By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 28, 5:00 AM ET
JACKSON, Miss. - Experts say Mississippians need to skip the gravy, say no to the fried pickles and start taking brisk walks to fight an epidemic of obesity.
According to a new study, this Deep South state is the fattest in the nation. The Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention, says Mississippi is the first state where more than 30 percent of adults are considered obese.
Aside from making Mississippi the butt of late-night talk show jokes, the obesity epidemic has serious implications for public policy.
If current trends hold, the state could face enormous increases in the already significant costs of treating diabetes, heart disease and other ailments caused by the extra poundage.
"We've got a long way to go. We love fried chicken and fried anything and all the grease and fatback we can get in Mississippi," said Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland, chairman of the Public Health Committee.
Poverty and obesity often go hand in hand, doctors say, because poor families stretch their budgets by buying cheaper, processed foods that have higher fat content and lower nutritional value.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — a self-described "recovering foodaholic" who lost 110 pounds several years ago — explained during a Southern Governors' Association meeting in Biloxi last weekend that there are historical reasons poor people often fry their foods: It's an inexpensive way to increase the calories and feed a family.
Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, and the Delta is the poorest region of Mississippi.
Dr. Marshall Bouldin, director of the diabetes and metabolism center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the Southern governors that if the Delta counties were excluded, "Mississippi would wind up being about 30th in diabetes problems in the United States."
Mississippi's public schools already are taking steps to prevent obesity.
A new state law enacted this year requires schools to provide at least 150 minutes of physical activity instruction and 45 minutes of health education instruction each week for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Until now, gym class had been optional.
The state Department of Education also is phasing in restrictions on soft drinks and snacks.
All public schools are currently banned from selling full-calorie soft drinks to students. Next academic year, elementary and middle schools will allow only water, juice and milk, while high schools will allow only water, juice, sports drinks and diet soft drinks.
The state Department of Education publishes lists of snacks that are approved or banned for sale in school vending machines. Last school year, at least 50 percent of the vending offerings had to be from the approved list. That jumped to 75 percent this year and will reach 100 percent next year.
Among the approved snacks are yogurt, sliced fruit and granola bars, while fried pork rinds and marshmallow treats are banned. One middle school favorite — Flamin' Hot Cheetos — are on the approved list if they're baked but banned if they're not.
State Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds said he hopes students will take home the healthful habits they learn at school.
"We only have students 180 days out of the year for seven hours in a school day. The important thing is that we model what good behavior looks like," Bounds said Monday after finishing a lunch of baked chicken.
Bounds ate at a Jackson buffet that's popular with state legislators. On Monday, the buffet included traditional, stick-to-your-ribs Southern fare: fried chicken, grits, fried okra, turnip greens.
Dr. William Rowley, who worked 30 years as a vascular surgeon and now works at the Institute for Alternative Futures, said if current trends continue, more than 50 percent of adult Mississippians will be obese in 2015.
Holland, who helps set the state Medicaid budget, said he worries about the taxpayers' cost of treating obesity.
"If we don't change our ways," he said, "we're going to be in the funeral parlors ... because we're going to be all fat and dead."
Friday, August 31, 2007
Smoking Boosts Risk for Head, Neck Cancers
Mon Aug 27, 11:45 PM ET
MONDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Current and past smokers are at significantly increased risk for head and neck cancers such as cancers of the larynx (voice box), nasal passages/nose, oral cavity, and throat, says a U.S. National Cancer Institute study that looked at data collected on more than 476,000 men and women between 1995 and 2000.
The analysis revealed that smoking increased head and neck cancer in both women and men, but appeared to have a greater impact in women. Smoking was attributed to 75 percent of such cancers in women, compared to 45 percent of such cancers in men, the study said.
"Incidence rates of head and neck cancer were higher in men than in women in all categories examined, but smoking was associated with a larger relative increase in head and neck cancer risk in women than in men," the researchers concluded.
The study is published in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Cancer.
In order to lower head and neck cancer rates, public health efforts should continue to try to eliminate smoking, the study authors said.
Each year, more than 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with head and neck cancers. Overall, men are more than three times more likely than women to be diagnosed with such cancers and almost twice as likely to die from them, according to the NCI.
More information
There's more on links between smoking and cancer at the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.
MONDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Current and past smokers are at significantly increased risk for head and neck cancers such as cancers of the larynx (voice box), nasal passages/nose, oral cavity, and throat, says a U.S. National Cancer Institute study that looked at data collected on more than 476,000 men and women between 1995 and 2000.
The analysis revealed that smoking increased head and neck cancer in both women and men, but appeared to have a greater impact in women. Smoking was attributed to 75 percent of such cancers in women, compared to 45 percent of such cancers in men, the study said.
"Incidence rates of head and neck cancer were higher in men than in women in all categories examined, but smoking was associated with a larger relative increase in head and neck cancer risk in women than in men," the researchers concluded.
The study is published in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Cancer.
In order to lower head and neck cancer rates, public health efforts should continue to try to eliminate smoking, the study authors said.
Each year, more than 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with head and neck cancers. Overall, men are more than three times more likely than women to be diagnosed with such cancers and almost twice as likely to die from them, according to the NCI.
More information
There's more on links between smoking and cancer at the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Parental Stress Can Keep Kids Obese
39 minutes ago
THURSDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Parental stress or bullying by peers can make it even tougher for overweight or obese children to get healthy, a U.S. study finds.
"If a parent is distressed, that seems to impact a child's symptoms of depression, which then impacts quality of life. It's the same with peer victimization. It impacts depression, which then impacts quality of life. And it seems to affect not just the emotional aspect of quality of life, but also their health status," lead author David Janicke, assistant professor of clinical and health psychology in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, in Gainesville, said in a prepared statement.
His team surveyed 96 overweight or obese children and their parents.
They found that youngsters whose parents were struggling with stress or depression had more depressive symptoms and a lower overall quality of life. The same was true for children who reported more problems with peers.
"One of the pathways to poor quality of life seems to be childhood depression," Janicke noted. He said parental support is critical in helping children make healthy lifestyle choices.
Parents struggling with stress or depression may not have the energy to provide emotional support, plan healthy meals, or organize exercise activities for their children, the researchers said. Providing support for distressed parents may be an effective way of helping overweight/obese children, Janicke suggested.
Learning more about the factors that affect the well-being of overweight children could help improve methods of treating these children, he added.
The study was published in the journal Obesity.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases outlines what parents can do to help overweight children.
THURSDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Parental stress or bullying by peers can make it even tougher for overweight or obese children to get healthy, a U.S. study finds.
"If a parent is distressed, that seems to impact a child's symptoms of depression, which then impacts quality of life. It's the same with peer victimization. It impacts depression, which then impacts quality of life. And it seems to affect not just the emotional aspect of quality of life, but also their health status," lead author David Janicke, assistant professor of clinical and health psychology in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, in Gainesville, said in a prepared statement.
His team surveyed 96 overweight or obese children and their parents.
They found that youngsters whose parents were struggling with stress or depression had more depressive symptoms and a lower overall quality of life. The same was true for children who reported more problems with peers.
"One of the pathways to poor quality of life seems to be childhood depression," Janicke noted. He said parental support is critical in helping children make healthy lifestyle choices.
Parents struggling with stress or depression may not have the energy to provide emotional support, plan healthy meals, or organize exercise activities for their children, the researchers said. Providing support for distressed parents may be an effective way of helping overweight/obese children, Janicke suggested.
Learning more about the factors that affect the well-being of overweight children could help improve methods of treating these children, he added.
The study was published in the journal Obesity.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases outlines what parents can do to help overweight children.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Analyst: iPhone may top sales goals
Jim Dalrymple - MacCentral 49 minutes ago
UBS analyst Benjamin Reitzes said in a research note on Tuesday that Apple may sell more than 800,000 iPhones in the fourth quarter. That would top Apple’s own estimates of 730,000 units for the quarter.
Citing continued strong demand for the iPhone at Apple and AT&T retail stores, Reitzes said his estimates are conservative.
“Our checks continue to indicate solid demand for the iPhone despite typical moderation in excitement from launch and extremely high expectations,” wrote Reitzes.
Apple reported selling 270,000 iPhones during the first weekend it was available, which was also the last two days of the third quarter. Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted during the third quarter earnings conference call that the company would sell its one-millionth iPhone by the end of the fourth quarter.
Apple’s goal is to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.
iPhone sales will get a boost from deals Apple has reportedly made with mobile phone operators in three of Europe’s largest markets. Germany’s T-Mobile Deutschland, France’s Orange SA and Britain’s O2 (UK) are reported to have signed exclusive deals to sell the iPhone in their respective markets.
Reitzes positive outlook for Apple doesn’t stop with the iPhone. He is also expecting good things from the company’s computer line in the future.
“In addition, we believe the Mac story is exciting as demand is strong for notebooks and recently introduced iMacs,” he said.
Enthusiasm for Apple’s notebooks seems to be well founded as market research firm NPD yesterday put Apple’s U.S. retail notebook market share for June 2007 at 17.6 percent. That is an increase of 2.2 percentage points over the same period last year when Apple posted a 15.4 percent market share.
According to data from research firm IDC, Apple’s continued rise in computer sales puts it in third place overall among all computer makers in the U.S. This is the first time since 1996 that Apple finds itself this high on the list of top selling manufacturers.
Investors reacted positively to the news boosting Apple’s stock to $130.95, up $3.38 or 2.65 percent.
UBS analyst Benjamin Reitzes said in a research note on Tuesday that Apple may sell more than 800,000 iPhones in the fourth quarter. That would top Apple’s own estimates of 730,000 units for the quarter.
Citing continued strong demand for the iPhone at Apple and AT&T retail stores, Reitzes said his estimates are conservative.
“Our checks continue to indicate solid demand for the iPhone despite typical moderation in excitement from launch and extremely high expectations,” wrote Reitzes.
Apple reported selling 270,000 iPhones during the first weekend it was available, which was also the last two days of the third quarter. Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted during the third quarter earnings conference call that the company would sell its one-millionth iPhone by the end of the fourth quarter.
Apple’s goal is to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.
iPhone sales will get a boost from deals Apple has reportedly made with mobile phone operators in three of Europe’s largest markets. Germany’s T-Mobile Deutschland, France’s Orange SA and Britain’s O2 (UK) are reported to have signed exclusive deals to sell the iPhone in their respective markets.
Reitzes positive outlook for Apple doesn’t stop with the iPhone. He is also expecting good things from the company’s computer line in the future.
“In addition, we believe the Mac story is exciting as demand is strong for notebooks and recently introduced iMacs,” he said.
Enthusiasm for Apple’s notebooks seems to be well founded as market research firm NPD yesterday put Apple’s U.S. retail notebook market share for June 2007 at 17.6 percent. That is an increase of 2.2 percentage points over the same period last year when Apple posted a 15.4 percent market share.
According to data from research firm IDC, Apple’s continued rise in computer sales puts it in third place overall among all computer makers in the U.S. This is the first time since 1996 that Apple finds itself this high on the list of top selling manufacturers.
Investors reacted positively to the news boosting Apple’s stock to $130.95, up $3.38 or 2.65 percent.
Scientists drug-test whole cities
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Tue Aug 21, 9:05 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Researchers have figured out how to give an entire community a drug test using just a teaspoon of wastewater from a city's sewer plant.
The test wouldn't be used to finger any single person as a drug user. But it would help federal law enforcement and other agencies track the spread of dangerous drugs, like methamphetamines, across the country.
Oregon State University scientists tested 10 unnamed American cities for remnants of drugs, both legal and illegal, from wastewater streams. They were able to show that they could get a good snapshot of what people are taking.
"It's a community urinalysis," said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington drug abuse researcher who was part of the Oregon State team. The scientists presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
Two federal agencies have taken samples from U.S. waterways to see if drug testing a whole city is doable, but they haven't gotten as far as the Oregon researchers.
One of the early results of the new study showed big differences in methamphetamine use city to city. One urban area with a gambling industry had meth levels more than five times higher than other cities. Yet methamphetamine levels were virtually nonexistent in some smaller Midwestern locales, said Jennifer Field, the lead researcher and a professor of environmental toxicology at Oregon State.
The ingredient Americans consume and excrete the most was caffeine, Field said.
Cities in the experiment ranged from 17,000 to 600,000 in population, but Field declined to identify them, saying that could harm her relationship with the sewage plant operators.
She plans to start a survey for drugs in the wastewater of at least 40 Oregon communities.
The science behind the testing is simple. Nearly every drug — legal and illicit — that people take leaves the body. That waste goes into toilets and then into wastewater treatment plants.
"Wastewater facilities are wonderful places to understand what humans consume and excrete," Field said.
In the study presented Tuesday, one teaspoon of untreated sewage water from each of the cities was tested for 15 different drugs. Field said researchers can't calculate how many people in a town are using drugs.
She said that one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week.
Field said her study suggests that a key tool currently used by drug abuse researchers — self-reported drug questionnaires — underestimates drug use.
"We have so few indicators of current use," said Jane Maxwell of the Addiction Research Institute at the University of Texas, who wasn't part of the study. "This could be a very interesting new indicator."
David Murray, chief scientist for U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the idea interests his agency.
Murray said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing federal wastewater samples just to see if that's a good method for monitoring drug use. But he didn't know how many tests were conducted or where.
The EPA will "flush out the details" on testing, Benjamin Grumbles joked. The EPA assistant administrator said the agency is already looking at the problem of potential harm to rivers and lakes from legal pharmaceuticals.
The idea of testing on a citywide basis for drugs makes sense, as long as it doesn't violate people's privacy, said Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based group that wants looser drug laws.
"This seems to be less offensive than individualized testing," he said.
WASHINGTON - Researchers have figured out how to give an entire community a drug test using just a teaspoon of wastewater from a city's sewer plant.
The test wouldn't be used to finger any single person as a drug user. But it would help federal law enforcement and other agencies track the spread of dangerous drugs, like methamphetamines, across the country.
Oregon State University scientists tested 10 unnamed American cities for remnants of drugs, both legal and illegal, from wastewater streams. They were able to show that they could get a good snapshot of what people are taking.
"It's a community urinalysis," said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington drug abuse researcher who was part of the Oregon State team. The scientists presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
Two federal agencies have taken samples from U.S. waterways to see if drug testing a whole city is doable, but they haven't gotten as far as the Oregon researchers.
One of the early results of the new study showed big differences in methamphetamine use city to city. One urban area with a gambling industry had meth levels more than five times higher than other cities. Yet methamphetamine levels were virtually nonexistent in some smaller Midwestern locales, said Jennifer Field, the lead researcher and a professor of environmental toxicology at Oregon State.
The ingredient Americans consume and excrete the most was caffeine, Field said.
Cities in the experiment ranged from 17,000 to 600,000 in population, but Field declined to identify them, saying that could harm her relationship with the sewage plant operators.
She plans to start a survey for drugs in the wastewater of at least 40 Oregon communities.
The science behind the testing is simple. Nearly every drug — legal and illicit — that people take leaves the body. That waste goes into toilets and then into wastewater treatment plants.
"Wastewater facilities are wonderful places to understand what humans consume and excrete," Field said.
In the study presented Tuesday, one teaspoon of untreated sewage water from each of the cities was tested for 15 different drugs. Field said researchers can't calculate how many people in a town are using drugs.
She said that one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week.
Field said her study suggests that a key tool currently used by drug abuse researchers — self-reported drug questionnaires — underestimates drug use.
"We have so few indicators of current use," said Jane Maxwell of the Addiction Research Institute at the University of Texas, who wasn't part of the study. "This could be a very interesting new indicator."
David Murray, chief scientist for U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the idea interests his agency.
Murray said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing federal wastewater samples just to see if that's a good method for monitoring drug use. But he didn't know how many tests were conducted or where.
The EPA will "flush out the details" on testing, Benjamin Grumbles joked. The EPA assistant administrator said the agency is already looking at the problem of potential harm to rivers and lakes from legal pharmaceuticals.
The idea of testing on a citywide basis for drugs makes sense, as long as it doesn't violate people's privacy, said Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based group that wants looser drug laws.
"This seems to be less offensive than individualized testing," he said.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Zero trans fat doesn't always mean zero
By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 19, 4:57 PM ET
NEW YORK - Stroll the aisles of any grocery store and you're sure to spot labels declaring "zero grams trans fat" on the front of snack foods, cookies and crackers. But does zero really mean there's NO artery-clogging fat inside?
Maybe, maybe not.
Federal regulations allow food labels to say there's zero grams of trans fat as long as there's less than half a gram per serving. And many packages contain more than what's considered one serving.
"The problem is that often people eat a lot more than one serving," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard School of Public Health. "In fact, many people eat two to three servings at a time."
Those small amounts of trans fat can add up, said Michael Jacobson of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest. To find out if there might be some trans fat, he said shoppers can check the list of ingredients to see if partially hydrogenated oil — the primary source of trans fat — is included.
"When it says zero grams, that means something different from no trans fat," said Jacobson. His group has urged the government to bar food producers from using any partially hydrogenated oils at all.
The Food and Drug Administration began forcing food companies to list the amount of trans fat on nutrition labels of packaged foods in January 2006. That led many companies to switch to alternative fats.
Trans fat occurs naturally in some dairy and meat products, but the main source is partially hydrogenated oils, formed when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to harden them.
Consumer groups and health officials have campaigned to get rid of trans fat because it contributes to heart disease by raising levels of LDL or bad cholesterol while lowering HDL or good cholesterol. Fast-food restaurants are switching to trans fat-free oils and New York City and Philadelphia are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of trans fat.
The American Heart Association recommends that people limit trans fats to less than 2 grams per day.
Julie Moss of the FDA's Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements, said the half-gram threshold for labeling was adopted because it is difficult to measure trans fat at low levels and the same half-gram limit is used for listing saturated fat. She said the FDA would soon be doing consumer research on trans fat labeling, including whether a footnote such as "Keep your intake of trans fat as low as possible" should be added to food labels.
Robert Earl of the Grocery Manufacturers Association said any trans fat in products labeled zero trans fat is likely to be far less than the half-gram threshold. For example, he said, a little partially hydrogenated oil might be used to help seasoning stick.
"I think the industry has been extremely responsive. Most of them were ahead of the curve to either remove or reduce trans fat in most food products," he said.
Earl said shoppers should be looking at the entire food label.
Jacobson is also concerned that people are focusing too much on the trans fat content alone, and not considering other ingredients such as saturated fat, which also raises the risk of heart disease.
"The bigger problem is foods that have no labels at all," Mozaffarian said, citing food served not only at restaurants, but at bakeries, cafeterias and schools.
New York resident Diana Fiorini said she's just recently started paying attention to labels. Holding a box of microwave popcorn at a Manhattan store, she scanned the label and was happy to see that it listed zero grams trans fat.
"I look at the labels. It's still hard to stop yourself when you know you should," she said.
___
On the Net:
American Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org
NEW YORK - Stroll the aisles of any grocery store and you're sure to spot labels declaring "zero grams trans fat" on the front of snack foods, cookies and crackers. But does zero really mean there's NO artery-clogging fat inside?
Maybe, maybe not.
Federal regulations allow food labels to say there's zero grams of trans fat as long as there's less than half a gram per serving. And many packages contain more than what's considered one serving.
"The problem is that often people eat a lot more than one serving," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard School of Public Health. "In fact, many people eat two to three servings at a time."
Those small amounts of trans fat can add up, said Michael Jacobson of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest. To find out if there might be some trans fat, he said shoppers can check the list of ingredients to see if partially hydrogenated oil — the primary source of trans fat — is included.
"When it says zero grams, that means something different from no trans fat," said Jacobson. His group has urged the government to bar food producers from using any partially hydrogenated oils at all.
The Food and Drug Administration began forcing food companies to list the amount of trans fat on nutrition labels of packaged foods in January 2006. That led many companies to switch to alternative fats.
Trans fat occurs naturally in some dairy and meat products, but the main source is partially hydrogenated oils, formed when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to harden them.
Consumer groups and health officials have campaigned to get rid of trans fat because it contributes to heart disease by raising levels of LDL or bad cholesterol while lowering HDL or good cholesterol. Fast-food restaurants are switching to trans fat-free oils and New York City and Philadelphia are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of trans fat.
The American Heart Association recommends that people limit trans fats to less than 2 grams per day.
Julie Moss of the FDA's Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements, said the half-gram threshold for labeling was adopted because it is difficult to measure trans fat at low levels and the same half-gram limit is used for listing saturated fat. She said the FDA would soon be doing consumer research on trans fat labeling, including whether a footnote such as "Keep your intake of trans fat as low as possible" should be added to food labels.
Robert Earl of the Grocery Manufacturers Association said any trans fat in products labeled zero trans fat is likely to be far less than the half-gram threshold. For example, he said, a little partially hydrogenated oil might be used to help seasoning stick.
"I think the industry has been extremely responsive. Most of them were ahead of the curve to either remove or reduce trans fat in most food products," he said.
Earl said shoppers should be looking at the entire food label.
Jacobson is also concerned that people are focusing too much on the trans fat content alone, and not considering other ingredients such as saturated fat, which also raises the risk of heart disease.
"The bigger problem is foods that have no labels at all," Mozaffarian said, citing food served not only at restaurants, but at bakeries, cafeterias and schools.
New York resident Diana Fiorini said she's just recently started paying attention to labels. Holding a box of microwave popcorn at a Manhattan store, she scanned the label and was happy to see that it listed zero grams trans fat.
"I look at the labels. It's still hard to stop yourself when you know you should," she said.
___
On the Net:
American Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org
Friday, August 17, 2007
Cassidy: Working out with fitness legend Jack LaLanne
By Mike Cassidy
Mercury News Columnist
Article Launched: 08/17/2007 01:35:03 AM PDT
Fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne interview
Work out with Jack LaLanne?
Sure. How hard could it be? What is he, about 180 years old?
So there I was outside San Jose's Fairmont Hotel at the crack of dawn Thursday, approaching a short man in a chair who was watching the crowd gather for a community exercise class led by the legendary fitness guru himself.
Yes, the Jack LaLanne. The godfather of fitness. The man whose "The Jack LaLanne Show" brought regular workouts to living rooms nationwide from 1951 to 1984. The man we have to blame for all this healthy living.
I stroll over and start to introduce myself.
"Shut up," he barks. "No autographs. Well, except yours. Say, you look pretty good. Can I have your number?"
For a minute I'm trying to remember whether I've come to see Jack LaLanne or Robin Williams. But I learn a lot from LaLanne - quick.
First, he's 92, not 180. And this guy could bench-press me. With one hand. Turns out I'm the proverbial 98-pound weakling, facing down the 92-year-old he-man.
Jack LaLanne is a force of nature, a physical dynamo, a comic, a cut-up, a guy who has so many bromides that it seems he's rattling them off rapid-fire to make sure he doesn't run out of time before he gets to them all.
The reason Americans are obese? "They're exceeding the eat limit." Why avoid sweets? "Ten minutes on the lips; a lifetime on the hips."
LaLanne is in town to promote the U.S. gymnastics national championship at
Advertisement
HP Pavilion this weekend. He's also here to promote fitness. And, well, himself.
"I'm a salesman," says LaLanne, decked out in a blue track suit. "I get them laughing. I get them crying."
I tell LaLanne I've come to work out with him and interview him. Silly me. You don't interview Jack LaLanne. You stand back and listen.
You've got to exercise, he says. Vigorously.
"You can't just be sitting on your big, fat butt and watching TV," he says.
My big, fat butt? And suddenly I wonder whether he notices the doughnut crumbs stuck to my sweat shirt. I ask him what it is with exercise people. Why do they have to exercise so freaking early in the morning?
You're too tired at the end of the day, LaLanne says. Besides, it's good for you. "To leave a hot bed, to leave a hot woman and go into a cold gym," he says, "man, that takes discipline."
There's got to be an easier way, right? Some magic fitness pill?
"You know what the magic pill is, baby? Having goals."
His goal, even since before he opened his first health club in Oakland in the 1930s, was to help people. Sure, along the way he built a lucrative empire of gyms, juicers and videos. But that wasn't the goal. That all happened because of the goal.
"Let me see you get on the floor and do push-ups until you die," LaLanne erupts.
"Where's the fun in that?" I ask. I figure it must be the doughnut crumbs. But no, he's making a point. Exercise won't kill you. Your body knows when to stop. So do what you can.
Eventually, LaLanne takes the stage to fire up the crowd of about 80 early-morning fitness freaks in the Circle of Palms downtown. One thing I notice: LaLanne's buff assistants actually do the working out. LaLanne does a lot of encouraging - "Let me see you squat. Drop your butt down. Way down." - but he doesn't do any exercising. Could that be his secret?
No such luck. He tells me he put in 45 minutes in his hotel room before the 6:30 a.m. event. In fact, LaLanne, who now lives in Morro Bay, says he works out seven days a week. He never drinks coffee or eats anything "that comes from a cow or a pig."
So I ask whether it might be better to live 50 years of a wild life than 100 years of a disciplined one.
Not a chance, LaLanne says. Life is what it's all about. And he's more than willing to do the work to make his an incredibly long one.
"Man ought to live to be 120," he says.
Well, I don't know about me. But I do know one guy who's got a chance.
Read Mike Cassidy's Loose Ends blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/cassidy. Contact him at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5536.
Video: Fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne interview
By koci
Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne, was among the celebrities who participated in the activities surrounding the USA Gymnastics’ national championships on August 18, 2007, in San Jose, Calif. Video by Mike Cassidy/Mercury News
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Menopause hard on couple's sex lives
1 hour, 52 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When a woman enters menopause, her sex life and that of her partner may suffer, according to a survey in which more than half of the women reported a decrease in sex drive and in the amount of sex they were having since entering menopause.
Overall, 46 percent of menopausal women surveyed reported having sex less than once per month and most women felt that this was hurting their relationship.
"Menopausal women are having less sex and it's impacting our relationships," Karen Giblin noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health. "Frankly, through the Red Hot Mamas menopause education programs, I have heard that a lot of women would rather go shoe shopping than have sex, and that concerns me."
The survey, including more than 1,000 women, 35 years or older, who were just beginning, just ending, or in the middle of menopause, was conducted between June 20 and July 2, 2007.
"We are the baby-boom generation who is now entering menopause; we are the women who lived through the sexual revolution in the 60s and now we are having our own sexual revolution, of a different kind," said Giblin, the founder of the Red Hot Mamas organization (www.redhotmamas.org), which commissioned the Sex and Menopause Survey. The survey was sponsored by Duramed Pharmaceuticals and conducted by Harris Interactive.
Four hundred sixty nine of these women -- about 44 percent -- reported suffering from vaginal symptoms such as vaginal atrophy (vaginal narrowing or shrinkage), which can cause vaginal dryness and painful sex.
Eighty-eight percent of women experiencing vaginal atrophy said it was causing them problems and 47 percent said that they have avoided, made an excuse, or stopped having sex altogether because of physical discomfort during intercourse.
Vaginal dryness, in particular, plagued more than half of menopausal women surveyed and this resulted in two thirds of them having less sex. "Seventy percent of the women did not know that therapies are available to relieve vaginal dryness," Giblin noted.
"There are over-the-counter products to combat dryness and your physician has a treasure chest of prescription medications to relieve vaginal dryness," she added.
Giblin believes men need menopause education just as much as women. "It's not only important that a woman have a thorough understanding of the menopause process." Men should also because the symptoms of menopause "can be very hard on relationships," Giblin said.
"If a partner sees a decrease in sex with their partner, often times the partner becomes resentful and feels that the woman has lost interest and it isn't necessarily true," Giblin said. "It's very critical for women and their significant other to stay really connected during menopause."
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When a woman enters menopause, her sex life and that of her partner may suffer, according to a survey in which more than half of the women reported a decrease in sex drive and in the amount of sex they were having since entering menopause.
Overall, 46 percent of menopausal women surveyed reported having sex less than once per month and most women felt that this was hurting their relationship.
"Menopausal women are having less sex and it's impacting our relationships," Karen Giblin noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health. "Frankly, through the Red Hot Mamas menopause education programs, I have heard that a lot of women would rather go shoe shopping than have sex, and that concerns me."
The survey, including more than 1,000 women, 35 years or older, who were just beginning, just ending, or in the middle of menopause, was conducted between June 20 and July 2, 2007.
"We are the baby-boom generation who is now entering menopause; we are the women who lived through the sexual revolution in the 60s and now we are having our own sexual revolution, of a different kind," said Giblin, the founder of the Red Hot Mamas organization (www.redhotmamas.org), which commissioned the Sex and Menopause Survey. The survey was sponsored by Duramed Pharmaceuticals and conducted by Harris Interactive.
Four hundred sixty nine of these women -- about 44 percent -- reported suffering from vaginal symptoms such as vaginal atrophy (vaginal narrowing or shrinkage), which can cause vaginal dryness and painful sex.
Eighty-eight percent of women experiencing vaginal atrophy said it was causing them problems and 47 percent said that they have avoided, made an excuse, or stopped having sex altogether because of physical discomfort during intercourse.
Vaginal dryness, in particular, plagued more than half of menopausal women surveyed and this resulted in two thirds of them having less sex. "Seventy percent of the women did not know that therapies are available to relieve vaginal dryness," Giblin noted.
"There are over-the-counter products to combat dryness and your physician has a treasure chest of prescription medications to relieve vaginal dryness," she added.
Giblin believes men need menopause education just as much as women. "It's not only important that a woman have a thorough understanding of the menopause process." Men should also because the symptoms of menopause "can be very hard on relationships," Giblin said.
"If a partner sees a decrease in sex with their partner, often times the partner becomes resentful and feels that the woman has lost interest and it isn't necessarily true," Giblin said. "It's very critical for women and their significant other to stay really connected during menopause."
Healthy Lifestyle Key To Cancer Prevention
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter 33 minutes ago
THURSDAY, August 16 (HealthDay News) -- While the number of deaths from cancer have been declining, many malignancies could be prevented by exercising, eating right, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, a new federal report finds.
The President's Cancer Panel issues a report every year that focuses on one aspect of what is happening in the United States in terms of cancer.
This year's effort "centers on lifestyle changes, and two issues that are actually quite different," said panel member Margaret L. Kripke, executive vice president and chief academic officer at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.
One issue is nutrition, exercise and the fight against obesity, and the other is the battle to cut tobacco use, Kripke said.
"We tried to think of what would have the biggest impact on reducing cancer mortality," she said. "If you consider that 15 to 20 percent of cancer deaths are related to obesity and another 30 percent of cancer deaths are due to tobacco use, that's 50 percent of all people with cancer."
And quitting smoking and avoiding obesity are things that people can do themselves, Kripke noted. But, as she and other experts know, it's not easy to get people to make the lifestyle changes they should.
"The most serious lack, in terms of what we know, is what motivates people to live a healthier lifestyle," she said.
The experts call for a move toward a "culture of wellness" in the United States. This culture would embrace healthy living as a goal and promote a healthy lifestyle as a way of achieving wellness.
Despite progress in diagnosis and treatment, cancer continues to account for more than a half million deaths each year in the United States, with almost 1.5 million new cases diagnosed annually. Two-thirds of these deaths, and many thousands of new cases, could be avoided through lifestyle changes, according to the report.
Tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer, but it's also responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus and bladder. In addition, it is a cause of kidney, pancreatic, cervical and stomach cancers, along with acute myeloid leukemia. "We really need to get rid of tobacco," Kripke said.
Obesity has been linked to a variety of cancers, including colon, breast, kidney, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. "There are very definitive studies showing that moderate exercise reduces your risk of breast cancer and colon cancer," Kripke said.
In addition, living a healthy lifestyle lowers a person's risk of cancer recurrence and improves outcomes after cancer, Kripke said.
The causes of the obesity epidemic in the United States are complex, Kripke said. The epidemic started in the 1970s about the time that food makers started using high fructose corn syrup as an additive. In addition, portion sizes in restaurants increased as schools cut back on exercise programs.
The obesity problem has grown steadily over the past 30 years. "I don't think there is going to be a quick fix," she said.
One recommendation the panel made in the report is to have subsidies for corn farmers curtailed. "There doesn't seem to be coordination between agricultural subsidies and public health policy for diet and nutrition," Kripke said.
"Subsidies for corn make corn syrup very cheap and it's not nutritionally what you want in all of your foods," Kripke said. "It might make more sense to make agricultural subsidies for fruits and vegetables that would be more healthy for the population."
Although the White House doesn't usually comment on the report, Kripke hopes that it will spur government officials to develop programs that help people make necessary lifestyle changes.
One expert agreed that societal changes are to blame for ever-heavier Americans.
"Obesity has been brought about by changes in our environment, not by any increase in the number of susceptible people," said Eugenia Calle, director of Analytic Epidemiology at the American Cancer Society.
Calle argues that while once fats and sugars were relatively expensive, they are now cheap. "It used to be impossible to buy a great deal of calories for $2.99, and now it is possible to buy one day's allotment of calories for less than $10," she said. "So now calorie-dense foods are cheap."
In contrast, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than they used to be, Calle said. "So, it becomes economically more difficult to make good food choices, especially if you don't have a lot of income," she said. In addition, people have become more sedentary, she added.
"The best idea in the report is implementing a culture of wellness in the U.S., so that the social and cultural norm is one of health," Calle said.
More information
For more information on cancer and lifestyle, visit the American Cancer Society.
HealthDay Reporter 33 minutes ago
THURSDAY, August 16 (HealthDay News) -- While the number of deaths from cancer have been declining, many malignancies could be prevented by exercising, eating right, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, a new federal report finds.
The President's Cancer Panel issues a report every year that focuses on one aspect of what is happening in the United States in terms of cancer.
This year's effort "centers on lifestyle changes, and two issues that are actually quite different," said panel member Margaret L. Kripke, executive vice president and chief academic officer at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.
One issue is nutrition, exercise and the fight against obesity, and the other is the battle to cut tobacco use, Kripke said.
"We tried to think of what would have the biggest impact on reducing cancer mortality," she said. "If you consider that 15 to 20 percent of cancer deaths are related to obesity and another 30 percent of cancer deaths are due to tobacco use, that's 50 percent of all people with cancer."
And quitting smoking and avoiding obesity are things that people can do themselves, Kripke noted. But, as she and other experts know, it's not easy to get people to make the lifestyle changes they should.
"The most serious lack, in terms of what we know, is what motivates people to live a healthier lifestyle," she said.
The experts call for a move toward a "culture of wellness" in the United States. This culture would embrace healthy living as a goal and promote a healthy lifestyle as a way of achieving wellness.
Despite progress in diagnosis and treatment, cancer continues to account for more than a half million deaths each year in the United States, with almost 1.5 million new cases diagnosed annually. Two-thirds of these deaths, and many thousands of new cases, could be avoided through lifestyle changes, according to the report.
Tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer, but it's also responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus and bladder. In addition, it is a cause of kidney, pancreatic, cervical and stomach cancers, along with acute myeloid leukemia. "We really need to get rid of tobacco," Kripke said.
Obesity has been linked to a variety of cancers, including colon, breast, kidney, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. "There are very definitive studies showing that moderate exercise reduces your risk of breast cancer and colon cancer," Kripke said.
In addition, living a healthy lifestyle lowers a person's risk of cancer recurrence and improves outcomes after cancer, Kripke said.
The causes of the obesity epidemic in the United States are complex, Kripke said. The epidemic started in the 1970s about the time that food makers started using high fructose corn syrup as an additive. In addition, portion sizes in restaurants increased as schools cut back on exercise programs.
The obesity problem has grown steadily over the past 30 years. "I don't think there is going to be a quick fix," she said.
One recommendation the panel made in the report is to have subsidies for corn farmers curtailed. "There doesn't seem to be coordination between agricultural subsidies and public health policy for diet and nutrition," Kripke said.
"Subsidies for corn make corn syrup very cheap and it's not nutritionally what you want in all of your foods," Kripke said. "It might make more sense to make agricultural subsidies for fruits and vegetables that would be more healthy for the population."
Although the White House doesn't usually comment on the report, Kripke hopes that it will spur government officials to develop programs that help people make necessary lifestyle changes.
One expert agreed that societal changes are to blame for ever-heavier Americans.
"Obesity has been brought about by changes in our environment, not by any increase in the number of susceptible people," said Eugenia Calle, director of Analytic Epidemiology at the American Cancer Society.
Calle argues that while once fats and sugars were relatively expensive, they are now cheap. "It used to be impossible to buy a great deal of calories for $2.99, and now it is possible to buy one day's allotment of calories for less than $10," she said. "So now calorie-dense foods are cheap."
In contrast, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than they used to be, Calle said. "So, it becomes economically more difficult to make good food choices, especially if you don't have a lot of income," she said. In addition, people have become more sedentary, she added.
"The best idea in the report is implementing a culture of wellness in the U.S., so that the social and cultural norm is one of health," Calle said.
More information
For more information on cancer and lifestyle, visit the American Cancer Society.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Diet foods might cause kids to overeat
Mon Aug 13, 12:34 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The diet sodas and snacks so popular with weight-conscious adults may backfire in children, if new animal research is correct.
In experiments with juvenile rats, researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada found that animals that became used to diet foods tended to overeat during meals of regular-calorie animal chow.
This was true for normal-weight and obese rat pups, the researchers found. However, diet foods did not appear to have an overeating effect in adolescent rats.
This suggests that the foods have some unique effect in young animals, and possibly children, the study authors report in the journal Obesity.
They suspect that diet foods disrupted the young animals' ability to learn how various flavors correlate with calories. When they associate tastes, such as sweet or salty, with few calories, even a rich dessert may fail to fill them up as it otherwise would.
It's possible that children given artificially low-calorie snacks and diet sodas might not learn to properly regulate their food intake, according to lead study author Dr. W. David Pierce.
"One thing is clear at this point," he said in a statement. "Young animals and perhaps children can be made to overeat when calorie-wise foods are offered on a daily basis, subverting the body's energy-balance system."
He and his colleagues recommend that parents give their children a well-balanced diet of foods in their natural form, including naturally low-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables.
The findings are based on a series of experiments with young rats, both normal, lean animals and those genetically prone to obesity. Over 16 days, the animals were regularly given gelatin cubes that contained starch, as well as a starch-free "diet" version of the snack.
For some animals, the starchy cubes were flavored with an artificial sweetener and the diet version was flavored with a salty solution. These flavors were reversed for other animals.
After 16 days of this taste training, the researchers gave all the animals a high-calorie snack dipped in either artificial sweetener or a salty solution. They then gave the rats a meal of their regular chow.
Pierce's team found that the animals tended to overeat during the meal if their pre-meal snack had been dipped in a flavor they'd learn to associate with a low-calorie food -- despite the snack's actual high calorie content.
The phenomenon was seen in both lean and obesity-prone rat pups, but the heavier animals generally ate more than their normal-weight counterparts, the researchers point out.
So it's possible, they say, that diet foods could be especially detrimental in the children already at the greatest risk of long-term weight problems.
SOURCE: Obesity, August 2007.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The diet sodas and snacks so popular with weight-conscious adults may backfire in children, if new animal research is correct.
In experiments with juvenile rats, researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada found that animals that became used to diet foods tended to overeat during meals of regular-calorie animal chow.
This was true for normal-weight and obese rat pups, the researchers found. However, diet foods did not appear to have an overeating effect in adolescent rats.
This suggests that the foods have some unique effect in young animals, and possibly children, the study authors report in the journal Obesity.
They suspect that diet foods disrupted the young animals' ability to learn how various flavors correlate with calories. When they associate tastes, such as sweet or salty, with few calories, even a rich dessert may fail to fill them up as it otherwise would.
It's possible that children given artificially low-calorie snacks and diet sodas might not learn to properly regulate their food intake, according to lead study author Dr. W. David Pierce.
"One thing is clear at this point," he said in a statement. "Young animals and perhaps children can be made to overeat when calorie-wise foods are offered on a daily basis, subverting the body's energy-balance system."
He and his colleagues recommend that parents give their children a well-balanced diet of foods in their natural form, including naturally low-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables.
The findings are based on a series of experiments with young rats, both normal, lean animals and those genetically prone to obesity. Over 16 days, the animals were regularly given gelatin cubes that contained starch, as well as a starch-free "diet" version of the snack.
For some animals, the starchy cubes were flavored with an artificial sweetener and the diet version was flavored with a salty solution. These flavors were reversed for other animals.
After 16 days of this taste training, the researchers gave all the animals a high-calorie snack dipped in either artificial sweetener or a salty solution. They then gave the rats a meal of their regular chow.
Pierce's team found that the animals tended to overeat during the meal if their pre-meal snack had been dipped in a flavor they'd learn to associate with a low-calorie food -- despite the snack's actual high calorie content.
The phenomenon was seen in both lean and obesity-prone rat pups, but the heavier animals generally ate more than their normal-weight counterparts, the researchers point out.
So it's possible, they say, that diet foods could be especially detrimental in the children already at the greatest risk of long-term weight problems.
SOURCE: Obesity, August 2007.
Study: Early diet advice for kids sticks
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 13, 5:57 PM ET
DALLAS - Teaching children from a young age to eat a low-fat diet can be effective — even as they reach their teens and begin eating more meals away from home, according to a new study.
The study of children in Finland found that those who were taught to focus on healthy fats — those found in fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants — had slightly lower cholesterol levels compared to those who ate an unrestricted diet.
The researchers have been following the 1,062 children since the age of 7 months. About half of the children and their families were counseled to shift fat intake from animal-based saturated fats to healthier unsaturated fats. The rest did not get specific diet advice. The new study reported the results on the children at age 14.
Dr. Harri Niinikoski, lead author of the study done at the University of Turku in Finland, said children begin forming their eating and lifestyle habits in childhood.
"We think that this lifestyle change can be started early," he said.
Researchers also note that fears that a low intake of saturated fat might influence growth and brain development in young children are unfounded. At age of 14, there were no differences between the groups in height or weight, they found. An earlier study of the groups found no differences in brain development at age 5.
Dr. Sarah Blumenschein, a pediatric cardiologist with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said the study shows that early intervention is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
"The earlier you intervene, the more likely you are going to be successful," she said.
For the children in the diet-counseling group, families were told to give them skim milk beginning at age 1, keep daily cholesterol intake at less than 200 mg and aim for a fat intake of 30 to 35 percent of their daily calories.
By the age of 7, the diet information was aimed more toward the children instead of their parents.
Food journals were kept for several days each year to monitor the child's diet. The study, published in online editions Monday of the American Heart Association journal Circulation, showed that the counseled kids had a diet lower in total fat and saturated fat and higher in protein and carbohydrates than the comparison group.
Niinikoski said that they don't have any reason to believe that the families were eating any differently for the rest of the year.
"Our results about the cholesterol values tell the same story, so it must be coming from the diet," he said.
While the group that got specific dietary counseling had lower cholesterol readings than the other group, the difference was statistically significant for boys but not for girls — a difference of about 5 percent in boys and 2-4 percent in girls depending on age, Niinikoski said. He said that the reasons for the difference between boys and girls was not studied, but it might have to do with hormonal differences or exercise habits.
But doctors say that even a small decrease in cholesterol levels can have a big influence.
"If you study large numbers of people, the small increments result in a significant change in heart attacks and cardiac deaths," said Dr. Art Labovitz, cardiology director at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Labovitz said that people often don't realize that what they do for the first 40 to 50 years of their life has an effect on their chance of heart attacks and heart disease.
Dr. Stuart Berger, medical director of the Herma Heart Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, said there's no reason the same results wouldn't be seen in American children if they adhered to such a diet.
"I think that the biggest challenge in the U.S. would be compliance to the diet," said Berger.
DALLAS - Teaching children from a young age to eat a low-fat diet can be effective — even as they reach their teens and begin eating more meals away from home, according to a new study.
The study of children in Finland found that those who were taught to focus on healthy fats — those found in fish, nuts, seeds and oils from plants — had slightly lower cholesterol levels compared to those who ate an unrestricted diet.
The researchers have been following the 1,062 children since the age of 7 months. About half of the children and their families were counseled to shift fat intake from animal-based saturated fats to healthier unsaturated fats. The rest did not get specific diet advice. The new study reported the results on the children at age 14.
Dr. Harri Niinikoski, lead author of the study done at the University of Turku in Finland, said children begin forming their eating and lifestyle habits in childhood.
"We think that this lifestyle change can be started early," he said.
Researchers also note that fears that a low intake of saturated fat might influence growth and brain development in young children are unfounded. At age of 14, there were no differences between the groups in height or weight, they found. An earlier study of the groups found no differences in brain development at age 5.
Dr. Sarah Blumenschein, a pediatric cardiologist with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, said the study shows that early intervention is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
"The earlier you intervene, the more likely you are going to be successful," she said.
For the children in the diet-counseling group, families were told to give them skim milk beginning at age 1, keep daily cholesterol intake at less than 200 mg and aim for a fat intake of 30 to 35 percent of their daily calories.
By the age of 7, the diet information was aimed more toward the children instead of their parents.
Food journals were kept for several days each year to monitor the child's diet. The study, published in online editions Monday of the American Heart Association journal Circulation, showed that the counseled kids had a diet lower in total fat and saturated fat and higher in protein and carbohydrates than the comparison group.
Niinikoski said that they don't have any reason to believe that the families were eating any differently for the rest of the year.
"Our results about the cholesterol values tell the same story, so it must be coming from the diet," he said.
While the group that got specific dietary counseling had lower cholesterol readings than the other group, the difference was statistically significant for boys but not for girls — a difference of about 5 percent in boys and 2-4 percent in girls depending on age, Niinikoski said. He said that the reasons for the difference between boys and girls was not studied, but it might have to do with hormonal differences or exercise habits.
But doctors say that even a small decrease in cholesterol levels can have a big influence.
"If you study large numbers of people, the small increments result in a significant change in heart attacks and cardiac deaths," said Dr. Art Labovitz, cardiology director at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Labovitz said that people often don't realize that what they do for the first 40 to 50 years of their life has an effect on their chance of heart attacks and heart disease.
Dr. Stuart Berger, medical director of the Herma Heart Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, said there's no reason the same results wouldn't be seen in American children if they adhered to such a diet.
"I think that the biggest challenge in the U.S. would be compliance to the diet," said Berger.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Health Tip: Risk Factors for Prostate Cancer
Wed Aug 8, 7:01 PM ET
(HealthDay News) -- Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect men. While most cases aren't fatal, it is important to understand the risk factors for the disease to help recognize symptoms and begin treatment early.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute lists these potential risk factors for prostate cancer:
* Aging.
* High levels of testosterone.
* A high-fat diet, which may increase the risk. (A low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help the risk.)
* Blacks are at much greater risk of prostate cancer, whites are at intermediate risk, and Japanese have the lowest average risk.
(HealthDay News) -- Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect men. While most cases aren't fatal, it is important to understand the risk factors for the disease to help recognize symptoms and begin treatment early.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute lists these potential risk factors for prostate cancer:
* Aging.
* High levels of testosterone.
* A high-fat diet, which may increase the risk. (A low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help the risk.)
* Blacks are at much greater risk of prostate cancer, whites are at intermediate risk, and Japanese have the lowest average risk.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Maternal Obesity Heightens Risk of Birth Defects
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter 15 minutes ago
TUESDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Women who were obese before they became pregnant had a higher risk of having babies with certain birth defects, including missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cords, a new study found.
But the researchers cautioned that overweight women planning to get pregnant should try to lose weight sensibly and carefully.
"We would advise women who are obese to try to maintain a healthy weight, engage in moderate exercise and follow a healthy daily diet," said study lead author Kim Waller, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas at Houston's School of Public Health. "Multivitamins both before and after a woman becomes pregnant are very important."
In particular, women are advised to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily both before pregnancy and during pregnancy. A multivitamin will usually satisfy this recommendation.
And women should not try fad diets.
"We don't want women who are thinking of becoming pregnant or who are pregnant to rush out and go on a crash diet," Waller cautioned. "If you become pregnant, then, sure, maybe try to lose some weight, but do so very, very carefully and maintain a healthy diet while you're doing so."
"You have to be of a healthy weight not only for yourself but also for a healthy pregnancy," added Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "You want to try to get down to a healthy weight before you even get pregnant in the first place. Pregnancy is not the time to do a crash diet to try to lose weight."
In 2003 and 2004, 51 percent of U.S. women aged 20 to 39 were overweight or obese, putting them at increased risk for chronic diseases, infertility, irregular menstruation and pregnancy complications, according to background information in the study.
Previous research had shown a strong association between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) and the risk for certain birth defects, particularly anencephaly -- a defect in the closure of the neural tube, which forms the brain and spinal cord of the embryo -- and spina bifida.
The link between overweight and obesity and other birth defects has been less clear.
According to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as many as one in 33 babies born in the United States has a birth defect.
For the new study, the largest of its kind, Waller and her colleagues interviewed 10,249 women in eight states whose babies had been born with birth defects between 1997 and 2002. Information on the women came from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.
These women were then compared to 4,065 women who had given birth to babies without birth defects during the same time period.
Sixteen birth defects were studied. Of those, mothers of babies with the following seven birth defects were more likely to have been obese than mothers of infants without birth defects:
* Spina bifida, or the incomplete development of the brain, spinal cord and/or meninges (the protective covering around the brain and spinal cord). This is the most common neural tube defect in the United States and affects up to 2,000 of the more than 4 million babies born annually, according to the National Institutes of Health.
* Heart defects.
* Anorectal atresia, or malformation of the anal opening.
* Hypospadias, or an abnormally placed urethral opening in males -- on the underside instead of the end of the penis.
* Limb reduction defects, such as small or missing toes, fingers, arms or legs.
* Diaphragmatic hernia, an opening in the diaphragm that allows abdominal organs to move into the chest cavity. This may also cause lungs to be underdeveloped.
* Omphalocele, when the intestines or other abdominal organs protrude through the navel.
The study authors noted that the overall risk of having a child with a birth defect related to obesity is low. And mothers of babies born with gastroschisis (when organs protrude through a defect in the abdominal wall other than the navel) were less likely to be obese than mothers of babies without birth defects.
The findings are published in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
It's not clear why the association between pre-pregnancy obesity and birth defects exists.
"We know that obese women have a higher risk of certain defects, but we don't know if obesity is the direct cause," Waller said. "There could be other explanations, such as different types of diet, different ways of dieting when they're dieting. We were not able to exclude women with diabetes, and that is a very strong risk factor for birth defects, so we think there may be undiagnosed cases of diabetes remaining with the study."
Future research will look at dieting techniques and the risk of birth defects, as well as any links between over-the-counter diuretics and appetite suppressants and birth defects.
More information
Find out more about a healthy pregnancy at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HealthDay Reporter 15 minutes ago
TUESDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Women who were obese before they became pregnant had a higher risk of having babies with certain birth defects, including missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cords, a new study found.
But the researchers cautioned that overweight women planning to get pregnant should try to lose weight sensibly and carefully.
"We would advise women who are obese to try to maintain a healthy weight, engage in moderate exercise and follow a healthy daily diet," said study lead author Kim Waller, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas at Houston's School of Public Health. "Multivitamins both before and after a woman becomes pregnant are very important."
In particular, women are advised to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily both before pregnancy and during pregnancy. A multivitamin will usually satisfy this recommendation.
And women should not try fad diets.
"We don't want women who are thinking of becoming pregnant or who are pregnant to rush out and go on a crash diet," Waller cautioned. "If you become pregnant, then, sure, maybe try to lose some weight, but do so very, very carefully and maintain a healthy diet while you're doing so."
"You have to be of a healthy weight not only for yourself but also for a healthy pregnancy," added Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "You want to try to get down to a healthy weight before you even get pregnant in the first place. Pregnancy is not the time to do a crash diet to try to lose weight."
In 2003 and 2004, 51 percent of U.S. women aged 20 to 39 were overweight or obese, putting them at increased risk for chronic diseases, infertility, irregular menstruation and pregnancy complications, according to background information in the study.
Previous research had shown a strong association between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) and the risk for certain birth defects, particularly anencephaly -- a defect in the closure of the neural tube, which forms the brain and spinal cord of the embryo -- and spina bifida.
The link between overweight and obesity and other birth defects has been less clear.
According to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as many as one in 33 babies born in the United States has a birth defect.
For the new study, the largest of its kind, Waller and her colleagues interviewed 10,249 women in eight states whose babies had been born with birth defects between 1997 and 2002. Information on the women came from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.
These women were then compared to 4,065 women who had given birth to babies without birth defects during the same time period.
Sixteen birth defects were studied. Of those, mothers of babies with the following seven birth defects were more likely to have been obese than mothers of infants without birth defects:
* Spina bifida, or the incomplete development of the brain, spinal cord and/or meninges (the protective covering around the brain and spinal cord). This is the most common neural tube defect in the United States and affects up to 2,000 of the more than 4 million babies born annually, according to the National Institutes of Health.
* Heart defects.
* Anorectal atresia, or malformation of the anal opening.
* Hypospadias, or an abnormally placed urethral opening in males -- on the underside instead of the end of the penis.
* Limb reduction defects, such as small or missing toes, fingers, arms or legs.
* Diaphragmatic hernia, an opening in the diaphragm that allows abdominal organs to move into the chest cavity. This may also cause lungs to be underdeveloped.
* Omphalocele, when the intestines or other abdominal organs protrude through the navel.
The study authors noted that the overall risk of having a child with a birth defect related to obesity is low. And mothers of babies born with gastroschisis (when organs protrude through a defect in the abdominal wall other than the navel) were less likely to be obese than mothers of babies without birth defects.
The findings are published in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
It's not clear why the association between pre-pregnancy obesity and birth defects exists.
"We know that obese women have a higher risk of certain defects, but we don't know if obesity is the direct cause," Waller said. "There could be other explanations, such as different types of diet, different ways of dieting when they're dieting. We were not able to exclude women with diabetes, and that is a very strong risk factor for birth defects, so we think there may be undiagnosed cases of diabetes remaining with the study."
Future research will look at dieting techniques and the risk of birth defects, as well as any links between over-the-counter diuretics and appetite suppressants and birth defects.
More information
Find out more about a healthy pregnancy at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Health Tip: Adjusting to a Move
1 hour, 16 minutes ago
(HealthDay News) -- Changing homes can be a stressful ordeal, particularly for young
The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions to help young children cope with the stress of a move:
* While explaining details of the move, keep it clear and simple.
* Tell them a story about the move, and use their toys to act it out.
* Let them help pack up their toys, and make sure they understand that the toys will be at the new home, too.
* If you can, take your child to visit the new home several times, and try taking toys over each time you go.
* Try to keep your child's bedroom furniture the same.
* Just before and after the move, don't try to make any other changes in your child's life, like toilet training or moving to a bed from a crib.
* Have your child stay with a babysitter while the furniture and belongings are moved to the new home.
(HealthDay News) -- Changing homes can be a stressful ordeal, particularly for young
The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions to help young children cope with the stress of a move:
* While explaining details of the move, keep it clear and simple.
* Tell them a story about the move, and use their toys to act it out.
* Let them help pack up their toys, and make sure they understand that the toys will be at the new home, too.
* If you can, take your child to visit the new home several times, and try taking toys over each time you go.
* Try to keep your child's bedroom furniture the same.
* Just before and after the move, don't try to make any other changes in your child's life, like toilet training or moving to a bed from a crib.
* Have your child stay with a babysitter while the furniture and belongings are moved to the new home.
German has pencil in head removed after 55 years
Mon Aug 6, 5:21 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 59-year-old German woman has had most of a pencil removed from inside her head after suffering nearly her whole life with the headaches and nosebleeds it caused, Bild newspaper reported on Monday.
Margret Wegner fell over carrying the pencil in her hand when she was four.
"The pencil went right through my skin -- and disappeared into my head," Wegner told the newspaper.
It narrowly missed vital parts of her brain.
At the time no one dared operate, but now technology has improved sufficiently for doctors to be able to remove it.
The majority of the pencil, some 8 cm (3.1 inches) long, was taken out in an operation at a private Berlin clinic, but the 2 cm tip had grown in so firmly that it was impossible to remove.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 59-year-old German woman has had most of a pencil removed from inside her head after suffering nearly her whole life with the headaches and nosebleeds it caused, Bild newspaper reported on Monday.
Margret Wegner fell over carrying the pencil in her hand when she was four.
"The pencil went right through my skin -- and disappeared into my head," Wegner told the newspaper.
It narrowly missed vital parts of her brain.
At the time no one dared operate, but now technology has improved sufficiently for doctors to be able to remove it.
The majority of the pencil, some 8 cm (3.1 inches) long, was taken out in an operation at a private Berlin clinic, but the 2 cm tip had grown in so firmly that it was impossible to remove.
Fatter corpses cause hazard for mortuaries - super-sized drinks leads to super-sized coffins
Mon Aug 6, 9:10 AM ET
SYDNEY (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Australians living outside major cities are overweight or obese, and extremely obese corpses are creating a safety hazard at mortuaries, according to two studies released Sunday.
Nearly three quarters of men and 64 percent of women were overweight in a study of people in rural areas. Just 30 percent of those studied recorded a healthy weight, said research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
"Urgent action is required at the highest level to change unhealthy lifestyle habits by improving diet, increasing physical activity and making our environments supportive of these objectives," wrote the lead researcher, Professor Edward Janus.
The figures were much higher than for the general population, where statistics show about 3.2 million of Australia's 21 million people are obese.
Meanwhile, pathologists are calling for new "heavy-duty" autopsy facilities to cope with obese corpses that are difficult to move and dangerously heavy for standard-size trolleys and lifting hoists.
The bodies presented "major logistical problems" and "significant occupational health and safety issues," according to a separate study, which found the number of obese and morbidly obese bodies had doubled in the past 20 years.
Specially designed mortuaries would soon be required if the nation failed to curb its fat epidemic, providing "larger storage and dissection rooms, and more robust equipment," said Professor Roger Byard, a pathologist at the University of Adelaide.
"Failure to provide these might compromise the post-mortem evaluation of markedly obese individuals, in addition to potentially jeopardizing the health of mortuary staff."
In the past year, there have also been requests for larger crematorium furnaces, bigger grave plots as well as super-sized ambulances, wheelchairs and hospital beds.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Australians living outside major cities are overweight or obese, and extremely obese corpses are creating a safety hazard at mortuaries, according to two studies released Sunday.
Nearly three quarters of men and 64 percent of women were overweight in a study of people in rural areas. Just 30 percent of those studied recorded a healthy weight, said research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
"Urgent action is required at the highest level to change unhealthy lifestyle habits by improving diet, increasing physical activity and making our environments supportive of these objectives," wrote the lead researcher, Professor Edward Janus.
The figures were much higher than for the general population, where statistics show about 3.2 million of Australia's 21 million people are obese.
Meanwhile, pathologists are calling for new "heavy-duty" autopsy facilities to cope with obese corpses that are difficult to move and dangerously heavy for standard-size trolleys and lifting hoists.
The bodies presented "major logistical problems" and "significant occupational health and safety issues," according to a separate study, which found the number of obese and morbidly obese bodies had doubled in the past 20 years.
Specially designed mortuaries would soon be required if the nation failed to curb its fat epidemic, providing "larger storage and dissection rooms, and more robust equipment," said Professor Roger Byard, a pathologist at the University of Adelaide.
"Failure to provide these might compromise the post-mortem evaluation of markedly obese individuals, in addition to potentially jeopardizing the health of mortuary staff."
In the past year, there have also been requests for larger crematorium furnaces, bigger grave plots as well as super-sized ambulances, wheelchairs and hospital beds.
S.C. teen falls 6 stories, walks away - a 'God is real' event,
Mon Aug 6, 3:55 AM ET
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A teenager fell six stories from a hotel balcony but walked away with just bruises and scrapes.
Matthew Savage, 17, was reaching up to a balcony one floor above to grab a bathing suit that had fluttered down from the 11th floor when he tumbled over the railing Friday.
The teen, from Gainesville, Ga., hit other balconies on his way down and slammed onto a slanted rooftop, then slid into bushes.
"I just closed my eyes," Savage said, nursing scrapes and bruises on his back and legs.
After landing in the bushes, he got up and started walking back to his room. But paramedics strapped him to a board and flew him to a hospital, where tests showed he was fine.
"This was a 'God is real' event," his sister, Mandy Baker, said.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A teenager fell six stories from a hotel balcony but walked away with just bruises and scrapes.
Matthew Savage, 17, was reaching up to a balcony one floor above to grab a bathing suit that had fluttered down from the 11th floor when he tumbled over the railing Friday.
The teen, from Gainesville, Ga., hit other balconies on his way down and slammed onto a slanted rooftop, then slid into bushes.
"I just closed my eyes," Savage said, nursing scrapes and bruises on his back and legs.
After landing in the bushes, he got up and started walking back to his room. But paramedics strapped him to a board and flew him to a hospital, where tests showed he was fine.
"This was a 'God is real' event," his sister, Mandy Baker, said.
Friday, August 3, 2007
For Chinese children lead can be inescapable
By Chris Buckley Fri Aug 3, 6:25 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Parents around the world may have been shocked this week when 1.5 million Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys were recalled because of excessive lead content, but for mums and dads in China lead poisoning is just a fact of life.
Mattel Inc.'s worldwide recall of dozens of products is the latest in a deluge of safety scares that have rattled international consumer confidence in Chinese-made goods.
High levels of lead from toys, water pipes and industry can cause behavioral problems and slow learning among children.
But if Beijing was worried about Chinese children being affected, that was not reflected in state-run media on Friday, which were silent about Mattel's recall.
And it was business as usual in the toy section of Beijing's Tianyi department store.
"I do not worry so much, if the toy looks fun for my child, it is okay. My child is already so big, he is not going to put the toy in his mouth," said a Mrs. Zhang, who was buying toys for her four-year-old son.
Indeed, for many parents, lead competes with many other toxins in the heavily polluted country as a source of anxiety.
"There are just too many things to worry about," said Li Huijing, mother of a five-year-old girl. "There are some things I just try not to think about. I try to pay more for good toys."
HOUSE PAINT, OLD PIPES
China has responded to rising consumer expectations by setting stricter standards for lead in toys, most recently introducing new labeling rules. But imposing those standards on the country's vast and fragmented toy sector is difficult.
China makes 75 percent of the world's toys, according to the national chamber of light industry, and many of the thousands of producers are small and resistant to regulation.
They make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that -- if regular news reports are a guide -- often have a lead content well above government-set limits.
A 2005 report in a Beijing newspaper cited estimates that 60 percent of Chinese-made toys used paint with lead above internationally accepted limits.
The China Toy Association would not answer questions about the problem.
"The worry isn't big toy makers that also export their products. The worry is small factories," said Feng Guoqiang, a childhood development specialist at Peking University's Health Science Centre.
"It's a matter of money and choice. Some parents can't afford better, so they buy the cheapest on the stall."
Feng said that toys are not the biggest threat. China has phased out leaded petrol, but house paint, old pipes and buildings and belching factories are still big sources of lead.
A study of Chinese cities in 2004 found that 10.5 percent of children had lead levels in their blood of at least 100 microgram's per liter -- a level considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization.
"For us, the problem is the factories. What they make is less important," said Feng.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Parents around the world may have been shocked this week when 1.5 million Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys were recalled because of excessive lead content, but for mums and dads in China lead poisoning is just a fact of life.
Mattel Inc.'s worldwide recall of dozens of products is the latest in a deluge of safety scares that have rattled international consumer confidence in Chinese-made goods.
High levels of lead from toys, water pipes and industry can cause behavioral problems and slow learning among children.
But if Beijing was worried about Chinese children being affected, that was not reflected in state-run media on Friday, which were silent about Mattel's recall.
And it was business as usual in the toy section of Beijing's Tianyi department store.
"I do not worry so much, if the toy looks fun for my child, it is okay. My child is already so big, he is not going to put the toy in his mouth," said a Mrs. Zhang, who was buying toys for her four-year-old son.
Indeed, for many parents, lead competes with many other toxins in the heavily polluted country as a source of anxiety.
"There are just too many things to worry about," said Li Huijing, mother of a five-year-old girl. "There are some things I just try not to think about. I try to pay more for good toys."
HOUSE PAINT, OLD PIPES
China has responded to rising consumer expectations by setting stricter standards for lead in toys, most recently introducing new labeling rules. But imposing those standards on the country's vast and fragmented toy sector is difficult.
China makes 75 percent of the world's toys, according to the national chamber of light industry, and many of the thousands of producers are small and resistant to regulation.
They make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that -- if regular news reports are a guide -- often have a lead content well above government-set limits.
A 2005 report in a Beijing newspaper cited estimates that 60 percent of Chinese-made toys used paint with lead above internationally accepted limits.
The China Toy Association would not answer questions about the problem.
"The worry isn't big toy makers that also export their products. The worry is small factories," said Feng Guoqiang, a childhood development specialist at Peking University's Health Science Centre.
"It's a matter of money and choice. Some parents can't afford better, so they buy the cheapest on the stall."
Feng said that toys are not the biggest threat. China has phased out leaded petrol, but house paint, old pipes and buildings and belching factories are still big sources of lead.
A study of Chinese cities in 2004 found that 10.5 percent of children had lead levels in their blood of at least 100 microgram's per liter -- a level considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization.
"For us, the problem is the factories. What they make is less important," said Feng.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Search: Advanced
By The Associated Press Thu Aug 2, 3:24 PM ET
BABY TALK: New research suggests babies start really jabbering after they've mastered enough easy words to tackle more of the harder ones. It's essentially a snowball
OLD IDEA: That explanation is far simpler than scientists' assumptions that some special brain mechanisms must click to trigger the word boom.
NO TECHNOLOGY NEEDED: Simply talking and reading to a child a lot is the key.
BABY TALK: New research suggests babies start really jabbering after they've mastered enough easy words to tackle more of the harder ones. It's essentially a snowball
OLD IDEA: That explanation is far simpler than scientists' assumptions that some special brain mechanisms must click to trigger the word boom.
NO TECHNOLOGY NEEDED: Simply talking and reading to a child a lot is the key.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)