Health News

CROSSFEED 3-95

AEROMEDICAL NEWS

HEALTH NEWS

by L. Kline

THE BIG CHILL - common first aid for minor sprains involves icing the damaged tissue. Now medical researchers have determined that 25 minutes is the optimum time to ice the area. Researchers at the University of Chicago's Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine Center studied various icing times by packing the knees of volunteers with ice and measuring the decrease in blood flow, which reduces swelling. The healing effect began 5 minutes and reached a peak at exactly 25 minutes. Icing for longer than 30 minutes can cause damage to the tissue and nerves.

The best way to ice a strain is to fill a gallon-sized plastic bag with crushed ice, wrap it around the entire joint and strap it tightly in place with an elastic bandage. Men's Health 6/95

RELIEF FOR ALLERGIES - allergy sufferers may get some relief from vitamin C. According to Leonard Bielory, M.D., director of allergy and immunology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, daily supplements of 500 milligrams of vitamin C may help ease allergy and asthma symptoms. Dr. Bielory reviewed more than 40 studies and found a link between short term use of the vitamin and fewer respiratory infections, less frequent asthma attacks and less nasal congestion, watery eyes and other allergy-related miseries. Men's Health 6/95

KITCHEN HYGIENE - think the USDA is doing a good job of protecting the beef and chicken that your family consumes? Just consider that the typical inspector of beef or poultry have all of ten seconds to examine each 1,000 pound carcass as it comes whizzing by on the conveyor belt. Poultry inspectors check 90 birds a minute. All the inspectors do is jab a suspicious looking piece of flesh or sniff around for spoilage. No microscopes or laboratory analyses, just a quick glance, whiff, and pat. It has been this way for over 100 years, when meat inspections were introduced.

What can you do? At-home hygiene with these food products can minimize risk to you and your family. According to Chuck Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, who specializes in household contamination, "people don't realize that sponges and dishrags are breeding grounds for disease-causing bacteria..I never shake the hand of a person who's handled one." Here are three of Mr. Gerba's "kitchen germ-warfare weapons":

-Use paper towels. Wipe up...then toss it out. Bacteria will not be spread around.

-Run sponges, dishrags, and scouring pads through the dishwasher. "You need to do it every day because things grow like crazy overnight," according to Gerba.

-Use a product like Lysol's new antibacterial kitchen cleaner. Antibacterials can reduce kitchen contamination by more than 90 percent, says Gerba. (The FDA has not yet endorsed this method of cleansing - editor.) Nutrition Action Health Letter 4/95


THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE - doctors from Northwestern University Medical School think they know why even thin men have "pot bellies." Late night dining and sleeping on a full stomach allows the muscles that help hold in your gut to relax. Food in the stomach takes advantage of this, pressing against those relaxed muscles, stretching the midsection outward, eroding its tone and making the belly sag.

Remedies include stop eating late meals followed immediately by sleep periods, and start doing abdominal and lower back exercises three to four times a week. The exercises keep stomach and ab muscles tight even when relaxed.

NATURE'S PROZAC - according to data in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that exercise was the most effective weapon against "the blues". The doctors feel that the mental lift occurs because exercising eases muscle tension, which distracts from worries, and releases endorphins, the body's chemicals that stimulate the brain to block pain.

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP - up to 40% of the vitamins in a bowl of cereal dissolve relatively quickly into the milk. To make sure to get the most vitamins from fortified breakfast cereals, drink the leftover milk, says Richard Wood, Ph.D., of Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center.

PROSTATE CANCER, PART III - conventional treatment for prostate cancer can include surgically removing part or all of the prostate gland and radiation therapy. These methods may leave the patient impotent, incontinent or both. But a new option is being used now that involves placing a rice-sized radioactive "seed" directly in the prostate gland. This sharply reduces the risk of complications. Researchers at Seattle's Northwest Tumor Institute claim this new outpatient technique is 100% effective in controlling aggressive, early-state prostate cancer. In a five-year clinical trial, implants of TheraSeed-Palladium stopped the spread of cancer in each of 111 men with significant tumors. Men's Health 7/95

VITAMIN E, THE LUBRICANT - as previously reported in "Crossfeed", vitamin E supplements can reduce risk of heart disease and certain cancers. But there was debate on the amount that needed to be consumed for these benefits to be attained. Now according to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 400 IU of vitamin E supplements taken daily significantly lowers the chances of LDL cholesterol sticking to artery walls. This is significant as many multivitamin tablets contain only 50 to 100 IU of vitamin E. According to the study, this lower amount of vitamin E would not be as effective in reducing risk of heart disease as consuming the 400 IU daily.

TONIGHT'S TOP 10 LIST: FOODS THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER EAT;

10. Regular turkey or chicken franks - just because it's not beef doesn't mean that it is healthy. Turkey franks by Tyson, Weaver, or Mr. Turkey contain 11 to 12 grams of fat each. But Butterball, Healthy Choice, and Oscar Mayer make turkey, pork, or beef franks with zero to 1 1/2 grams of fat. Read those labels!


9. Contradina Alfredo Sauce - equates to 1/3 of a stick of butter in terms of fat. Instead try Enrico's No Salt Added, Tree of Life, Colavita, or Classico's Spicy Red Pepper spaghetti sauces. All are low in bad stuff, but reported to be quite tasty.

8. Nissin Cup Noodles with Shrimp - these noodles are fried (in palm oil, yet) and salted (yielding over 1,550 mg of sodium). Instead try Fantastic Foods Chicken Free Ramen Noodles.

7. McDonald's French Fries - 22 grams of artery-clogging fat plus salt adds up to a heart attack snack.

6. Dunkin' Donuts Plain Cake Doughnut - yes, you turned-down the glazed and creme-filled beauties, but that plain cake doughnut was fried in shortening, much to your cholesterol's detriment.

5. 78% LEAN GROUND BEEF - which is 22% fat which is bad. Ground beef that is 90% lean may be classed as "lean". But even this "lean" product has 11 grams of fat in three ounces of cooked meat (if you let the fat drip off). Fat can be cut to three grams if your local butcher grinds up turkey breast without skin. Products that list turkey as their only ingredient could contain skin-it's part of the turkey, but it is very fatty.

4. RICE-A-RONI CHICKEN & VEGETABLES - one cup contains 1,470 mg of sodium - over 1/2 the daily max. Veggies are sparse in this product - the name should have been "Rice & Salt"! Substitute Marrakesh Express CousCous or Terrazza Pasta & Beans, which cuts about 90% of the salt. Even Uncle Ben's Country Inn Recipes (Chicken & Rice) has less than half the sodium of the Rice-A-Roni.

3. OSCAR MAYER LUNCHABLES - contains more fat than a Quarter Pounder and twice as much salt. Try Reduced Fat Triscuits (they're whole wheat) and a couple slices of Louis Rich Oven Roasted Fat Free Turkey Breast. Almost no fat and less than half the sodium.

2. HAAGEN-DAZS EXTRAAS - each cup has more fat than two Big Macs. Try low-fat or non-fat frozen yogurt, instead. (No toppings, please!)

1. STICK BUTTER OR MARGARINE - don't buy either if it's in a stick. One tablespoon of stick stuff has seven grams of saturated fat, a third of a day's worth. Instead, try a tub. Even butter has less fat if it comes whipped in a tub. Best bet of all; squeeze bottles (less fats) or butter substitutes in baking (like prune butter or apple sauce). Nutrition Action Health Letter 4/95


LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE - two new studies offer further evidence that laughter does indeed have healing power, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In the first study, 10 healthy men were shown an hour-long humorous videotape (perhaps your last PC!). Immediately afterward, their blood showed an increase in interferon-gamma, an important healing chemical in the immune system. In the second, stress was measured in subjects shown a videotape of gory accidents. When they were asked to describe the accidents in a humorous way, physical measurements indicated their stress levels were lower than when they were asked to give a serious description. Men's Health 7/95

From the Flight Surgeon:

"LIFE'S LITTLE (PRESSURE) UPS AND DOWNS"

by Joe Battersby, D.O.

FAA Medical Examiner

[insert Battersby article here]

(I will fax Battersby's article to you this week-LK)