HEALTH WATCH : Sick Days Really Do Add Up

Stumped for small talk? Feel free to share these sick facts and figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at your next dinner party:

* Americans call in sick more than 2.1 million times per month.

* The flu is the biggest reason for illness (averaging 76 days a year per workplace), followed by strains and sprains (30), fractures and dislocations (23) and common cold (21); “female problems” (5) account for the least-given reason for absenteeism.

* Federal employees rack up the highest rate of absenteeism.

* Of those federal employees, the neither-rain-nor-snow folks down at the U.S. Postal Service clock the most sick days--5,752,180 a year. (That’s more than the Army and Navy combined.)

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Clear the Air: People who run in the city should avoid tree-lined streets. Researchers at the University of Texas School of Public Health say auto exhaust gets trapped under the leaves and raises carbon monoxide levels. Scientists suggest that you take your running to open spaces, such as parks or along rivers.

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It’s Good For You: You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but why, Mommy, why ?

Says Cindy Moore, director of Nutrition Services at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation:

* Breakfast is the easiest time to find foods low in fat and high in complex carbohydrates. Cereals, toast, bagels, pita bread and English muffins can be good sources of B vitamins, minerals and fiber--especially if whole-grain items are chosen, such as whole-wheat toast or bran cereals. Fat and calories come into the picture when you add buttery toppings. Go for fruit jams and spreads instead.

* Eating a healthy breakfast can help reduce mid-morning hunger pangs and the desire for higher calorie and higher fat snack foods, such as doughnuts, chips and pastries.

* Breakfast is also a good time to get a head start on eating fruit during the day, since the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend two to four servings per day. A banana, orange, apricots, cantaloupe, strawberries, raisins or a half of grapefruit will fill you up, in addition to providing vitamins A, C, folic acid and minerals such as potassium and fiber.

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This health roundup, compiled from wire-service reports, appears in View on Tuesdays.