Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, you might think about putting one on your Christmas list. With this blender on a stick, you can purée the soups right in the pot you cooked them in. I’ve never found a food processor to be efficient for blending soups; there’s too much liquid in the mix, and that can run out of the bowl or prevent the blades from really puréeing the soup. You can achieve a smooth result if you use a blender, but puréeing in a blender is a hassle, and it can be scary, too, as the hot soup will blow the top off the blender if you close it tightly. If you do use a blender, fill the jar only about one-third full, and remove the lid’s detachable center and pull a dish towel down over the top so that the hot soup won’t splash out. ~ Martha Rose Shulman
Ms. Shulman noticed the most popular boxed soup at her supermarket was a tomato and red pepper soup, so she came up with a version of her own.
It will take you only about 10 minutes to prep the ingredients for this comforting soup.
This simple, fragrant soup is delicious as thick vegetable soup, not puréed.
Inspired by a sweet potato and apple purée, this soup also has savory overtones.
White beans and pesto or pistou (pesto without the pine nuts) always make a nice marriage.
Aspirin May Reduce Risk of Repeat Blood Clots
by Kathleen Doheny
Study Finds Daily Aspirin May Slash Repeat Clots in Veins by 40%
Dec. 15, 2011 — A low dose of daily aspirin, taken after completing six to 12 months of anti-clotting drug treatment, may help prevent the recurrence of deadly blood clots, a new study shows.
One doctor went so far as to call the preliminary study a potential “game changer.”
The clots, known as venous thromboembolism or VTE, often occur in the legs. They can travel to the lungs and sometimes be fatal.
“With aspirin, a drug that is low cost, safe, and available worldwide, we can reduce by 40% the incidence of the recurrence of VTE,” says Cecilia Becattini, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Perugia in Italy.
U.S. Heart Health: Lots of Room for Improvement
by Kathleen Doheny
New Report: Heart Disease Deaths Down, but Obesity, Inactivity Threaten Progress
Dec. 15, 2011 — Among seven factors for heart health, almost all Americans have at least one factor at a “poor” level.
The American Heart Association has issued America’s annual heart health report card. While there is good news, much of it is overshadowed by bad news, and we definitely have room for improvement.
The death rate from heart disease and stroke dropped more than 30% between 1998 and 2008, but we’re remiss on habits that help the heart, such as getting regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.
“We have seen a dramatic decline in death due to heart disease and stroke,” says researcher Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, chair of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Sleep Apnea Treatment May Lower Heart Risks
by Salynn Boyles
Study: CPAP Can Lower Many Risk Factors for Heart Disease, Stroke
Dec. 15, 2011 — In addition to improving sleep, an effective treatment for sleep apnea can also improve blood pressure and other risk factors for heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, new research shows.
Continuous positive airway pressure therapy, or CPAP, helps patients with sleep apnea breathe better during sleep by pushing air into the nose through a mask to keep airways open.
The treatment has been shown to improve daytime sleepiness and reduce blood pressure, but its impact on heart disease, stroke, and diabetes risk factors that are common in patients with sleep apnea has not been well understood.
Adult Obesity May Be All in the Family
by Salynn Boyles
Study: Early Family Life Sets Lifelong Ideas About What’s a ‘Normal’ Weight
Dec. 15, 2011 — A few years back, a study made headlines by suggesting that weight gain is socially contagious and that people often catch it from their friends.
Now, new research finds that these social interactions may have little impact on body weight, and that early-life family dietary habits and ideas about weight are much more important predictors of adult obesity.
Before making any final decisions, though, one professor doesn’t put too much stock in either study and says more research is needed.
Still, researcher Heather W. Brown, PhD, of Newcastle University in the U.K., says even after taking into account the impact of shared genes, her research suggests that early-life influences such as family eating habits play a big role in adult weight
Magnet Therapy May Help Stroke Survivors Recover
by Denise Mann
Treatment May Help Retrain the Brain Along With Current Therapy
Dec. 14, 2011 — It can be an all too common scenario for certain stroke survivors. They can’t see or recognize anything on one side of their body.
This condition often occurs after a stroke on the right side of the brain and is typically treated with a combination of physical therapy and brain retraining or mental tasks using a pen and paper or computer. This is often not enough to make a meaningful improvement.
Now new research in Neurology suggests that stimulating the nerve cells in the brain with magnet therapy may aid recovery. During transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a doctor places a large magnetic coil against the patient’s scalp, which creates electric currents to stimulate nerve cells.
Colorectal Cancer on the Rise in Adults Under 50
by Brenda Goodman, MA
High Proportion of Younger Adults Diagnosed With Colorectal Cancer Have Advanced Disease
Dec. 13, 2011 — In some respects, the U.S. is winning the war on cancer. Recent reports show an overall decline in the number of new cancer cases and fewer cancer deaths.
But those gains aren’t being shared by everyone. A case in point: A new study shows that rates of colon and rectal cancers have climbed in younger adults over the last decade.
That’s happening even as colorectal cancer rates have dropped steadily in adults over 50, the age most people are advised to start screening for the disease.
Accidental Drug Overdoses on the Rise Among Kids
by Jennifer Warner
Simple Steps Can Help Prevent the More Than 60,000 Drug Overdoses in Children Each Year
Dec. 13, 2011 — Childproof drug packaging isn’t enough to protect children from the rising number of accidental drug overdoses at home, according to the CDC.
Researchers say more than 60,000 young children in the U.S. are treated in emergency rooms each year for accidental overdoses because they got into medicines when their parent or caregiver wasn’t looking.
Those risks may increase during the holidays when visitors leave coats, purses, or suitcases with medications where young children can reach them.
“Parents may not be aware of the danger posed by leaving medications where young children can reach them. In recent years, the number of accidental overdoses in young children has increased by 20%,” Dan Budnitz, MD, MPH, director of the CDC’s Medication Safety Program, says in a news release.
Tanning Booths Increase Risk of Most Common Skin Cancer
by Denise Mann
Risk Is Even Greater for Women, Study Shows
Dec. 14, 2011 — Indoor tanning has been under heavy fire the last few years, and a new study will do nothing to tone down the assault.
Indoor tanners are close to 70% more likely to develop the most common type of skin cancer before their 40th birthday, a new study shows.
The skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, looks like open sores, red patches, pink growths, or shiny bumps. This type of skin cancer is usually not lethal but can be disfiguring.
Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Tied to Flu Survival
Study: People Taking Statins Are Less Likely to Die From Influenza
Dec. 14, 2011 — Each year, thousands of Americans die from the flu. Now, a new study suggests that certain drugs that lower cholesterol may also reduce the flu’s severity and may prevent flu deaths.
But don’t trade a prescription for statin pills for a flu shot or other protections just yet. Researchers say their findings need to be confirmed in a larger clinical trial.
The study compared the fates of slightly more than 3,000 people hospitalized with flu. About one-third of them were taking statins before or during their hospitalization.
HPV Test Beats Pap Test for Cervical Cancer Screening
by Brenda Goodman, MA
In Women Over 30, HPV Testing Finds More Precancers, Study Shows
Dec. 15, 2011 — A test that looks for the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer may be the best way to screen women over age 30 for the disease, a new study shows.
The study followed 45,000 women ages 29 to 56 in the Netherlands who were split into two groups. The first group got a traditional Pap test to look for cervical cancer. The second group got a Pap test along with a newer test for human papillomavirus (HPV). Studies have shown that HPV causes more than 90% of all cervical cancers.
Weight Regained in Later Years Has More Fat
by Rita Rubin
Study: If Postmenopausal Women Lose Weight, They’re Better Off if They Keep It Off
Dec. 16, 2011 — As you draw up your New Year’s resolutions, new research may provide added incentive for some older women to not only lose weight, but to keep it off.
The study of postmenopausal women suggests that when they regain weight — and previous research suggests about 80% of dieters eventually do — they don’t recover as much lean mass as they lost. As a result, they end up with more fat, even if they’re about the same weight as they were before the diet.
Moms of Preemies Face Health Problems, Too
by Salynn Boyles
Stress of Having Low-Birth-Weight Child Has Lasting Impact
Dec. 16, 2011 — Stephanie Breiby describes the months after the birth of her twin sons, Hawthorne and Ethan, as a roller coaster of highs and lows.
Born three months prematurely, one weighing 2 1/2 pounds and the other just 2 pounds, the boys remained in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for 65 days.
“In the NICU they were always running tests, and I remember always being on pins and needles because we never knew if a little thing was really a big thing,” Breiby says.
She has no doubt that her own hospitalization for one of three bouts of mastitis, an infection of the breast, during this time was caused by the stress of those early days of motherhood.
Hormone Treatment May Drastically Reduce Preterm Births
by Kathleen Doheny
Huge Drop Seen in Women Given Progesterone
Dec. 14, 2011 — A new finding may help many of the millions of women around the world at risk for premature birth.
The hormone progesterone, when given vaginally, reduced preterm birth by 42% in women at risk of premature delivery due to a short cervix, a new analysis shows.
The cervix is the lower portion of the uterus. Typically the cervix shortens toward the end of pregnancy when the body prepares for birth.
Study: HPV Vaccine Doesn’t Encourage Risky Sexual Activity by Salynn Boyles
CDC Survey Shows No Evidence That Vaccine Encourages Risk Taking Among Adolescents and Young Women
Dec. 13, 2011 — Girls and young women who are vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) appear to be no more likely than those who are not vaccinated to engage in sexually risky behaviors, a CDC survey finds.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., with an estimated 6.2 million new infections each year.
Men Who Step Lively May Outpace Grim Reaper
by Cari Nierenberg
Tongue-in-Cheek Study Determines the Reaper’s Walking Speed
Dec. 15, 2011 — Older men who walk at least 3 miles an hour need not fear the Reaper. They stay ahead of him and tend to outlive guys who move along at a slower pace, new research reveals.
In the study, published in the Christmas issue of the journal BMJ, Australian scientists attempted to nail down the Grim Reaper’s walking speed. (The usually straitlaced journal loosens up this time of year with offbeat scientific papers like this one.)
While the Grim Reaper is a fictitious symbol of death, other studies have shown that how fast older people walk helps predict how long they may expect to live. Slower walking speeds in older age have been linked to a greater risk of death, while swifter strides have been associated with a longer life.
Teens Smoking Fewer Cigarettes, More Marijuana
by Rita Rubin
New Survey Also Shows a Troubling Rise in Use of Synthetic Drugs K2 and Spice
Dec. 14, 2011 — Fewer teens than ever are smoking cigarettes, but marijuana use has steadily increased over the past five years, according to a new nationwide survey.
In addition, alcohol use by teens is at its lowest level in 15 years, according to the “Monitoring the Future” survey.
In its 37th year, the annual survey polled about 47,000 eighth, 10th, and 12th graders about their use of alcohol, as well as other drugs both legal and illegal. The survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan.
Obesity Rates Fall Among New York City School Kids
by Denise Mann
Lessons Learned From a Victory in Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Dec. 15, 2011 — Slowly but surely, New York City seems to be making some inroads in its childhood obesity epidemic.
New research documents a 5.5% drop in the number of obese children in kindergarten through eighth grade in New York City’s public schools from 2006-2007 to 2010-1011.
Since 1970, the rate of childhood obesity in the U.S. has tripled. There has been a hint that these rates were leveling off in New York City in recent years, but the new study reports an actual decrease.
Experts tell WebMD that this is good — if not great — news, but that there is still much more work needed in New York City and elsewhere to really put a dent in the rates of childhood obesity.
The new findings appear in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
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