Monday, October 19, 2009
The ACR's got milk...and lemonade and water.
The point of the rheumatologic press conference I attended this afternoon was probably supposed to be the results of the research presented, but what I found most interesting were the ways that researchers found to collect and torment their subjects.
First up, a study that investigated the possibility that skim milk consumption can lower serum uric acid concentrations, thereby reduced the risk of gout or gout attacks. They found that cow milk--but not soy--did decrease levels when it was consumed in 80 gram servings by healthy young men. The author helpfully explained how much milk that is for us measurement-challenged listeners--5 to 7 glasses at a sitting. And all that milk was drunk by guys who weren't even sick! Hope they at least went back home and challenged their buddies to the gallon challenge.
If you don't like milk, perhaps you would have preferred to join the Coke-sponsored osteoarthritis trial which asked participants to drink two bottles of diet lemonade (spiked with either glucosamine or placebo) every day in a single sitting. The bad news for them was that all that lemonade-chugging had no apparent effect on their knees.
Beverages seemed to be the theme of the day, although the lucky participants in the next trial didn't have to change their consumption, just monitor it. The interesting thing about them is that they were recruited through a Google ad. The ad recruited gout sufferers across the country to report all kinds of data about their behavior when they are and aren't having gout attacks. Turns out that not drinking water seems to increase the risk of a gout attack.
The data led one astute reporter to wonder whether the milk-drinkers would have done just as well chugging water. It's an issue for further study, admitted the researcher. But where's the fun in that?
Labels: rheumatology
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
4:12 PM
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- QD: News Every Day--the H1N1 fist bump
- Medical News of the Obvious
- QD: News Every Day--One stolen laptop threatens al...
- Patient uses Twitter as he undergoes appendectomy
- Rheumatology: Ill-advised session titles
- QD: News Every Day--legislative tricks, treat the ...
- I feel your difficulty being empathetic.
- Jargon of the day
- Out of the mouths of executives
- QD: News Every Day--The disconnect of health refor...
Blog log
American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home