Health News

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

Past issues of “Health News” are available at http://livehealthy-livewell.blogspot.com/. It includes a search engine; just enter a key word to find past articles. LK

A BETTER CONTACT LENSE – if you wear contact lenses, ask your eye-care provider about ones that block ultraviolet light. These lenses help reduced the risk of cataracts and other damage to the eye caused by UV exposure. Do not let these lenses give you a false sense of security. They vary in how much UV they block, and they don’t protect the sclera (whites of the eyes) and lids, which are also susceptible to sun damage. You should still wear sunglasses. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 8/10.

SWEET RELIEF FOR A COUGH – honey is a powerful cough suppressant. When scientists at Penn State University had parents of sick children administer either honey or dextromethorphan (the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough medicines), the honey was better at lessening cough frequency and severity.

Being thick and syrupy, honey may calm the irritation in the back of the throat that causes coughing. Try two teaspoons of buckwheat honey, the high-antioxidant variety used in the study. If the symptoms do not improve soon after that, go see a doctor. Men’s Health 4/08.

WATCHING YOUR WEIGHT? – if you are watching your weight, eating more protein at breakfast may help you consume fewer daily calories. A study from the University of Connecticut showed men who ate a high-protein egg breakfast reported less hunger several hours later and consumed 112 fewer calories at lunch, on average – and 400 fewer calories over the entire day, compared to when they ate a bagel for breakfast. The egg breakfast also helped keep blood sugar more steady and suppressed ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger. The fat in the eggs may also have contributed to the appetite-suppressing effect, not just the protein. Other protein sources are likely to have a similar effect. This research was funded by the egg industry. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 8/10.

"Enough is as good as a feast" Tom Magliozzi of "Car Talk...Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers.

WHEN TO TAKE VITAMIN D - vitamin D has risen to the ranks of nutritional superstardom. Research suggests this nutrient will perform best if you take it during your biggest meal of the day -- be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

VITAMIN D FOR DINNER?

About three-quarters of us are deficient in vitamin D. A growing body of research links this nutrient to a list of health benefits, such as lower blood pressure, stronger bones, better immunity, and possibly even a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers. One easy way to get your D is to spend some time outside each day; just 10 to 20 minutes of sun during peak hours is all you need. But a supplement is a great backup plan. And when researchers examined D-deficient middle-aged and older adults, they found that pairing the supplement with the largest meal of their day -- rather than small meals, snacks, or an empty stomach -- doubled the participants' blood levels.

WHO SHOULD BE TESTED FOR VITAMIN D LEVELS?

Current evidence is that blood levels should not be lower than 30 nanograms per milliliter (officially known as the 25-hydroxy vitamin D test). About three-quarters of all adults and children are deficient in the sunshine vitamin -- so called because your body can make D when exposed to enough of the sun's ultraviolet rays. If you run chronically low on this vitamin, your risk goes up for several forms of cancer (including breast, colon, and ovarian) as well as heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma, type-2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and high blood pressure.

Being sun smart can make you low on D, as can being dark-skinned, obese (D is stored in fat, where it's less bioavailable), or elderly (older bodies don't synthesize vitamin D as well). You can also be low if you have trouble digesting fats or live north of 35 degrees latitude (anything above Atlanta, GA) in winter, where the sun's rays aren't strong enough for you to create D.

It is preferred that you get vitamins from food, but in D's case, that is difficult to do. Good food sources are egg yolks and fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), but you'd have to eat six ounces of salmon or 47 egg yolks a day to get the 1,000 international units (IU) that are generally recommended as a daily dose. Even fortified milk, orange juice, or cereal supplies only 100 IU per serving. That means you have to supplement. Aim for 1,000 IU daily; 1,200 if you're over 60. The daily upper intake level for D is 2,000 IU a day -- so anything up to that is generally considered safe.

Go back to your doctor and ask for the test. Some people need more than 2,000 IU a day to get enough.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

A recent study raised the possibility that high blood levels of vitamin D could increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The higher risk was only seen in people from states with low sun exposure (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, in this study), and it was not linked to how much vitamin D people were getting from supplements. Those with higher blood levels of vitamin D (at least 40 nanograms per milliliter of blood) were roughly twice as likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer as those with lower levels. Only about 3 percent of people have levels of 40 ng/mL Helping to define the risk of supplementing with greater amounts than what is currently recommended, the government funded a massive vitamin D intervention trial of giving people 2,000 IU a day or a placebo. Taking too much calcium without vitamin D may also pose a health risk. British researchers reported that high doses of calcium from supplements – 1,000 mg a day – without vitamin D raised the risk of heart attacks, but only in people who were already getting more than 800 mg of calcium from food.

GOOD SOURCES OF VITAMIN D

There are three ways to get vitamin D: food, sunlight, and supplements. If you're not getting enough from your diet, or you don't spend much time outdoors (just 10–20 minutes in the sun can significantly boost your body's production of vitamin D), take a daily vitamin D supplement.

Salmon, canned (3 ounces)	530 IU
Salmon, cooked (3.5 ounces)	240–360 IU
Tuna, canned (3 ounces)	200 IU
Soymilk, fortified (8 ounces)	100 IU
Orange juice, fortified (8 ounces)	100 IU
Milk, low fat, fortified (8 ounces)	98 IU
Cereal, fortified (1 cup)	40–50 IU
Eggs (1 large)	20–26 IU
Swiss cheese (1 ounce)	12 IU

RealAge - Eating Well, Nutrition Action Healthletter 9/10. Nutrition Action Healthletter 7/10.

MELANOMA DRUG SHRINKS TUMORS – a small study of an experimental drug for advanced melanoma – a brutal disease that often kills within nine months – is giving rare hope to doctors and patients.

The pill, known as PLX4032, does not cure melanoma, and it helps only the roughly 50 percent of melanoma patients whose tumors have a mutation in a key gene called BRAF. But among those patients in the study, 81 percent saw their tumors shrink and these patients were able to hold the disease in check for a median of seven months.

No other drug has ever helped that high a percentage of patients with melanoma or any other solid tumor. The results are especially significant considering that only 10 to 20 percent of patients respond to standard treatments for melanoma, which do not improve overall survival.

The most common side effects are fatigue, rash, and joint pain, but some patients also developed non-lethal skin cancers,

Until recently, patients have had few treatment options. Now researchers are looking at developing drugs similar to PLX4032, which could be key as cancer often can mutate to get around one roadblock.

For the future, the scientists hope to routinely test patients’ tumors for their genetic makeup, then prescribe a drug combination to keep melanoma under control for years. USAToday 8/26/10.