Health Matters The Rundown On Recent Findings by Missy Lay

caffeine withdrawal According to a study at John Hopkins University, as little as one standard cup of coffee a day can cause a caffeine addiction. The researchers found in experimental studies that 50 percent of the people tested experienced headaches, typically within 12 to 24 hours after stopping their dosage of caffeine. Thirteen percent had other symptoms, including clinically significant distress or functional impairment. The John Hopkins researchers say their results should shift the diagnosis of caffeine addiction from a “more research needed study” to something considered a mental disorder or health problem. For more information, visit John Hopkins University’s Web site at www.hopkinsmedicine.org.

pick up your speed Don’t worry if you haven’t reached your ideal running time by your 50th birthday — there is still time for improvement. According to a 16-year study by Yale University, more top runners in the older age groups of the New York City Marathon improved their average times compared to younger age groups. The study analyzed running time, age and gender of all 415,000 New York City Marathon participants from 1983 to 1999. The greatest increases in participation were found among men and women older than 50 years of age. Older women runners showed the vastest improvement in the age category of 50 to 59, with a two-minute improvement through the years. The researchers at Yale expect older runners to continue to improve their time as new techniques to train come out and society continues to reinforce the benefits of exercise. For more information, visit Yale University’s Web site at www.info.med.yale.edu.

drink up Older women can positively influence their memory by drinking at a moderate rate daily, according to a recent study by University of Texas researchers. The study found that women who drank two or fewer drinks per day performed better on attention, concentration, psychomotor skills, verbal-associative capacities and oral fluency, compared with women who did not drink. The research is part of a five-year National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded study that started in 2001. Dr. Graham McDougall, associate professor of nursing at UT, is examining whether memory training has a positive effect on the elderly. For more information, contact Nancy Neff at 471.6504 or visit www.utexas.edu/nursing.

air quality in bars According to a new study by Tufts University, the air quality in smoke-saturated environments can be worse for you than being exposed to a city street filled with diesel fumes. The researchers tested the air in a casino, pool hall and six taverns in Delaware between November 2002 and January 2003 before and after a state-wide smoking ban was created. Before the ban, two major carcinogens in tobacco smoke were present in the air and in some cases tested 49 times higher than the standard for outdoor air set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the study, this is markedly higher than the levels at rush hour on a busy highway in Wilmington, Delaware or toll booths in Boston. Biophysicist James Repace, who created the experiment, was the first scientist to show secondhand smoke can cause thousands of lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. For more information, visit www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu and see the results of the study.