wellness weekly

Eggs: Well how about that. Eggs are bad again. Eggs are bad if you are a physician enrolled in the Physician’s Health Study. And doubly bad if you are a diabetic physician enrolled in the study. If you were in the study and ate more than seven eggs a week, your risk of death from any cause was greater than those in the study who did not consume so many eggs. If you were a diabetic in the study, any eggs at all increased your risk of death. Eggs are high in cholesterol and have been said to be a risk factor for heart disease due to the clogging of arteries. Then we were told that cholesterol in foods was not so bad as long as we watched our saturated fat contact and otherwise led a healthy life. In this study, the doctors whose lives were cut short also smoked, drank to excess, ate too much and moved too little. That, whether you eat eggs or not, is a formula for early death. Nonetheless, I’d be mindful of how many eggs I eat.

More on Less Smoke in China: China is faltering these days. It does not look good. They may even be the reason that tobacco stocks were down this week. They are adding another place to their very short list of smoke free venues. The ban I talked about last week referred to Beijing but this is a cross country ban. What is really cool is that the government’s Health Ministry said, no smoking in this place, effective immediately. Wish we could do that, but then we might be like China in other ways that aren’t so cool. Anyway, starting now, you cannot smoke within “teaching regions”. I think it means all schools. They are also strongly encouraging all staff to quit and have agreed to add prevention programs to the school curriculum. Yes it is incredibly late and may only have to do with the Olympics, but it will improve health just the same.

Depression and Alzheimer’s: Not a study that I want to see confirmed. None the less, researchers tell us that people who have suffered chronically with depression are more at risk to develop Alzheimer’s in their later years. I am not surprised as I have worked with people who suffered with and died from Alzheimer’s and I know their past histories. How does one then protect against this particular risk factor? How do you not suffer from depression if depression is a biological condition that is more genetic than environmental? I do not know. Thus, I think we should concentrate on the depression, or theories on depression, that do relate to environment and lifestyle. Ironically they are the same as the ones for Alzheimer’s. I.e. maybe it is one set of risk factors not two. For the record, the study did discuss the stress hormone cortisol as possibly damaging some brain cells, but not affecting plaque buildup and tangles directly. The protective factors that you have control over are these: A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean protein, fish (low mercury), beans, nuts and such and monounsaturated fats. Exercise - at least twenty minutes every day and far more if you really want protection. Staying mentally active and engaged in society. Note pills alone will not cure or protect you.

Kudos in Philly: It looks like another healthy school initiative has paid off. Five elementary schools in Philadelphia followed the recommendations of the NHLBI in regards to clearing out soda, limiting snacks and banning candy. Teachers, students and parents were educated on nutrition. The school implemented this plan and evaluated the results. Compared to similar schools and students, twice as many students at the control sites became fat as those at the experiment school. Even so, the numbers were about 7 to 15 %. Seven percent is too high. One thing I would recommend is to ax the juices and make sure that the low fat milk is low enough. It also isn’t said that physical activity was addressed. I would certainly add that. They can do this, we all can. Obesity prevention MUST begin in the earliest years.

Wishing you wellness