Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Tue, Feb 18 1992 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 92 06:36:31 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update Feb. 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LOW-FAT DIET, WALKS CUT RISKS: Health-risk factors high blood pressure, obesity, elevated insulin and high triglycerides can be reduced by taking two steps, new research shows. Eating less fat and taking a brisk, 45-minute daily walk can eliminate what researchers have called a "deadly quartet" of heart-disease risk factors. (For more, see special Heart package below.) SILCONE DEBATE TO BEGIN: A Food and Drug Administration panel Tuesday will begin to hear arguments about whether silicone gel breast implants should return to the market. At the end of the three-day hearing, the advisory panel will decide if new evidence on risks justifies keeping the implants off the market. Earlier, the panel recommended the implants stay on the market while safety studies continued. MAKERS SAY PROBLEMS ARE RARE: During debates in front of an FDA advisory panel that will begin Tuesday, manufacturers of silicone gel breast implants and plastic surgeons will stress that problems are rare and the devices have improved over time. Critics will say safety questions are too numerous and serious to allow more surgeries. POLLUTION BLAMED FOR DEATHS: A mysterious killer has struck 27 babies in Brownsville, Texas, in the last three years. Anencephaly halts brain development shortly after conception. Most babies are stillborn. Many suspect pollution is causing the problem. Brownsville is on the Mexican border. American subsidiaries in Mexico dump untreated wastes, creating an environmental time bomb for nearby residents. KIDNEY SURGERY GUIDE AVAILABLE: About 13 million people nationwide suffer from kidney and urologic diseases. "How to Choose a Doctor and Hospital If You Need Kidney Surgery," a new, free guide by The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is designed to help suffers make wise decisions. It arms them with the questions they should ask before deciding where to have their surgery. It is available by calling 800-545-7718. HONOLULU NAMED HEALTHEST CITY: If you want to better your chances of a long life, head for Honolulu. According to the 1992 edition of "The Livable Cities Almanac" by John Tepper Marlin, Honolulu topped the list of healthiest cities. According to Marlin's almanac, Anchorage is the second-healthest city to live in, followed by Denver-Aurora-Boulder, Charlotte, N.C., and the Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn., area. WARMING COULD SPREAD DISEASE: Worldwide negotiations to cut emissions that cause global warming resume Tuesday at the United Nations, a 10-day meeting environmentalists fear may produce only hot air. Among the affects of a change in climate would be an increase in pest species and diseases. Activists say the first and easiest step to slowing global warming is to stabilize carbon dioxide. ARIZONA CONSIDERS NURSING BILL: The Arizona Senate will take up bill this week that would allow nurses with two-year degrees to be employed as school nurses. Opponents say the move would lower standards for school nurses, which currently need bachelor's degree. The Arizona House has yet to take up the bill. MEN ADDED TO BIRTH CONTROL BILL: A Tennessee bill to pay $500 to welfare mothers for birth control was amended Monday to include $500 aid for vasectomies. Female lawmakers had said the original bill was sexist. Men weren't included originally because vasectomy is nearly irreversible, bill's sponsor said. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON HEART: RISK FACTORS NOT CHECKED: Millions of Americans, most of them men with normal cholesterol, suffer from health-risk factors obesity, high blood pressure, elevated insulin and high triglycerides. "Most doctors check some of those, but most don't look at triglycerides and no one looks at insulin," says UCLA's R. James Barnard, whose study is in the current American Journal of Cardiology. 10% FAT DIET USED: Barnard followed 40 men and 32 women, ages 21-78, 26% of whom had all four risk factors. All ate diets with about 10% fat - much lower than the average American's 37% and cut out red meat, alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. They also took daily walks and exercise classes five days a week. RISK FACTORS WERE ELIMINATED: After 26 days, there were significant improvements in all risk factors. Only 5% of those studied still had risk factors. The 13 diabetics in the study cut all risk factors. Some were able to go off medication. Some in the study on medication for high blood pressure also able to go off medication. SUBJECTS LOST 10 POUNDS: The subjects lost an average of about 10 pounds each. While risk factors faded fast, "You probably get back into risk as quickly as you got out of it," Barnard says. Test subjects were in supervised exercise classes, but Barnard says, "A good, brisk 45-minute daily walk (plus cutting fat) is probably enough." (End of package.) Health Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002180000D0218 INSU-R K Campaign-heats-reform-debate.......... A D0218 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM