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
BLOOD TRIGLYCERIDES – high blood triglycerides can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke two ways. First, when triglycerides are high, the body makes harmful
To lower high triglyceride levels, exercise at least three days a week for a minimum of 45 minutes a day. Eating more vegetables and whole grains and consuming fewer refined carbohydrates can help lower lipid levels.
Tomatoes seem especially helpful in lowering lipid levels. In a study, young adults who consumed lots of fresh tomatoes experienced lower triglyceride levels -- and higher HDL (good) cholesterol levels after only 6 weeks. Participants in the study noshed on lots of tomatoes every day -- almost 3 cups of the fresh fruit. Tomatoes and tomato juice are rich in phenols. Researchers credit these disease-fighting compounds with helping to keep unhealthful blood fats in check.
Also, choosing monounsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil over saturated fats and limiting alcohol to no more than two drinks daily may aid in the reduction of lipid levels. Lastly, snacking on nuts may also help: people who ate 2 ½ ounces of nuts daily for three to eight weeks reduced high triglyceride levels by as much as 10 percent, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Men’s Health 1/11, Real Age 2/7/11.
RESEARCH LINKS DIET SODA TO STROKE – a new study raises concerns about diet soda, finding higher risk for stroke and heart attach among people who drink it every day as compared to those who drink no soda at all. Researchers asked 2,500 adults over age 40 in the New York area to fill out diet surveys and then tracked their health for 10 years. They found that daily diet soda drinkers had a 48 percent higher risk of stroke or heart attach than people who drank no soda of any kind. The scientists have no chemical or biological explanation. One solution that they offered to soda drinkers: Drink water instead of soda.
This study is not proof that diet sodas cause people to have strokes or heart attacks, but it is never a surprise to see processed, low-nutrient foods such as diet sodas associated with causing less-than-optimal health.
Non-diet soda consumption also carries a number of health risks. Drinking just two or more sodas a week could raise the risk of pancreatic cancer by 87 percent over that of people who do not drink sodas. According to a study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the sugar in soda spikes insulin levels, and repeated insulin spikes may promote cancer in pancreatic cells. USA Today 2/11/11, Men’s Health 12/10
THINK YOU ARE HAVING A HEART ATTACK? – if you have symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain, chew and swallow one adult aspirin tablet (325 milligrams) immediately while you seek medical help. This can help dissolve the blood clot, if there is one. If you have only low-dose aspirin, chew four of them. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 10/10.
GENES AND OBESITY – A British study found that even those people who have inherited a genetic susceptibility to obesity can reduce this risk by 40 percent through regular exercise. The researchers found that people who have obesity-prone genes may benefit from increased physical activity more than people whose genes guard against it. Men’s Health 1/11.
ANOTHER REASON TO AVOID JUNK FOOD – the phosphorus compounds used as additives in junk food like Twinkies may raise the risk of cardiac and kidney diseases. Read the labels of some of these “foods” – the additives go by names like “disodium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, and sodium aluminum phosphate.” (Better yet, avoid processed foods altogether and snack on fruits and vegetables. LK) Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
LESS OF A “KICK” FOR REGULAR COFFEE DRINKERS – a study suggested that caffeine is not so stimulating for people who drink coffee regularly. For them, caffeinated beverages merely counter the effects of caffeine withdrawal (such as headaches and a decreased ability to pay attention) and only restore a normal state of alertness, according to British researchers.
The study included moderate to heavy coffee drinkers, as well as people who rarely or never drank caffeinated beverages. Participants abstained from caffeine for 16 hours, and then were given a capsule containing caffeine or a placebo. It turned out that the regular coffee drinkers who consumed the caffeine were no more alert than the infrequent drinkers who had the placebo. The infrequent coffee drinkers got more of a stimulant effect from the caffeine. The more coffee you consume on a regular basis, the more you build up a tolerance for it. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 10/10.
WALK TO REMEMBER – if you are 55 or older, put down the crossword puzzle and take a walk. Scientists have found that moderate aerobic activity can improve seniors’ memory by reversing the slow-wasting away of a key part of the brain, which begins at around 50. It used to be thought that aging was a one-way street that was going the wrong direction, but recent research proves that is not the case. A study recruited 120 sedentary adults between ages of 55 to 80. Half got their heart rates up by walking for 40 minutes, three times a week; the other half did stretching and weight exercises instead. After a year, scientists scanned each walker’s brain and found that the hippocampus, where memories are formed, had grown by an average of 2 percent. By contrast, the stretchers’ hippocampi had shrunk 1.4 percent, as expected. The walkers performed no better than the stretchers on a test of spatial memory. However, among the walkers, those who had the biggest boost in hippocampus size also had the biggest boost in test scores.
Though more study is needed, initial results indicate that a brisk walk several times a week can roll back the pace of age-related memory loss by about two years. The Week 2/18/11, Nutrition Action Healthletter 3/11.
LOW-SODIUM DIETS - are good for your heart. Research shows that a low-sodium diet may also keep cancer risk lower. A Japanese study suggests that diets with ample amounts of added dietary sodium may increase the risk of cancer – increasing the risk by as much as 15 percent. The Japanese subjects in this study acquired most of their added sodium by eating pickled vegetables and salt-cured fish. Those in the study whose diets included the most pickled items and salt-preserved fish had a higher risk of cancer compared with the people who consumed the lowest amounts of these foods. All it took was the equivalent of a couple of dill pickle spears a day and a 1-ounce serving of salted, dried fish to put people in the high-consumer group.
A growing body of research suggests that salt is more than a blood-pressure spiker. Too much of it may also raise the risk of several types of cancer, especially stomach cancer. In the recent Japanese study, researchers suspect that not only the sodium but also other compounds in salty foods may open the door to cancer-causing cell changes. It could be that high amounts of salt injure the stomach lining and set the stage for stomach cancer. Or it might be that other compounds in certain salted foods may be carcinogenic (one example: the N-nitroso compounds in salt-cured fish). Real Age 02/12/11.
