Health TO YOUR
Mid-Valley Newspapers M
June 2012
A guide to wellne wellness and healthy living in the Mid-Willamette Valley
STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news
Chubby on campus The percent of overweight and obese American college students increased from 27.4 percent in fall 2006 to 29.2 percent in fall 2011, according to the American College Health Association. By contrast, more than one-third of American adults, about 35.7 percent, are obese today, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The news gets worse: New research conducted by Eric A. Finkelstein at Duke University, which appeared online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, predicted that 42 percent of Americans would be obese by 2030, including a 33 percent increase over the next 20 years. — Capital News Service
Rethinking autism
Making time for activities like bike riding, walking and swimming as a family can help kids develop safe, healthy habits. JESSE SKOUBO | TO YOUR HEALTH/FILE
— Detroit Free Press
Chew on this
How to get your kids off the couch and keep them
Safe and active By JENNIFER ROUSE ach summer, parents are faced with a double hurdle: getting their kids off the couch and out to enjoy the sunny weather, and then keeping their kids safe once they do head outdoors. With reports lamenting both the rise in childhood obesity and the fact that unintentional injury remains the leading cause of death for kids, it can be hard for parents to know which way to turn: keep the kids in the house, where they’re safe but sedentary, or send them out to play, where they’re active but at risk?
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A new British study suggests that chewing flavorless gum can interfere with shortterm memory. The research, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, challenges the prevailing notion that chewing gum — at least when it’s flavored — is a performance enhancer that can boost brain power. Flavor, however, is a still a wild card; it’s what may contribute to the benefits of gum chewing. In a 2002 study participants chewed mint-flavored gum and performed better on shortterm word and memory tasks than those who did not chew gum. But because chewing gum loses its flavor in several minutes — and unflavored gum is generally unpalatable — “it seems advisable that chewing gum is only considered a performance enhancer as long as its flavor lasts,” the researchers noted. Or as long as you have money to buy more gum. — Chicago Tribune
Eyesight issues
Getting active Even the most safety-focused parents know they can’t really keep their kids wrapped up in a Snuggie on the couch all summer — nor would they want to. Getting kids used to a regular routine of physical activity is a great way to ensure your child’s lifelong health. One of the best ways to both set your mind at ease about your kids’ outdoor safety and to help build healthy habits is to participate with them. “It’s about time spent together,” said Karen Swanger, director of KidSpirit, part of Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Human Services. “It’s not all about how many minutes you’re getting in. Make it fun.” Exercise doesn’t have to be expensive or highly regimented. Family walks, time at the park, bike rides and local hikes will all do the trick. Remember that especially for kids preschool-age and younger, what counts as exercise for them may not exactly help you meet your aerobic activity needs. “Little kids are going to want to smell the flowers and look at bugs,” Swanger said. “You have to check yourself and remember that even though this is not exercise for me, those little legs are only about a foot long. It’s about creating the habit of being on the move.” Once kids get to be grade-school age and older, you can create challenges to make it more interesting — and more strenuous — for everyone. For instance, Swanger said, each Corvallis school has a 5K course mapped out in the neighborhood surrounding it so that running clubs like Girls on the Run, a KidSpirit program, can use them for training. Challenge your kids to run or walk the entire 3.1-mile route as a family by the end of the summer, working
A greater understanding of disorders on the autism spectrum is ever-evolving. The American Psychiatric Association is reviewing the diagnosing criteria for autism — essentially outlining for clinicians what will and will not be considered autism. In March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its estimates for how many children have autism — increasing rates from 1 in every 110 children to 1 in 88.
ETHAN ERICKSON | TO YOUR HEALTH/FILE
Adding a social element to sports and exercise helps older kids and teens stay interested in participating. Letting them invite friends along for a bike ride or getting them involved in events like the Boys & Girls Club’s Hoop Jam, above, can motivate them to keep moving. up to it little by little. For teenagers, make social activity a part of getting active as a family. “Have some place in mind to go and then invite their friends along,” suggested Swanger. “Say we’re going to go downtown and go shopping, but we’re going to bike there. That social piece is important to teens.” Really, it doesn’t matter too much what you’re doing — as long as you’re encouraging your kids to enjoy physical activity, especially by participating right alongside them — you’ve taken a step toward a summer of healthy fun instead of TV-fueled apathy.
Water safety Swimming is another part of any kid’s summer wish list. When the temperature climbs, cooling off in the water is the first thing that comes to mind. But according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, drowning remains the No. 1 accidental killer of small children, claiming the lives of more children ages 1-4 than any cause other than
congenital birth defects. To reduce the risk of a tragedy, enroll your kids in swimming lessons. Statistics show that taking part in formal swimming lessons reduces the risk of drowning in preschool age children; that familiarity with the water and rudimentary skills can help keep them alive. Even kids who have had swimming lessons still need to be watched. Never let your kids swim unsupervised, and brush up on your CPR skills. According to the CDC, when bystanders perform CPR, it improves the chances that drowning victims will survive. If you’re going to be out boating in one of Oregon’s many lakes or rivers, everyone — even the adults — needs to be wearing a life jacket. According to the CDC, half of all boating deaths could be prevented through the use of life jackets. Water wings or pool toys like floating noodles don’t cut it — you need to be strapped into an approved model rated for the weight of the wearer. SEE SAFE & ACTIVE | A6
More than 150 million Americans use glasses or contacts to correct refractive errors such as nearsightedness or farsightedness, according to a report from the eye health organization Prevent Blindness America. And the prevalence of blindness and sight problems increases with age. In people older than 40, the most common diseases include agerelated macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. – Chicago Tribune
Toll from injuries About 50 million Americans are treated for injuries every year, including 9.2 million children who are taken to emergency rooms. About 12,000 children die from their injuries. The injuries also generate $4.6 billion in lifetime costs for medical care and lost productivity. — The Baltimore Sun
Laws save lives According to a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, seat belt laws nationwide saved about 69,000 lives from 2006 to 2010. Motorcycle helmet laws nationwide saved about 8,000 lives from 2005 to 2009. Child safety seat laws nationwide saved about 1,800 lives from 2005 to 2009. — The Baltimore Sun
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To Your Health
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Hidden in plain sight Despite the success of preventative laws, injuries remain the leading cause of youth fatalities
Saliva eyed for alternative to blood testing
By MEREDITH COHN
By ANDREA K. WALKER
THE BALTIMORE SUN
THE BALTIMORE SUN
BALTIMORE — Tens of thousands of lives have been saved over the years because Americans more routinely wear seat belts and don’t drive drunk. But there are other public health threats from those who text while driving or overdose on prescription drugs. That’s why a group of researchers began looking at which prevention measures work and who is using them across the country to stem the rate of injuries of all kinds. Injuries are the third-leading cause of death for adults and the biggest killer of young people. “Injuries are a huge problem hiding in plain sight,” said Andrea Gielen, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research & Policy and co-author of a new report released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “People don’t necessarily recognize the toll.” Researchers believe it’s the first time a report has identified 10 key injury-prevention measures and which states have adopted them. They hope their findings are used to influence public policy and laws and to change individuals’ behavior. Up to now, no state has adopted all of the measures that focus on such things as seat belts, bike and motorcycle helmets, child safety seats and prescription drug monitoring programs. The resulting injuries are not only a health issue, but a financial one, said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health. Annual federal funding for injury prevention has been cut by 24 percent in the past five years to $88.6 million, he said, and many lawmakers want to know what the return on the investment will be before boosting the money anew. About 50 million Americans are treated for injuries every year, including 9.2 million children who are taken to emergency rooms, Levi said. About 12,000 children die from their injuries. The injuries also generate $4.6 billion in lifetime costs for medical care and lost productively. But the report shows injuryprevention laws are making gains, he said. Seat belts saved an estimated 69,000 lives from 2005 to 2010. Motorcycle helmets saved about 8,000 lives, and child safety seats saved 1,800 from 2005 to 2009. “There are some relatively simple and inexpensive things you can do to make a big difference,” Levi said. “If every state passed every law, millions
No one likes to get stuck with a needle. But it’s the only way doctors can get blood to test for diabetes, anemia and numerous other health problems. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing say there is a much less invasive and painless means of detecting illnesses in patients — spit. Like blood, spit contains proteins, hormones, enzymes and DNA that can be used to test for and combat disease. It is easy and inexpensive to collect and analyze, making it ideal for research. Scientists already are using saliva tests for research and believe we will one day soon see the market open to consumers who will be able to test for illnesses from their bedsides with a simple swab of the mouth. This could be especially beneficial in rural areas and other places with limited access to health care and for people who may not be able to get to a doctor’s office. Saliva research has been around for years, but spit’s use in medical settings is still limited mostly to detecting
LLOYD FOX | BALTIMORE SUN
Stephanie Parsons, a certified health educator at Johns Hopkins University, talks with 1year-old Nathaniel Thomas Jr. as his father, Nathaniel Thomas Sr., buys a child-proofing kit at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Safety Center in Baltimore.
THE 10 MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES Here are the 10 measures that researchers believe have the greatest effect in saving lives, and the number of states that have adopted them: • Seat belts: Have a primary seat belt law (32 states). • Drunken driving: Have mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers (16 states). • Motorcycle helmets: Require helmets for all riders (19 states). • Booster seats: Require seats to age 8 (33 states). • Bicycle helmets: Require helmets for all children (21 states). • Intimate partner violence: Allows people in dating relationships to get protection orders (44 states). • Teen dating violence: Several measures recommended (6 states). • Concussions: Several measures recommended, including baseline exams for school sports (36 states). • Accidental prescription drug overdose or use: Have an active monitoring program (48 states). • Ecodes: Include a code on patient discharge forms from emergency rooms showing the injury cause for research purposes (23 states). of lives and millions of dollars would be saved.” The report’s authors said research will continue to determine the best methods of preventing injury. Sometimes recommendations change. For example, Gielen said, children should be in booster seats until they are 8 years old and babies’ seats should remain backward until occupants are 2, longer than previously thought. New threats are emerging that will require study to determine the best methods of prevention. They include
texting while driving, prescription drug overdoses, bullying, concussions in school sports and falls among the aging Baby Boomer generation. But unintended consequences also could be a problem as new laws take effect, Levi said. For example, simply banning texting could make some drivers try to hide their phones from law enforcement, diverting their eyes longer from the road. “There is definitely an educational component, for the lawmakers and for the public,” he said.
College students’ weighty choices bring campus obesity to forefront By SYDNEY CARTER CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Control over their life choices is part of the college experience for students. But that authority is not without cost: Schedules are jammed and in-flux; exercise, homework and friends all compete for time. Parents aren’t around to clean up, nag about homework and grades, or cook nutritious meals. Faced with overwhelming choices, college students often end up gaining extra pounds. Moreover, at a time when obesity among Americans is a national epidemic, the college generation often is overlooked. “People don’t look at this age cohort as closely,” said Dr. Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting communities’ health and preventing disease. “Since you certainly can
‘People don’t look at this age cohort as closely.’ DR. JEFFREY LEVI TRUST FOR AMERICA’S HEALTH
find a lot of data showing that kids today under 18, under 19 are becoming more and more obese, they’re moving on to college — this is a trend that’s been going on for 20 years — and clearly admission to college doesn’t suddenly eliminate those rates of obesity.” The percent of overweight and obese American college students increased from 27.4 percent in fall 2006 to 29.2 percent in fall 2011, according to the American College Health Association. The organization based its findings on body mass index, or BMI, which is calculated from an individual’s self-reported height and weight, and is a
standard indicator of obesity. A BMI in the range of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, while a BMI between 30 and 34.9 is obese. A 2007 study on college students and obesity published in the American Journal of Health Behavior found that obesity rates increased rapidly during the duration of the study. The researchers wrote: “Students entering college may be making independent decisions about their diet, activity and television viewing behaviors for the first time. New environmental and social factors may emerge during this time period to have a greater influence on their behavior.” College students can struggle with control. The tough decisions about nutrition and exercise can send them on a roller-coaster ride with their health. “You have to find the time, it’s not built-in for exercising,” said Emily
Schmitt, the University of Maryland fitness programs coordinator, “and you’re selecting your own food, which may be totally different than the meals you’re used to from home.” More than one-third of American adults, about 35.7 percent, are obese today, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even the White House has taken notice. First lady Michelle Obama, the mother of two young daughters, has made childhood obesity her challenge. In February 2010, she launched the Let’s Move! campaign to encourage healthy eating and physical activity among children. Almost one in three children in America is overweight or obese, according to the official Let’s Move! website. But college students, it seems, are left to fend for themselves.
Fruit juice targeted in war on obesity By MONICA ENG CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Over the last decade, the nation’s war on obesity has targeted some fairly obvious culprits, including fast food, pastries, fried foods and soda. But recent scientific studies and a new government-sponsored documentary that aired recently on HBO have identified a new, less obvious enemy: fruit juice. This might surprise the many parents and school districts that in recent years have proudly ditched soda in favor of 100 percent juice. But
health experts increasingly agree that it is not a better alternative. “Juice is just like soda, and I’m saying it right here on camera,” pediatric obesity specialist Robert Lustig said in the documentary “Weight of the Nation,” produced in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is no difference. When you take fruit and squeeze it, you throw the fiber in the garbage. That was the good part of the fruit.” Since 2001, the American Academy of Pediatrics has advised limiting daily juice consumption to 4 to 6 ounces for
children 6 and younger and 8 to 12 ounces (the size of a soda can) for children 7 to 18. The academy’s head of environmental health, Jerome Paulson, took it even further when he told the Tribune in December that children do not need to drink any juice at all. “Don’t drink an apple,” he said. “Eat an apple.” An important difference between fruit juice and fruit, researchers point out, is that calories and sugar delivered in liquid form don’t trigger feelings of fullness and can lead to excess consumption.
HIV and hormone-related diseases. The field is now at a crossroads with better tools and methods to test saliva, some researchers say. They expect saliva testing to become more common in the near future. Recent studies at Johns Hopkins have found saliva can be used to detect cardiovascular disease risk and to collect DNA samples. One study even used it to show how women’s relationships with their fathers indicate how well they deal with stress. “We’re discovering that by using spit we are able to measure more things than we were ever able to measure before, and we know now how to design the tools to collect samples accurately and to do the measurements accurately,” said Doug Granger, director of Hopkins’ Center for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research. Granger began researching saliva nearly two decades ago as a graduate student studying biological reasons for problem behavior in children. He found many families didn’t want to participate because it required numerous blood samples.
Safe & active Continued from A1
Sun safety The other leading cause of summer injury is a more insidious one, a killer whose damage might not show up until years down the road: Sunburn. We’ve all had one, and there’s no need to shield kids from the sun at the expense of allowing them to enjoy their summer. But any time you can prevent a sunburn from occurring, you’re taking a step in the right direction. More than 2 million people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year, according to the CDC. And while many people wear sunscreen, not everyone does it effectively enough to prevent their risk of skin damage. The biggest mistake? Not applying enough of the stuff. Most people use only 25-50 percent of the recommended amount, the CDC says. You need to slather on about enough to fill a shotglass, and you need to do it even on cloudy days. If you’re using the spray-on kind, make sure you’re putting on enough to cover the entire exposed area thoroughly, and with either variety let it dry first before heading outside. You also need to make sure the stuff you’re using offers what’s called broadspectrum protection and is
SPF 15 or higher. Check the label — does your bottle say it protects against both UVA and UVB rays? If not, get a new one. Without both kinds of protection, it will only prevent sunburn, not protect from the kind of exposure that can cause skin cancer. Put more sunscreen on your kids every two hours, or anytime they’ve been swimming or sweating heavily. Don’t be fooled by bottles that claim they are “water proof” or “won’t sweat off.” In fact, according to the newest regulations, manufacturers are no longer allowed to make such claims — all sunscreen eventually washes off, and the most any company can claim is that their product is water-resistant, for up to 80 minutes. The variety of constantlychanging regulations to keep in your head may seem daunting, but the most important fact to remember is this: childhood is short, and summer only comes along once a year. Push your worries away, and get out there to enjoy it alongside your kids. “If parents make moving fun,” said OSU’s Swanger, “kids will associate physical activity with great memories, for the rest of their lives.”
HEALTHY TRAVEL Summer is the time for hitting the road — but if illness or injury strikes while traveling, it can turn a fun trip into a major headache. Here are some tips to make your traveling smoother, in both sickness and in health. Before you go: • Make sure you have any necessary prescriptions refilled. • Get medications you think you might need for travel — immunizations if you’re traveling abroad, motion sickness medications if you need them for a trip on a plane or a boat. • Check your insurance to make sure it covers you while you’re traveling, especially if you’re leaving the country. • Look up where the closest care providers are in the area where you’re traveling. If you are on a camping trip, you may not be able to rely on your smartphone to tell you which is the closest town with medical care available. When you’re packing: • Bring a first-aid kit. • Make sure you have prescriptions, asthma inhalers, epi-pens, and any other medical device you might need. • Bring along your health insurance card and your ID. • Health profile: If you are taking any medications, or have medical conditions or allergies that doctors may need to know about, print up that information and have it available to hand to unfamiliar doctors ahead of time. For emergencies: If you’re hiking, camping, or driving through in a remote place, don’t forget the “10 essentials” that backcountry experts agree you should have in case you get lost: • Extra clothes • Map • Flashlight • Compass • First aid kit • Sunglasses/sunscreen • Fire starter/matches • Extra food • Knife • Extra water
To Your Health
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
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