Attention seniors

Debt and retirement equals a serious problem
Debt is more acceptable these days, but it is becoming a drag on retirement, especially when the unexpected happens.

According to new research by Employee Benefit Research, more households headed by someone 75 or older are in debt. The number for whom debt is excessive — more than 40 percent of income — has increased 25 percent in the last 10 years. In fact, 50 percent of 75-plus households have debt in housing or credit cards, up from 31 percent in 2007.

Newly retired people or those nearing retirement are more likely to have debt than retirees in the 1990s, even though debt payments as a percentage of income have declined.

According to Forbes, it is important to get debt paid off when approaching retirement. Unexpected problems can cause serious financial woes for new retirees. Health problems after retirement or a job loss before retirement can send people burdened with debt into bankruptcy.

Genetic therapy predicts drug effectiveness for arthritis
Ineffective therapies for rheumatoid arthritis cost patients more than $2 billion a year, according to a paper in Arthritis and Rheumatology.

That could be changing as scientists use genetic profiling of joint tissue to see which drugs will work for patients, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Instead of a trial and error approach to treating RA, scientists hope to develop genetic profiles to show them which medicines will be most effective.

Fruits stall decline in lung function, study finds
A diet rich in fresh fruits may slow down the lung’s natural aging process, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Researchers found that adults who ate more than two tomatoes or more than three portions of fresh fruit a day had a slower decline in natural lung function than others.

Among former smokers, the results were striking, showing that over a 10-year period diets appear to help repair smoking damage.
Eating processed fruits, such as tomato sauce, did not show results.