Heavy Drinkers Outlive Non-Drinkers: Cheers to That
(CBS) Drink up… that is if you want to live a few years longer.
That’s the highly unusual conclusion of a new study which suggests that non-drinkers die sooner than heavy drinkers. Moderate drinkers fair the best.
The paper, which appears in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, took a look at 1,824 participants over 20 years, according to Time.com. Sixty-three percent of them were men.
Scientists, led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin, filtered out “socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support,” according to the site, and still found that nondrinkers just don’t live as long as their drinking compatriots. Over the 20-year period, 69 percent of the nondrinkers died, 60 percent of the heavy drinkers died and only 41 percent of the moderate drinkers died.
Moderate drinking, according to Time, was defined as one to three drinks per day.
The findings are certainly confusing, since heavy drinking can lead to liver failure, mouth cancer and heart problems. And being a drunk can ruin friendships, career and family.
Still, as odd as it may seem, the old saying, “drink to your health,” may be wise after all.
Sorting through Power Bars: Which Are Best?
(CBS) As we fall kicks in, family schedules get a lot more hectic. And that means a lot more people will be eating on the go.
If you or your family members are among them, power bars could be a good choice as an alternative to a full, well-rounded meal.
There are several different groups: protein, energy, meal replacement, snack bars.
And, with so many on the market, how do you know the difference, and which ones are best?
On “The Early Show,”, Tanya Zuckerbrot of CookingLight magazine described the differences and pointed to what she deems the wisest ones to grab.
According to Zuckerbrot:
Meal replacement bars are going to be high in calories (200 to 300); they’re supposed to fill you the way that a real meal would. The purpose of these bars is to keep your energy up in the absence of sitting down for a full meal.
A protein bar is high in protein to build up muscle mass and replenish you after a big workout. These are the bars you most often see in muscle-building and health stores, for people who want to build up their bodies.
Snack bars are going to have a lower calorie count than meal replacements, about 100-200 calories each. They help to give you a boost of energy. Sugary snacks often give you a quick burst of energy that can’t be sustained.
Energy bars are your best choice for pre-workout. They’re high in carbs, which are going to keep you going no matter what activity you engage in.
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FDA Tells Restaurants to Post Calorie Counts: Will We Make Better Food Choices?
CBS) Can you handle the truth – about the calorie content of the restaurant meals you eat?
You’re about to find out, thanks to new FDA guidelines that call for restaurants to post nutritional information about menu items in a “clear and conspicuous manner.”
The guidelines, which affect chain restaurants and food sold from vending machines, call for eateries to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards.
The FDA issued the guidelines as part of the health-care bill President Obama signed into law last March.
According to the FDA, Americans consume about one-third of our total calories on food prepared outside of the home, and we are, by and large, unaware of the awesome number of calories in much of it.
The FDA hopes that accurate nutritional information will help us make better food choices.
About two-thirds of adults and one-third of children between the ages of two and 19 are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and certain types of cancer.
FDA to give restaurants more time on calorie counts
(Reuters) – U.S. health regulators plan to give restaurant companies more time to comply with new rules that require clear calorie and nutritional information on menus.
Under the healthcare law passed in March, restaurants must clearly post calories and other nutrition details on their menus. The rules target restaurants with 20 or more locations, as well as other retail food outlets, and would affect huge national chains like McDonald’s Corp and Yum Brands Inc, the operator of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut fast-food chains.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has until March 2011 to put these rules into effect. But the agency said on Tuesday it would hold off on enforcing them for an unspecified time period so that companies could make the changes. It also asked for public comment on how long to refrain from enforcement.
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Drinking Water Before Meals Helps Weight Loss
(CBS) Drinking two glasses of water before each meal may help you lose weight, according to a new study presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, Health.com reports.
Obese dieters who drank two 8-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner lost five pounds more than dieters who didn’t increase their water intake. Those who drank more water also kept more of the weight off after a year, said Brenda Davy, an associate professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
The study included only middle-aged and older adults between the ages of 55 and 75 who were on diet – 1,200 calories per day for women and 1,500 calories per day for men. Half of the people were told to drink 16 ounces of water before every meal. After three months, the dieters who drank water had lost an average of about 15.5 pounds, while those who didn’t lost just 11 pounds.
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Vit D linked to cancer, autoimmune disease genes
(Reuters) – Scientists have found that vitamin D influences more than 200 genes, including ones related to cancer and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis — a discovery that shows how serious vitamin D deficiency can be.
Worldwide, an estimated one billion people are deficient in vitamin D, and a team of scientists from Britain and Canada said health authorities should consider recommending supplements for those at most risk.
“Our study shows quite dramatically the wide-ranging influence that vitamin D exerts over our health,” said Andreas Heger of the Functional Genomics Unit at Britain’s Oxford University, who led the study.
Vitamin D effects our DNA through something called the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which binds to specific locations of the human genome. Heger’s team mapped out these points and identified more than 200 genes that it directly influences.
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Egg Recall Numbers Expand: Check Your Carton and Watch Your Order
(CBS) Now that the already massive egg recall has grown from 228 million to 380 million eggs due to the largest salmonella scare we’ve seen in years, consumers are wondering which eggs are safe.
Three new brands have been added to the long list of eggs to check for possible contamination:
James Farms
Glenview
Pacific Coast
Below you’ll find the complete list of eggs which may be infected with salmonella. They are all produced in Galt, Iowa by Wright County Egg, but they are sold in grocery stories under many different brands.
But even as you check your fridge, think about what you order in restaurants.
Raw egg can be found in sauces and condiments, including Hollandaise sauce and Caesar salad dressing, as well as eggnog, milkshakes and smoothies.
Raw egg can also lurk in homemade mayo and icecream, according to WebMD.
Now check your fridge. Here’s a full list of brands, all produced by Wright Country Egg, to examine.
BRAND NAMES:
Albertsons
Boomsma’s
Dutch Farms
Farm Fresh
Hillandale
Kemps
Lucerne
Lund
Mountain Dairy
Ralph’s
Shoreland
Sunshine
Trafficanda
James Farms
Glenview
Pacific Coast
If you have a suspect brand, check the dates and codes stamped on the end of the carton.
The plant numbers affected have broadened. They used to be P-1026, P-1413, and P-1946. Now they include P-1720 and P-1942.
The three digit code that follows the plant number were originally said to range from 136 to 225, according to a statement by the Egg Safety Center. Now you must look for codes that range from 136 to 229.
For example, eggs in a carton marked with the number P-1026 227 should not be eaten.
Consumers who have suspicious eggs can get a refund if they return them in their original carton to the store where they were bought.
These four varieties listed below are an addition to the eggs listed above:
Bayview Large 5dz
UPC: 7-17544-30172-1
Plant #: P-1686
Date: 142-149
Mountain Dairy Medium 5dz
UPC: 0-11110-89969-9
P-1951
Date: 193-208
Nulaid Medium 5dz
UPC: 0-71230-02140-0
Plant #: P-1091
Date: 167-174
UPC: 0-71230-02140-0
Plant#: P-1951
Date: 195-210
Sun Valley Medium 5dz
UPC: 6-48065-11432-6
Plant: P-1951
Date: 195-209
FDA Hopes to “Shake” Hidden Salt in Our Diets
(CBS) Ninety percent of Americans eat too much salt — most eat twice the recommended amount.
Now the Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to set limits on the amount of sodium allowed in our food. But where is all that salt coming from?
On “The Early Show,” CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton revealed the secret salt in our diets and how to “shake” the habit.
According to Ashton, salt is a very essential electrolyte in the body, which makes up the majority of the blood. Our body needs salt. It’s not all bad like so many other things.
“Your blood tastes salty and your sweat is obviously made up of salt. What happens in the body is water follows every molecule of salt. So, if you ingest a lot of salt, you will retain a lot of water and for people with kidney problems, heart problems, high blood pressure, that can be dangerous,” she said.
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated 150,000 lives could be saved a year if we lighten up on salt.
So, is it all about the salt shaker?
“It’s actually not,” Ashton said. “A lot of us say, ‘I don’t add salt to our food so I don’t have to worry about this.’ Not so. If you look at daily recommended amounts that put it into context, 1,500 milligrams a day is what we’re supposed to get. The average American gets twice that amount, 3,400 milligrams. It’s coming from hidden sources, things you would not expect.”
Some examples of foods that have hidden salt include: cereal, cottage cheese, bread, salad dressing, tomato sauce and chicken.
• Cottage cheese has a cup has about 900 milligrams of sodium.
• A bagel, you don’t think you’re ingesting salt with breakfast, but it’s about a third of what you should have every day.
• Even whole grain cereal like Raisin Bran, one cup has 400 milligrams of sodium.
• One serving of salad dressing also has about 300 to 400 milligrams of sodium.
“Packaged food, processed food, and restaurant prepared food. Even if you cook at home, things like tomato sauce on top of your nice pasta, it’s loaded with salt and prepared chicken can be injected with a salt solution to make it appear more plump, filled with sodium,” she said.
How do you cut sodium out of your diet?
“A couple things. This bears mention again and again. You want to eat more fresh foods and eat fewer or less processed foods,” Ashton explained. “Obviously, as we’ve said today, you want to limit your use of condiments, like tomato sauce, salad dressing in limited amounts and use herbs and spices to retrain your taste buds so you don’t say, this is horrible. Because at the end of the day you want your food to taste good, but healthy at same time.”
5 of nature’s best cancer-preventing foods
As a veteran faculty member at the Stanford University Medical School, Dr. John Farquhar has seen thousands of patients try to beat cancer with aggressive chemotherapy treatments that “blast them with terrible side effects.” But, as the founder of Stanford’s Prevention Research Center, he believes he has helped other patients beat cancer before it starts using nature’s medicine: vegetables and fruits.
Farquhar has worked at the university for 30 years as a professor, a cardiologist and the co-founder of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. He co-teaches a popular course called “The Best Diet Ever,” (see box) in which he preaches the merits of five foods with strong anti-cancer agents: soy, onions, broccoli, tomatoes and blueberries.
“There’s still uncertainty about how important nutrition is in cancer prevention,” Farquhar said, “but I’ve found that if you deal with these specific foods, there’s evidence that they all have cancer-fighting nutrients. As opposed to genetics, nutrition is something that people can control.”
Joyce Hanna is the associate director of Stanford Prevention Research Center. A 19-year Stanford faculty member and former marathon runner, she teaches “The Best Diet Ever” class with Farquhar. Hanna also counsels clients who want to engage in healthier lifestyles and oversees a program that helps cancer patients exercise and eat well during and after treatments.
Beating disease back
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Low-carb edges low-fat for heart risk factors
(Reuters Health) – Low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets can be equally effective at helping obese adults shed weight over the longer term, but cutting carbs may have an advantage when it comes to some heart risk factors, a study published Monday suggests.
Researchers say the findings offer reassurance that low-carb diets — which tend to be relatively high in fat — are not a threat to heart health.
Instead, the study found that over two years, people on the low-carb plan had a greater increase in “good” HDL cholesterol than those on the low-fat regimen. They also had a more significant dip in diastolic blood pressure, the bottom number in a blood pressure reading.
Still, that does not mean that everyone hoping to lose weight should go low-carb, according to lead researcher Dr. Gary D. Foster of Temple University in Philadelphia.
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