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Get Ready To Go Red For Heart Health

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 25, 2008

Tampa Bay is likely to be seeing a lot of red, as the American Heart Association highlights Go Red For Women, its national heart disease awareness campaign.

Friday's National Wear Red Day will encourage individuals, businesses, even buildings to "go red" for the day by wearing red clothing. The national campaign aims to increase awareness of the risk of heart disease — the No. 1 killer of women nationwide, more dangerous than the next five causes of death combined.

February is American Heart Month. One in three women has cardiovascular disease, and every minute one woman dies as a result of this health threat.

Several businesses, including Macy's, Carlton Fields, Bayfront Center and the Pinellas County Health Department, are encouraging employees to wear red for the day, offering health information and hosting internal fundraisers.

But the grassroots Go Red movement this year won't be isolated to clothing alone. In downtown Tampa, red lights will illuminate the fountain at Tampa City Center and Park Tower. Two St. Petersburg icons, the Bank of America Tower and The Pier, also will be lit red. Off-beat events for Go Red include the Weeki Wachee Little Mermaid, who will don a red tail for some shows through February.

Women and men wanting to join the Go Red For Women movement can call 1-888-MY-HEART and receive a red dress pin and educational materials. Visit GoRedForWomen.org to take the Go Red Heart Checkup to receive a free, 10-year risk assessment for developing heart disease.

Stroke Risk Reduced With Vitamin C

Increased blood levels of vitamin C may reduce the risk of stroke by 42 percent, a large European study suggests.

Increased levels of the vitamin, tied to increased intake of fruit and vegetables, offered significant cardiovascular benefits among the 20,649 men and women taking part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer.

The authors think blood levels of the vitamin could be used as a biological marker of lifestyle used to identify people at high risk of stroke.

Strokes occur when blood clots or an artery bursts in the brain and interrupts blood supply to the brain. It is the leading cause of disability and the third-leading cause of death in Europe and the United States. In the United States, every 45 seconds someone will experience a stroke, the American Stroke Association says.

The researchers followed the subjects for more than nine years and documented 448 strokes during this time. Subjects completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire at the start of the study, and blood samples were taken to measure vitamin C levels.

When researchers excluded participants who consumed vitamin C-containing supplements the results were the same, indicating that the benefits could have been from vitamin C-rich foods, such as fruit and vegetables.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) welcomed the study as refreshing in that its findings are both clear and not overstated. The institute suggests the public should aim for between five and nine servings of fruit and vegetables per day.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Knee Pain Avoidable For Female Soccer Players

Female athletes are more prone to knee injuries than their male counterparts, but can fight the odds by strengthening core muscles.

Research shows that as female athletes mature physically, growth in height and muscular changes translates into less control of knee joints. Women tend to change direction and land from jumping with straightened knees, predisposing them to ligament and cartilage tears.

In fact, women injure their knees, especially their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL), six to nine times more than men. Female soccer players often tear the ACL when stopping abruptly or landing awkwardly after jumping.

One way to combat this problem is to strengthen the core muscles — back, abdominal and hip — and to teach these athletes proper jumping technique, says Kaare Kolstad, an orthopedic surgeon with The Methodist Hospital in Houston.

"If you don't have a strong core, repetitive movements like jumping, or changing direction can have a negative affect on the knee and could eventually cause a serious injury," said Kolstad, one of the head physicians for the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. "Sit-ups, push-ups, mild weight training such as leg presses, especially for children ages 13 to 16, will go a long way towards strengthening these muscles."

It's also important to regularly practice jumping, leaping and landing correctly with the knees bent. There are several ways to do this, such as jumping up and down off a small platform, hopping back and forth over cones, jumping forward from a straight position and landing with the knees bent and jumping rope.

Some athletes also experience knee soreness after playing. This could either be tendonitis, an inflammation of the patellar tendon, or Osgood-Schlatter, a condition that affects children ages 10 to 15 who experience growth spurts.

"Stretching before, during and after practice and games, and even when you are not practicing, will also help prevent these types of knee injuries," Kolstad said. "These problems need to be taken seriously because they might predispose them to more serious knee problems as the child gets older."

Newswise

Skip Certain Foods To Diffuse Gassiness

Gassiness: It's embarrassing, bothersome and, yes, smelly. Sometimes, changing diet can clear the air.

Temporarily avoiding certain foods can help identify causes of gassiness, The Mayo Clinic says. While nonprescription products, from Lactaid, Dairy Ease, Gas-X and Beano can help diffuse things, skipping certain foods can be your best bet at avoiding these potentially awkward situations.

Dairy products: Sugar lactose in dairy is a common cause of gas. Non-prescription products such as Lactaid or Dairy Ease may help. Yogurt or aged cheeses are less likely to cause discomfort.

Some vegetables: Carbohydrates found in vegetables such as onions, radishes, cabbage, celery, carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and legumes (including dried peas and beans) can produce gas.

Too much fruit sugar: Prunes, raisins, bananas, apples and apricots, and juices made from prunes, grapes and apples can cause gas.

Too much fiber: Cut back on high-fiber foods and then gradually introduce them again. It will help identify the amount of fiber that can be tolerated.

Some sweeteners: Sweeteners used in sugar-free chocolates and candies can cause diarrhea. These sweeteners include sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol.

Fatty food: Fried food, fatty meat and some sauces can cause gas.

Carbonated and sparkling drinks: Avoiding these may reduce gas, too.

Newswise

Care For Little Ones Affects Brain Development

The quality of care a child gets the first two years of life directly affects brain development and IQ, a recent study shows.

The study, which followed children who had been abandoned in Romanian orphanages, found those placed in foster care at younger ages had significantly higher IQs than those placed in foster care after the age of 2.

"Our findings suggest that there may be a sensitive period in the first two years of life in which experiences are especially important in shaping cognitive development," says Charles Zeanah, professor and chief of child psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine.

A follow-up of the same children a year later showed IQs for the two groups placed in foster care after two years of age continued to significantly lag behind the group placed with families earlier in life.

The results point to the negative impact of early institutionalization. It underscores the advantages of family placements for young abandoned children, researchers say. The model of foster care implemented in the study may be useful in the United States, where 500,000 children are currently in such programs.

Science Magazine

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