Healthy Memphis

Here is one New Year's resolution public health officials are encouraging women of child-bearing age to make - eat a diet rich in folic acid. That is the B vitamin found in dark leafy vegetables, dried beans, citrus fruit and such enriched products as bread, flour, macaroni and cereals. Women who get enough folic acid are less likely to have children with spina bifida and certain other birth defects.

National Folic Acid Awareness Week starts the first Monday of January.

To mark the event, the Memphis & Shelby County Health Department is set to give away free multi-vitamins with folic acid. They will be offered to women of child-bearing age between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the lobby of 814 Jefferson.

We’re hosting an online conversation with certified personal trainer Judy Oros this week. If you haven't seen her advice for 2008 in The Commercial Appeal, check it out online at commercialappeal.com/news/lifestyle/health-fitness/
Got a question about starting a fitness program or improving your health in the new year?
Ask it here.
She’ll check the blog and respond.

We’re hosting an online conversation with Mary Daley, who created YourXercise, an exercise DVD for Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. If you haven't read her story, go to http://commercialappeal.com/news/lifestyle/health-fitness/
Got a question about caregiving? Want to know more about exercise and Alzheimer’s?
Join the conversation. Daley will monitor the blog and respond.

Tennessee ranks 34th in state spending for tobacco prevention targeting children and teenagers, but Gov. Phil Bredesen and state legislators still got an pat on the back recently from an anti-smoking group. That's because the state went from allocating nothing for tobacco prevention to earmarking $10 million for such efforts.

The same elected officials also got a scolding from the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Nationally Tennessee ranks 34th among states in spending on programs to convince children to remain tobacco free. That's better than last year when Tennessee landed in last place and earmarked nothing for tobacco prevention. The advocacy group publishes annual rankings.

But state spending in Tennessee remains well below the $32 million federal health officials have recommended the state devote to tobacco prevention.

The funds come from the 1998 settlement officials from Tennessee and other states reached with major tobacco companies.

After falling for several years, the percentage of American adults and high school students has stalled. Federal officials estimate about 23 percent of high school students and nearly 21 percent of adults smoke.

Smoking increases a person's risk of developing a range of health problems, including cancer and heart disease.

More information about the report is available at the group's Web site.

Dr. Manoj Jain's column about heart transplant patien William "Brad" Bradshaw illustrates a medical success story. See it at http://commercialappeal.com/news/lifestyle/health-fitness/
Got a comment? Here's your chance to talk to Jain or add your success story.

Loyal fans of Dr. Peter Gott, whose medical advice column runs in The Commercial Appeal, have heard him talk about his no-nonsense diet for years. He calls it the No Flour, No Sugar Diet. His book by the same name was a New York Times best-seller.
On Jan. 4 comes his latest book designed to help folks follow his diet. "Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook," $23.99, Wellness Central Hardcover, offers 175 recipes to help you eliminate flour and sugar from your diet without feeling deprived. It also includes advice on stocking your refrigerator, understanding healthy carbohydrates and avoiding yo-yo dieting.
Look for the cookbook in bookstores and at online booksellers.

Lifeblood, Mid-South Regional Blood Center, just made platelet donation a bit easier. On Thursday it started including platelet collection at mobile blood drives held inside churches, schools, business or other locations.

Previously the blood components was only collected at five of Lifeblood's nine collection centers.

Jennifer Balink, a Lifeblood spokeswoman, said the agency decided to invest in additional equipment to make platelet collection more widely available. Lifeblood hopes to increase platelet collections 10 percent in the coming year. That would be good news to a long list of patients, including those battling cancer or facing open-heart surgery. Platelets are essential for blood clotting.

It takes about two hours to donate platelets, which has been a stumbling block for me. I have convinced myself I don't have the time. Ridiculous, I know, but despite being a regular blood donor and understanding the need for platelets, the time commitment has me stumped.

I would love to hear from regular platelet donors about how wrong I am.

There is more evidence linking a brisk, daily walk with a trimmer waist and a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease or stroke.

It comes from Duke University Medical Center where investigators charted exercise's impact on 171 middle-aged, overweight men and women.

None exercised before joining the federally-funded study. Forty-one percent of the volunteers also suffered from metabolic syndrome, an umbrella term that includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, poor cholesterol levels and a large waist. The syndrome is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

After eight months of exercise, the percentage of volunteers with metabolic syndrome fell to 27 percent. Their waistlines also shrank.

Volunteers who walked just 30 minutes a day, six days a week enjoyed the benefit. "That's about 11 miles per week. And our study shows that you'll benefit even if you don't make any dietary changes," noted Dr. Johanna Johnson, the study's lead author and a clinical researcher at Duke.

The work appears in the Dec. 17 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

Anyone looking for motivation this holiday season should check out the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. It includes results from two large federal studies linking exercise and a Mediterranean diet with a reduced risk of death.

Investigators reached that conclusion after reviewing nearly 400,000 questionnaires completed between 1995 and 1996. The focus was men and women age 50 to 71. Five years later they followed up.

Turns out those who reported eating a diet most like the Mediterranean diet were less likely than others to be dead within five years due to cancer, heart disease or other causes. The diet's elements include plenty of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fish, monounsaturated fats, alcohol and meat.

Exercise also cut the death risk. Folks who exercised most days for at least 30 minutes were 27 percent less likely than non-exercising peers to die within five years. Vigorous exercise cut the risk even more. Three 20-minute sessions each week translated into a 32 percent reduction.

This will likely be enough to get me moving after work tonight.

When it comes to health, count me as a fasting skeptic.

Fasting for spiritual reasons I understand. But fasting for weight loss or to rid the body of unspecific toxins seems a waste of perfectly good will power.

Now comes research from the University of Utah and the Intermountain Medical Center that has me re-evaluating.

According to Associated Press reporter Marilynn Marchione, investigators studied folks who underwent X-ray tests to check for blocked heart arteries between 1994 and 2002. The researchers surveyed 515 adults.

Turns out those who fasted one day per month were about 40 percent less likely to have clogged arteries than patients who didn't fast.

The benefit of fasting remained even when researchers took into account a person's smoking history, age, sex, weight and other health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure.

The results got my attention.

Dr. Benjamin Horne, the researcher who led the study, even offered a possible explanation. He speculated that when people take a break from food, it forces the body to dip into fat reserves to burn calories. It also keeps the body from being constantly exposed to sugar and having to make insulin to metabolize it. When people develop diabetes, insulin-producing cells become less sensitive to cues from eating, so fasting may provide brief rests that resensitize these cells and make them work better, he explained.

I read this after a weekend spent making and eating fudge, taffy, cookies and other holiday treats. Taking a bread from food, or at least sweets, is pretty appealing right now. I would love to hear from folks experienced in fasting for health. Why do you do it and how do you think your health benefits.