News from the industry

Being overweight or obese doesn’t increase the odds that seniors will experience memory trouble, a new study finds.”While past studies have found obesity in middle age increases a person’s risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, our finding shows obesity in old age has no effect on a person’s memory. These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that weight loss or low body mass index in old age may be a precursor of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease,” study author Dr. Maureen T. Sturman, a researcher at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, said in a prepared statement.

The six-year study included more than 3,800 people over the age of 65. Of those, nearly 25 percent were obese (body mass index over 30), and 37 percent were overweight (BMI between 25 and 29.9). Participants underwent cognitive tests at regular intervals over the course of the study.

The study is published in the Dec. 19 online issue of the journal Neurology.

“We do not know yet why being overweight or obese does not increase the risk of cognitive decline in old age; however, being underweight may be a correlate of the initial stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” Sturman said.

The impotence pill Cialis appears to work even in men with spinal cord injuries, French researchers said on Monday.

Impotence often follows spinal cord injuries. Only about 25 percent of men with such injuries are capable of having sex, Dr. Francois Giuliano and colleagues at the Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, France said.

They found that Cialis tripled the number of times the men could have sex.

Their study, funded by Eli Lilly and Co, maker of tadalafil or Cialis, involved 197 men with an average age of 38 in France, Germany, Italy and Spain with spinal cord injuries.

After a one-month waiting period, in which no one got treatment, a questionnaire to assess sexual function found both groups had moderate erectile dysfunction, Giuliano’s team reported in the Archives of Neurology.

Then 142 men were assigned to the Cialis group and 44 got a placebo for a 12-week period, taking no more than one pill daily as needed before sexual activity.

After 4 months, men taking Cialis were successful nearly half the time they attempted intercourse, while men in the placebo group succeeded only 16.8 percent of the time.

Cialis and similar drugs work by increasing blood flow to the genitals.

The researchers said the Cialis study achieved success similar to that found in studies of Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra or sildenafil and Glaxosmithkline Plc’s Levitra or vardenafil, all of which improved erections in men with impotence after spinal cord injury.

Diabetes can leave your child prone to childhood obesity. Now here’s a good reason for new mothers to monitor their blood sugar levels.

A new study shows that babies born to mothers with a condition called Gestational diabetes run double the risk of childhood obesity.

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that affects pregnant women who have never had diabetes before.

It occurs in about 4% of pregnancies. And high blood sugar during pregnancy, could result in overfeeding the child in the womb — leading to changes in the baby’s metabolic mechanism. That makes them prone to develop obesity and diabetes.

A five-year study carried on by the American Diabetes Association, found that children born to mothers with poorly controlled high blood sugar are 89 percent more likely to be overweight than those born to mothers with regular levels of blood sugar.

These children also have 82 percent higher chances of developing obesity between the ages of 5 and 7. Over 82 percent more chances of being obese between the ages of 5 and 7-is very significant. Because a child’s weight during this age is strongly predictive of his or her weight later in life. It’s as good as saying that the child may develop diabetes.

Doctors have already found that childhood obesity is a big risk factor when it comes to childhood diabetes, the early onset of diabetes in adulthood and other hormonal disorders.

But here’s what mothers really need to know. If gestational diabetes is treated in time, your child is not at risk of childhood obesity. So make sure you get your doctor to regularly monitor your blood sugar levels.