Panel questions value of calcium, vitamin D pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — Popping calcium and vitamin D pills in hopes of strong bones? Healthy older women should not bother with relatively low-dose dietary supplements, say new recommendations from a U.S. government advisory group.

Both nutrients are crucial for healthy bones and specialists advise getting as much as possible from a good diet. The body also makes vitamin D from sunshine. If an older person has a vitamin deficiency or bone-thinning osteoporosis, doctors often prescribe higher-than-normal doses.

But for otherwise healthy postmenopausal women, adding modest supplements to their diet — about 400 international units of D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium — do not prevent broken bones but can increase the risk of kidney stones, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Monday.

It is not clear if those doses offer bone protection if taken before menopause, or if they help men's bones, the guidelines said.

What about higher-dose supplements that have become more common recently? There's not enough evidence to tell if they would prevent fractures, either, in an otherwise healthy person, the panel concluded. It urged more research to settle the issue.

It's a confusing message considering that for years, calcium and vitamin D supplements have been widely considered an insurance policy against osteoporosis, with little down side to taking them.




"Regrettably, we don't have as much information as we would like to have about a substance that has been around a long time and we used to think we understood," said Dr. Virginia Moyer of the Baylor College of Medicine, who heads the task force. "Turns out, there's a lot more to learn."

The main caution: These recommendations aren't for people at high risk of weak bones, including older adults who have previously broken a bone and are at risk for doing so again, said Dr. Sundeep Khosla of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. Those people should consult a doctor, said Khosla, a bone specialist at the Mayo Clinic who wasn't part of the panel's deliberations.

Calcium and vitamin D work together, and you need a lifetime of both to build and maintain strong bones. Vitamin D also is being studied for possibly preventing cancer and certain other diseases, something that Monday's guidelines don't address and that other health groups have cautioned isn't yet proven.

For now, national standards advise the average adult to get about 1,000 mg of calcium, 1,300 for postmenopausal women, every day. For vitamin D, the goal is 600 IUs of vitamin D every day, moving to 800 after age 70, according to the Institute of Medicine, which set those levels in 2010. The nutrients can come from various foods, including orange juice fortified with calcium and D; dairy foods such as milk, yogurt and cheese; certain fish including salmon; and fortified breakfast cereals. Harder to measure is how much vitamin D the body also produces from sunshine.

Most people should get enough calcium from food, said Mayo's Khosla. But while he cautions against too high doses, he frequently tells his patients to take a multivitamin because it's harder to get vitamin D from food and during the winter.

While supplement science gets sorted out, the task force's Moyer advises healthy seniors to exercise — proven to shore up bones and good for the rest of the body, too.

source: philstar.com

Cutting smoking saves more in health bills than lost tax: EU

RUSSELS - The cost and health benefits of getting people not to smoke and better still, not to start, more than outweigh the taxes the tobacco industry pays to governments, the European Commission said Monday.

Irish Health Minister James Reilly, presenting the EU's new draft tobacco law in the European parliament, said smokers paid some 20 billion euros ($26.4 billion) annually in tax but health costs associated with smoking came to 23 billion euros.

On top of that were another eight billion euros in lost production and other costs due to smokers' higher rates of sickness, leading to days off and lower efficiency.

It is a "no-brainer, ethically and economically," Reilly told parliament, dismissing out of hand the argument that tobacco is too important economically to be tampered with.

EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg made the same point, noting that some 700,000 people die prematurely as a result of smoking each year -- equal to a city about the size of Frankfurt in Germany.

The new tobacco directive, which parliament and all 27 member states will have to approve, aims simply to save those lives, Borg said, adding that the legislation needed to be brought up to date as the industry introduces new products, especially those targeting the young.

"Tobacco should look and taste like tobacco," Borg said, holding up new products brightly colored and looking like lipstick or perfume so as to attract younger people.

Accordingly, the directive stipulates that 75 percent of a cigarette package must carry health warnings, and that certain "characterizing" flavors such as vanilla or menthol be banned.

"My aim is that when people look at a tobacco product they realize that it will damage their health," Borg said.

In January, thousands of tobacconists from across Europe marched on European Union headquarters to protest against the planned directive which will take about three years to come into effect once passed.

source: interaksyon.com

Vegetables for children

It is often quite difficult to encourage children to eat vegetables. But there are exceptions. There is this young girl, now eight years old who, when she was four, took a bite of ampalaya like she was relishing hotdogs and hamburgers. She has just arrived from the US, and the ginisang bitter gourd must have looked strange to her. Yet, when we asked her to try the dish, she liked it and continued to eat her meal. We have another four-year-old who likes the sayote in tinolang manok, mashed into her rice with the broth. Then recently she tried and enjoyed Chinese cabbage.

Well and good, but not all kids take to vegetables as easily. Vegetables are now being produced into a variety of refreshing beverages and  delicious food. Among these are bottled four-in-one juice, with four types of veggies, sold in supermarkets.

Now comes “The Malunggay Book,” which predictably will be a big help to homemakers who need to supplement their families’ diet with healthy nourishment.

Until recently, malunggay’s usefulness was limited to making soup for pregnant women or those who are lactating. Today it is called “the miracle vegetable.”

Our friends Jimmy and Becs Galvez-Tan, who co-authored the book “Medicinal Fruits and Vegetables,” through their research, found that malunggay has high levels of beta-carotene, Vitamins C and E, calcium and iron and is a good source of potassium and ascorbic acid. Its medicinal attributes are good for maintaining wellness and can help those suffering from rheumatism.

There are now many ways to include its leaves in our daily diet through the recently published “The Malunggay Book” of healthy and easy-to-do recipes. Its authors are chefs Day Salonga and Mon Urbano, who are successful partners in a culinary consultancy.

Try the scrambled green egg and bacon, M vinaigrette dressing, Thai-style curry, chicken roulade, even M cookies and crepes. They may sound strange, but they are healthy and have been made flavorful by the creative duo.

Those who have missed the Italian restaurant Buona Vita on Daang Hari, Molino, Bacoor would be pleased to know that their favorite restaurant has moved to the Molito Mall in Alabang, which is more accessible.

It is bigger and continues to serve all the dishes that have captured the palette of discriminating foodies in the area and beyond. Their paella is what we always go there for. On a recent visit, we tried to venture away from our usual second course of lengua and chose the fish fillet (cream dory) with lemon. Very good choice. It was perfectly crispy, very soft and tasty and came with a small mound of mashed potatoes.

We got a complimentary copy of the “Korean Cuisine” book from the Palms Country Club where  Korean food was recently  featured in their main dining hall. It says the culinary treasures of the country have “hansik,” an energy source with philosophy and science, meaning it goes beyond providing physical strength but also that of the mind and soul.

It is a comprehensive guide to dining in Korea from table setting, to street food to royal cuisine and temple food to table manners. And yes, it gives instructions on how to prepare kimchi, considered the country’s most popular dish made of fermented cabbage and lots of spices plus what the locals call  “healthy bacteria” (lactobacilli), supposed to  help digestion. The latest info is that it contains some elements that may prevent cancer.

Observe the elderly Koreans in the streets of Seoul or any other city. The generation is old, no offense meant, but senior men and women walk alone, no alalays, a testimony to their well-being, indeed.

Eat healthy.

source: philstar.com

Green tea drinkers show lower cancer risks

NEW YORK - Older women who regularly drink green tea may have slightly lower risks of colon, stomach and throat cancers than women who make no time for tea, a large study suggests.

Researchers found that of more than 69,000 Chinese women followed for a decade, those who drank green tea at least three times a week were 14 percent less likely to develop a cancer of the digestive system.

That mainly meant lower odds of colon, stomach and esophageal cancers.

No one can say whether green tea, itself, is the reason. Green-tea lovers are often more health-conscious in general.

The study did try to account for that, said senior researcher Dr. Wei Zheng, who heads epidemiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

None of the women smoked or drank alcohol regularly. And the researchers collected information on their diets, exercise habits, weight and medical history.

Even with those things factored in, women's tea habits remained linked to their cancer risks, Zheng noted.

Still, he said in an email, this type of study cannot prove cause-and-effect.

What's more, past studies have so far come to conflicting findings on whether green-tea drinkers really do have lower cancer risks. All of those studies are hampered by the fact that it's hard to isolate the effect of a single food in a person's diet on the risk of cancer.

Really, the only types of studies that can give strong evidence of cause-and-effect are clinical trials, wherein people would be randomly assigned to use green tea in some form, or not.

But few clinical trials have looked at whether green tea can cut cancer risk, and their results have been inconsistent, according to the National Cancer Institute.

There is "strong evidence" from lab research - in animals and in human cells - that green tea has the potential to fight cancer, Zheng's team writes in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Green tea contains certain antioxidant chemicals - particularly a compound known as EGCG - that may ward off the body-cell damage that can lead to cancer and other diseases.

For their study, Zheng and his colleagues used data from a long-running health study of over 69,000 middle-aged and older Chinese women. More than 19,000 were considered regular green-tea drinkers. (They had the beverage at least three times per week.)

Over 11 years, 1,255 women developed a cancer of the digestive system. In general, the risks were somewhat lower when a woman drank green tea often and for a long time.

For example, women who said they'd regularly had green tea for at least 20 years were 27 percent less likely than non-drinkers to develop any digestive system cancer. And they were 29 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer, specifically.

None of that proves you should start drinking green tea to thwart cancer.

Women who downed a lot of green tea in this study were also younger, ate more fruits and vegetables, exercised more and had higher-income jobs. The researchers adjusted their data for all those differences - but, they write, it's not possible to perfectly account for everything.

If you want to start drinking green tea, it's considered safe in moderate amounts, says the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. But the tea and its extracts do contain caffeine, which some people may need to avoid.

Green tea also contains small amounts of vitamin K, which means it could interfere with drugs that prevent blood clotting, like warfarin. Since many older people are on multiple medications, it's wise for them to talk with their doctors before using green tea as a health tonic.

source: interaksyon.com

Organic food not necessarily better for children: US experts

WASHINGTON - Feed your children plenty of fruits and vegetables but don't fret over whether they're organic or not if you're on a budget, US experts said Monday.

While organic foods have lower pesticide levels, they also have the same vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients as their conventional counterparts.

"We do not want families to choose to consume smaller amounts of more expensive organic foods and thus reduce their overall intake of healthy foods like produce," said Janet Silverstein of the American Academy of Pediatrics

"What's most important is that children eat a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products, whether those are conventional or organic foods," she said.

"This type of diet has proven health benefits," she said.

The report found no individual health benefit from organic milk but emphasized that all milk should be pasteurized to reduce the risk of bacterial infections.

In that vein, the group called for large prospective cohort studies that directly measure environmental exposures such as estrogen at low levels to examine the impact of hormonal exposure of children through milk and meat.

A large-scale study by researchers from Stanford University published in early September found that organic foods were no more nutritious than conventional products but contained fewer traces of pesticides. –Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Benefits of circumcision outweigh risks, US pediatrics group says

CHICAGO - The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new guidelines saying the health benefits of infant circumcision outweigh the risks of the surgery, but the influential physician's group has fallen short of a universal recommendation of the procedure for all infants, saying that parents should make the final call.

The change was prompted by scientific evidence that suggests circumcision can reduce the risk of urinary tract infections in infants and cut the risk of penile cancer and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and the human papillomavirus or HPV, which causes cervical and other cancers.

Although the AAP's 1999 statement was fairly neutral, the new statement, published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics, comes down in favor of the procedure, saying the health benefits of newborn male circumcision "justify access to this procedure for families who choose it."

"We're not saying you have to have it," said Dr. Andrew Freedman, a pediatric urologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who chaired the AAP's circumcision task force.

"We're saying if a family thinks it is in the child's best interests, the benefits are enough to help them do that," he said.

Based on a review of more than 1,000 scientific articles, the task force said male circumcision does not appear to adversely affect penile sexual function, sensitivity of the penis or sexual satisfaction.

The AAP said parents should be given unbiased information about the procedure and be allowed to make the call on their own.

But the group did say it is imperative that those performing circumcision are adequately trained, that they use sterile techniques and offer effective pain management.

Growing debate

Circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis, is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys, and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.

The wider US population adopted the practice due to potential health benefits, but those advantages have become the subject of debate, including recent efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco and Germany.

In Germany, the debate over circumcision has landed in the courts. Last week, an unnamed doctor in Germany filed charges against a rabbi for performing ritual circumcisions on infant boys, two months after a court in Cologne angered Jews and Muslims by banning the practice.

In the United States, the new guidelines may begin to turn the tide on infant circumcision, which has begun to fall in recent years as insurers have balked at paying for a procedure without a strong medical justification.

In as many as 18 US states, the Medicaid program for the poor has stopped paying for the procedure, a trend some doctors fear could significantly increase US health costs because of increased cases of urinary tract and HIV infections.

"The American Academy of Pediatrics had formerly been on the discouraging side," said Dr. Peter Richel, chief of pediatrics, at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York.

"If, indeed, we can cut down on a greater incidence statically of HIV or HPV, then I am certainly all for that."

'Short shrift'

In a statement issued on Friday in anticipation of the guidelines, the anti-circumcision group Intact America said most of the studies underlying the new guidelines are based on research done on adult men in Africa.

"The task force has failed to consider the large body of evidence from the developed world that shows no medical benefits for the practice, and has given short shrift, if not dismissed out of hand, the serious ethical problems inherent in doctors removing healthy body parts from children who cannot consent," said Georganne Chapin, the group's executive director.

Dr. Douglas Diekema, a pediatric bioethicist from the Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington who served on the task force, said the group considered a wide range of ethical issues, including pain experienced by the child and whether parents have the right to make the decision without the child's consent.

"There is no decision you can make that doesn't potentially put a child at risk. If you choose to circumcise, there is a risk he'll grow up to be a man who wishes he wasn't circumcised," Diekema said.

Diekema said waiting until the child is older to make the choice about circumcision would lose much of these early benefits, and because the foreskin is thicker in a teen than in an adolescent, the procedure carries more risks.

"I really don't think there is an easy answer," he said.

What was clear, Diekema said, was the issue of pain.

"We were unanimously agreed that it's inappropriate to do this procedure without adequate pain control. That, in many ways, is one of the biggest ethical issues," he said.

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of the Ahavath Torah congregation in Englewood, New Jersey, and president of the Rabbinical Council of America, said circumcisions done for religious purposes do not typically involve pain medication, but he noted that the procedure is quick and has a long tradition of success.

"We've performed it for centuries with no adverse effects to our children."

Even so, he worries about the lawsuits in Germany trying to ban circumcision.

"For us, it is such a critical component of our religious life that an attempt to eradicate it is an attempt to eradicate our religion. To have this happening in Germany, given our history, is particularly saddening to us." –Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com