An upside to migraines?
Some studies have found that people who suffer from migraines do not seem to lose any of their thinking skills as a result of the headaches. Other studies have found that they do. In either case, a new study has found that women who have migraines experience less cognitive decline than women who do not. Writing in the current issue of Neurology, the researchers said it was not clear why these women tested better on skills like memory. The research was led by Amanda Kalaydjian, now with the National Institute of Mental Health, when she was a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins.
One explanation, they said, is that the drugs commonly taken for migraines may also ward off the cognitive declines that come with aging. But the study called this unlikely.
Cutting salt cuts risk
If lowering sodium intake reduces the risk of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure can lead to heart disease, does eating less salt improve the health of one's heart?
It seems obvious that it would, but in a new study, researchers offer what they say is some of the first good evidence that it really does.
The study, which appears online in The British Medical Journal, looked at two groups of people more than a decade after they were asked to reduce their salt intake for up to 48 months. There were more than 3,000 participants, 30 to 54, all of whom had a condition that put them at special risk for high BP.