REPORTING POINT 02/14
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
“THE WANING DAYS OF A MEDIOCRE CAREER….” a phrase shared with me years ago by my good friend, Captain Carl Lueking. He related that a good old boy from west Texas who he used to fly with would deliver this line when they flew together in the corporate world. It always struck me as humorous and pleasantly self-effacing.
As I approach my retirement, I am truly grateful for being part of something very special at Southwest for the past three decades. Now that this is the final installment of the Health News that I will deliver, I can look back, reflect, and truly hope that our efforts have aided you and your families in making better, more informed decisions concerning health, fitness, and wellness. In the 22 years that we have published the Health News (Live Healthy-Live Well), conventional health and wellness wisdom has often changed: Certain touted supplements came and went and trendy diets flashed then vanished, many promising to be the “silver bullet” to health. There are no short cuts to living a healthy lifestyle; it takes consistent exercise (both resistance and cardiovascular), proper nutrition with minimal processed foods, post-exercise stretching, rest, and a balance of life’s demands.
A fresh attitude and outlook will commence next month when Dror Erez and Eli Berko assume the responsibility of creating the Health News. The best legacy that I can hope for is that you will continue to embrace living a healthy lifestyle for your own sake as well as for your family. The example you set will continue on with your progeny. May you all be blessed in health, life, love, and success. LK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASTHMA RELIEF –
eating lots of vegetables and fruits may help reduce asthma symptoms. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition had adults with asthma eat
either a high-antioxidant diet (including five servings of vegetables and two
servings of fruit a day) or a low-antioxidant diet for two weeks. Those in the
high-antioxidant group had better lung function and were less likely to have
symptoms worsen than the low-antioxidant group.
University of California Berkeley
Wellness Letter, 01/13.
3 = 0 – three
degrees treadmill incline most closely mimics hiking or jogging on a level
trail. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research.
BEATING A COLD –
there is no antiviral treatment for a cold, but there is good evidence that an
over-the-counter drug may help reduce the severity and duration of a cold. A study published in the American Journal of Rhinology and Allergy found that people who
used a decongestant nasal spray containing oxymetazoline (such as Afrin) three times a day had lower
levels of the rhinovirus in their mucus.
By decreasing some of the viruses in the body’s mucus, the spread of the
virus can be slowed. Make sure you wait
to use the spray until the second and third days of your cold, when rhinovirus
levels are at their peak concentration.
Spraying for longer than three days can cause swollen blood vessels,
leading to more congestion.
Two other
tips to help beat colds are drug-free: take frequent sips of water or broth
during the day (a cold can dehydrate you) and get plenty of rest. People who sleep less than seven hours a night
are three times more likely to catch a cold than people who sleep at least
eight hours a night. Men’s Health, 01/11.
40% OF MOTHERS introduce
solid foods to their babies too soon.
Babies should not start solid foods until they are 4 months old. WebMD,
06/13.
ASPIRIN MAY REDUCE
THE RISK OF MELANOMA – a study from the Women’s Health Initiative, which
involved nearly 60,000 white women aged 50 to 79, found that those who took
aspirin at least twice a week were 21 percent less likely to develop melanoma
than non-users during the 12-year study.
The longer the subjects took aspirin, the greater the apparent
benefit. Researchers controlled for
factors such as age, sun exposure, sunscreen use, vitamin D intake, and medical
history. Other pain relievers did not
affect melanoma risk.
Long-term
aspirin use may cause gastrointestinal bleeding so it is not recommended to
take aspirin solely for reducing the risk of melanoma, but if you take aspirin
for other reasons, there may be added health benefits. University
of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 08/13.
FISH LIST – two
servings of fatty fish per week could add a few years to your life and lower
your risk for fatal heart disease. Fatty
fish, such as salmon, tuna, trout, and mackerel, is high in healthy omega-3
fatty acid and vitamins A and D. In a
16-year study of people 65 and older who ate fish (but did not take fish oil
supplements), those with the highest levels of omega-3s in their blood at the
start of the study (the equivalent of eating about two servings of fatty fish
per week) cut their overall risk of death by 27 percent and their risk of dying
from heart disease by 35 percent and lived 2.2 years longer than those who had
the lowest levels of omega-3s. Annals of Internal Medicine-WebMD, 06/13.
AN APPLE A DAY… a study from Florida State University in the Journal of the American Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics found that people who ate dried apples for a year (about 2 ½
ounces a day, the equivalent to about two medium-size apples) decreased their
LDL (bad) cholesterol by 24 percent,
on average, and improved other cardiovascular risk factors. Apples are a major source of pectin, a
soluble fiber known to lower cholesterol, as well as polyphenols (such a
quercetin) that have other heart-healthy properties. The test subjects lost about three pounds,
possibly because the insoluble fiber in the dried apples suppressed hunger and
thus food intake. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 11/12.
MORE BENEFITS OF
WINE – it seems that a little wine may be good for your digestive
system. A study from Spain revealed that
people who drank red wine daily for 20 days showed higher levels of beneficial
bacteria in their digestive tracts and also lower levels of a type of Clostridium bacteria linked to bowel
disease and colon cancer. The
researchers speculate that the polyphenol antioxidants in wine may promote a
better balance of bacteria. The study
participants benefited from 9 ounces of wine a day (about two glasses). Men’s
Health, 10/12.
Cholesterol levels linked to early signs of
Alzheimer's in brain - high levels of
“good” HDL cholesterol and low levels of the “bad” LDL kind are not just
helpful for your heart, they’re better for your brain as well, a new study
finds. In fact, the wrong levels of the two types of cholesterol are associated
with more of the protein deposits in the brain associated with the onset of
Alzheimer’s disease.
That’s
according to the first study, published recently in the journal JAMA Neurology, which looked at the
relationship between specific cholesterol levels and brain amyloid deposits in
living humans, not just autopsy patients. The study results found that unhealthy
patterns of cholesterol could be directly causing higher levels of amyloid
known to contribute to Alzheimer’s, in the same way that such patterns promote
heart disease.
Scientists
studied brain scans of patients in stroke clinics and senior centers using
Pittsburgh Compound B, or PIB, a tracer dye that highlights amyloid in the
brain. The patients were, for the most part, normal and free of any symptoms of
dementia. But when the scientists measured the cholesterol in their blood, and separated
out the two types, they found that patients with high levels of low-density
lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL
cholesterol) showed higher PIB levels. That means that the good and bad effects
of the two kinds of cholesterol may occur long before people develop
Alzheimer’s symptoms, perhaps offering a new chance for early intervention.
The
American Heart Association has long said that keeping levels of HDL “good”
cholesterol up — above 60 milligrams per deciliter of blood — and levels of LDL
“bad” cholesterol — below 100 mg/dL — can prevent heart disease, but this new study
underscores the benefit for the brain. When
you look at the biology, HDL seems very important to the brain.
Dr.
Charles DeCarli, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center and a study
co-author, called the work “a wake-up call.” “If you have an LDL above 100 or
an HDL that is less than 40, even if you’re taking a statin drug, you want to
make sure that you are getting those numbers into alignment,” he said. “You
have to get the HDL up and the LDL down.”
JAMA Neurology 01/06/13, 12/01/10.
FASTER IS NOT
BETTER – very fit people tend to have a lower resting heart rate because
consistent aerobic activities strengthen the heart so it pumps more blood with
each contraction.
A Danish
study in the journal Heart followed
2,800 healthy middle-aged and older men for 16 years. They found that for every 10-beats-per-minute
increase over 50, the risk of death rose by 16 percent, after other factors
that can affect heart rate were accounted for.
These
results suggest that in healthy subjects, elevated resting heart rate is not
merely a marker of poor general fitness but an independent risk factor. Previous studies have linked higher resting
heart rate to poorer health outcomes in both healthy people and those with
heart disease, and in both men and women.
A study published in Progress in
Cardiovascular Diseases found that resting heart rate may be a better
predictor of premature death than cholesterol and blood pressure, though there
is no consensus on what an optimal heart rate is and where increased health risks
begin. University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 08/13.
