Weekly Health Update - Week of September 20, 2010

Mental Attitude: Mood-Boosting With Food. Eat foods rich in vitamin B12 and folic acid (folate). These two vitamins help prevent disorders of the central nervous system, mood disorders, and dementias. Folic acid is usually found in beans and greens. Vitamin B12 is found in meats, fish, poultry, and dairy.
Edward Reynolds, MD, at the Institute of Epileptology, King's College, London

Health Alert: Breast Cancer Rate In US Twice That Of South America! Breast cancer rates in the US are nearly double of those in South America, three times that of China, and four times that of Eastern Africa. (Some of this is due to US advances in breast cancer screening, diagnosis and record-keeping.) According to experts, 40% of breast cancer cases in the US could be prevented. 55% of South Americans fall within the Body Mass Index's "healthy" range, compared to 36% in the US. 37% of Brazilians are highly active compared to only 4% of US residents.
American Institute for Cancer Research, August 2010

Diet: Worst Foods in Your Fridge: Butter or Margarine. If it can hold its shape in stick form at room temperature, then it is probably high in saturated fat. Each tablespoon contains 100 calories and 11 grams of fat. Butter has 7 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. Stick margarines have 2 grams saturated fat and 1.5 grams trans fats per tablespoon. Try canola oil or olive oil in your cooking and baking as these are "smart" fats -- rich in mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Or try a reduced-fat margarine with no trans fat and low amounts of saturated fat. Elaine Magee, MPH, RD

Exercise: How Much Exercise Do You Really Need? Short bouts of exercise help lower blood pressure as well as shave inches off the hips and waistline. Multiple workout sessions as short as 6 minutes apiece can help sedentary adults reach fitness goals similar to those achieved by working out for 30 minutes at a time. Preventive Medicine, 2006

Chiropractic: Chiropractic For Neck Pain! When Comparing manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise) and general practitioner care (counseling, education and drugs), clinical outcomes showed manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Also, total costs of the manual therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care. British Medical Journal, 2003

Wellness/Prevention: Red Wine, Cheers. Resveratrol is found in the skins of red grapes and is a potent agent that protects against cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Resveratrol also stimulates glucose uptake into fat cells and blocks molecules from converting into fat. This means resveratrol might interfere with obesity and other metabolic effects that could increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2010

Quote: "We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full."
~ Marcel Proust