“Go Ahead. Make My Day”
-Clint Eastwood
COFFEE IS NOW GOOD . . . was bad, some times, for a while . . now good again.
A 1970’s study following 7,000 nurses found that 3,700 of them in 2016 were still alive and met the definition of “healthy aging”. Those criteria were 79 yo. or older, free of 11 chronic diseases, and self-reported good mental health without cognitive impairment or memory problems. After correcting for other variables the researchers found that those who drank nearly seven eight-ounce cups of coffee a day between the age of 45 and 60 had a 13% better chance of being healthy than those who drank less than one cuppaJoe a day. Drinking tea or decaffeinated coffee gave no advantage. Drinking cola decreased the odds of healthy aging. Black coffee was clearly the winner. Adding just half a teaspoon of sugar or a tablespoon of half-and-half erased the benefit. Why coffee is such a benefit is a bit of a mystery, but caffeine is definitely under suspicion.
Even though the advantage gained by coffee drinking is only 13%, Dr. Zhang, Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology at Tufts said., “If anything, drinking coffee is often associated with unhealthy habits, like smoking and less exercise. The fact that you see benefits after accounting for those differences means that coffee is probably helping”. Dr. Shaddyab, Professor of Public Health and Medicine at UC San Diego said, “There are plenty of other, more evidence-backed ways to boost your health and longevity, such as following a balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and having an active social life.” [YAWN -I think all you have to do is pick your parents right and not smoke]
A Smartwatch “Saves A Life”
A retired cardiovascular nurse suffering severe emotional distress and chest pain for two hours noticed changes in her electrocardiogram (ECG) on her smartwatch and went to an ER. The ECG there showed signs of heart ischemia and her blood markers of cardiac damage were extremely high. Cardiac catheterization showed no obstruction, and she was treated successful for a rare form of stress cardiomyopathy. This was a very special situation, and is no way an endorsement by this writer of the frequent TV ads for a smartwatch that diagnoses atrial fibrillation (AF), a very common usually asymptomatic heart arrhythmia. Smartwatchs can detect a fall and automatically call for help if needed. That I think is worth it.
Pickle Ball Your Way Past Cancer
“Exercise is an intervention that improves survival in cancer patients and should be a standard of care.”, says Dr. Booth , Professor of Oncology at Queen’s University in Canada. Eighty percent (80%) of patients with advanced stages of colon cancer who took a brisk walk of 45 minutes four times a day were disease-free five years later compared to 74% of non-walkers. The walkers also received 48 sessions with a physical therapist consultant over three years (sometimes every two weeks in the beginning of the program) . Weight loss was similar among the program and control patients, and so it was not a determinant.
Let’s Blame the Cavemen for Bedbugs
Consistent with our contemporary trend of finding a scapegoat to explain our persistent, seemingly unsolvable problems, researchers from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute found by comparing the bat and human bedbug genomic lineages that bugs leaped from bats onto our Neanderthal cousins 60,000 years ago. The introduction of DDT crashed the bedbug population, but they are reappearing, are continuing to evolve, and are now resisting pesticides.
Speaking of scapegoats, what about those Italians? My father told me decades ago to never put a hat on a bed when visiting an Italian home. He couldn’t tell me how that superstition started. Yesterday I found out: fear of lice! It even extends to jackets. (Thank you Sandy)
Medical Jargon Update:
Malnutrition in Older Adults (NEJM June 12, 2025) – “ elderly”. . . “seniors”. . . “the aged”. . . “aging dependents”. . . “old-old”. . . “old-young” . . . these terms are all out. “Older adults” is the current PC term. It is ironic that this five page, definitive review article does NOT define the term “older adults”. Probably everyone assumes it means “over 65 yo.”
New York State Approves MAID (Medical-Aid-In-Dying) . . . not “assisted suicide” . . . not “euthanasia” . . . these terms are out. Eleven states and D.C. have adopted MAID laws which require two physicians to agree a terminally ill patient has six months or less to live in order to prescribe a fatal cocktail of drugs that is self-administered by the patient,. “Its not about ending a life, but shortening their death”, said a sponsor of the bill. Many advocates consider the law an ethical advance toward patient autonomy and away from medical paternalism and authoritarianism.
Happy Father’s Day
HUB's LIST of medical fun facts 