wellness weekly

The News:

I started hand writing the blog at the airport where my yogurt was confiscated. I am now typing the blog on the seat of the city shuttle bus, in Dallas as we wait for more riders. BTW, I did not know that I was going to gain an hour, so I am a little weirded out. But I am on battery power on this little think pad so I better get to blogging.

Use Sunscreen: Even though it has been suggested in research that increased risk for skin cancer comes from sun burns we receive as children, especially if we are fair skinned, middle aged burns can not be harmless. I have one! I spent the day at the beach yesterday and have spent most of today with a burning itching chest. I did not wear sunscreen yesterday because I usually spend a half hour in the sun with no problem. Well I did wear it on my early morning run today because enough is enough of that. But the reason for wearing sunscreen that may get more of your attention is that sun ages you. I saw a man at the beach yesterday who may have been seventy but looked over eighty. He had skin the color and texture of shoe leather.
Governor Pataki’s Wisdom: I wish I had kept a note or two from the former governor’s guest appearance on CNBC this week, but I didn’t. He was nonetheless, advocating for the prevention of disease and he was pointing out the vast numbers of individuals who have diabetes and the lessened life quality that comes with it. He rightly noted that our obesity epidemic was most to blame and that the toll of this was far more dire then say, the flu and that obesity was the real health crisis. A caller to NPR made a similar statement later in the week regarding tobacco’s effect on health to the tune of about 438,000 US deaths per year.
Don’t Mix Those Drugs: A study that adds to existing evidence has shown an increase in heart attacks with patients who are taking plavix, an anticlotting drug, along with one of 4 proton pump inhibitor drugs for acid reflux (Nexium being the most popular of the four). These persons have most often developed the reflux after being prescribed plavix. The plavix is used in persons who have had a heart attack or stroke and or who have had stent placement to prop open previously clogged arteries. In the study, people who were on both drugs had 50 percent more heart attacks than those not on the PPIs. If reflux is a side effect of the plavix it must be addressed because untreated GERD can lead to esophageal cancer. Some cardiologists are now switching their patients on plavix who have acid reflux to non PPI meds. I read this week that almost one million stent surgeries are performed in this country a year. Plavix and the four PPI medications that treat the reflux are billion dollar drugs. What this study should really instigate is a health promotion campaign that works to prevent heart disease and the invasive and risky treatments it demands.
& More Pills: When I saved this article to read I believed it was about more use of psychotropic (mental illness) medications in general, but when I did read it, I learned about the increase in use with seniors. The story I read showed at least a doubling in use with seniors and also a rise in use with children. One reason for the rise of use in our older population is that medications used to treat dementia are considered psychotropics and they have become more common. Some mental health professionals say the rise in use in both populations is due to better access to care. I think it is due to marketing and that many times the risk from the medications far out weighs the benefit.
OMG: More food knowledge imparted by Melinda Beck from the Wall St Journal. Did you know that a food can still be called all natural if it’s “additives” are natural too? Buyer beware indeed. Ms. Beck offers important info regarding sodium in fresh, all natural chicken. Some chicken is processed in a way that adds 200 to 400 mg of sodium per serving. For those with salt sensitive high blood pressure that is no little deal. Other things we’ve touched on before, but read your labels – not just the per serving part but the ingredient list as well. You may be unpleasantly surprised. Also, if you can get restaurant info online it would behoove you to read it.

Not able to post a video from my laptop so no cooking demo this week.
BTW I ended the blog sitting in the classroom during the lunch break. Tomorrow I plan to run on the mile track here, it is supposed to be made of some special material that has less impact. I have learned of a new concept and will tell you about it next time. It is called compressed morbidity.

Live Well
Deirdre