(1) Moderate hypertension linked to brain damage.
Physcians think about the burden of hypertension
on the heart and the kidney, not on the brain.

Dr. White et al enrolled 72 people aged 75-89 who
underwent blood pressure, cognitive, mobility and
MRI brain assessments at entry and 24 months later.
The amount of white matter hyperintensity was
the marker of brain damage.

The top and buttom tertiles had average systolic
pressures of 144 and 117 mmHg.
The top tertile showed a significantly larger increase
in brain damage over the 2 years of follow up,
a siginificantly longer 8-foot walk time, a significantly
slwoer walking speed and nonsignificant trend toward
poorer results on cognition tests.

ㅡ from the annual meeting of American College of
Cardiology, 2011

(2) Exercise Can Reduce Colon Polyps by One-Third.
In a prospective study of multiple ethnic groups,
people with at least one hour of moderate physical
activity per week had a one-third lower risk of colon
polyps, reports Dr. Nelson Sanchez at Sloan-Kettering
Cancer  Center, New York.
Of the 982 middle-aged adults who enrolled in the study,
558(57%) were Hispanic, 202(21%) were Asian,
149(15%) were black, 69(7%) were white.

The polyps were identified during screening colonoscopy.
About half of the participants(513 or 52%)reported
that they exercise for at least 1 hour per week, and
the median duration of this activity levels was 5 years.
The overall prevalence of colon polyps was 29.5%.
The prevalence was significantly higher among patients
who reported not exercising for 1 hour or more:
33.2% vs 25.3%, respectively.

ㅡ from The Annual Digestive Disease Week Meeting
of 2011, and Internal Medicine News magazine, May 15,
2011