Health Tip – Audio Version - Poor big teens
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step:

More and more teenagers are growing overweight. It’s been like that for decades. But the weight isn’t spread around evenly. Some groups are worse off than others.

Among them, researchers say, are 15- to 17-year-olds in poor neighborhoods. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says these teens are about 50 percent more likely than teens not living in poverty to weigh too much.

Richard Miech of Johns Hopkins University:

“What’s really interesting is that this difference has emerged recently, in the past decade or so. In the 1970s and the 1980s, there was no difference in rates of adolescent overweight by poverty status.”

Miech believes these teens have become less active, and get more of their calories from soft drinks.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Is it the exercise?
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Exercise May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk (National Institutes of Health)

Exercise seems to do some good against breast cancer. But it’s hard to tell why.

Researcher Jennifer Eng-Wong of the National Cancer Institute in the National Institutes of Health is among those trying to find out.

Eng-Wong is seeing if exercise changes a woman’s body in ways that reduce risk. An example: Whether exercise decreases levels of certain hormones that are higher in women with some forms of breast cancer.

“There are a lot of studies of the population that show that women who regularly exercise already have a decreased risk for breast cancer. But we don’t really understand how that occurs. And that’s one of our goals of this study.”

So Eng-Wong is looking for healthy women volunteers. Some will walk, others will stretch. She’ll look for differences with each exercise.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Checked out
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age – A Checklist for Your Next Checkup (PDF –  KB) (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Getting the stuff you need is easier when you know what to ask for. That’s why there are shopping lists. And that goes also when women have a checkup. Top experts from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force have a list to help women be sure they get what they need.

The list includes women-only items, such as pap smears, and things such as cholesterol checks, which are good for men and women.

The director of HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – AHRQ – Carolyn Clancy:

“We know from many, many studies that patients who play an active role in their own health and healthcare have better outcomes than those who don’t.”

AHRQ has a downloadable checklist for your next checkup – things to know before you go, and things to be sure you get at the office.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

How far you can walk seems to tell a lot about how long you might live.

Anne Newman of the University of Pittsburgh looked at older people who could walk a quarter of a mile, and those who could not. She checked how many were alive six years later.

“Those who actually, when they did the walk, found that they couldn’t complete the walk had death rates that were about twice as high as those who actually could when we asked them to do it.”

Even among those who completed the walk, faster finishers were more likely than slower ones to stay alive.

Newman’s advice: start walking, with professional help if necessary — then build on your success.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Defensive eating
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Eating for a Healthy Heart (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

Even with today’s gas prices, vacation time puts a lot of us on the highway.

We know we should practice defensive driving on the road – trying to foresee trouble so we can act to avoid it.

Maybe we can extend that idea when we pull off the road, and practice defensive eating – trying to foresee where extra calories may come, so we can avoid them.

For instance, it may not be the food you think that causes the trouble. It could be the extras. The Food and Drug Administration’s Anne Crawford:

“You can ask for sauces and condiments on the side, so that you control how much goes on your salad or on your burger.”

Also, fruits and vegetables should be plentiful – and fairly cheap at this time of year. From a calorie point of view, they’re low octane.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Pre-dads work
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Preconception Care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Being a good dad can start before fatherhood. A woman in good health is more likely to have a healthy baby – and the man in her life can help her prepare.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Hani Atrash says men can learn about women’s health, such as such as folic acid supplements, which can prevent some serious birth defects.

Atrash says men also can know the genetic diseases in their family tree, and get checked for sexually transmitted diseases. And men in some jobs have extra work:

“Men who work with chemicals and other toxins need to be careful that they do not expose women to them.”

Atrash says that, for example, workers who use fertilizers or pesticides should change clothes before they see women at home, and wash their clothes separately.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Unsafe and overweight
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Physical Activity for Everyone: Getting Started: Stage 2 — Thinking About Change (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

If you feel your neighborhood isn’t safe, it may be harder to get out and do the physical activity people need for good health.

Researchers find a sign of this in data on 2,400 mothers of preschoolers in 20 large cities. Their work, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in the journal Obesity.

Thirty-seven percent of moms who rated their neighborhoods safe were obese. But obesity was 46 percent in neighborhoods rated least safe.

Hillary Burdette of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says it’ll take more research to know if unsafe neighborhoods foster obesity. But she says people who don’t get out because they don’t think it’s safe have some alternatives. Among them:

“They might consider pursuing those outdoor activities with a partner or a companion – walking with a friend, for example.”

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Cancer strength
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step:

Could exercise help cancer patients cope?

A study indicates it might.

Researchers followed two groups of patients undergoing radiation treatment for breast or prostate cancer. One got moderate exercise; the other didn’t.

Dr. Karen Mustian of the University of Rochester Medical Center presented her findings to the American Society of Clinical Oncology:

“Patients in the exercise group, by the end of the study, were able to increase the total number of steps they walked each day by 82 percent.”

Exercisers also felt less fatigue during radiation treatments and maintained strength afterward. The non-exercising group lost strength.

Should all cancer patients work out? Mustian says exercise may be a good way to beat cancer fatigue, but patients should work with doctors to find the right exercise program for them.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: What You Need To Know About Skin Cancer (National Cancer Institute)

Want a good-looking tan? The price may be potentially fatal skin cancer – melanoma.

Doctors want to get those cancerous patches removed as soon as they show up. But sometimes, even when the cancer is gone, a new one comes.

Dartmouth Medical School researcher Linda Titus-Ernstoff looked at those new cases. Her study in Archives of Dermatology was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Titus-Ernstoff found a higher risk of a second melanoma in patients with more unusual moles – called atypical moles. Here’s something to look for:

“Those most obvious or easiest criterion is that it’s as large as the top of a pencil eraser or larger, most of the time.”

She advises everyone to examine their skin, see a skin doctor about suspicious moles, and be covered up when in the sun.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006

Health Tip – Audio Version - Naptime
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: A Good Night’s Sleep? Merely a Dream for Millions (National Institutes of Health, Word on Health)

A little nap apparently can do a lot of good when you work huge hours.

Medical interns, for example, can work 30 hours straight. So University of Chicago researchers tried letting 38 interns nap. For two weeks in a month-long rotation, they got to nap about 40 minutes a night, for a total of about three hours of sleep. The other two weeks? No nap.

After naps, the interns generally felt less tired.

Researcher Vineet Arora says naps also would be good for other workers on long shifts:

“Naps are a really good way of reducing fatigue because they are a short, effective mechanism that anyone can take, and especially in anticipation of working a long shift.”

The study in Annals of Internal Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health and HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006