "But at least it helps us focus on what we know works." Rather than putting their faith in unproven vitamin supplements to reduce the risk of heart disease, she said, people should exercise regularly, eat a balanced diet and not smoke.

Migraine may be heartfelt

Plugging a hole in the heart may reduce the frequency and severity of migraine headaches, according to a new study.

The hole (known as a patent foramen ovale, or PFO) results from a common birth defect. While in the womb, a hole exists between the right and left upper chambers of the fetus's heart. This passageway allows blood to be pumped around the fetus without passing though the non-functioning lungs. After birth, when the child can breathe on its own, the hole normally heals over within a year.

In some people, however, it remains partly open and can contribute to the formation of stroke-producing blood clots. In recent years, surgeons have been plugging these holes, in the hope of reducing stokes.

An unexpected benefit of the operation seems to be a reduction in migraines. In fact, some migraine sufferers who had the hole-plugging surgery joyfully told their doctors they were no longer troubled by the once-disabling headaches. (Doctors speculated that the hole had allowed blood, containing migraine-triggering impurities, to reach the brain without first being filtered by the lungs.) So Peter Wilmshurst, a

cardiologist with the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in England, led a study to find out if the operation really is an effective solution to migraines. The trial involved 147 patients, half of whom received the surgery, while the rest underwent a "sham" operation in which nothing was done.

The study found a 37-per-cent reduction in the frequency and severity of migraines in the treatment group, compared with a reported 17-per-cent drop in the placebo group. Still, some experts were disappointed the operation didn't actually eliminate the headaches. The findings were released this week at an American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta.

Direction affects whiplash

If you are ever in a rear-end collision, just hope that you are facing forward.

People who have their head turned at the moment of impact are at much higher risk of a serious whiplash injury, according to a Yale School of Medicine study.

The researchers, led by Manohar Panjabi, ran a series of elaborate experiments in which "human cervical spine specimens" were strapped into a sled apparatus to observe the effects of a car crash. "Rotated head posture . . . caused significantly greater neck-injury severity and more complex injuries, as compared to facing forward," they report in the journal Spine.

The reason is relatively straightforward. When the head is turned, certain muscles and ligaments are already in a stretched position. So a sudden impact can produce even more of an "overstretch" than would normally be the case. The "rotated-head posture causes three-dimensional head and neck motions, compared to only two dimensional motions in the head-forward posture," according to a statement released with the study. The end result can be a nasty whiplash with potentially chronic pain and disability.

Speaking in tongues

Here's another good reason to think twice about getting your tongue pierced.

A 20-year-old woman who had a barbell-type stud through her tongue developed a round lump next to the piercing, reports the journal General Dentistry.

The large lump, which she called her "second tongue," turned out to be a hypertrophic-keloid lesion, or scar tissue -- and it was growing.

Frequent use of hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash, plus a change in the size of the stud, halted the rapid-growth, semi-spherical lump, which reached

25 millimetres (almost an inch)

in diameter.

"Keep the wound clean. Make sure the bar is short, so food and bacteria won't enter the site . . . Replace the metal barbells with plastic ones," advises the author of the report, Ellis Neiburger, an Illinois dentist.

Or, forget fashion and forgo piercing altogether.