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TUESDAY, Aug. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- An apple and a pear a day may help keep blood pressure under control — a benefit partly explained by gut bacteria, a new study suggests.Researchers found that adults who regularly ate certain foods — apples, pears, berries and red wine — tended to have lower blood pressure than their peers.One thing those foods have in common is a high content of antioxidant plant compounds called flavonoids. Studies have suggested flavonoids can be a boon to heart health, by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, and improving blood vessel function, among other things.The new findings add another layer: Flavonoid-rich foods were linked to greater diversity in the gut microbiome — the vast collection of bacteria that naturally dwell in the digestive...

TUESDAY, Aug. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Millions of Americans live with a common abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation (a-fib), but new research suggests that exercise might ease the severity of the condition.When folks with a-fib participated in a six-month exercise program, they were able to maintain a normal heart rhythm and had less severe symptoms than those who only received information about the benefits of exercise. The benefits lasted for at least one year."Participating in a structured exercise program for up to 3.5 hours per week can reduce the likelihood of ongoing episodes of arrhythmia and decrease the severity of a-fib-related symptoms, such as palpitations and shortness of breath," said study author Adrian Elliott, a physiologist and research scientist...

TUESDAY, Aug. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The recommended age to start screening overweight and obese people for diabetes will be lowered by five years from 40 to 35, the nation's leading panel of preventive health experts has announced.The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has decided an earlier five years of testing could help detect more people who have prediabetes, said Dr. Michael Barry, vice chair of the USPSTF.That would give those folks a chance to avoid full-blown diabetes by adopting a healthier diet, exercising more often and losing weight, said Barry, director of the Informed Medical Decisions Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.Diabetes is "a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, but also the leading cause of blindness and kidney...

TUESDAY, Aug. 24, 2021 (HealthDay News) – The coronavirus pandemic has posed significant challenges for many, but it did not appear to drive U.S. preteens and young teens to drugs. Repeated surveys of more than 7,800 10- to 14-year-olds between September 2019 and August 2020 found the overall rate of drug use remained stable, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). What did change was their drugs of choice: Alcohol use fell, while use of prescription drugs and tobacco products rose."Adolescents have experienced a year of turmoil and stress in precarious space between childhood and adulthood," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow. "Recognizing how the stress of the past year translates into substance use has profound implications into adulthood, because drinking...