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January 2001
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Look To Food, Nutrients, Herbs To Nurture A Strong Immune System
The arrival of flu season turns our attention to ways to stay healthy. Yet illness and disease know no season. Throughout the year, we are surrounded by viruses, bacteria and other organisms that could saddle us with an illness, whether a simple cold or something more serious. Fortunately, the body’s primary defender, the immune system, fights off most intruders while we are blissfully unaware of the battles raging within.
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Keeping Postmenopausal Pounds At Bay: Why Strength Training Is Key
By Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D.
Are you finding it harder than ever to zip your favorite jeans? Do blouses you’ve worn comfortably for years suddenly seem snug? If you’re a "woman of a certain age," you may identify with such laments. Face it, you’ve put on some pounds. And most of those added pounds have settled around your middle. But weight gain after menopause doesn’t have to be inevitable. It’s true that postmenopausal women tend to be heavier and carry more fat in the abdominal
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ENs Editors 52 Favorite Health Tips for 2001
By Adrienne Forman, M.S., R.D., with all the EN editors
Ready to get the new year off to a healthy start? The editors of EN offer some of our favorite ideas to take you through 2001, one week at a time. January - March 1. Make a habit of filling two-thirds of your plate with vegetables, beans and whole grains and only one-third with lean meat, poultry, fish or eggs.
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Ginseng and Goldenseal: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?
The next time you reach for ginseng or goldenseal, you might want to consider how the herbs were harvested. If they came from the wild (wildcrafted instead of cultivated), there’s a chance they weren’t collected in a sustainable way. Disappearing Act? Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) are both native North American medicinal plants that are threatened by overharvesting due to growing demand and loss of natural habitat. Many herbs that grow wild in the U.S. are exported to foreign
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Web Finds
www.justmove.org This web site, sponsored by the American Heart Association, offers no-nonsense practical information on how to get and stay active, especially if you’ve had or are at risk for a heart attack or stroke. In addition to covering the basics like target heart rate, a calorie-burning activity chart and nutrition information, it also provides a personalized exercise diary, discussion forums and all the latest news on fitness and health.
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FDA Targets Poultry Drugs to Curb Antibiotic Resistance
Action by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is forcing off the market two fluoroquinolones used as poultry antibiotics, because of concern their use jeopardizes human health. Consumer groups have pushed for the ban for years, convinced the drugs are contributing to the rising incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans (see EN, November 1999). In response to the proposed FDA action, one of the controversial drugs, sarafloxacin, has been voluntarily pulled off the market by its maker. The FDA is now
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Research Roundup
Olive oil may reduce colorectal cancer risk, suggest British researchers who compared diets with cancer incidences in 28 countries around the world. From food and cancer databases, they linked high meat consumption to more colon and rectal cancers, while olive oil was linked to less cancer. Meat may raise levels of deoxycholic acid, a bile salt that might trigger tumor formation. Olive oil may protect by decreasing deoxycholic acid levels.
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Antioxidants May Stave Off Diabetes Damage
Diet, exercise and sometimes medication is the trifecta for controlling type 2 diabetes and its long-term complications. Emerging research now suggests that high-dose antioxidant supplements might be a worthwhile addition to the arsenal. Free Radical Damage. Diabetes is on the rise, especially in younger people. With the condition can come a host of serious complications, including heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage and blindness. People with diabetes are particularly predisposed to oxidative damage from free radicals. They also have altered immune
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No Waffling: Frozen Breakfasts Are Not Created Equal
By Andrea Klausner, M.S., R.D.
What’s the best way to start your day? In many cases, not with a frozen breakfast for the toaster or microwave. They may be quick to prepare, but most mainstream products are little more than white flour sprinkled with vitamins, with partially hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup and food dyes thrown in. Starting your day with Special K Fat-Free Waffles is the nutritional equivalent of eating white toast and swallowing a multi. Worse, dining on Farm Rich French
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Living With a Smoker May Cut Carotenoids
So-called passive smoking—breathing in someone else’s smoke—may lower blood levels of antioxidants, increasing heart disease and cancer risk, suggests a study from Johns Hopkins University. Using data from 1,590 men and women of all ages, researchers found that smokers as well as nonsmokers exposed to passive smoke at home had lower levels of certain carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and cryptoxanthin) than nonsmokers in smoke-free homes. The passive smokers’ levels were not significantly lower—as the smokers’ levels were—but they showed a tendency
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Gold Mine of Nutrients: Potatoes Pack in Plenty
The Folklore: The Incas of Peru that placing raw potato slices on broken bones would promote healing and carrying potatoes would prevent rheumatism. The Facts: A potato in your pocket may not prevent rheumatism, but white potatoes, our focus here, are an excellent source of potassium, fiber and vitamin C and a gold mine of antioxidants.
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The Truth About Gallstones: Prevention, Treatment
Q. I just found out I have gallstones. Should I be following a special diet? A. That depends. Gallstones are solid clumps of mostly cholesterol that form in the gallbladder, which stores and releases bile into the intestine to aid digestion. Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. Most are asymptomatic, so-called "silent" gallstones, and require no treatment.
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Is Mad Cow Disease Lurking in Your Dietary Supplements?
Q. I heard that mad cow disease is now spreading throughout Europe. Do Americans need to worry? A. Probably not. To date, mad cow disease, the popular name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, has not been detected in cattle in the U.S. Europe, however, is in a frenzy, as the number of cases of infected cattle in France is growing and new cases have been detected in Germany and Spain. BSE was first identified in Great Britain in 1986 and peaked
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