And now, a new impotence medicine

It sometimes seems that important medical advances are, as they would say, a dime a dozen. Week after week, medical journals are full of important studies; month after month, researchers present their latest findings at medical meetings. And day after day, reporters describe those findings in the media. But which of these health news are practical enough for you to use in your day-to-day life? Here are my choices:

A New Drug For Erectile Dysfunction

The little blue pill Viagra has some competition. The US FDA has recently approved a new impotence medication called vardenafil (Levitra). The new pill is similar to Viagra (sildenafil), and there are no proven advantages or disadvantages to one agent over the other. Both work by targeting an enzyme known as PDE-5 (phosphodiesterase-5). This relaxes muscles and blood vessels in the penis, increasing blood flow and producing an erection. As with Viagra, up to 70 percent of men respond to Levitra.

Levitra is taken one hour before sexual activity and lasts about five hours. It should not be used more than once a day. The drug is not recommended for men who have had a heart attack or stroke within the last six months or those with significantly low or high blood pressure, unstable angina, the heart condition known as prolongation of the "QT interval," significant liver or kidney problems, or the eye disorder retinitis pigmentosa. Men should inform the prescribing physician about any heart problems they have and about their use of other medications. Levitra has potential interactions with several medications and should not be used with nitrates (nitroglycerin) or alpha-blockers (tamsulosin, terazosin, doxazosin, alfuzosin).

Not-Too-Firm Mattress Best For Bad Backs

Contrary to conventional wisdom and what many doctors recommend, a firm mattress may not be the best choice for low-back-pain sufferers. A study in the November 15, 2003 issue of Lancet of 313 people with chronic low back pain found that medium-firm mattresses soothed symptoms better than firm ones.

Three months after researchers replaced the participants’ own mattresses with either new firm or medium-firm mattresses, those in the medium-firm group reported less disability and less pain while in bed, when rising, and during the day, compared to those in the other group. The key, suggests an editorial accompanying the study, may be that a less-firm mattress puts less pressure on the shoulders and hips, making it easier to lie in the fetal position, which may benefit one’s back. Lying with your knees bent either on your side or your back is considered a correct sleeping posture, according to the authors.

Us Fda Approves New Sugar Substitute

The US FDA recently approved a new, low-calorie sugar substitute. It’s sucralose (brand name Splenda) and it’s made of, well, sugar. The sugar is chemically modified so that it isn’t absorbed and passes rapidly through the body.

There have been safety concerns with other sugar substitutes on the market, but sucralose has been used extensively in 28 other countries with no reported adverse side effects and will not carry any warning labels. Although it is about 600 times sweeter than sucrose, it provides no calories, doesn’t affect blood sugar and can’t cause tooth decay. It has been deemed safe for pregnant women and people with diabetes.

Slenda is starting to show up in diet soft drinks abroad, and will soon come in granular form for use at home.

Lean, Active Men Maintain Sex Lives Longer

To remain at your peak sexual performance after age 50, keep physically active and maintain a trim body weight, says a study in the August 5, 2003 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Over 30,000 male health professionals, aged 53 to 90, completed a questionnaire about their sexual function, physical activity, body weight, smoking history, marital status, existing medical conditions, alcohol consumption, and use of medications.

Overall, one-third of the men reported some difficulty getting and keeping erections. The men also reported less interest in sex and less overall ability to engage in sexual activity. The factors most closely linked to decline in sexual function were smoking, alcohol consumption, being overweight, and time spent watching television (the latter suggestive of a sedentary lifestyle). Men with chronic medical conditions, not surprisingly, showed more decline in function. Of course, many men continue to have satisfying sex lives well beyond their 50s. In this study, those men tended to be the ones who were most physically active and had maintained a healthy weight.

Being Old Is Getting Younger

A combination of health measures and medical advances, as well as social and economic support for older people, has turned back the aging clock by at least five years. Using standard measures of mental and physical functioning, researchers have calculated that 70-year-olds today are equivalent, healthwise, to 65-year-olds who lived 30 years ago. Demographers now divide seniors into the "young old" and the "old old," with the boundary falling between ages 80 and 85.

This development has forced doctors to rethink how they treat seniors. Everything from coronary bypass to joint replacement surgery to cholesterol-lowering statin medication is proving to be useful later and later in life.

Acetaminophen Warning

Each year, a significant number of people sustain liver damage from acetaminophen overdose or misuse. Therefore, the labels should be changed on acetaminophen-containing drugs, such as Tylenol and Tempra, concluded the US FDA’s Non-prescription Drugs Advisory Committee.

Although current labels warn that acetaminophen can cause liver damage in people who regularly consume three or more alcoholic beverages a day, the committee recommends that liver-damage warning be more universal, because it can occur in people who don’t drink alcohol but do take too much acetaminophen, either from a single source or from a combination of acetaminophen-containing products. And even appropriate doses of acetaminophen can harm people with preexisting liver disease.

When taking pain-killers, cold or allergy medicines, or drugs for premenstrual symptoms, check the labels for acetaminophen content and confirm whether you’re taking too much. The maximum amount of acetaminophen adults should take is 1,000 mg per dose or 4,000 mg per day.

Unidentified Funny Vitamins

Vitamins are essential for health, but many marketers on the Internet are inventing new ones. Here’s a sample:

• Vitamin F. This appears to be the unsaturated fatty acids found in most vegetable oils. Claimed, falsely, to be a cure for multiple sclerosis.

• Vitamin O. A bottle of salt water containing oxygen molecules. What these extra oxygen molecules could do is a puzzle. "O" is advertised for mole removal, cancer, sexual dysfunction, and others. But oxygen is not a vitamin, which is too bad, since the air is full of it, and air is free!

• Vitamin P. A flavonoid (plant pigment) sold to relieve leg cramps.

• Vitamin T. It supposedly comes from egg yolks and sesame seeds, and is claimed to cure anemia.

• Vitamin U.This is sold to relieve ulcer pain, often in a pill containing vitamin A.

• B vitamins. A number of so-called B vitamins are also for sale, with numbers running up to B-17 and beyond.

The 13 true vitamins are: A, C, D, E, and K, plus the B complex consisting of eight vitamins (thiamin or B1, riboflavin or B2, niacin or B3, folic acid, panthotenic acid, biotin, B6 and B12.

Smoking Ban

The tobacco industry has warned for years that laws restricting or banning smoking would hurt restaurants and bars. But a new study on the effects of a 1999 law banning smoking in public places on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, found that the smoking ban has not hurt these businesses.

In fact, restaurant attendance has risen by 23 percent. The most important result of this ban: The area now has the lowest smoking rate in Canada. Several American studies have also found that smoke-free ordinances do not adversely affect business and may actually increase it.

Furthermore, in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, two-thirds of California bartenders were free of coughing and wheezing, just two months after the smoking ban was implemented.

So, right on, Mayor Binay!