HEALTH HORIZONS : PULSE : HOLD THE FAT
If you are trying to cut down on fat but do not know which foods contain the most, here is help. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy organization, has published the “Eating Smart Fat Guide.” This pocket-sized slide chart tells you the total fat, saturated fat and total calories in about 300 commonly eaten foods.
It also educates you about how much fat is OK. Women aged 19 to 50 should keep fat intake to 49 grams a day or less. Men 19 to 50 should not exceed 64 grams. (Point of reference: A cheeseburger, no mayo, has about 16 grams of fat.) To order a guide, send $3.95 to CSPI, 1875 Connecticut Ave. N.W. 300, Washington, D.C. 20009.
WHAT’S ROMANTIC?
The sexes don’t differ too much when it comes to defining romantic behavior, say researchers from Bowling Green State University. Their poll included 140 women and 48 men whose average age was 21.
Making the Top 10 list of both genders, although in somewhat different order:
* Taking walks.
* Giving or receiving flowers.
* Kissing.
* Cuddling.
* Candle-lit dinners.
* Cards or love letters.
* Hugging.
The women’s Top 10 list included hearing or saying “I love you,” along with slow dancing and getting surprise gifts, but did not make the men’s list. The men’s list included holding hands, making love and sitting by the fireplace, but women didn’t include these activities on their Top 10 list.
Writing in the journal Psychological Reports, the authors say their study disputes other research findings that women are less idealistic and more pragmatic in attitudes toward romantic love than are men.
SMOKING AND BREAST FEEDING: NOT A GOOD MIX
Mothers who smoke cigarettes produce less breast milk than nonsmoking mothers, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The babies of smokers do not gain weight as rapidly, the researchers also found. They compared 10 breast-feeding moms who never smoked with 10 moms who smoked during and after pregnancy.
DON’T UNJAM JAMS
Athletes who “jam” a finger while playing sports often have a knee-jerk reaction: unjam that finger by pulling it back into place.
Not a good idea, warns Cindy Dray Ensor, director of the Hand Therapy Service at Emory University, Atlanta. “If a tendon has been ruptured or a bone broken, correcting displacement can be disastrous,” she says. Better, she suggests, to seek medical help without touching the injured joint. A doctor can decide whether you have “just a jam” or a fracture, torn ligament or ruptured tendon.
Seeking help early may also get you back to your sport more quickly.
SHOP-AHOLIC THERAPY
Window shopping is one thing; compulsive shopping another. “Shop-aholism” is not officially classified as a mental disorder, but growing numbers of mental health experts say it is a significant psychiatric problem.
Treating compulsive shopping with antidepressants can curb the desire to overspend, a team of researchers reported recently in the Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, basing the conclusion on three case histories. Compulsive shopping is related, the researchers speculate, to disorders of mood, obsessive-compulsiveness or impulse control.
TOOTHPASTE OF THE FUTURE?
Toothpastes of the future may contain tannins, naturally occurring chemicals found in tea, chocolate, beer, coffee and wine. These tannins can stop decay-causing bacteria from adhering to teeth, says Dr. Larry Wolinsky, an associate professor of oral biology at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Once bacteria adhere to the teeth, they form plaque, the first step in decay.
Wolinsky’s research was spurred by a conversation with a Nigerian student who mentioned the widespread use of tannin-containing chewing sticks in her homeland.
But if Wolinsky hopes to attract young brushers, he had better consider adding some sparkle to that tannin. Kids prefer toothpastes and gels designed specifically for them, according to a study done by the West Virginia University School of Dentistry and reported in the California Dental Assn. Journal. The kids polled described their ideal toothpaste: a sparkling blue gel in a flip-top pump container.
REPLACING OLD SHOES
How often should you replace your exercise shoes? It depends, of course, on how much and how intensely you exercise. But by and large, athletic shoes lose about a third of their shock-absorbing ability after 500 miles of use, according to the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. If you don’t want to do the math, use this guideline: If you exercise five to 10 hours a week, you probably need to shoe-shop every six months.
EXERCISING AWAY FAT
A regular walking program, without changes in diet, may not help older women lose a lot of weight. But it can help reduce body fat in a relatively short time, say researchers from Central Washington University.
They studied 51 women, averaging 55 years old, who walked four times a week but did not change their diets or reduce their calorie intake. They began with 20-minute sessions and worked up to 40-minute sessions, walking at a rate that raises the heart rate to about 80% of its maximum.
At the end of 10 weeks, subjects did not lose weight, but they altered their body composition, the researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American Dietetic Assn. The women shed fat tissue--1% of body fat, on average--and gained lean body mass.
EXERCISING AWAY DEPRESSION
Exercise can help reduce symptoms of depression in the elderly, researchers have long agreed. Now, Montreal researchers have compared the value of exercise with social contact to help moderately depressed elderly people get out of the doldrums. Both exercise and social contact reduced depression and symptoms, but exercise reduced a broader range of symptoms compared with social contact alone. The study of 30 people appears in the journal Psychology and Aging.
BEDTIME LEG CRAMPS
If you are bothered by nighttime leg cramps, try soaking in a warm bath before retiring, recommend experts in the Johns Hopkins Medical Letter’s Health After 50 Newsletter. Next, stretch your legs.
DON’T BLAME THE MOON
Folklore has it that the full moon is associated with more instances of deviant behavior. Some scientific types disagree.
In one of the latest efforts to prove or disprove lunar power, researchers studied the effect of the full moon on absenteeism in a large Pennsylvania insurance company and report their results in the journal Psychological Reports.
They found higher-than-average absenteeism on Mondays, but lower absenteeism during full-moon periods. The researchers concede that the moon phases may have affected behavior in days of yore, before electric lights were common, but contend that the moon has little effect on modern behavior.
PIERCING PRECAUTIONS
If ear piercing is in your future, here are tips on preventing painful complications, offered recently in the journal Cutis by Dr. William M. Hendricks of Asheboro, N.C.:
* Do not pierce your ears yourself. See a professional.
* Do not pierce your ears if you have immunologic or blood disorders, valvular heart disease, deformed earlobes, diabetes or other serious medical conditions.
* Avoid wearing gold-plated or gold alloy earrings for at least six weeks after the piercing is done. Ask for earrings that are nickel-free.
* Wipe earlobes twice a day with cotton soaked in rubbing alcohol or use soap and water. Don’t turn or twist the earrings; the risk of irritation or infection may increase.
* Expect slight tenderness and even discharge for a few days. But if the lobe becomes swollen, red or tender, remove the earring and call your physician.
WHO NEEDS AN ANTIBIOTIC?
Antibiotics may seem like cure-alls, but they are not indicated for many conditions, according to experts writing in the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. Antibiotics are used to treat infections caused by bacteria, such as strep throat and infections of the urinary tract. Usually, antibiotics are not effective against viral infections like a cold or influenza. Nor is a fever necessarily a signal that an antibiotic is needed.
If an antibiotic is needed, your doctor may give you a type that works only against certain types of bacteria, or may prescribe a “broad-spectrum” antibiotic that can knock out a range of bacteria types.
BIZARRE SLEEP PROBLEMS
And you think you have a nighttime snacking problem? Researchers recently zeroed in on 19 adults who habitually eat while asleep--usually while sleepwalking--and reported on their bizarre behavior in the journal Sleep.
These sleepwalking people can eat huge quantities of food, sometimes downing complete meals--most ate sloppily, cramming in spaghetti with their hands--or such unpalatable items as buttered cigarettes and cat food. Once they wake up, few remember the snacking, but the remains of their nighttime feasts give them away.
The research team from Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Minneapolis, found that many of the patients were suffering depression, anxiety or eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. The treatment? Besides dealing with the underlying problems, the research team encourages these nocturnal bingers to eat properly during the day (thus cutting down nighttime hunger) and to consider taking medications to curb sleepwalking.
HABITUAL HACK
Children with so-called “habit cough”--a persistent hack with no underlying medical reason--may get rid of it with just a single 15-minute therapy session. Researchers from the University of Iowa and the University of Missouri Hospital tried the approach with nine children, ranging from 6 to 17 years old, and reported the results recently in the Annals of Allergy.
During the session, each child was told that the initial irritant that spurred the cough was gone but that somehow the cycle of coughing had continued. Then the child practiced holding back the urge to cough longer and longer each time. At the end of the session, all nine patients were free of the habit cough. During a nine-year follow-up, most children still had not relapsed.
DROWNING IN CHOCOLATE?
For choco-holics, there is bad news and good about their sweet tooth. First, the bad. Cravings for sweets and chocolates have been associated by many researchers with depression. A recent study at Richard Stockton State College in Pomona, N.J., polled 89 college students and found that, indeed, the sweet-toothed students were more likely to be depressed.
The good news? They were not likely to be so depressed that they have suicidal thoughts, threats or attempts. The study appeared recently in the journal Psychological Reports.
STRESS AND YOUR TEETH
Chronic stress isn’t just bad for your blood pressure and well-being. It can affect your oral health as well. Over time, chronic stress can cause a decline in an antibody present in saliva, says Myrin Borysenko, a speaker at a recent meeting of the American Academy of Periodontology. This, in turn, causes the flow of saliva to decrease, and that makes bacteria grow more rapidly. The rapid growth of bacteria increases the chance for gum disease. His observations were printed recently in the California Dental Assn. Journal.
TEENS AND SUNSCREEN
The message about safe sunning apparently hasn’t filtered down to most teen-agers. In a survey of more than 200 Virginia teens, only 9% reported using sunscreen with each sunbathing exposure and 33% never use sunscreen.
Teens were more likely to use sunscreen if their best friend did or if their parents had insisted on sunscreen use beginning in childhood. Those with a history of skin cancer in their family were not more likely to use sunscreen, say the researchers, who published their findings recently in the journal Pediatrics.
HEARING PROTECTION
Hearing problems affect 6% of school-age children in the United States, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Many of these hearing problems are temporary and treatable, often caused by such things as wax buildup and middle-ear infections. But even such temporary hearing problems can lead to learning problems.
How to minimize these hearing problems?
* Be sure your child’s hearing is checked regularly.
* Warn him not to use cotton swabs inside the ear because they can push wax farther into the ear and even puncture the eardrum.
* Get professional help quickly if your child has an earache.
* If your child needs antibiotics for a middle-ear infection, be sure he takes all the medicine. Keep follow-up appointments.
* Set the stereo player, television and radio at the same volume level as normal speech.
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR MEDICINE
Interactions between foods and medicines can make the medicine less effective and sometimes even cause serious medical problems.
Here are some tips from the American Pharmaceutical Assn. to get the best and safest use from some common medicines.
When taking antihistamines to relieve cold and hay fever symptoms, avoid taking them with alcoholic beverages. You could have drowsiness and slowed reaction time.
When taking aspirin, do not take it with fruit juice to avoid stomach upset. When taking medication containing the narcotic codeine, do not drink alcohol. It could increase the sedative effect.
HEART FACTS
Nearly one of two Americans succumbs to cardiovascular disease, according to the latest “Heart and Stroke Facts” issued by the American Heart Assn. Heart and blood vessel disease accounted for the deaths of nearly 1 million Americans in 1989, the latest year for which statistics are available.
On a state-by-state basis, Hawaii posts the lowest death rate for all types of cardiovascular disease, according to AHA figures. California ranks 21st.
Sources for Pulse: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Assn., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Pharmaceutical Assn., Annals of Allergy, Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, California Dental Assn., Center for Science in the Public Interest, Cutis, Emory University, Johns Hopkins Medical Letter Health After 50 Newsletter, Journal of the American Dietetic Assn., Mayo Clinic Health Letter, Pediatrics, Psychological Reports, Psychology and Aging, Sleep, UC Berkeley Wellness Letter and UCLA.
