Daily dose of beetroot juice improved endurance and blood pressure

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Feb. 11, 2016 – Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found that a daily dose of beetroot juice significantly improved exercise endurance and blood pressure in elderly patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF). The study is published in the current online edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology-Heart Failure. Exercise …

Couch potatoes may have smaller brains later in life

Poor physical fitness in middle age may be linked to a smaller brain size 20 years later, according to a study published in the February 10, 2016, online issue ofNeurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging,” …

JULIE FIDLER – Could Listening to Music Really Improve Your Health?

Here’s one more reason to rock out: music isn’t just good for the soul, it’s good for the body. Patients who listen to music before, during, and after surgery may have less pain, anxiety, and blood pressure than patients who don’t, a new analysis suggests. Surgery patients who got to pick their own playlists faired even better, researchers found. Dr. Diana …

Energy drinks raise resting blood pressure

SAN DIEGO — Healthy young adults who don’t consume caffeine regularly experienced greater rise in resting blood pressure after consumption of a commercially available energy drink — compared to a placebo drink — thus raising the concern that energy drinks may increase the risk of cardiac events, Mayo Clinic researchers found. Results of the study will be presented Saturday, March …