USDA WEB SITE FOR HOLIDAY MODERATION
Revelers who over-indulge in the culinary bounty of holiday gatherings can go to a U.S. government Web site for help. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched an interactive Web site to help promote healthy eating by helping visitors monitor caloric intake. The Interactive Healthy Eating Index and Physical Activity Tool at cnpp.usda.gov/ihei.html is tailored to serve as a diet crisis management tool over the holidays, offering helpful tips and guides for moderate eating -- even under pressure. "Holidays and weight gain don't have to go hand-in-hand," says Ag Secretary Ann M. Veneman. "Maintaining a healthy weight is a balancing act between calories consumed and calories burned and our healthy eating index allows you to get instant feedback on how well you are doing."
AEROBIC FITNESS MEANS FEWER SICK DAYS
Physical activity actually may help boost kids' immunity to the barrage of bacterial infections and viruses they are exposed to at school. Canadian scientists find children who spend more time playing sports and who have better aerobic fitness tend to have fewer sick days than children who have more than 25 percent body fat. The study -- conducted among 10- and 11-year old children at Brock University in Ontario -- also finds more sedentary children and those with higher body fat are more likely to contract upper respiratory infections. The study authors suggest: "Don't go outside with your hair wet -- but do go out!"
ALCOHOL EXPOSURE AND BABIES
Babies exposed to alcohol in the womb or soon after birth may be at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Previous studies have documented the diabetes-promoting effects of alcohol during pregnancy, and now researchers at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada, find exposure to alcohol through breast milk during the first postnatal month also could lead to diabetes. The study, conducted on rats, suggests exposure to alcohol during early development may result in abnormal glucose homeostasis during adulthood. Further, while the underlying mechanisms still are unknown, alcohol exposure during the prenatal or early postnatal period resulted in insulin resistance and glucose intolerance later in life. Alcohol is commonly believed to stimulate lactation and is therefore often consumed by new mothers so the findings could provoke changes in early child care.
MARINES TEST HEARING LOSS PREVENTION DRUG
Over the next few months 600 U.S. marines training at Camp Pendleton will test a new drug to prevent high decibel-induced hearing loss. N-acetylcystine was developed by scientists at the University of Buffalo in New York. NAC is an antioxidant compound already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating liver damage and for loosening mucus in pulmonary airways. It now will be tested as a tool to combat the oxidative stress -- damage caused by too many free oxygen molecules or free radicals -- that kills the hair cells of the inner ear responsible for converting sound waves into electrical stimuli to the brain. "Learning how cells die in the inner ear has opened up new opportunities for prevention and treatment," says Dr. Donald H. Henderson of the University of Buffalo. The three main causes of hearing loss -- noise, ototoxic drugs and aging -- appear to involve the common factor of oxidative stress, either through increased free radical formation or reduced antioxidant availability. Noise-induced hearing loss affects about 10 million people in the United States.
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(EDITORS: For more information on HOLIDAY MODERATION contact John Webster at (703) 305-7600 or [email protected]. For SICK DAYS and INSULIN RESISTANCE contact Donna Krupa at (703)527-7357 or [email protected]. For HEARING LOSS contact Lois Baker at (716) 645-5000, ext. 1417, or [email protected].)
