Editor's Note: Easy-to-digest research not only helps keep you, the practicing DC, abreast of the latest findings supporting your comprehensive care, but also serves as an invaluable patient-education tool / conversation starter. In this second installment of our ongoing series, let's take a look at some of the latest health and wellness research.

The Drug-Free Pain Reliever Seniors Need

Seniors with osteoarthritis and/or back pain should avoid NSAIDs according to new research. The study evaluated the safety risks associated with NSAID use by elderly patients (≥65 years) compared with younger patients (<65 years) suffering from osteoarthritis and/or chronic low back pain.

The risk of suffering a gastrointestinal (GI), renal or acute myocardial infarction (AMI) event – all three of which are "well-known events associated with NSAID use," according to the study authors – in seniors taking NSAIDs was higher than in younger patients; the increased risk was particularly high in patients ages 70 and older – and "remarkable" in patients over the age of 80: twice the risk, seven times the risk and 10 times the risk of experiencing a GI, AMI or renal event, respectively.

To reduce these risks, "NSAIDs should be prescribed at the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration possible." Unfortunately, what they don't suggest is the no-brainer: why not avoid NSAIDs entirely and eliminate the risk of a NSAID-related health complication? Considering chiropractors routinely manage patients with chronic back pain and osteoarthritis, it's the safer, sensible choice for seniors – and adults – instead of turning to the medicine cabinet.

Reference

• Togo K, et al. Safety risk associated with use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Japanese elderly compared with younger patients with osteoarthritis and/or chronic low back pain: a retrospective database study. Pain Pract, 2021 Sep 19 (online ahead of print).

A Better Brain in Only 10 Minutes? It's Possible

Researchers evaluated the impact of jogging on mood via a mood scale, completed before and after 10 minutes of moderate-intensity jogging on a treadmill. They also assessed how jogging impacted the brain's ability to process information; specifically how it mitigated the "Stroop interference effect "– interference that occurs when attempting to process multiple sets of information simultaneously while also filtering out extraneous information.

Ten minutes of jogging not only improved mood ("significant enhanced arousal and pleasure levels" compared to a control group that did not jog;) but also reduced the Stroop interference effect. Study participants, after jogging for 10 minutes, were able to complete higher-level information processing (for example, recognizing the correct color even if the word  is written in another color) with minimal delay compared to less challenging processing tasks (for example, identifying color swatches: red swatch = red, and so on).

The researchers arrived at two important real-world conclusions in light of their findings: 1) "Running may be considered an exercise mode that benefits mood, which is an important factor for exercise adherence"; and "These finding are valuable in supporting [the] moderate running effect on mental health, since running is an easily accessible form of exercise requiring minimal equipment and sport structure."

Reference

• Damrongthai C, et al. Benefit of human moderate running boosting mood and executive function coinciding with bilateral prefrontal activation. Scientific Rep, 22 Nov 2021;11:22657.

Keep It Under Control

Keeping your blood sugar levels stable is critical for reducing your type 2 diabetes risk. For obese individuals who've already been diagnosed with diabetes, it's even more important to keep blood glucose under control; more so than weight loss, suggests recent research.

Controlling blood sugar if you're obese and suffering from diabetes reduces your cancer risk. Obesity also elevates the risk of developing several types of cancer, but keeping blood glucose in line can help mitigate that risk, even with the extra weight.

That's because among obese patients with type 2 diabetes, those who lost weight via bariatric surgery reduced their cancer risk significantly – but those who regulated their blood sugar / eliminated their diabetic state (regardless of whether they had weight-loss surgery or lost weight) reduced cancer risk even more significantly.

Reference

• Sjöholm K, et al. Association of bariatric surgery with cancer incidence in patients with obesity and diabetes: long-term results from the Swedish Obese Subjects Study. Diabetes Care, 2021:dc211335.

Getting Kids to Eat More Fruits and Veggies

It isn't piling more fruits and veggies onto the child's plate. In this case, more isn't necessarily more effective when it comes to getting them to eat more of the "good stuff." That's the first scenario researchers played with; the second scenario involved substituting more fruits and vegetables for an equivalent weight of other foods. As they added more fruits and veggies, the researchers took away some of the other items on the plate – in the study, this meant less mac-and-cheese.

Both scenarios proved effective, but scenario #2 was the most effective. Adding more fruit and vegetables to kids' meals as side dishes increased veggie consumption by 24 percent and fruit consumption by 33 percent; whereas substituting fruits and veggies in place of other foods on the plate increased veggie consumption by 41 percent and fruit consumption by 38 percent. I think we can all agree that getting our kids to eat 40 percent more fruits and  veggies than they currently do would be a significant victory!

The study involved children ages 3-5 – some of the pickiest eaters – subjected to the meal changes over five days.

Reference

• Roe LS, et al. Portion size can be used strategically to increase intake of vegetables and fruits in young children over multiple days: a cluster-randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr, 2021 Sep 22:nqab321.

Editor's Note: These research summaries are excerpted from To Your Health, our biweekly patient / consumer e-mail newsletter, which also serves as support for Go Chiro TV, our digital waiting-room patient-education service. If you're not already sending TYH to your patients, click here to learn more. For more information about Go Chiro TV, click here.