Elderberry benefits air travellers
The negative health effects of international air travel are well documented but now it seems that the common elderberry can provide some relief
2015-07-21
(Press-News.org) The negative health effects of international air travel are well documented but now it seems that the common elderberry can provide some relief.
Associate Professor Evelin Tiralongo and Dr Shirley Wee from Griffith's Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ) have completed a clinical trial showing that an elderberry supplement can provide some protection from cold and flu-like symptoms following long-haul flights.
Intercontinental air travel can be stressful and affect a passenger's physical and psychological wellbeing. Whilst jet lag and fatigue remain the best known problems, holidaymakers also often experience upper respiratory symptoms.
Presenting their results at the 21st Annual International Integrative Medicine Conference in Melbourne, the research team showed how elderberry appears to reduce the duration and severity of the cold.
The randomised, double-blind placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted with 312 economy class passengers travelling from Australia to an overseas destination. Cold episodes, cold duration and symptoms were recorded in a daily diary and participants also completed surveys before, during and after travel.
"We found that most cold episodes occurred in the placebo group, but the difference between the placebo and active group was not significant. However, the placebo group had a significantly higher number of cold episode days, and the symptom score in the placebo group over these days was also significantly higher," says Associate Professor Tiralongo.
"Complementary medicines are used by two in three Australians, thus increasing the evidence base of these medicines should be at the forefront of our efforts. It's often forgotten that the evidence for various herbal medicines is extract specific," says Associate Professor Tiralongo.
The trial used capsules containing 300mg of a standardised, proprietary membrane-filtered elderberry extract which has shown to be effective in working against respiratory bacteria and influenza viruses.
The Griffith study follows recent European research published in the open access journal Current Therapeutic Research which suggests that a combination of Echinacea herb and root extract supplemented with elderberry can be as effective as the conventional antiviral medicine Tamiflu for the early treatment of influenza.
INFORMATION:
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-07-21
A special type of synthetic sugar could be the latest weapon in the fight against superbugs.
A team of scientists from The University of Queensland and Queensland biotechnology company Alchemia have discovered a potential new class of antibiotics inspired by sugar molecules produced by bacteria.
New antibiotics to which bacteria are unlikely to develop resistance are urgently needed to combat the rise of superbugs - drug resistant bacteria.
The research, led by Professor Matt Cooper and Dr Johannes Zuegg from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) in partnership ...
2015-07-21
Swedish researchers at Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute have found that genes that control the biological clocks in cells throughout the body are altered after losing a single night of sleep, in a study that is to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
"Previous research has shown that our metabolism is negatively affected by sleep loss, and sleep loss has been linked to an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Since ablation of clock genes in animals can cause these disease states, our current results indicate that ...
2015-07-21
TORONTO, ON - When Julie compares her husband George to her friend's husband Sam, she can't help but notice that Sam is better is better at helping his children with homework. But rather than be upset about George's shortcomings in the children's homework arena, Julie reasons that since she enjoys doing homework with their children, it's not that important that George do it.
What Julie has just done is protect her partner (and their relationship!) from the negative implications of her own comparison. But not all members of a couple engage in these justifying explanations ...
2015-07-21
Information embedded within DNA has long contributed to biodiversity conservation, helping to reconstruct the past history of species, assess their current status, and guide strategies for their protection. A new study shows that the entire genome of hard to study species may now be available to scientists without the need to handle or even see their study organism, opening up the field of conservation genomics to the use of non-invasive sampling techniques.
Endangered and elusive species by definition may be both rare and difficult to locate. As a result, conservation ...
2015-07-21
COLUMBUS, Ohio - If there's one thing advertisers think they know, it is that sex and violence sell.
A new analysis, however, provides some of the best evidence to date that this widely accepted adage just isn't true.
Researchers analyzed the results of 53 different experiments (a so-called meta-analysis) involving nearly 8,500 people, done over 44 years. All of these experiments examined some facet of the question of whether sexual or violent media content could help sell advertised products.
When all the results are considered together, the overall conclusion, with ...
2015-07-21
'Fatherhood effect' is average weight gain of 3.5 to 4.5 pounds
Non-fathers lose weight during same time period
Key time for pediatricians to counsel fathers, who often don't have their own doctors
CHICAGO --- All those leftover pizza crusts you snatch from your kids' plates add up. Men gain weight after they become fathers for the first time whether or not they live with their children, reports a large, new Northwestern Medicine study that tracked the weight of more than 10,000 men from adolescence to young adulthood.
The typical 6-foot-tall man who lives ...
2015-07-21
Juvenile inmates are much more likely to be hospitalized for mental health problems than children and teenagers who are not incarcerated, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
In addition, the hospital stays of these inmates are longer, suggesting that their underlying mental health problems are worse.
The new study, which will be published online July 21 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, examined almost 2 million hospitalizations of California boys and girls over a 15-year period. Mental health diagnoses were responsible for ...
2015-07-21
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JULY 21, 2015). French researchers used clinical examinations and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies to determine whether retired professional rugby players experience more serious symptoms of cervical spine degeneration than people in the general population. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the largest study of its kind covering any professional contact sport, and it confirms greater cervical spine degeneration in former rugby players. The research findings are reported and discussed in the article, "Clinical and radiological cervical ...
2015-07-21
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It's a tale of two tests: one for early signs of cervical cancer, the other for a sexually transmitted disease. But a new study suggests that a change in the recommended schedule for one may have dramatically lowered the chances that young women would get the other.
Results published by a University of Michigan team shows the unintended consequences of changes to national health test guidelines: the potential for doctors to fall behind on ordering other tests that screen for serious health problems.
In this case, the two tests are Pap smears and ...
2015-07-20
What you're reading now secretly tells you whether your country will be skinnier or fatter in three years. After analyzing 50 years of all the food words mentioned in major newspapers like the New York Times and London Times, a new Cornell study shows that the food words trending today in 2015 will predict a country's obesity level in three years - in 2018.
"The more sweet snacks are mentioned and the fewer fruits and vegetables that are mentioned in your newspaper, the fatter your country's population is going to be in 3 years, according to trends we found from the past ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Elderberry benefits air travellers
The negative health effects of international air travel are well documented but now it seems that the common elderberry can provide some relief
