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Teens who eat less salt lower their long-term risk for high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, new research indicates.
The finding stems from a computerized projection of what would happen if adolescent boys and girls were to shave off 3 grams of salt from their daily consumption of common processed foods.
“Reducing the amount of salt that is already added to the food that we eat could mean that teenagers live many more years free of hypertension,” study lead author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an American Heart Association news release. The findings were to be presented Sunday at the heart association’s annual meeting, in Chicago.
“The additional benefit of lowering salt consumption early is that we can hopefully change the expectations of how food should taste, ideally to something slightly less salty,” Bibbins-Domingo said.
The study authors noted that in the United States, teens are the main consumers of salt. Their daily ingestion of 9 grams of salt per day is higher than any other age group. At 3,800 milligrams of sodium, that amount is more than double the AHA recommendations for daily consumption (1,500 milligrams).
Approximately 80 percent of salt intake comes from processed and/or prepared foods. More than one-third of that salt is specifically found in cereals, breads, and pastries, while pizza (according to the National Center for Health Statistics) ranks as the nation’s king of salt, the study authors said.
A daily 3-gram drop in consumption of the salt typically found in such foods would reduce the incidence of high blood pressure among teens by between 44 percent and 63 percent. And as these teens age, the high blood pressure incidence reductions would persist, dropping between 30 percent to 43 percent among 35- to 50-year olds, according to the study authors’ computer modeling.
The analysis also revealed that by the time teens reached the age of 50, such salt reduction would result in a 7 percent to 12 percent drop in heart disease; an 8 percent to 14 percent drop in heart attacks; a 5 percent to 8 percent drop in stroke rates; and a 5 to 9 percent drop in deaths due to all causes.
More information
Visit the American Heart Association for more on the group’s salt guidelines.
This article originally appeared in Business Week.
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A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows diabetes could affect as many as one in three Americans by the year 2050 if the obesity rate, among other things, continues to rise.
Americans in general are not known for having a healthy diet. This is usually attributed to fast food. But there is another often hidden factor that many Americans never think about.
“The vast majority of Americans eat way too much sugar,” said Dr. Tim Reynolds, author of The Green Beret Doctor’s Health Plan for Life, and managing partner of HealthCARE Express in Texarkana.
“We are a country comprised of grain eaters and lovers of high fructose corn syrup,” Reynolds explained. “The next time you go out to eat, look at the menu and count how many dishes feature pasta or rice. On your next trip to the grocery store, try and buy foods without high fructose corn syrup. You will probably find it is almost impossible because grains and high fructose corn syrup are everywhere. And both turn into sugars.”
Reynolds has a simplified explanation for why sugar increases obesity.
“The body has developed a mechanism over centuries to store energy for times of famine. When you eat a diet high in sugar, your body has to over-produce insulin to process the sugar. The extra insulin causes your body to store the sugar as fat. When you eat too much sugar for too long, your cells can become resistant to insulin. This causes your body to store even more extra sugar as fat,” he explained.
This is why it is important to be aware of what is actually in your food. You may not have taken the time to wonder why sugar is in so many things. It actually dates back to the 1980s when nutritionists started teaching people that the reason they were gaining weight was because they were consuming high fat foods. Jumping on the bandwagon, food companies across the nation rushed to create foods that were “low fat”. The shelves of our supermarkets became inundated with these low fat foods.
What people did not realize at the time was that in order to maintain good tasting foods, companies were just replacing “fat” with sugar. It took many years for people to wake up and realize sugar is far worse for your health than fat. The low fat craze that replaced fat with sugar actually made us fatter and sicker as a nation.
By simply paying attention to your sugar intake, you can dramatically affect your total calories and the quality of those calories for the better. Read food labels carefully, checking for sugar content listed under carbohydrates. A good rule of thumb is if a food or drink has over eight grams of sugar per serving, don’t eat it.
An even healthier alternative is to put the processed food down and pick up natural whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Every day you are bombarded with advertisements designed to convince you to purchase foods that are not necessarily good for you. It is your responsibility to see past what the advertisers want you to see and actually read the nutritional labels. Many of the products being promoted as healthy are full of sugar. If there are more than eight grams of sugar per serving, make a healthier choice.
To learn more about the sugar crisis in America, visit Dr. Reynolds’ website at www.LivingEveryMinute.com.
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1. Why get vaccinated?
Influenza (“flu”) is a contagious disease.
It is caused by the influenza virus, which can be spread by coughing, sneezing, or nasal secretions.
Anyone can get influenza, but rates of infection are highest among children. For most people, symptoms last only a few days. They include:
• fever
• sore throat
• chills
• fatigue
• cough
• headache
• muscle aches
Other illnesses can have the same symptoms and are often mistaken for influenza.
Infants, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with certain health conditions – such as heart, lung or kidney disease or a weakened immune system – can get much sicker. Flu can cause high fever and pneumonia, and make existing medical conditions worse. It can cause diarrhea and seizures in children. Each year thousands of people die from seasonal influenza and even more require hospitalization.
By getting vaccinated you can protect yourself from influenza and may also avoid spreading influenza to others.
There are two types of infl uenza vaccine:
1. Inactivated (killed) vaccine, or the “flu shot” is given by injection into the muscle.
2. Live, attenuated (weakened) influenza vaccine is sprayed into the nostrils. This vaccine is described in a separate Vaccine Information Statement.
A “high-dose” inactivated influenza vaccine is available for people 65 years of age and older. Ask your healthcare provider for more information.
Influenza viruses are always changing, so annual vaccination is recommended. Each year scientists try to match the viruses in the vaccine to those most likely to cause flu that year.
The 2010-2011 vaccine provides protection against A/H1N1 (pandemic) influenza and two other influenza viruses – influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B. It will not prevent illness caused by other viruses.
It takes up to 2 weeks for protection to develop after the shot. Protection lasts about a year.
2. Who should get inactivated influenza vaccine and when?
All people 6 months of age and older should get flu vaccine. Vaccination is especially important for people at higher risk of severe influenza and their close contacts, including healthcare personnel and close contacts of children younger than 6 months.
People who got the 2009 H1N1 (pandemic) influenza vaccine, or had pandemic flu in 2009, should still get the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine.
Getting the vaccine as soon as it is available will provide protection if the flu season comes early. You can get the vaccine as long as illness is occurring in your community. Influenza can occur at any time, but most infl uenza occurs from November through May. In recent seasons, most infections have occurred in January and February. Getting vaccinated in December, or even later, will still be beneficial in most years.
Adults and older children need one dose of influenza vaccine each year. But some children younger than 9 years of age need two doses to be protected. Ask your healthcare provider.
Influenza vaccine may be given at the same time as other vaccines, including pneumococcal vaccine.
Some people should not get inactivated influenza vaccine or should wait
3. Allergies
Tell your healthcare provider if you have any severe (life-threatening) allergies. Allergic reactions to influenza vaccine are rare.
Influenza vaccine virus is grown in eggs. People with a severe egg allergy should not get infl uenza vaccine. A severe allergy to any vaccine component is also a reason not to get the vaccine. If you ever had a severe reaction after a dose of influenza vaccine, tell your healthcare provider.
Tell your healthcare provider if you ever had Guillain-Barré Syndrome (a severe paralytic illness, also called GBS). Your provider will help you decide whether the vaccine is recommended for you.
People who are moderately or severely ill should usually wait until they recover before getting flu vaccine. If you are ill, talk to your healthcare provider about whether to reschedule the vaccination. People with a mild illness can usually get the vaccine.
4. What are the risks from inactivated influenza vaccine?
A vaccine, like any medicine, could possibly cause serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. The risk of a vaccine causing serious harm, or death, is extremely small. Serious problems from inactivated influenza vaccine are very rare. The viruses in inactivated influenza vaccine have been killed, so you cannot get influenza from the vaccine.
Mild problems:
• soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given
• hoarseness; sore, red or itchy eyes; cough
• fever
• aches
If these problems occur, they usually begin soon after the shot and last 1-2 days.
Severe problems:
• Life-threatening allergic reactions from vaccines are very rare. If they do occur, it is usually within a few minutes to a few hours after the shot.
•In 1976, a type of inactivated influenza (swine flu) vaccine was associated with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Since then, flu vaccines have not been clearly linked to GBS. However, if there is a risk of GBS from current flu vaccines, it would be no more than 1 or 2 cases per million people vaccinated. This is much lower than the risk of severe influenza, which can be prevented by vaccination.
5. What if there is a severereaction? What should I look for?
Any unusual condition, such as a high fever or behavior changes. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include difficulty breathing, hoarseness or wheezing, hives, paleness, weakness, a fast heart beat or dizziness.
What should I do?
• Call a doctor, or get the person to a doctor right away.
• Tell the doctor what happened, the date and time it happened, and when the vaccination was given.
6. How can I learn more?
•Ask your healthcare provider. They can give you the vaccine package insert or suggest other sources of information.
•Call your local or state health department.
• Contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
-Call 1-800-232-4636 (1-800-CDC-INFO) or
-Visit CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov/flu
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When you’re injured or ill and need immediate treatment, it can be hard to decide whether you should go to the nearest hospital emergency room (ER) or a local urgent care center. But if you keep a few guidelines in mind, you’ll be able to choose the most appropriate care for your situation.
Does the choice really matter? Absolutely. Making the right decision can save you time, money and discomfort—or in true emergencies, even life and limb.
A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta shows that many Americans visit the ER when an urgent care facility would be more appropriate for their needs. Take the 110.2 million ER visits in the United State during 2002, for example. Only 22 percent were considered emergent while 34 percent were urgent, 19 percent semi-urgent and 10 percent non-urgent. The bottom line is that many of the patients crowding hospital emergency rooms should be going to urgent care centers—where they’d get quality care, probably in less time and almost certainly at a lower cost.
But keep in mind the “fast track” of most emergency rooms can be equally expensive. According to Humana’s website, “All centers are not created equal, and the difference can affect your wallet. To reduce your costs, choose a free-standing urgent care center, one that isn’t located in a hospital… Your co-payment and other costs could be a lot higher if you choose an urgent care center in a hospital.”
Health care providers also stress that when patients with non-life-threatening issues choose an urgent care center instead of an ER, it’s a win-win situation.
So how can you determine whether an emergency room or an urgent care center is most appropriate for your illness or injury? In general, an emergency is a situation that requires immediate medical care to prevent death or impairment.
On the other hand, modern urgent care centers, such as HealthCARE Express, differ from a typical primary care physician’s office in having procedure rooms for stitching lacerations and splinting bone fractures, a nearby radiology department for X-ray services and other diagnostic imaging tests, and a laboratory for onsite lab tests like quick strep tests, rapid flu tests, pregnancy tests, tetanus shots, cholesterol tests and other blood work. They also can provide breathing treatments for asthmatic patients, high blood pressure stabilization, ear lavage and IV therapy.
But Can I Trust Them With My Health?
Putting your trust in a health care provider is a serious matter, emergency or not. Consumers should be sure a center’s health care professionals are well trained and experienced. A center’s location, convenience and comprehensiveness of care are also important factors.
Avoid “pill mills” whenever possible. The ultimate gauge of an urgent care center is their commitment to excellent care. “Our patients have lots of good things to say about us,” says Dr. Tim Reynolds, of HealthCARE Express. “I believe the main reason is patient satisfaction and customer service is a top priority at our clinics.”
Will My Insurance Cover an Urgent Care Visit?
Not only do most insurance companies pay for services rendered at an urgent care center, most actually encourage their use through the use of lowered co-payments for urgent care centers as opposed to emergency departments. That’s because most insurance companies now recognize the significant cost savings benefit of the urgent care center over hospital based services.
Most insurance companies evaluate clinics and providers before accepting them into their network of approved health-care providers. So if your insurer or another insurer covers them, that’s a good sign. Typically urgent care centers list the insurances they accept on their websites.
Wait Times Matter
Studies show that fewer than 20 percent of the population have a personal physician. Of those who do, less than 12 percent of the people who need a doctor are able to get an appointment the same day they need one. Many people don’t get the care they need because they either don’t know where to go to get good care or they don’t want to wait hours to be seen.
Look for urgent cares that track their wait times and communicate them to patients. At HealthCARE Express, patients are given the opportunity to leave their name and number on days when patient volume is high. This allows them to go on with errands, and they are called to come back when it nears their turn to be seen.
Web Check-in is another feature patients love about HealthCARE Express. Patients who utilize this time saving feature are able to skip the waiting room entirely. They simply click a link, fill out their registration form, and a receptionist calls them when it is time for them to drive in to the clinic to be seen.
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