U.S. obesity rates level off: government study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After 25 years of successive increases, obesity rates in the United States are holding steady, government health officials said on Wednesday.

But Americans are still plenty fat, with more than a third of U.S. adults found to be obese in 2005-2006, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That amounts to about 72 million people in the United States, about the same as a 2003-2004 report.

"What we can be optimistic about is we haven't seen a giant increase in the last couple of years," said Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist for the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. "But we aren't seeing any decrease, that's for sure."
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You Call That Health Food?

Take a moment and consider this logic: 1. Fat-free foods are healthy. 2. Skittles are fat-free. 3. Therefore, Skittles are healthy. Make sense? Of course not. But it's exactly the type of reasoning that food manufacturers want you to use.

You see, in our example, we started with a false premise. That's because the term "fat-free" is often code for "high-sugar" -- an attribute that makes a product the opposite of healthy. Case in point: Johns Hopkins University researchers recently determined that high blood sugar is an independent risk factor for heart disease. So high-glycemic foods -- those such as sugars and starches that raise your blood sugar dramatically -- are inherently unhealthy. (See Skittles, above.)

Unfortunately, faulty food logic is far less obvious when you're shopping outside the candy aisle. Why? Because making healthy choices isn't as simple as knowing that beans are packed with fiber, or that fruits are loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants. After all, manufacturers often add ingredients, such as sugar, that can instantly turn a good snack bad. As a result, many of the products that you think are wholesome are anything but. And that's why we've created our list of the dirty dozen: 12 "healthy" foods that you can -- and should -- live without.

Yogurt with Fruit at the Bottom
The upside: Yogurt and fruit are two of the healthiest foods known to man.

The downside: Corn syrup is not. But that's exactly what's used to make these products supersweet. For example, a cup of Colombo blueberry yogurt contains 36 grams (g) of sugar, only about half of which is found naturally in the yogurt and fruit. The rest comes in the form of "added" sugar -- or what we prefer to call "unnecessary."
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The Sandwich Generation: Cancer Diagnoses for Young Adults Overlooked

For Young Adults, Cancer Can Often Go Undiagnosed and Untreated
Katherine Miller (right) inspired 'Nightline's' story on the Sandwich Generation, young adults who remained undiagnosed and untreated for cancer. At the age of 26, Miller died of colorectal cancer after being diagnosed only six months prior. Frank O'Day (left) is currently battling Stage Four Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 29.

He has not expressed an ounce of self-pity or a hint of anger, though for Frank O'Day it is easy to be angry. He is 29 years old and he has cancer. But according to O'Day, when it comes to cancer, anger is just a wasted emotion.

O'Day has been battling stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma with optimism, humor and dignity. He fights the way anyone would want to fight after a doctor delivers such tragic news. And even at 29, O'Day knows that hope is his only weapon.

Katherine Miller was also filled with hope when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 25, just as she was beginning medical school at Des Moines University.

She too believed in her ability to conquer the disease. Miller, however, did not win that fight. With barely a hint of illness before her diagnosis, six months later she died at the age of 26.
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U.S. Medical Schools, Drug Makers Share Strong Ties

TUESDAY, Oct. 16 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of department chairs at U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals have financial ties with the drug industry, a new study finds.

These institutional relationships seemed to be just as widespread as those of individual physicians or scientists with industry.

"There is not a single aspect of medicine in which the drug companies do not have substantial and deep relationships, affecting not only doctors-in-training, resident physicians, researchers, physicians-in-practice, the people who review drugs for the federal government and the people who review studies," said lead researcher Eric Campbell, associate professor at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

"Drug companies have relationships with everyone," he continued. "They're involved in every aspect of medicine. Someone has to decide which of these is OK."

The study, the first to examine the extent of these institutional relationships, is published in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Although Campbell himself reported no financial conflicts, one co-author did report having served as a consultant for drug makers Genentech and GlaxoSmithKline. ...more

Eat More Veggies!

Eat More Veggies!!

Beet-and-Apple Soup
Simmer 6 peeled and cut-up medium beets, 1 onion, cut up, and 1 garlic clove in 4 cups unsweetened apple juice 25 minutes; puree in a blender. Add 3 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Swirl each serving with 1 Tablespoon sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Shredded Beets with Orange Zest
Peel and shred 6 medium beets in a food processor. Sauté in 1 Tablespoon butter with 1 grated garlic clove and 1 teaspoon grated orange zest, partially covered, 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped fresh chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Lemon-Basil Beet Salad (pictured)
Peel and slice 6 medium cooked beets; fan on a serving platter. Top with 3 Tablespoon olive oil and 2 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Add 2 large fresh basil leaves, julienned, plus more for garnish, and 2 slices red onion, separated into rings. Add curls of Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. ...more

Air Fresheners: Something Rotten in the Air?

In recent years, sales of air fresheners—especially plug-in air fresheners—have soared. But while sales are up, so are complaints from people who are exposed to the scents at home, at work, in public places, and in the homes of family and friends.

Not-So-Pleasant Scents

Curiosity about anecdotal reports of negative responses to synthetic scents prompted University of Washington professor Anne Steinemann to conduct two epidemiological studies about air fresheners. Each time, she asked more than 1,000 people if they suffered from any adverse health effects, such as respiratory problems and headaches, after breathing in air fresheners.

The results were striking: In the first study, more than 17 percent of the general population and 29 percent of asthmatics said they experienced health problems following exposure to an air freshener. In the second study, reports of problems were 20 percent and 37 percent respectively. ...more

8 Foods You Should Eat Every Day

It sometimes seems as if the internal politics of Baghdad are easier to sort through than the latest thinking on nutrition. So here's the simple answer: Just eat these eight foods--along with a little protein such as salmon, turkey, or lean steak--every day. And relax. Let our all-star panel of doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and chefs tell you why and show you how.
By Ben Hewitt, Best Life

1. Spinach

Sexual enhancement, Muscle growth, Heart healthy, Bone builder, Enhances eyesight

It may be green and leafy, but spinach is also the ultimate man food. This noted biceps builder is a rich source of plant-based omega-3s and folate, which help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis. Bonus: Folate also increases blood flow to the penis. And spinach is packed with lutein, a compound that fights age-related macular degeneration. Aim for 1 cup fresh spinach or 1/2 cup cooked per day.

SUBSTITUTES: Kale, bok choy, romaine lettuce

FIT IT IN: Make your salads with spinach; add spinach to scrambled eggs; drape it over pizza; mix it with marinara sauce and then microwave for an instant dip.

PINCH HITTER: Sesame Stir-Braised Kale Heat 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger, and 1 tsp. sesame oil in a skillet. Add 2 Tbsp. water and 1 bunch kale (stemmed and chopped). Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Drain. Add 1 tsp. soy sauce and 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds. ...more

Red Meat, Dairy Nutrient May Raise Colon Cancer Risk

TUESDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that a nutrient in red meat, poultry and dairy products may contribute to the development of intestinal polyps, which can lead to colon cancer.

The study, which involved women only, was preliminary, and no one is yet suggesting a change in diet as a result.

However, the research into the nutrient, called choline, could ultimately lead to new dietary recommendations, said Eunyoung Cho, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"There may be some impact," Cho said. "But this is one study, and it's hard to make any conclusion based on this study."

The role played by choline, a nutrient required by the body, has been unclear. Some researchers had thought it might provide protection against colon cancer, which kills an estimated 52,000 people in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society. The disease is the second biggest cancer killer in the United States after lung cancer. ...more

Fitness plays a key role in battling cancer

So. You get the worst news of your life: cancer.

You dutifully sign on for chemo, surgery, radiation. You also vow to eat better. More fruits and veggies, less saturated fat -- all that good stuff should tip the odds in your favor, right?

There's actually surprisingly little evidence that such dietary changes prolong survival -- except perhaps for colon cancer.

What is crystal clear, though, is the importance of exercise and weight control. Gone is the folklore that people with cancer should avoid getting too thin. The real threat, say cancer nutritionists, is becoming or remaining overweight. At a basic metabolic level, excess weight and lack of exercise may not only add diabetes and heart disease to your cancer troubles, but can impair immune function and even boost levels of hormones, including insulin and estrogen, that may drive some tumors. ...more

Experts issue new physical exercise guidelines

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Adults should engage in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes five days a week or vigorous exercise at least 20 minutes three days each week, experts recommended on Wednesday.

Two leading health groups issued new guidelines on physical activity, updating influential recommendations issued in 1995 while also crafting advice tailored specifically for those 65 and older.

The guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend weight lifting and vigorous aerobic exercise while also being more specific on how many days a week people should work out.

The advice comes amid rising health problems stemming from sedentary lifestyles and obesity among Americans, as well as people in many other nations.

"I think physical inactivity is the biggest public health problem we face. I think it actually accounts for more morbidity and mortality than anything except maybe cigarette smoking," said Steven Blair of the University of South Carolina, one of the experts who crafted the recommendations.
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UPDATE 1-Common vitamins no help for women's hearts - study

CHICAGO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Middle-aged women at risk for heart disease received little benefit from taking vitamins C, E or beta carotene, researchers said on Monday.

Though vitamin supplements provided no heart benefit, eating a diet rich in those vitamins does make for healthier heart, their study noted.

Experts believe a nutritious diet rich in these vitamins protect the body's cardiovascular system by counteracting compounds known as "free radicals." These harmful compounds build up in the body and can damage artery linings, encourage blood clots and alter the function of blood vessels.


"Single antioxidants (vitamins) may not reflect the complex vitamins and nutrients found in foods, which may explain the discrepancies between most intervention trials and studies of fruits and vegetables," wrote study author Nancy Cook of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. ...more

Pot Bellies Point to Heart Risk

MONDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Banish the belly, not just the pounds: That's the heart-healthy advice from a new study that finds that "pot" bellies may be a big indicator of future heart disease.
"What we're seeing is a quite strong association between the pot-belly, apple shape among a relatively young group of people and the build-up of plaque in the arteries," said study co-author Dr. James A. de Lemos, an associate professor of medicine and director of the Coronary Care Unit at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"Ten to 15 years down the road, this can lead to major cardiac problems, such as a heart attack," he said.

The findings are published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), more than 870,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, making it the leading killer of both men and women. ...more

Red meat diet linked to colon cancer recurrence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Colon cancer survivors with diets heavy in red meat and fatty foods are more than three times as likely to suffer a recurrence of their disease or die from it than those who avoid such foods, a study found.

Previous studies had shown that a high-fat diet, especially one with lots of red meat, may increase a person's risk of developing colon cancer, a leading cancer killer.

This study, published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was the first to show how diet affects whether colon cancer returns in people previously treated for it, the researchers said.

The study tracked 1,009 people treated with both surgery and chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer -- cancer that had spread from the large bowel area to the lymph nodes but not other organs. They were followed on average for five years. ...more

Health Tip: Warning Signs of Dehydration

(HealthDay News) -- Dehydration occurs when the body doesn't have enough fluids, either because it's lost too many fluids, a person hasn't drunk enough fluids, or both.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists these common warning signs of significant dehydration:

Not being able to urinate, or urinating very little.
Urine that is very concentrated and dark yellow in color.
Not being able to produce tears.
Sunken eyes.
In infants, the soft spot on the head is significantly sunken.
Lethargy, dizziness or lightheadedness.

Dehydration should not be ignored, and you should see a doctor immediately if you or your child has any of these symptoms....more

8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

We would wager money that many of you are “doing the dew” or “doing what tastes right” this very moment. Before you take another gulp from your soft drink can, here are 8 facts about soda to consider that may drastically affect the quality of your health.

pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
For one, soda, no matter who makes it, is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or vinegar on metal, it will rust it quickly. Check out this table of acid levels of your favorite sodas.

Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine concluded, “It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet states, “Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.”
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8 Ways Soda Fizzles Your Health

We would wager money that many of you are “doing the dew” or “doing what tastes right” this very moment. Before you take another gulp from your soft drink can, here are 8 facts about soda to consider that may drastically affect the quality of your health.

pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
For one, soda, no matter who makes it, is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or vinegar on metal, it will rust it quickly. Check out this table of acid levels of your favorite sodas.

Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine concluded, “It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet states, “Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.”
...more

9 Reasons why An Apple a Day Really Keeps the Doctor away

An apple a day keeps the doctor away”…but why? Do you really know what makes an apple so special? Why is it that we never hear an orange or a banana a day keeps the doctor away?
Apples have properties that no other fruits have and its benefits have been proven overtime. You will be able to get the benefits of these properties individually with other fruits, but an apple combines everything and makes it simpler. It has been shown over and over that if it’s not simple, easy and fast, people won’t take care of their health.

1-Apple contains Vitamin C. Vitamin C helps greatly your immune system. A lot of people who lack Vitamin C in their diet have poor healing, bruise easily and have bleeding gums.

2-Prevent Heart Diseases. The reason it can prevent both coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease is because apples are rich in flavonoid. Flavonoids are also known for their antioxidant effects.

3-Low in calories. A regular size apple has between 70-100 calories. Eating an apple when craving for candy or chocolate can make the desire disappear since apple in itself contains sugar, but gives you only ¼ of the calories.
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Meatless Meals Benefit Your Health

"What do you eat?!” may be the question most often heard by vegetarians, as if meat is the only food group available. Obviously, as the five million thriving vegetarians in America have shown, there’s a lot to eat, without choosing meat—and they’re healthier as a result.

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, vegetarians have lower rates of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. While simple recipes abound for tasty meatless fare, vegetarianism is a leap that many aren’t prepared to take. But you can still have many of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet without trading your turkey for Tofurkey by trying "flexitarianism" on for size. Flexitarians, or semi-vegetarians, are “sometimes" vegetarians, meaning people who reduce some of their meat consumption and fill the gap with other plant-based food groups—eating a mostly vegetarian diet, yet remaining flexible.
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How Long Foods Stay Fresh In Fridge

(CBS) It's easy to put something in the refrigerator and forget about it.
But foods don't stay fresh in the fridge forever, and the day will come when you take something out and wonder if it's still good to eat or has gone bad.

On The Early Show Monday, ShopSmart magazine Editor in Chief Lisa Lee Freeman had the lowdown on how long foods last in the fridge.
ShopSmart consulted a panel of experts to determine which foods could be spoiling by just sitting in the fridge.

Freeman says it's not always the best idea to rely on labels. Some foods don't have them, and the ones on others can be confusing.
Also, most people don't realize that once they open certain popular items found in containers or cans, a new freshness clock starts ticking.

So, it's important to know which foods have a shorter lifespan once placed in the fridge.
If items that have been sitting in the fridge too long are eaten, they can lead to food poisoning and, in some cases, serious health problems. ...more

Workers are told to shape up or pay up

Looking for new ways to trim the fat and boost workers' health, some employers are starting to make overweight employees pay if they don't slim down.

Others, citing growing medical costs tied to obesity, are offering fit workers lucrative incentives that shave thousands of dollars a year off healthcare premiums.

In one of the boldest moves yet, an Indiana-based hospital chain last month said it decided on the stick rather than the carrot. Starting in 2009, Clarian Health Partners will charge employees as much as $30 every two weeks unless they meet weight, cholesterol and blood-pressure guidelines that the company deems healthy.

"At first, I was mad when I thought I would be charged $30 for being overweight," said Courtney Jackson, 28, a customer service representative at Clarian. "But when I found out it was going to be broken into segments — like just $10 for being overweight — it sounded better."

Jackson said she was going to try to slim down before the plan took effect. "If I still have weight to lose when it starts," she said, "I'll deserve to pay the $10."

Employers are getting serious about penalizing workers "because they've run out of other options" said Joe Marlowe, senior vice president at Aon Consulting, a national benefits consulting firm....more

Family, Friends May 'Spread' Obesity

WEDNESDAY, July 25 (HealthDay News) -- Friends don't let friends get obese.
This may be literally true, according to Harvard researchers who suggested in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that obesity, or the trend to thinness, is socially contagious, "spreading" through social ties.

"This reinforces the idea that because people are interconnected, their health is interconnected," said study author Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a professor at Harvard University. "It takes seriously the embedded-ness of people within social networks and gives new meaning to the concept of public health."

While this may cause people to look differently at their friends and acquaintances (both overweight and thin), the real value of the research is in pointing to new ways to combat the growing epidemic of overweight and obesity, experts said.

"Trying to address the problem on an individual level has been so hard, and it may be because we're not addressing the network, which could be family, neighborhood, community, school," said Dr. Julio Licinio, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "This is a fascinating way to look at the problem, and it may be a very good reason why treatments have been so difficult, because we're only addressing one member of the network."
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Health coaches nag employees to better care

NEW YORK - For Myrtha Suralie, keeping things rolling at UPS' New York sales office is no sweat, but keeping her diabetes in check during her pregnancy was another story.

She was confined to a hospital bed her entire third trimester, with a blood sugar level of 400, almost four times as high as that of a healthy person, potentially life-threatening to her and her baby.

That was when she received a life-changing call from a health coach hired by her company.
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Vitamin C useless for preventing or treating colds

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For the average person, popping vitamin C pills is unlikely to ward off the common cold or shorten its length or severity. However, for people exposed to short bouts of extreme physical exercise or cold temperatures, vitamin C may markedly reduce their risk of catching a cold.

The findings stem from a review of 30 published studies involving 11,350 people who took at least 200 milligrams of vitamin C each day.

Based on pooled data, regular ingestion of vitamin C did nothing to lower the risk of the common cold in the ordinary population, report reviewers in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.

There was a slight reduction in the duration and severity of common cold symptoms with vitamin C, compared with placebo, but the magnitude of the effect was so small its clinical usefulness is doubtful, the experts report.


Therefore, it is senseless for most people to take vitamin C every day to reduce their risk of catching a cold, according to co-author Harri Hemila of the University of Helsinki, Finland and her colleagues.
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Study predicts 75 percent overweight in U.S. by 2015

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese, U.S. researchers predicted on Wednesday.

A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.

"Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement.

They defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMIs of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.
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High Triglyceride Levels Linked to Cardiac Risk

TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- In findings that could change the way cholesterol tests are done, two studies show that high blood levels of the fats called triglycerides are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack.
But that holds true only if the triglycerides are measured in the hours immediately after a meal.

The studies, one done in Denmark, the other in the United States, found such a relationship in what are called "nonfasting tests." One study found no relationship when blood fat levels were measured in the usual way -- after a 12- to 14-hour fast.

The nonfasting test results were striking, said Dr. Borge G. Nordestgaard, professor of medicine at Herlev University Hospital in Denmark and lead author of one of the two reports in the July 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The main and most important finding is that people with very high triglyceride levels had a major increase in myocardial infarct [heart attack]," Nordestgaard said. "So far, this has mainly been ignored by clinicians. They have focused on cholesterol." ...more

Avoid Alzheimer's with good cholesterol

Boosting your levels of good cholesterol might help protect you from Alzheimer's disease, according to a landmark study of older Australians.

Dementia researchers in Perth have found that people with higher levels of the so-called good cholesterol, HDL, tend to have lower levels of a small protein strongly linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The finding, presented at an international neuroscience conference in Melbourne, suggests that raising HDL levels - most effective through exercise, and consuming red wine and dark chocolate - may help protect against dementia.

It is not understood what causes Alzheimer's but research suggests that genetics, environment and lifestyle factors come together to trigger oxidative stress and build up of a protein called beta amyloid, and, ultimately, death of brain cells.
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Trimming the waist may trim diabetes, heart risks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who manage to reduce their waistlines may also lower their risk for diabetes and heart disease, a study suggests.

French researchers found that men and women whose waistlines expanded by 3 inches or more over nine years were at increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome -- a collection of risk factors, including high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels, that raise a person's odds of diabetes and heart disease.

In contrast, women who shed just an inch or more from their midsections had a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome than women whose waistlines stayed the same.

What's more, a slimmed-down middle benefited women who already had metabolic syndrome at the study's outset, the researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care. Compared with women who had metabolic syndrome and an unchanged waistline, those who lost an inch or more were nearly four times more likely to no longer have the syndrome at the study's close.
Weight loss also benefited men, but the specific effects of a trimmer waist were no longer evident when the researchers factored in changes in body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height.
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Diabetes Drug Side Effect Reports Triple

In the month after a surprising analysis revealed possible heart risks from the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, reports of side effects to federal regulators tripled.
The sudden spike is a sign that doctors probably were unaware of the drug's possible role in their patients' heart problems and therefore may not have reported many such cases in the past, several experts said.
Moncef Slaoui,, chairman of Research and Development at GalaxoSmithKline testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Wednesday, June 6, 2007 file photo, before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing on the diabetes drug Avandia. In the month after a surprising analysis revealed possible heart risks from the blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, reports of side effects to federal regulators tripled. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

It also shows the flaws of the safety tracking system and suggests that a better one might have detected a potential problem before the drug had been on the market for eight years.

Avandia is used to control blood sugar, helping more than 6 million people worldwide manage Type 2 diabetes, the kind that is linked to obesity. These people already are at higher risk for heart attacks, so news that the drug might raise this risk by 43 percent was especially disturbing.

In the 35 days after May 21, when the New England Journal of Medicine published the analysis on the Internet, reports of heart attacks, deaths and hospitalizations leaped. The sharp rise in reports of heart problems appears in data obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request to the federal Food and Drug Administration. ...more

Inappropriate Prescribing for Older Patients a Growing Problem

THURSDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- Too many older people are being prescribed too many medicines or the wrong drugs, and more research needs to be done to find out how to fix the problem, say two papers published in this week's issue of The Lancet medical journal.

The complexities of the prescribing process, along with other patient, provider and health system factors, are among the reasons why the use of drugs in elderly patients is often inappropriate, wrote a team led by Dr. Anne Spinewine of the Universite Catholique de Louvain, in Brussels, Belgium.

This inappropriate drug use among older patients includes being prescribed drugs they don't need, being under-prescribed medications they do need or being given inappropriate drugs.

Methods of ensuring appropriate prescribing of drugs to elderly patients include care by a multidisciplinary team of health providers; involvement of pharmacists in patient care; and including patients in the prescribing process, the Belgian authors said.

In a second paper, the team noted that older patients are at high-risk for having drug interactions, but the prevalence of these interactions is not yet well documented
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Supplement linked to diabetes in study

WASHINGTON - People who take selenium supplements in the hope of preventing diabetes may actually worsen their odds, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
An unusually well-controlled trial showed that people who took selenium pills raised their risk of diabetes by more than half, compared to similar people taking placebos.
The trial is one of a few surprising studies that have found vitamin and mineral supplements can sometimes do more harm than good.
“I would not advise patients to take selenium supplements greater than those in multiple vitamins,” said Dr. Saverio Stranges of Warwick Medical School in Britain, who led the study.
Stranges, formerly of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and colleagues were studying another idea — whether selenium supplements could prevent skin cancer.
But there was research suggesting the mineral might help prevent diabetes.
The Stranges team looked at 1,202 people taking selenium for the skin cancer trial who did not have diabetes at the beginning of the study.
50 percent greater risk
Half took a 200 microgram selenium supplement and half received a placebo pill for an average of 7.7 years.
Reporting in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers said 58 of 600 people taking selenium and 39 of 602 taking placebos developed type-2 diabetes over the 7.7 years. ...more

Child's weight course is a family affair

DALLAS — Life for the Washington family has changed. Instead of fast food for dinner, they have grilled chicken and vegetables. Sugary drinks have been replaced with diet soda. Frisbee games in their yard have encroached on television time.
It's been more than two months since the Washingtons — Bill, Sue and their 9-year-old daughter Alana — completed a family program for children struggling with their weight and now they're trying to stick to their nutrition and fitness goals.

"It's been gradual," said Bill Washington on a summer afternoon as Alana snacked on grapes, low-fat crackers and low-fat cheese. "I've noticed her willingness to participate and be active in healthy decisions."

Alana misses doughnuts, but concedes that she enjoys much of the healthier fare her family has been eating. She prefers baked Cheetos to the regular ones, loves diet Mountain Dew and has even developed a love for snow peas.
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Expanded Voluntary Product Recall Information - 7/21/07

Castleberry’s Food Company is expanding our voluntary recall to additional products. If you had previously determined your Castleberry’s products were not included in the recall announced on July 18, you should check them again using the updated information below.

Castleberry’s is working closely with health officials to investigate possible contamination of these products. During this investigation, we are taking every step necessary to ensure the safety of the families that use our products every day.

The expanded recall includes the products listed below with ALL “best by” and code dates. (The recall originally announced on July 18 affected only 10 products with “best by” dates from APR30 2009 through MAY22 2009)

The Great Value Chili products included in this recall are distributed and sold in Canada ONLY. The Great Value brand in the United States is not associated with Castleberry’s or this recall. We greatly apologize for any confusion.
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Watch Your Filthy Mouth

Is there a more brain-dead time than the 2 minutes you spend brushing your teeth? You stand in front of the mirror, bristle to enamel, foam spewing, with nary a thought in your head. Thing is, you're missing the most important opportunity of the day for self-diagnosis.

For starters, gum disease, as evidenced by pink bristles, multiplies your risk of developing heart disease by seven.

"Unhealthy gums result from an active bacterial infection, so there's probably something else going on in your body that's not good," says Domenick Zero, D.D.S., director of the oral-health research institute at Indiana University. And research has linked diseases of the mouth to problems in the pancreas, stomach, sinuses, and more. Luckily, your mouth is easier to explore than your organs, and symptoms appear early enough for you to stop the damage.
...more

Md. workers compete to lose weight

BALTIMORE - Stacey Barich changed her mind about having a tummy tuck when her mother contracted a serious infection after a hospital stay. That's when she knew she had to find another way to drop her weight.

"I couldn't even do a sit-up when I got here, but this was a no-brainer for me," Barich said.

The no-brainer was a 12-week weight-loss contest offered by her employer, Agora Inc., a newsletter publishing company based in Baltimore. The reward: A $1,000 prize for the top "losers" in male, female and team categories.

Barich, a corporate communications manager, has lost 15 pounds — she'd rather not say how much she weighs — by working hard in the small, well-kept gym in Agora's basement. ...more

Most diets work about the same, study finds

WASHINGTON - Looking for that perfect diet? Researchers have bad news — all diets have just about the same result, and none of them are great, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

A typical diet helps people lose an average of 6 percent of their weight, typically 10 to 15 pounds, and most people put it all back on after five years.

Weight loss drugs are similarly ineffective in the long run, said Dr. Michael Dansinger of the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston. ...more

It's Never Too Late to Get Healthy

THURSDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- Adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle makes a difference, even if the change doesn't come until middle age.
In fact, people who eat right and exercise more can substantially reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease and death even if they're in their 50s or 60s, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina report.

Consuming at least five fruits and vegetables daily, exercising at least 2.5 hours per week, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking can lessen your chances of heart trouble by 35 percent, and your risk of dying by 40 percent, compared to people with less healthy lifestyles, according to the report in the July issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

"We call this the turning-back-the-clock study," said lead researcher Dr. Dana E. King. "We want to emphasize that it's not too late change, and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle don't accrue only to people who have been doing this all along, but you can make changes in your 50s and 60s and have a healthier longer life because of it." ...more

Superfoods

Skip the aspirin and instead have a giant helping of spicy curry? Forget your blood pressure meds and sip another cup of green tea? Give up cholesterol-lowering statins and try a handful of almonds or walnuts?
Could good health and reduced risk of disease really be as easy as eating some super nutritious foods?

Although few nutritionists would ever guarantee that super foods will make you super healthy, most agree that edible superstars will give your body many of the nutrients it requires to operate at peak performance.

“More and more, what we see is that what we eat and do not eat is becoming the central front in (determining) whether we (are in) a state of optimum health,” says Dr. David Leopold, family practitioner and integrative medicine specialist at the Scripps Center of Integrative Medicine. “When we look at why people do well throughout life, it continually comes down to two things: Regular exercise and eating a nutritious diet.” ...more

Study: Diabetes keeps rising among youth

By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
White children account for most of the new cases of diabetes in children, says a new study, but the disease is found in all ethnic groups, and rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are on the rise.
In Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, Dana Dabelea of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center reports on the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, the first study designed to estimate the national incidence of diabetes by race, ethnicity and diabetes type in people under the age of 20.

The study found that estimated rates of type 1 diabetes, which usually strikes in youth, are up 40%-60% for white children and 20%-40% for black and Hispanic children over previous estimates, though she cautions that earlier studies used different methodologies, so direct comparisons can't be made.

What triggers type 1, a form of the disease in which the body's immune system destroys its insulin-producing cells, is not known, so the reasons for an increase are not clear, Dabelea says. Theories include a greater genetic susceptibility to autoimmune disease, exposure to something in the environment that has changed over time, or even too much cleanliness, resulting in fewer early-life infections that could train the immune system. ...more

Middle-aged U.S. women seen with higher stroke risk

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. women ages 45 to 54 face more than double the risk of stroke than men the same age, researchers said on Wednesday, noting that obesity in these women may be partly to blame.

The researchers tracked 17,000 people from 1999 to 2004, including 1,117 men and 1,155 women in this age group. They found that the women 45 to 54 were 2.39 times more likely to have had a stroke than men.

"We need to increase awareness among both health care professionals and the general public regarding the increasing prevalence of stroke in this age group in women," Dr. Amytis Towfighi of the University of California at Los Angeles, the lead author of the research, said in a telephone interview.

"Aggressive control of modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol will help to mitigate the burden of stroke," Towfighi added.

No such difference between the sexes was seen in the two other age groups the researchers studied -- 35 to 44 and 55 to 64. ...more

Men's diabetes deaths decline

WASHINGTON -- The death rate for men with diabetes has fallen sharply in the United States since the early 1970s even as more people develop the disease, but women are not making the same progress, researchers said yesterday.

The researchers speculated that women might not be getting the same care for heart disease as men. Diabetes is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.

Researchers tracked about 27,000 people ages 35 to 74 in three national databases during three time periods from 1971 to 2000.

Death rates from all causes for men with diabetes dropped from 42.6 per 1,000 people annually from 1971 to 1986, to 24.4 per 1,000 in the period from 1988 to 2000, the study found. Their deaths from cardiovascular disease, the biggest killer of diabetics, fell dramatically.

"Among men, we see very encouraging trends in death rates among the diabetic population," Edward Gregg, an epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead author of the study, said in a telephone interview. ...more

Study finds staggering cost of treating diabetics

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One out of every eight U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes, a study found, and advocates are calling for the creation of a government post to oversee coordination of spending on treatment and prevention among federal agencies.

The study, based on federal spending data from 2005, looked at various government health programs to determine how much was spent on diabetics versus non diabetics. It found it cost the U.S. government $79.7 billion more to treat people with the disease, or some 12 percent of the $645 billion in total federal health care spending projected that year.

The National Changing Diabetes Program (NCDP) study was being released at a briefing with the Congressional Diabetes Caucus on Tuesday. The study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for NCDP -- a coalition of diabetes thought leaders, including physician organizations and disease advocacy groups -- included all federally-funded programs that have an impact on diabetes prevention and treatment. ...more

Aerobic exercise reverses signs of heart failure

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with heart failure, aerobic training can help the organ pump better, investigators report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In contrast, Dr. Mark J. Haykowsky and colleagues observed that strength training, either alone or in combination with aerobic training, appeared to be of no benefit. These opposing findings may underlie the inconsistent results of studies of exercise training in patients with heart failure.

Haykowsky, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and colleagues searched for relevant studies and identified 14 trials that assessed heart performance in 812 stable patients with heart failure. Nine trials evaluated aerobic training, four evaluated combined aerobic and strength training, and one involved strength training alone. ...more

Disability claims related to obesity could rise

In Ohio, 400-pound Stephen Grindle claimed he was fired as a driver for Watkins Motor Lines because of his weight. In Michigan, General Motors worker Timothy Hopkins, 670 pounds, had gastric-bypass surgery and shed 300 pounds but couldn't get his job back. In New York, teacher Michael Frank, 325 pounds, said he failed to get tenure after a boss described him as "so big and sloppy."
Their claims are part of an emerging area of federal disabilities law that is drawing more attention, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and lawyers who represent labor and employers.

The individuals claimed that their obesity was covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the 1990 law that forbids bias based on a worker's disability.
...more

8 Foods That May Lower Your Cholesterol

8 Foods That May Lower Your Cholesterol
Following an overall healthy diet that’s low in saturated fat and abundant in fruits and vegetables is wiser than obsessing over specific "super" foods.

Still, some foods have been shown to give cholesterol levels an extra nudge in the right direction:

Oats

When women in a University of Toronto study added oat bran to an already heart-healthy diet, HDL-cholesterol levels—the beneficial kind—climbed more than 11 percent.
...more

Big-money battle on child obesity shows little success

The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education -- fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well.

But a review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat -- or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.

The results have been disappointing, to say the least:

• Last year, a federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren showed fifth-graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently, they didn't like the taste.
...more

Organic food 'better' for heart

Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests.
A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant.

Flavonoids have been shown to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key.

Dr Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist at the University of California, and colleagues measured the amount of two flavonoids - quercetin and kaempferol - in dried tomato samples that had been collected as part of a long-term study on agricultural methods.
...more

Good Parents Are Good Sports, Too

SUNDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Sports can be essential to a child's development, and many parents rightfully encourage their kids to participate in baseball, basketball, soccer and other youth league activities.

But it can be hard to walk that fine line between sweet support and sour self-involvement, especially when your heart is breaking for the daughter who just missed a pop-fly or the son who lost a game to a bad call from a referee.

Still, parents must rise above their emotions -- and their vicarious expectations -- if their children are going to get the biggest benefit from playing sports, experts say.

Unhealthy parental attitudes can have a devastating impact on what should be an enjoyable and educational experience, they add. ...more

Common gene link seen between prostate and colorectal cancer

PARIS (AFP) - A combination of genetic variants that boosts the risk of prostate cancer also increases the risk of colorectal cancer, according to papers published on Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.

The mutations lie on Chromosome 8, say three groups of scientists who compared the DNA of thousands of healthy individuals with that of other people who had one or both kinds of the cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the fourth deadliest form of cancer, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Cancer of the bowel and rectum inflicts 655,000 deaths per year, after cancer of lung (1.3 million deaths), the stomach (one million), and liver (662,000), the WHO website says.
...more

Smoky Bars Expose Workers

Nonsmokers who work in bars and restaurants that allow smoking have higher levels of cancer-causing chemicals from tobacco in their urine than nonsmokers working in smoke-free establishments, a new study says.

The finding, reported by researchers from Oregon's Multnomah County Health Department and the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, promises to add fuel to the already fiery debate over secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace. In fact, a second report by lawyers at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, Calif., says employers who continue to allow smoking in their workplaces -- despite mounting evidence of secondhand smoke's dangers -- could be opening themselves up to lawsuits from employees harmed by the smoke.

Both reports are slated for publication in the August 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health and were released online ahead of print.

Levels Increase With Each Hour on the Job ...more

Ovarian Cancer Has Early Symptoms

Historically, ovarian cancer has been called the "silent killer" because symptoms often became apparent so late in the process that chances of a cure were poor.

A catchy phrase, but it is wrong, according to a consensus statement released Tuesday by the American Cancer Society, the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. In fact, these experts say, recent medical studies show identifiable symptoms often do exist for ovarian cancer, even in the early stages. The most common of these are:

bloating
pelvic or abdominal pain
trouble eating or feeling full quickly
urinary symptoms, such as urgent or frequent feelings of needing to go
...more

Disability claims related to obesity could rise

BIGGER AND BIGGER

Percentage of adult population that is obese (at least 30 pounds overweight):

• 1976-80: 15%

• 1988-94: 23.2%

• 1999-2000: 30.9%

• 2003-04: 32.9%

Source: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

In Ohio, 400-pound Stephen Grindle claimed he was fired as a driver for Watkins Motor Lines because of his weight. In Michigan, General Motors worker Timothy Hopkins, 670 pounds, had gastric-bypass surgery and shed 300 pounds but couldn't get his job back. In New York, teacher Michael Frank, 325 pounds, said he failed to get tenure after a boss described him as "so big and sloppy."
Their claims are part of an emerging area of federal disabilities law that is drawing more attention, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and lawyers who represent labor and employers....more

Antibiotic Use in Infants May Up Asthma Risk

MONDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- Giving antibiotics for a non-respiratory tract infection to an infant younger than 1 greatly increases the odds that the child will develop asthma, according to new research.
The study found that the risk was highest for those infants who received multiple courses of antibiotics and those who received prescriptions for broad-spectrum antibiotics. Broad-spectrum antibiotics tend to kill a wide range of bacteria -- both good and bad.

"Asthma is a multi-factorial disease, and we've found evidence of an association with first-year-of-life antibiotic use and asthma," said the study's lead author, Anita Kozyrskyj, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. ...more

Diabetes Cuts 8 Years Off Life

MONDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- A diagnosis of diabetes means losing an average of eight years from your expected life span, new research shows.
In addition, diabetics are more likely to develop heart disease sooner than non-diabetics, the study found.

"Having diabetes at age 50 years and over does not only represent a significant increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and mortality but also a very important loss in life expectancy and life expectancy free from cardiovascular disease," said lead author Dr. Oscar H. Franco, of the University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Unilever Corporate Research, Sharnbrook, England.

Most people with diabetes -- about 95 percent -- suffer from the obesity-linked type 2 form of the blood sugar illness. That means that "prevention of diabetes is a fundamental task facing today's society aiming to achieve populations living for longer and healthier," Franco said. ...more

'Juvenile' diabetes at 49: 'You deal with it'

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A year before turning 50, Michele Thomas learned she had type 1 diabetes, a condition that used to be associated mainly with children.

"You deal with it," says Thomas, a stay-at-home mother from Atlanta, Georgia. "It was something I was going to have to live with. I was a mother of two young boys....I needed to stay healthy for them."

Eleven years later, Thomas stays focused on her health. "I take better care of myself than most people," she says, "I walk two miles a day and I eat a really good diet." (Watch why it's important for diabetics to manage their disease. )

Thomas is among the estimated 1 to 2 million Americans with type 1 diabetes. Ten times that number suffer from the more common form of the condition called type 2, which is linked to being overweight and lack of exercise.
...more

Study: Vitamin D cuts cancer risk

OMAHA, Neb. — Vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by nearly 60 percent overall for older women, in the most rigorous study yet.

The new research strengthens some specialists' argument that vitamin D may be a powerful cancer preventative and that most people should get more of it. Experts remain split, though, on how much to take.

"The findings ... are a breakthrough of great medical and public-health importance," said Cedric Garland, a prominent vitamin D researcher at the University of California, San Diego. "No other method to prevent cancer has been identified that has such a powerful impact."

Although the study seemed the most reliable yet, it does have drawbacks. It was designed mainly to monitor how calcium and vitamin D improve bone health, and the number of cancer cases overall was small, showing up in just 50 patients.
...more

HealthTip: Passing a Kidney Stone

(HealthDay News) -- A kidney stone is a hard mass created by crystals that have separated from the urine.

Most kidney stones will pass on their own, and surgery usually isn't necessary.

The U.S. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse offers these suggestions if you have a kidney stone:

Drink plenty of water to help flush the kidney stone from the body. Two to three quarts per day is recommended.
Take an over-the-counter pain medication.
Call your doctor if you see blood in your urine, have extreme back or side pain that does not subside, or have a fever or chills.
Once the stone has passed, try to save it to give to your doctor for testing ...more

Health Tip: Saving a Knocked-Out Tooth

(HealthDay News) -- If your child has a permanent tooth knocked out, it should be considered a dental emergency, the Nemours Foundation advises.

The tooth is most likely to survive if it is properly placed back in the socket within 30 minutes of the injury.

Here are the foundation's suggestions for what to do if a child's permanent tooth is knocked out:

Find the tooth, and only handle it by the crown (the part that you'd see in a person's mouth), never by the root.
Immediately rinse the tooth (don't scrub it) with saline solution or milk. Don't use tap water, which typically contains chlorine, unless that's all that's available.
If your child is old enough to hold it there, place the tooth gently back in its socket.
If your child is young, store the tooth in a cup of milk, or hold it in your mouth between your cheek and lower gum.
Go immediately to your dentist or local emergency room.
...more

Tainted toothpaste had wider reach than thought: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a potentially poisonous chemical was distributed to more places in the United States than initially thought, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

About 900,000 tubes of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze, were distributed to hospitals for the mentally ill, prisons, juvenile detention centers and some hospitals serving the general population, the Times said.

Initial reports said the tainted toothpaste was most likely to be found in discount shops.

Officials in Georgia and North Carolina were replacing the toothpaste with products made outside China, according to the report. Hospitals in South Carolina and Florida also reported receiving Chinese-made toothpaste, it said.
...more

Tiger Woods discusses fitness routine

NEW YORK - Tiger Woods has talked about tailoring practice sessions around being a father. That also means finding time for workouts that can last up to three hours as many as six days a week, which he describes in the August issue of Men's Fitness magazine.

For the first time, Woods and trainer Keith Kleven offer detail and insight into a fitness regimen that has enabled the world's No. 1 player to add nearly 30 pounds of muscle since he left Stanford in 1996 after his sophomore year.

"Pound for pound, I put him with any athlete in the world," Kleven told the magazine.

The routine is built around stretching up to 40 minutes before each session, core exercises, endurance runs of 7 miles and speed runs of 3 miles, along with weight training. But while Woods is competitive on the golf course, he said he doesn't have an ego in the weight room.
...more

Echinacea 'halves risk of catching cold'

PARIS (AFP) - Echinacea, a medicinal herb that came to prominence thanks to its use by Sioux Indians, can more than halve the risk of catching a cold, a wide-scale study has confirmed.
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Taking echinacea supplements can reduce the risk of a cold by 58 percent and may also shorten the duration of a cold almost one and a half days, according to the paper, published on Sunday in the July issue of the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The study is a "meta-analysis" comparing the outcome of 14 published trials using echinacea.

One of the trials combined with echinacea with vitamin C, which showed the two together reduced the incidence of a cold by 86 percent.

McDonald's Mum on Trans-Fat-Free Fries

Those French fries you order at a McDonald's Corp. restaurant may be the trans-fat-free version, but unless you're in New York City you can't be sure.

The fast-food giant told New York health authorities last Friday that all 254 of its outlets in the five boroughs have switched to a new cooking oil that brings the fries into compliance with a requirement that restaurant food be virtually free of artery-clogging trans fat by July 1...more via AP News

CDC: Antiques can pose mercury hazard

ALBANY, N.Y. - Careful with that antique clock. It could pose a mercury hazard. The silvery, skittering, and toxic liquid can be found in some antiques. Mirrors can be backed with mercury and tin; Clock pendulums might be weighted with embedded vials of mercury; and barometers, thermometers and lamps may have mercury in their bases for ballast.

The problem is that mercury in old items can leak, particularly as seals age or when the items are moved, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ask Ann Smith, whose heirloom clock's pendulum leaked mercury onto the carpet of her gift store in rural Delhi, N.Y., as a cleaner moved it.
...more

Health Tip: Feeding Picky Eaters

(HealthDay News) -- Many children are finicky about what they'll eat. If you're attempting to coax a picky eater to try more foods, follow these suggestions from the University of California, San Francisco:

Give your child a variety of foods to choose from, including a fruit, vegetable, protein and starch. Don't only offer foods you know your child will eat.
Don't give your child too many high-calorie drinks, which could fill her up and keep her from wanting to eat.
Stick to a meal schedule, so that your child will be hungry at mealtime.
Keep meals pleasant, in an environment free of TV, argument or stressful conversation.
If your child won't eat, don't prepare a different meal just to satisfy her. She'll have another opportunity to eat at her next meal in a few hours. Continue offering your child foods that she has once refused. Her eating habits may change.
...more

Study finds staggering cost of treating diabetics

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One out of every eight U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes, a study found, and advocates are calling for the creation of a government post to oversee coordination of spending on treatment and prevention among federal agencies.

The study, based on federal spending data from 2005, looked at various government health programs to determine how much was spent on diabetics versus non diabetics. It found it cost the U.S. government $79.7 billion more to treat people with the disease, or some 12 percent of the $645 billion in total federal health care spending projected that year.

The National Changing Diabetes Program (NCDP) study was being released at a briefing with the Congressional Diabetes Caucus on Tuesday. The study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for NCDP -- a coalition of diabetes thought leaders, including physician organizations and disease advocacy groups -- included all federally-funded programs that have an impact on diabetes prevention and treatment
...more

Fiber Funk?

Soluble. Insoluble. Viscous. Fermentable. Fiber's many forms can confuse the most ardent health nut and even nutrition professionals debate the precise benefits of each type. Thankfully, then, a series of recent studies have lifted one clear message above the noise: Don't fret the categories, but focus on total fiber; getting lots of it from unprocessed plants will lower your risk of health problems well into your golden years.

That message has been taken to task by a French study. When researchers examining close to 6,000 people associated fiber intake with high blood pressure, cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, they came up with a complex latticework of benefits by type and source of fiber. For example, fiber from cereals was linked to lower body mass index and blood pressure while fiber from dried fruit and nuts was associated with a lower waist-to-hip ratio.
...more

Nuts and your heart: Eating nuts for heart health

It sounds a little — pardon the pun — nutty, but there's growing recognition that eating nuts as part of a healthy diet is good for your heart. Nuts, which contain unsaturated fatty acids and other nutrients, are a great snack food, too. They're cheap and easy to store.

The type of nut you eat isn't that important. Walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, you name it, almost every type of nut has a lot of nutrition packed into a tiny package. If you have heart disease, eating nuts instead of a less healthy snack can help you more easily follow a heart-healthy diet.

Dr. Gerald Gau is a Mayo Clinic preventive cardiologist and is a specialist in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases. He's been involved with the National Cholesterol Education Program Coordinating Committee, which develops national cholesterol guidelines. He shares his insights on the heart-health benefits of eating nuts.

Can eating nuts help your heart?

It sure looks that way. Most studies on people who eat nuts as part of a heart-healthy diet have found that nuts lower the LDL, low-density lipoprotein or "bad," cholesterol level in the blood.
...more

Protect your child's environmental health

We all want to protect the planet. After all, our children's future is at stake, as well as our own. But for most moms and dads, hybrid minivans and solar panels are out of reach — and who has the energy to give up diapers or dishwashers?

The good news is, small changes can make a big difference. We went to top environmental experts to get their best tips for busy parents and parents-to-be. Their advice will help you leave the world a healthier place for your child and save you money to boot. What could be better than that?

Here are 7 ways to protect your child's environmental health:

Can the pesticides

"Pregnant women and children are especially vulnerable to pesticides and should avoid them whenever possible," says NRDC's Solomon. Young kids who are exposed to pesticides are at greater risk of developmental delays and childhood cancers, specifically leukemia and brain tumors. At the top of Solomon's list to avoid: flea dips and collars, bug bombs, roach spray, and pesticides on lawns and gardens, which can be tracked into the home and which run off into local streams and waterways. "To keep fleas at bay," says Solomon, "wash pet bedding in hot water every two weeks, vacuum often, bathe your pet with pet shampoo, and flea comb regularly." If that doesn't work, Solomon recommends oral pest control like Advantage for fleas or Frontline for ticks.
...more

Sleep Myths

Do we really need eight hours of sleep per night?

Not necessarily, but that’s the average for healthy adults. According to the National Institutes of Health, when healthy adults are given unlimited opportunity to sleep they are on the pillow eight to eight-and-a-half hours a night. Most sleep experts recommend between seven and nine hours to be at one’s optimum performance mentally and physically.

The amount of sleep needed to be at one’s best is called “basal sleep” time. Basal sleep is forever in competition with “sleep debt,” which is the total sleep we lose due to certain sleep disorders, restless partners or screaming infants (but parents cherish every waking moment … right?). We constantly need basal sleep to pay down our sleep debt.

Most people have an innate sense of whether they’re getting enough shut-eye (for a quick evaluation of your own sleep status, check out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale). According to the Sleep In America poll, Americans in 2005 averaged almost seven hours per night, while back in 1910 we averaged nine hours. What would you give up for an extra two hours of sleep tonight?
...more

Tainted toothpaste still in local stores

An informal survey of nine discount "dollar" and "99-cent" stores in Paterson, Passaic and Clifton conducted by the Herald News Sunday turned up four that were still selling potentially contaminated tubes of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste, days after a federal recall.

On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a recall order for the fake Colgate, explaining that MS USA Trading Inc. of North Bergen was recalling all 5-ounce tubes of Colgate because they may be contaminated with diethylene glycol, or DEG, a potentially poisonous chemical ingredient used in some anti-freeze. The counterfeit product was distributed in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
...more

The Cost of Obesity – Squeezing Texas Employers

In a 2007 report from the Texas Controller of Public Accounts, it was pointed out that 64% of Texans are overweight or obese. It is estimated that obesity cost Texas employers an estimated $3.3 billion in 2005 and the future does not look good. Research indicates that 42% of fourth graders are overweight, along with 39% of eighth graders, and 36% of eleventh graders. If this prevalence of obesity continues to rise at the current rate, obesity could cost Texas businesses $15.8 billion by 2025. To help control the problem of obesity, in 2007 the Texas Legislature introduced legislation aimed at instituting physical education in public schools. In addition, nearly all school districts have removed unhealthy foods with minimal nutritional value from cafeterias and vending machines.

Source: www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/obesitycost/

Obese Employees File Twice as Many Workers’ Comp Claims

A new study of almost 12,000 Duke University employees found that obese workers filed nearly twice as many workers’ comp claims; had 7 times higher medical costs associated with these claims, and 13 times more lost work days due to injury / illness than non-obese employees. In addition, obese workers in high-risk jobs had the highest medical claims of all employees. Employees with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more were considered obese. The study found that workers with a BMI of 40 had nearly 12 workers’ comp claims per 100 workers, compared with about 6 claims per 100 workers with a normal BMI (18.5-24.9). Obese workers lost an average of almost 184 work days per 100 workers, compared with just over 14 per 100 for those with an average BMI. Obese employees had an average medical cost claim of $57,019 per 100 workers, compared with $7,503 for non-obese employees. Source: Duke University News Release – Robert Prelot – 4/23/07

Not all dieters put the pounds back on

Dieters: This news should make your day.
The conventional wisdom is that dieters regain most of the weight they lose. But a growing body of research, including data released today, suggests some dieters keep the pounds off, especially if they exercise regularly and don't watch a lot of TV.

Researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined weight reports of 1,310 adults who were overweight or obese and had lost at least 10% of their highest weight. They were participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative sample of adults who reported their current weight, their weight the year before and their highest weight ever.

Researchers found that over the course of one year, more than half of those surveyed regained less than 5% of their body weight. One-third regained more than that percentage, according to the findings in July's American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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Study confirms heart benefits of whole grains

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Americans should bulk up on whole grains like oatmeal, barley and brown rice to help lower their risk of clogged arteries, heart attacks and strokes, according to researchers.

In a review of seven major studies, the researchers found that higher whole grain intake was consistently linked to a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. On average, adults who ate 2.5 servings of whole grains per day were nearly one-quarter less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than their peers who rarely consumed whole grains.

Whole grains are believed to benefit the heart in a number of ways. The fiber and other nutrients in whole grains may help lower cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as improve blood vessel functioning and reduce inflammation in the circulatory system. ...more

Obese Employees Cost Companies More

Maintaining a normal body weight may no longer be just a matter of personal health. New research shows that it pays for companies to promote healthy lifestyle choices among its employees. According to a recent study out of Duke University Medical Center, obese employees cost companies more money than their fit counterparts—in lost workdays, higher medical costs, and more workers' compensation claims.

In conducting the study, researchers looked at the records of 11,728 employees of Duke University who received health risk appraisals between 1997 and 2004 to determine if there was a relationship between body mass index and the rate of workers' compensations claims (body mass index, or BMI, takes into account a person's height and weight and is considered the most accurate indicator of obesity). The researchers found that obese workers filed twice as many workers' compensations claims as workers who fell within the recommended BMI range.

Obese workers averaged 11.65 claims per 100 workers, compared to 5.8 claims per 100 for non-obese employees. As a result, obese employees had seven times higher medical costs, for an average of $51,019 per 100 employees. The most common causes of injury among obese workers were falls, slips, and attempts to lift something.
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Diet of Hypertensive Adults Is Getting Worse: Just 22% Following the DASH Diet

May 21, 2007 (Chicago, IL) - New research presented this week has shown that fewer and fewer people with hypertension are following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, a diet that is part of the lifestyle changes recommended for all hypertensive patients in the national guidelines.

Presenting these discouraging findings here at the American Society of Hypertension 2007 Scientific Sessions, lead investigator Dr Phillip Mellen (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC) said the dietary quality of hypertensive adults has deteriorated since the DASH diet became incorporated in the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC) guidelines, and there are significant differences in accordance rates by age, ethnicity, and education.

"We appear to be improving, somewhat, with respect to awareness of hypertension and with respect to treatment of hypertension as well," said Mellen. "But these data are consistent with what we're seeing in the broader population, that the dietary patterns are getting worse over time. . . . We might be getting better at medicines but neglecting nonpharmacologic ways to treat hypertension."
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Survey For CIGNA Suggests Health Perception Gap

A new survey commissioned by CIGNA HealthCare shows a majority of Americans think they're in very good to excellent health, but that they're probably too optimistic - and maybe a little bit in denial.

The phone survey of 1,000 adults in February, released Monday, found that 57 percent rated themselves in very good or excellent health. Yet when asked how they think other people view them, the picture starts to look less rosy.

For instance, 54 percent said others would say they need to lose at least 10 pounds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, estimates that two thirds of U.S. adults are actually overweight or obese, health insurer CIGNA said.

"A whopping 75 percent" agree they'd be viewed by others as being in good physical shape, according to the survey, which was conducted by Yankelovich Inc. for Bloomfield-based CIGNA HealthCare. But only 49 percent think others would view them as exercising vigorously at least three days a week.
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Diabetes drug Avandia caused concern 5 years ago

WASHINGTON - Federal investigators warned nearly five years ago that the diabetes drug Avandia might be causing heart failure, according to an internal government memo released Tuesday by a consumer group.
Investigators also raised concerns about Actos, a similar drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Separately, in fast-moving developments in the latest drug safety investigation, a senior Republican senator said he learned that the Food and Drug Administration's safety office recommended the strongest possible warning for Avandia -- only to be overruled.

"The FDA didn't take that advice," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a critic of the agency. "Instead, the warning about congestive heart failure risks with this drug is currently buried."
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Diabetes Drug Found to Raise Heart Attack Risk

A drug commonly used to control diabetes increases the risk of heart attacks and possibly death, researchers reported yesterday in the latest episode to raise safety concerns about a widely prescribed drug.

The drug, Avandia, which about 1 million Americans take to keep their blood sugar at safe levels, boosts the risk of a heart attack by 43 percent and may increase the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by 64 percent, the analysis found.

A new study reported that GlaxoSmithKline's drug Avandia, used to treat Type 2 diabetes, increased heart attack risk by 43 percent. (By Jb Reed -- Bloomberg News)

"This is very concerning," said Steven E. Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who conducted the analysis with colleague Kathy Wolski. The report was released early by the New England Journal of Medicine because of the public health implications. "When you have a drug widely used in a population with a high inherent rate of heart disease, it's very, very concerning."
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U.S. Women Lagging Behind Men for Cholesterol Control

WEDNESDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Women in the United States are much less likely than men to have their LDL ("bad") cholesterol controlled to recommended levels, a new study finds.
Elevated LDL cholesterol levels increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States.

Researchers at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) looked at 11 measures of cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevention, treatment and risk factors among patients in 46 commercial managed care plans and 148 Medicare plans.
On most of the measures, women had equal or better outcomes than men.
However, women were up to 10 percent less likely than men to have their cholesterol levels under control. The researchers said the findings suggest that women and their doctors may underestimate women's risk for high cholesterol and heart disease, resulting in poorer cholesterol control.
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Vitamin D, omega-3s might cut eye disease risk

CHICAGO - Taking vitamin D and eating fish — especially those high in omega-3 fatty acids — may reduce the risk of the most common cause of blindness among the elderly, researchers said on Monday.

Doctors do not know how to prevent age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness after age 60, but two studies in the Archives of Ophthalmology suggest nutrient-based treatments may help.

Age-related macular degeneration or AMD occurs when the macula, an area at the back of the retina, breaks down over time. The central vision of the eye becomes blurred.
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Fewer U.S. Women Get Breast Cancer Test

After rising steadily for decades, the proportion of U.S. women getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer has dropped for the first time, federal researchers are reporting today.

The overall rate at which women are undergoing regular mammograms fell 4 percent between 2000 and 2005, marking the first significant decline since use of the breast X-rays started expanding rapidly in 1987, the study by the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

The reasons remain unclear, but researchers speculated that it could be due to factors such as increasingly long waiting times to get appointments, waning fears about breast cancer, the drop in hormone use after menopause, and the ongoing debate over the benefits and risks of the exams.
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Beware fat that sneaks up inside you

LONDON -- If it really is what's on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble.

Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding vital organs like the heart, liver or pancreas -- invisible to the naked eye -- could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath the skin.

"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat," said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London. Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create "fat maps" showing where people store fat.

According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.
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Study: Vitamins Tied to Prostate Cancer

WASHINGTON -- There's more worrisome news about vitamins: Taking too many may increase men's risk of dying from prostate cancer.

The study, being published Wednesday, doesn't settle the issue. But it is the biggest yet to suggest high-dose multivitamins may harm the prostate, and the latest chapter in the confusing quest to tell whether taking various vitamins really helps a variety of conditions _ or is a waste of money, or worse.

A new study says taking too many vitamins may increase men's risk of dying from prostate cancer. The study doesn't settle the issue, but it's the biggest yet to suggest high-dose multivitamins may harm the prostate. (AP GRAPHIC) (AP)

Government scientists turned to a study tracking the diet and health of almost 300,000 men. About a third reported taking a daily multivitamin, and 5 percent were heavy users, swallowing the pills more than seven times a week.

Within five years of the study's start, 10,241 men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some 1,476 had advanced cancer; 179 died.
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Study: Gingseng May Help Fight Cancer

CHICAGO -- The first scientific tests of some popular alternative medicine products hint that American ginseng might lessen cancer fatigue and that flaxseed might slow the growth of prostate tumors.

But a big study proved shark cartilage worthless against lung cancer, and doctors said people should not take it.

The research was reported Saturday at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.

The ginseng and flaxseed studies are small and preliminary, and specialists warned against making too much of them because the substances tested are not the same as what consumers find on store shelves.
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Many Americans Confused About Cancer: Survey

THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- The first national survey in a generation to look at Americans' feelings on cancer prevention finds widespread confusion about the disease.
"We found that almost half of the American public believes that 'it seems that almost everything causes cancer,' about one in four feel there's not much one can do to lower the chances of getting cancer, and three out of four felt there were so many recommendations, it's hard to know which ones to follow," said study author Jeff Niederdeppe, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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