Tasty Ways to Love Your Heart
New Tax Regulations for 2011
The Real Truth About Cholesterol
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Heartland Edition
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February 2010 2011 December
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Technology Makes it Easier Than Ever to Age Gracefully
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hick-lensed glasses with bifocal lines, dentures that look too perfect to be real and, of course, bulky, heavy hearing aids that just can't be overlooked - once, there was no mistaking the signs of age. Many people chose to endure the inconveniences of aging, rather than wear the overly obvious devices that might have eased vision and hearing losses. Technology, however, is making aging less conspicuous. Advances in optometric science and great design have turned glasses into style statements worn by people of all ages. Products like bifocal contact lenses and virtually invisible hearing aids can make some of the natural bodily changes associated with growing older seem less obvious and reduce their impact on a person's quality of life. continued on pg 6
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The Little Pill That Battles Cancer — and Wins By Nichael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
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t was the David-versus-Goliath smackdown of 2010: In a pair of headline-grabbing studies, ordinary low-dose aspirin slashed the risk of dying from nine scary cancers by an average of 30 percent. The humble headache tablet took down cancers of the colon, prostate, brain, lungs, pancreas, esophagus and more. Wow. The news made us YOU Docs smile as we swallowed our daily 162 mg of aspirin, washed down with warm water (we'll tell you why in a minute). Should you be doing the same? We're betting plenty of people who ought to be taking aspirin aren't -- and that some people who'd be better off not taking it are, despite the risks.
Risks? Yep. Weighing the ins and outs of aspirin therapy is a lot like trying to solve your first Rubik's cube. It's already proven to reduce risk for heart attacks and strokes, which is why aspirin's recommended for most men over 45 and women over 55. But regular use can trigger major, even fatal, stomach and intestinal bleeding. So deciding about aspirin requires sorting out your personal risks and benefits. Does adding "cancer pro-
tection" tip the balance for you? Here's what you need to know: • Aspirin can prevent cancer. While there have long been indications of this, the sturdy new data analyzed cancer deaths among 25,570 people who'd been in a string of aspirin studies. Over 20 years, aspirin cut the risk of dying from esophageal cancer by 60 percent, colorectal cancer by 40 continued on pg 2
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