Americans: Vitamin D Deficiency Very Common; Even Worse Over Age 50: The government recommends dietary and supplemental vitamin D of 200 IU per day for people under 50, 400 IU per day for ages 51 to 70, and 600 IU per day over 70. The diets of 27,000 people in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 19,000 people in the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals found that less than 10% of adults 50 to 70 years old, and only about 2% of people over 70, were found to be getting the recommended amounts of vitamin D from food and only 30% of people ages 50-70 and 10% of those over 70 when counting supplements as well. Among people 14 to 50 years old, 50% of females and 65% of males were getting recommended amounts vs. 53 -63% of all children. A previous study found 42% of hospitalized patients under age 65 were vitamin D deficient, and 37% of people eating recommended amounts of vitamin D were still deficient. J Amer Dietetic Assn 2004;104:980–3. For more, see Vitamin D.

Yogurt Suppresses Ulcer-Causing H. Pylori: Evidence suggests that ingesting lactic acid bacteria exerts a suppressive effect on Helicobacter pylori infection in both animals and humans. Supplementing with Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-containing yogurt (AB-yogurt) was shown to improve the rates of eradication of H. pylori in humans. 59 adult volunteers infected with H. pylori were given AB-yogurt twice daily after a meal for 6 wk. Eleven were treated with milk placebo. Bifidobacterium exerted an in vitro inhibitory effect against H. pylori, whereas Lactobacillus did not. AB-yogurt decreased the urease activity of H. pylori, i.e., suppressed H. pylori, after 6 wk of therapy (P < 0.0001). Effects of ingesting Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-containing yogurt in subjects with colonized Helicobacter pylori. Wang KY, Li SN, Liu CS, Perng DS, Su YC, Wu DC, Jan CM, Lai CH, Wang TN, Wang WM. Taiwan. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):737-41. For more, see Yogurt.

Increased BP Linked to Hippocampal Atrophy: The hippocampus is vulnerable to global ischemia, which may lead to atrophy. In a sample of Japanese-American men with 30 year follow-up with brain MRIs, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, other cardiovascular risk factors, apolipoprotein E allele, and correlated brain pathology, those never treated with antihypertensive medication had a significantly increased risk for hippocampal atrophy of 70% (OR 1.7). For high systolic BP it was OR=1.98 and for high diastolic BP (>90 mmHg) OR=3.51. Midlife blood pressure and the risk of hippocampal atrophy: the Honolulu Asia Aging Study. Korf ES, White LR, Scheltens P, Launer LJ. Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam. Hypertension. 2004 Jul;44(1):29-34

Reduced Blood Flow Linked to Dementia: In 27 adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD), seven with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), six with vascular dementia (VaD), and 12 normal controls, a close coupling was evident between reduced regional cerebral blood flow and dementia. Relationship between cognitive function and regional cerebral blood flow in different types of dementia. Osawa A, Maeshima S, Shimamoto Y, Maeshima E, Sekiguchi E, Kakishita K, Ozaki F, Moriwaki H. Kawasaki Medical School, Japan. Disabil Rehabil. 2004 Jun 17;26(12):739-45.

Memantine Helped Keep Alzheimer's Autonomous: In a 28-week DB PC study of 252 adults with moderately-severe to severe AD, memantine-treated patients were three times more likely [OR = 3.03;] to remain autonomous. Memantine enhances autonomy in moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. Rive B, Vercelletto M, Damier FD, Cochran J, Francois C. Paris, France. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2004 May;19(5):458-64. Ed: Memantine is awfully expensive. While perhaps effective, because the benefit is quite small, it does not appear cost-effective. Most people would choose to spend their money otherwise if it were their own money, which in a way it is.