CROSSFEED 4-97
AEROMEDICAL NEWS
HEALTH NEWS
by Larry Kline
PROTECT YOUR EYES - according to Donald Pitts, OD, Ph.D., of the University of Houston’s department of optometry, one must protect your eyes from cumulative sun damage to preserve sight and maintain night vision and color perception. Pitts recommends large, wrap-around glasses that cover the entire eye area and stop rays from entering from the sides or top. He also says to look for lenses that shield a wave band of at least 380 nanometers of light. Don’t be fooled by vague claims, either. “Sunglasses could read ‘100 percent UV protection,’ but you have to look for the wave band,” recommends Pitts. Be especially eye prudent of the water, at the beach or while running on pavement. Reflection from these surfaces can increase your UV exposure by as much as 35 percent. Prime Health & Fitness Summer/97.
Healthfact No. 1 - after heart disease, stroke, and cancer, hospital-acquired infections are the nation’s next biggest cause of death. Health 11/96.
TRENDY HEALTH RISK - cigar smoking is becoming very vogue and chic...it is also very dangerous for your health! According to the president of the Academy of General Dentistry, “...cigars can have up to 40 times the nicotine and tar of cigarettes.” That means four cigars per week roughly equals smoking a pack of cigarettes every day - nicotine-wise.
“Yeah, but I don’t inhale...!” Doesn’t matter. Nicotine is absorbed into your system much faster under your tongue, in fact just chomping on an unlit cigar is just as risky as chewing a wad of tobacco, boosting your chances of oral cancer and cardiovascular disease, not to mention brown teeth. Men’s Health 11/97.
STRETCH MARK RELIEF - University of Michigan researchers say that 80% of people who applied retinoic acid daily for six months reduced the length of their stretch marks by an average of 14 percent and the width by 8 percent. Health 5/97.
TOMATOES AND FAT TEAM UP FOR HEALTH - tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene, a phytochemical that may be a more powerful antioxidant than beta-carotene. However, lycopene is fat-soluble, meaning that it needs a little fat in the rest of the meal - about 20 per cent of calories - to be digested properly. This doesn’t mean that french fries and catsup are healthy - way too much saturated fat! Men’s Fitness 10/97.
HERBAL BASICS - herbals are proving to be very popular as an alternative/compliment to conventional medicine. Many are being used safely with good effectiveness. The following list contains a few that may be considered in the future as needed for minor ills such as an upset stomach - for more serious ailments, consult a doctor first:
*Chamomile - can prevent gut spasm. As a tea, it can settle stomach aches and relieve menstrual cramps.
*Echinacea - mildly stimulates the immune system. Used in tinctures or tablets at the first sign of a cold or flu, it may ward off illness. (The most recommended herbal in Europe.)
*Feverfew - in tablets, capsules, and extracts can prevent migraines.
*Ginger - sold as teas, capsules, and candied slices, relieves motion sickness and postoperative nausea.
*Ginkgo (ginkgo biloba) - improves circulation. In capsules, tablets, and extracts, it appears to boost short-term memory and to alleviate headaches and tinnitus.
*Saint-John’s wort - as a tincture or in capsules can help relieve mild depression - works as well as Prozac without the side effects.
*Valerian - is a gentle tranquilizer. Sold in capsules, tablets, and tinctures, it can ease the restless to sleep. Health 5/97.
TEA AND MILK DON’T MIX - studies show that while black and green teas provide plenty of antioxidants, adding milk can inhibit their absorption, as a protein in milk may make them indigestible. Men’s Fitness 10/97.
HIGH CARBO DIET INCREASES RISKS FOR DIABETES - a diet high in certain types of carbohydrates can dramatically raise the risk of diabetes. Researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that a diet high in carbohydrates which mainly came from low-fiber foods were two-and-a-half times more likely to have ended up with diabetes. These low fiber foods mainly consisted of refined grains (white bread), sugars, and potatoes. All of these foods rank high on a scale known as the glycemic index, meaning that in the body they’re speedily converted into the blood sugar glucose. To help the body process glucose, the pancreas must produce insulin. The more high-glycemic foods you eat, the harder the pancreas must work. If the diet consists mainly of these kinds of foods, the pancreas is taxed to product the necessary insulin to process the glucose.
Fiber is the key to keeping a high-carbohydrate diet heathy. It seems to slow digestion and prevent large amounts of glucose from impacting the bloodstream all at once.. It doesn’t take much fiber to slow digestion to the point where there is no insulin spike. In the mentioned study, only 10 grams of fiber separated those with the highest and lowest risk - about the amount contained in a bowl of whole-grain cereal. Other good sources are whole wheat bread, brown rice, and whole grain pastas. Health 5/97.
Healthfact No. 2 - a driver’s risk of getting in a wreck quadruples when he or she is talking on the carphone/cell phone. Health 5/97.
DON’T LICK YOUR BALLS! - your golf balls that is! Recently The British Medical Journal reported a new hazard dubbed “golf ball liver.” In Ireland, a 65-year-old retired engineer experienced lethargy and abdominal discomfort, dark urine and jaundice. He was diagnosed with hepatitis, which he apparently contracted by his habit of licking his golf ball to clean it. The weedkiller used on his golf course was 2,4-D...better known as Agent Orange. Researchers warn against cleaning one’s ball in this manner, also against placing golf tees in one’s mouth - honest! UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, 8/97.
TEAMWORK IS BEST - at least with antioxidants. For years scientists thought that any of the key antioxidants - vitamin E, vitamin C, or beta-carotene -could battle free radicals which invade healthy cells and attack crucial parts of the molecular machinery to steal electrons. The resulting mutations can lead to cancer, heart disease, and other ills. But when smokers taking beta-carotene supplements actually showed a heightened risk of lung cancer, researchers began scrambling for an explanation.
Recent studies in Great Britain indicates that it takes a chain reaction involving all three antioxidants to defeat free radicals. Vitamin E initiates the protection by giving up an electron to the free radicals, thereby preventing damage to cells. This, however, turn vitamin E into a potential free radical itself. The damaged vitamin E molecule gets repaired by beta-carotene, then the beta-carotene is fixed by vitamin C - when there is enough of it around in the bloodstream and tissues. Because vitamin C is soluble in water, its radicals wash safely out of the body.
“Nutrients act in a certain combination and a certain order...you can’t separate antioxidants from one another and expect a positive result,” says Paul Lachance, a food scientist at Rutgers University. Health 7/97.
SAFER BBQ - in past articles, we have written about the risk of charcoal grilling - i.e., the carcinogenic compounds that result from barbequing. A recent study underwritten by the National Cancer Institute showed that a whole chicken breast marinated in olive oil, cider vinegar, brown sugar, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, and salt produced fewer heterocyclic amines than unmarinated chicken when grilled on a propane grill for 30 minutes. These substances, produced when meats are cooked at high temperatures, promote cancer. Marinating reduced some of them by 99%. UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, 7/97.
THE RISK OF DIPPING - smokeless tobacco users are at quadruple the risk of oral cancers as are non-smokeless users. Stanford University Research - ABC Evening News 10/7/97.
STRETCHING FOR HEALTH - yes, I know that we’ve written about it before, and this borders on “nagging”, but the data is clear! If you want an active retirement, include stretching into your exercise regime. Researchers at Stanford Medical School tracked two groups of people over the age of 65 as they began exercising four times a week. Half of the group took up walking, low-impact aerobics, and strength training, and the other half did stretching and flexibility exercises. After one year those in the strength and endurance group had improved their cardiovascular fitness, were burning more calories each day, and had stronger muscles-findings in line with previous studies. But that group also suffered more everyday aches and pains.
Those who did only the stretching didn’t improve their strength or aerobic capacity, but they experienced far fewer aches and pains, compared both with their own experience before the program and with that of the other group.
The researchers believe that stretching delivers its benefits by relaxing muscles, improving circulation to muscles and joints, and increasing range of motion to make movement easier. They have also found that the earlier one starts stretching, the better mobility was retained as the subjects aged. It is apparent that a proper exercise regime contains all three elements; cardiovascular fitness, strength training, and stretching to maintain overall health and fitness. Health 7/97.
Healthfact No. 3 - give me a McCoronary and fries... - every day 7 percent of the U.S. population eats at McDonald’s. Men’s Fitness 6/97.
YOU CAN’T GET STONED ON YOUR BACK - experts have long suspected that kidney stones grow at night; lying motionless for hours could permit acid and calcium in urine to form crystals. Now Japanese investigators have found that people with a history of kidney stones are more likely to sleep on their stomachs. Health 7/97.
From the Flight Surgeon:
"NEW AROUND HERE, ‘AINCHA?'"
by Joe Battersby, D.O.
FAA Medical Examiner
(edited for this publication-LK)
[insert Battersby article here]
(I will fax Battersby article to you later - LK)
