People’s Pharmacy: Sex under siege in America. 2D
HealthToday
T H U R S D A Y , M A R C H 1, 2007
SECTION D
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
STUDIES
Heavy lifters need breaks
People whose jobs involve a lot of lifting may need to take longer breaks than is often the case now to avoid back injuries, a new study finds. This seems to be especially true for people new to the job. Writing in a recent issue of Clinical Biomechanics, researchers said the breaks that are now typical in industry might not be enough. “It is possible that with shorter rest and continued work,” the study
FITNESS
Make workouts family time
Working out as a family is a twofor-one bargain: exercise and family time. Experts say it’s an ideal way for busy families to fit a little sweat into packed schedules. Family workouts don’t have to be what’s traditionally considered “exercise” — raking leaves, playing tag or dancing counts. Other families opt to skate, ski, bike, swim, hike or golf. It can be stressful “when everybody in the family is going different directions,” said Allison Melino, health and wellness director at the Bellevue, Wash., Family YMCA. “One thing really makes it so much better: Go play with your family. All that stress is just gone.” A structured activity is easier. Some recreation classes lend themselves to multi-age participation; many martial-arts classes, for example, welcome both children and adults. A belly-dancing class emphasizes fitness, abdominal control, proper posture and relaxation. Besides the health benefits, active students may perform better academically, according to a small study released last year by the American College of Sports Medicine. It found a link between better grades and vigorous activity 20 minutes a day at least three days a week. A study published in Pediatrics last spring found teens who played sports with their parents were more likely to get A’s in math and English and less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking or drinking alcohol. To parents who insist they can’t squeeze in family exercise, make it a priority. — The Seattle Times
NUTRITION says, “the muscle cannot recover and at some point will not be able to keep pace with the increased oxygen demand.” The lead author of the study was Gang Yang of Ohio State University. For the study, the researchers asked volunteers to lift boxes onto a conveyor belt for as long as eight hours at a time, with three breaks totaling an hour over the eight-hour period. Some volunteers had experience lifting at places like distribution centers and grocery stores, while other had no experience at all. The boxes weighed about 2 to 25
pounds, and the volunteers were asked to lift them at rates of 2 to 12 lifts a minute. As they did, the researchers monitored the changing oxygen levels in their back muscles. Although lower back pain is a common problem in the workplace, it is not clear what exactly causes it, the authors say. Some researchers say it may be that as muscles tire, others come into use, changing the load on the spine. And the inability to keep oxygen levels high enough may contribute to muscle fatigue, the study said. — N.Y. Times News Service
The digestive tract
Cancer growth
Liver Stomach
Blood in or on the stool Change in bowel habits Narrower than usual stools Stomach discomfort Frequent gas pains/indegestion Unexplained weight loss Chronic fatigue
Pancreas Small intestine
Transverse colon
Rectum
When dining out, some tips from the American Dietetic Association to manage portion sizes. ■ Request a half order of an entree. ■ Have it served on a salad plate rather than a large dinner plate. ■ Share an entrée with a friend. ■ Ask about child-sized portions. ■ Get a “to-go” box when you are served and put half the meal into it before you start to eat. ■ Order an appetizer as an entree.
Polyp Colonscope
Polyp removal
Small intestine
The colon:
The longest part of the large intestine, it is typically between three and five feet long. It is a long, hollow tube at the end of the digestive tract where the body makes and stores stool.
LLeum
t trac Dir ectional
Sigmoid colon
Cecum
The rectum:
The last several inches of the large intestine just before the anus. Polyps can also develop in this area as well as the colon.
Polyps two centimeters or smaller are safe to remove during a colonoscopy. Larger polyps, like those that are the size of a silver dollar or a golf ball, must be surgically removed. While all polyps are tested for cancer, the larger ones are at greater risk for being cancerous. Some polyps have a stalk. If this is the case, the polyp is simply cut off at the stalk. STAFF GRAPHIC | ANTHONY BRATINA
Colon cancer Colonoscopy key to prevention
D
MANAGING WEIGHT
A polyp is extra tissue that grows inside the body. Within the colon, most are found on the left side, or the part of the colon closest to the rectum. Some are pea-size, others are much larger and can even cause blockage within the colon.
Ascending colon
r. J. Dewayne Tooson said he is the doctor no one wants to visit, and that’s a problem. Tooson is the medical director of the Endoscopy Unit at DCH Regional Medical Center. The colon and rectum are his areas of expertise, and those are two areas most people would rather not discuss. “It’s embarrassing, and people don’t want to talk about it,” Tooson said. “I meet people [socially] and they say, ‘I hope I never have to see you.’
TIP
Understanding polyps
Intestinal folds Stalk cut
Anus
Large intestine (Area shown)
Staff Writer
FILE | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A cancer that most likely grows from polyps in the colon or rectum, it is the fourth most common cancer of men and women and is the second highest death rate.
Symptoms:
Spleen
By Sarah Bruyn Jones
Peg Warren works out with a personal trainer at a gym in New York.
GETTY IMAGES
A study indicates people with jobs that require a lot of heavy lifting may need more breaks.
Colorectal cancer
Esophagus
Gallbladder
Eat right for Nutrition Month
“That’s the wrong approach. You want to see me at age 50, not at 62 when you have cancer.” The problem is too many people are having colonoscopies, the procedure used to detect and remove cancer-causing polyps, too late. Tooson estimated that between 15 percent and 20 percent of patients he screens are past the point where the polyp can be removed. That means surgery and a stronger likelihood for cancer. Prevention has become the clarion call of gastroenterologists. SEE COLON | 6D
CHRONIC AILMENTS The numbers
PREVENTION Risk factors
Colorectal cancer remains the fourth most common cancer in men, after skin, prostate and lung cancer. It is also the fourth most common cancer in women, after skin, lung, and breast cancer. It is the No. 2 killer among cancers. Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the U.S. In 2003 (the most recent year for which statistics are available): ■ 73,182 men and 70,763 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer ■ 27,990 men and 27,793 women died from colorectal cancer — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
■ Age: More than 90 percent of people with this disease are diagnosed after age 50. The average age at diagnosis is in the mid-60s. ■ Colorectal polyps: Growths on the inner wall of the colon or rectum. They are common in older people. Most are benign, noncancerous. ■ Family histor y of colorectal cancer: Parents, brothers, sisters or children of a person with a history of colorectal cancer are more likely to develop this. ■ Genetic alterations: Changes in certain genes increase the risk of colorectal cancer. ■ Personal histor y of cancer: A person who has already had colorectal cancer may develop it a second time. Also, women with a history of cancer of the ovary, uterus or breast are at a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer. ■ Cigarette smoking: Those who smoke cigarettes may be at heightened risk of polyps and colorectal cancer.
Estimated new cases and deaths from colon and rectal cancer in the United States in 2007: ■ New cases: 112,340 (colon); 41,420 (rectal) ■ Deaths: 52,180 (colon and rectal combined) — National Cancer Institute
PROCEDURES
STAFF PHOTO | DUSTY COMPTON
Dr. DeWayne Tooson holds a colonoscope.
Colonoscopy Complete colonoscopy is considered to be the most effective screening test, according to the American College of Gastroenterology. This test allows doctors to look inside the entire large intestine with a colonoscope, a flexible tube about 12 millimeters round with a light and a tiny video camera at the tip. The colonoscope contains the tools needed for cutting and removing smaller polyps. Patients are sedated for the procedure.
March has been designated National Nutrition Month. It started out as a one-week celebration in 1973, but as people became more interested in food’s role in health, an entire month was deemed more appropriate. Here are some tips to help you eat right, courtesy of the American Dietetic Association. ■ Keep your freezer stocked with frozen vegetables and your pantry stocked with canned vegetables to whip up quick, nutrient-rich meals. ■ Make pasta primavera and serve more vegetables than pasta. ■ Clean out your freezer and refrigerator by tossing half-used bags of vegetables or a lone carrot into homemade soup. ■ Start your meal with broth-based soup to fill you up before the main course. ■ Only snack if you are physically hungry, not because the clock tells you it is time to eat. — Cox News Service
CHILDREN
Children eat more in groups
Puppies do it. Chickens do it. Even preschoolers do it. That is the finding of a new study that looked not at falling in love but at how children eat when they are in larger groups. Like animals, the researchers found, the preschoolers ate more. The researchers, who report their findings online in The Archives of Disease in Childhood, say it has often been observed in animals and adults that consumption goes up as the number eating increases. People will even keep eating past the point when their appetite has been satisfied. But it was not known whether this held true for young children, a question that may have implications for fighting the obesity problem. The researchers, Dr. Julie C. Lumeng and Katherine H. Hillman of the University of Michigan, set out to answer it by studying more than 50 children at a preschool. The tools of the study were simple: hungry children, a snack area and that mainstay of childhood, graham crackers. The researchers looked at how children ate when they were in groups of three or nine. They found that in the larger groups, the children ate 30 percent more. — N.Y. Times News Service
DISEASE
CDC warns of rare skin disease
ATLANTA | Federal health officials are warning doctors that certain types of metallic dyeS injected for MRI scans have been linked to a rare and dangerous skin disease in kidney patients. More than two dozen dialysis patients in St. Louis over a four-year period contracted the unusual skin ailment, which causes burning and itching that can lead to discoloration and stiffening of the skin. The disease occurred in patients with advanced kidney disease who had undergone an MRI or a similar test. “To the general public, it’s not a big concern. But to somebody with kidney disease, we want to warn them not to get an MRI with the contrasting agent,” said CDC spokeswoman Jennifer Morcone. The dyes in question contain gadolinium, and are used in MRI scans that provide detailed pictures of internal organs and in similar scans that image blood vessels. The contrasting agents have been on the market since 1988. The skin disease, called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, is rare, but doctors think it may be under-recognized. A registry at Yale University has recorded about 215 cases to date. — The Associated Press