Health News

REPORTING POINT EXPRESS 03-03

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...live well”

by Larry Kline

SWAPA Voice Mailbox 511/email: skyguy737@cox.net

SUPPLEMENTS THAT MAY AID MUSCLE GROWTH - there is no substitute for a healthy diet, but the following supplements may aid muscle growth:

Multivitamin/Mineral - to ensure adequate crucial vitamin availability. The B vitamins, for example, help the body absorbs food properly.

Creatine - for most of its energy needs the body relies on carbohydrates and fats. However, to fuel short burst of energy, such as weight lifting or sprinting, it uses a substance known as ATP. At maximum exertion, the muscles contain only 10 to 15 seconds worth of ATP.

Through a series of biochemical reactions, creatine helps replenish ATP in the muscles, providing additional energy. Creatine also induces water into the muscle cells, and helps remove lactic acid buildup that results from strenuous resistance training.

Glutamine - reported to contribute to protein synthesis, and helps prevent muscle tissue breakdown, elevating growth-hormone levels, and supports the body's immune system.

Conjugated linoleic acid - CLA is a nonessential fatty acid that, taken as a supplement, has been shown to help burn body fat while preserving muscle mass. Men's Fitness 4/02.

THE WEAKEST DRINK - do not drink coffee or Coke if you take creatine supplements; the caffeine, even in small amounts, almost completely blocks the benefits of creatine. Creatine has been shown to boost lean body mass and improve athletic performance. Researchers in Belgium believe the problem is caused by caffeine’s effect on calcium levels in the body. While creatine makes more calcium available to muscles - improving their ability to flex, contract, and grow - caffeine appears to have the opposite and stronger effect of limiting calcium availability. Men’s Health 7/02.

HOPE FOR ALZHEIMER’S - a drug made from the bulbs of daffodils may provide successful treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease. In recent trials, Reminyl significantly improved patients’ cognitive performance and memory. The drug is now available. Men’s Health 6/01.

PROTECTING YOUR CHILD WHILE DRIVING - once they outgrow child safety seats, young children should be strapped into booster seats in the back seat of the car until they weigh 80 pounds and/or are 4'9" tall. A recent study found that only 17% of kids between the ages of 4 and 8 are placed in such booster seats, and only 1% of those between 6 and 8. Safety belts are not designed for children’s small bodies; a belt can slip up and cross a child’s neck, which is dangerous in a crash. A booster seat raises a child so that the seat/shoulder belt fits properly. For details about child safety in cars, visit the government’s traffic-safety website, www.nhtsa.dot.gov. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 1/02.

A NEW THEORY OF MENOPAUSE - for years, scientists have blamed menopause on aging ovaries. But researchers at the University of Michigan School of Nursing suspect another culprit: circadian rhythms, the body’s built-in clock that, among other things, regulates regular sleep schedule.

It has been conventional wisdom that women experience menopause because the ovaries get old and run out of eggs. Now the researchers are testing the hypothesis that menopause starts in the brain rather than in the ovary. To do that, they have compiled a group of about 45 women, aged between 40 and 50, and are tracking the presence of the hormone that controls reproduction. Through blood samples drawn every 10 minutes for 24 hours, the researchers are looking for patterns in daily hormone fluctuations to see if they correspond to circadian cycles.

The researchers hope to identify and analyze some of the mechanisms involved in normal menopause and hope to apply this information to the treatment of premature menopause or some of the infertility problems associated with normal aging. Results of this study should be available very soon. Health 7/01.

SUGAR MAKES YOU OLD - the body constantly produces a small number of free radicals - molecules that roam over body tissue, advancing aging and increasing heart-disease risk. Until recently, scientists had no idea that sugary goods cause the body’s production of free radicals to soar. State University of New York researchers made the discovery after having 20 volunteers drink either 75 grams of sugar water or a substitute. Saccharin had no impact on free-radical levels, but glucose cause levels to balloon by more than 250 percent. Antioxidants like vitamins C and E counteract some free-radical damage. Men’s Health 1/01.

COMPARING AB EXERCISES - researchers at San Diego State University used electromyograph (EMG) machines to measure muscle activity during 13 different ab exercises. Here are the rankings from best to worst- (score represents percentage more or less of activity generated by the rectus abdominis muscles during the exercise, compared with the traditional crunch - which has a baseline score of 100):

Bicycle Maneuver (248) - lie on your back, with your hands behind your head - use a bicycle-pedaling motion to crunch your left knee to your right elbow; then alternate sides.

Hanging Knee Raise (212) - while hanging from a chinup bar or supporting your weight on your arms on a dip bar, bring your knees up to your chest.

Crunch on an Exercise Ball (139) - lie back on a Swiss ball with your feet flat on the floor and the ball supporting your lower back and perform a crunch.

Vertical-leg Crunch (129) - lie on your back, bend your knees slightly, and raise your legs so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Crunch while keeping your legs still.

Torso Track Machine (127) - kneel and push the machine away from you until your arms are stretched beyond your head. Use your abdominals to pull the machine back.

Long-arm Crunch (119) - lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Crunch while keeping your arms straight and in line with your head.

Reverse Crunch (109) - lie on your back and crunch your knees toward your chest.

Crunch with Heel Push (107) - lie on your back with your knees bent, heels on the floor, and toes up; perform a standard crunch.

Ab Roller (105) - positioning the device to support your back, use it to simulate a standard crunch.

Bridge (100) - get in a standard pushup position, but put your weight on your elbows instead of your hands; hold for as long as you can.

Traditional Crunch (100) - lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and hands behind your head; crunch.

Exercise-Tubing Pull (92) - at a cable machine, hold a piece of tubing or a rope attachment with your arms parallel to the floor. Pull it down until they are almost perpendicular to the floor.

Ab Rocker (21) - on this machine that looks like a chair, crunch down from a sitting position. Men’s Health 6/01.

COFFEE, TEA, OR...? - the antioxidant effect of tea has gotten lots of publicity, but coffee, and hot cocoa may have similar, possibly even greater effects, according to a recent laboratory study. Swiss researchers found that coffee and cocoa protected LDL (bad) cholesterol from oxidation longer than black or herbal teas did (oxidation of LDL increases the risk of coronary artery damage). Decaf had the same effect, as did coffee containing milk. Of course, what happens in a test tube may not happen in the body, but it has long been known that, like many plant-based foods, coffee, cocoa, and tea contain antioxidant compounds called polyphenols. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 1/02.

QUIT SMOKING BY GARGLING - researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo have developed a mouthwash that alters the taste of cigarette smoke. The new mouthwash reacts with nicotine, altering its flavor and making it taste unbearably bad. In a test of 20 hard-core, long-term smokers, most couldn’t get past the first puff. The mouthwash lasts 3 to 4 hours and has no effect on the tastes of other food - should be available very soon. Men’s Health 1/01.

ASPIRIN AND IBUPROFEN DON’T MIX - if you take low-dose aspirin to protect your heart, don’t take ibuprofen (such as Motrin or Advil) during the few hours before it, since it can block the anti-clotting effect of the aspirin, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prolonged use of ibuprofen three times a day was also found to block aspirin’s effect. But occasionally taking ibuprofen two hours after the aspirin did not have this effect. Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) and Vioxx (a prescription pain reliever) did not block the aspirin (naproxen, another over-the-counter pain reliever, was not studied). So if you take ibuprofen regularly, as many arthritis sufferers do, you may be cancelling out the benefit of the low-dose aspirin. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about how these drugs may interact, which ones you should be taking, and when you should take them. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 3/02.

THE MAGIC OF “VEGGIES” - you know by now that eating vegetables is good for you, but just how do vegetables protect you from cancer? In some cases, they trigger the body’s own defenses, a new study suggests. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health found that mice unable to produce a particular protein were more prone to developing stomach cancer than were normal mice - mice that lacked the protein had higher cancer rates even if they were given a chemical known to be protective against cancer.

This protein, called nrf2, spurs cells to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing substances. The best way to stimulate the production of nrf2 in the body is to eat vegetables. Chemicals in certain plants, particularly cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, activate nrf2 production. Green leafy vegetables also contain these helpful chemicals.

Increasing production of nrf2 is important whether you are man or mouse. The researchers of the report believe that elevating the level of these detoxifying enzymes can enhance the resistance to carcinogens in the body. Health 7/01.

”Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.” Doug Larson