The Blue Mountain Hearing Study included 2,956 people aged 50 or older. It was conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney. The data shows that if blood folic acid levels were below 11 nanomoles per liter there was a 34% increased risk of age related hearing loss.

Several studies were recently presented at the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism held in Rome. They reveal that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with different rheumatic diseases. In an Italian study among 1,191 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were deficient at less than 20 nanograms per liter in over half of those not using vitamin D supplements and in 33 percent of patients who supplemented with at least 800 international units (IU) per day.

Researchers at the University of Montréal examined the effects of Fish Oil capsules on major depression in this larger clinical trial. They demonstrated that a Fish Oil supplement containing a high amount of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was associated with a reduction in major depression among patients who did not also have anxiety disorders. Dr François Lespérance and his colleagues from the Université de Montréal reported the findings of a double-blinded, randomized trial conducted from October, 2005 through January, 2009 in 8 Canadian clinics.

INTERSTROKE investigators led by Dr. Martin J. O’Donnell of McMaster University and colleagues estimate that 10 risk factors are collectively responsible for 90 percent of all strokes.

Deficiencies in B vitamins may increase the probability of DNA damage and subsequent gene mutations, and influence gene expression. The new study included 385,747 men and women enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC Study). The participants were recruited into the study from 1992 to 2000.