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, Mar 31 1992 Date: Tue, 31 Mar 92 05:49:46 EST Message-ID: 03-31 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update March 31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MOST REGAIN LOST WEIGHT: Most people who lose weight end up regaining it. Thomas Wadden, director of the Center for Health and Behavior at Syracuse (N.Y.) University, says his studies show most dieters regain 30% of their lost weight at the end of one year and most regain all their weight at the end of five years. The findings were presented Monday at a conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. (For more, see special Weight package below.) QUALITY OF LIFE CONSIDERED: The American Cancer Society has shifted some of its money away from developing technologies and put it into research designed to make patients feel better. Dr. John Laszlo, head of research, says funding for quality of life and prevention studies has doubled from last year. "We are trying to supply a funding vehicle for supportive care for patients with cancer," says Laszlo. MORE EMPHASIS PUT ON PREVENTION: Frustrated by slow progress in cancer cures, many scientists have begun looking for ways to improve prevention and quality of life, says Dr. John Laszlo of The American Cancer Society. Of 30 reports at its meeting this week, about a third are on those subjects. The society is launching a program to fund psychological, social and behavioral approaches to cancer care and treatment. COURT GETS VIEWS ON AIDS CASE: The Supreme Court Monday asked the administration's views on whether AIDS sufferers may use a federal law to sue employers who cut health-care coverage for the deadly disease. The court sought its views in a pending Texas case. MENTAL HEALTHCARE ADDRESSED: The National Council of Community Mental Health Centers recently released a White Paper on health insurance reform issues titled "New Perspectives on Mental Healthcare in America: Windows of Opportunity." It examines the stigma of mental illness that causes mental healthcare to be singled out for discriminatory treatment in public and private benefit plans. PATIENT GROUP FILES PETITION: VALV, a support group for Bjork-Shiley convexo-concave heart valve recipients, has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It requests that Shiley Inc., the valve manufacturer, and its parent, Pfizer Inc., pay all medical and related costs for those recipients who choose to have the potentially deadly valve replaced. THREE TESTS SHOULD BE USED: The most accurate way to detect early prostate cancer is to combine an ultrasound test with the standard digital rectal exam and relatively new PSA blood test, new research shows. Findings reported at an American Cancer Society meeting suggest adding ultrasound spares biopsies and detects 70% of early cases. Men with high PSA have ultrasound to measure prostate size. SMOKING BAN TENTATIVELY APPROVED: A ban on smoking in medical facilities in Kansas was tentatively approved by the state House Monday. The final vote will be taken Tuesday. The ban would not apply to well-ventilated space set aside for psychiatric units, substance abuse programs or long-term care. `CHINA WHITE' CAUSE OF DEATHS: Twenty-three people have died in Maryland since Jan. 25 from using the drug "China White." It is a legal anesthetic 100 times stronger than heroin, officials said. The drug is likely coming in from New York, police said. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON WEIGHT: FIVE YEARS AND IT'S BACK ON: Research led by Thomas Wadden, director of the Center for Health and Behavior at Syracuse, found that people on medically supervised very low calorie diets (400 to 800 calories a day) lose 40 to 50 pounds in 12 weeks but regain a third of the weight after a year. Most regain all of their weight at the end of five years. Dieters on 1,200-1,500 calories a day also regain the weight in five years. PEOPLE RETURN TO OLD HABITS: Wadden's research was conducted in a controlled setting. No one knows for sure how well people do who diet on their own, but experts suspect the results are equally grim. Obesity expert George Blackburn says one reason people regain their weight is they stop following the healthier lifestyle they adopted when they were losing weight. EXERCISE A KEY TO MAINTENANCE: One of the keys to keeping the weight off is exercise, Wadden says. Exercise not only burns calories, but "it also makes you feel in greater control of your body and self and as a consequence you are more likely to eat appropriately," he says. "Dieters aren't very excited about weight maintenance. You don't get the compliments for maintaining like you do when you're losing." (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. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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