A frightening link between dementia and some drugs

A new study out of the University of Nottingham found a link between some anticholinergic drugs and dementia — we’re talking about a 50 percent increase in the odds of developing dementia.

There were statistically significant associations of dementia risk with exposure to anticholinergic antidepressants, antiparkinson drugs, antipsychotic drugs, bladder antimuscarinics, and antiepileptic drugs

For a list of the drugs, click here (PDF).

Speaking of drugs causing problems….

A study from Ohio State University that looked at health records found that people who took statins had double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

On the other hand, caffeine remains a miracle drug

It seems that caffeine can stimulate brown adipose tissue — aka, BAT or ‘brown fat’ — increasing its rate of thermogenesis. In other words, the brown fat speeds up metabolizing the stuff you don’t want building up, notably “white fat” and other lipids.

“These results demonstrate that caffeine can promote BAT function … and may have the potential to be used therapeutically in adult humans.”

Are you doing MTM? Allison wants to know

Allison Smith at the Georgia Department of Public Health needs our help. She’s looking for pharmacists to complete a short survey on MTM services. DPH wants to see how many pharmacists are offering it, and what has helped or hindered your plans to provide it to patients

The better DPH knows what’s out there, the more it will be able to help, so please, click here to take the short survey by July 8. Thank you!

AbbVie buys Allergan

Humira can’t support the company forever, so it’s doing the next best thing to developing a new med: buying a company (in this case for $63 billion).

They just have better germs

Turns out that elite athletes have something surprising in common: gut bacteria from the genus Veillonella. How does that particular bacteria help?

Veillonella metabolizes lactic acid produced by exercise and converts it into propionate, a short chain fatty acid. The human body then utilizes that propionate to improve exercise capacity.

So all you need to do is convince your favorite athlete to donate some gut bacteria. We’ll leave that up to you.

The long read: Turnaround

“Drug Companies Are Focusing on the Poor After Decades of Ignoring Them”

Once demonized as immoral profiteers, many of the world’s biggest 20 pharmaceutical companies now boast about how they help poor countries and fight neglected diseases. They compete on the Access to Medicine Index, which scores their charitable efforts.