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Each month we feature one full
article from the current issue of the WELLNESS LETTER, plus our
Ask the Experts column, in addition to brief summaries of the
other articles, listed below.
Resveratrol: Your Secret Weapon Against Aging?
The claims in magazine ads, on TV, and all over the Internet are eye-catching: for instance, “Harvard researcher says resveratrol is the Holy Grail of aging research.” Research from other prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins, the Salk Institute, and the University of California is also often cited to prove that resveratrol holds the secret to longevity. It’s true that many eminent scientists are interested in resveratrol, and some findings have been tantalizing. Does resveratrol live up to the hopes—and hype? Full
Story
Statins: Gender Matters
Let’s say you’re a healthy woman in your sixties and you’re trying to lower your blood cholesterol by losing weight and eating better. Should you also be taking a statin drug? Aren’t statins mainly for men? Here’s the latest news.
Bananarama
Bananas are appealing. Though not the most nutritious of all fruits, they supply good amounts of potassium, fiber, and vitamin C, along with some magnesium, B vitamins, and a bunch of other nutrients—all for only 90 to 135 calories, depending on the banana’s size. Like other potassium-rich foods, bananas are allowed to carry the health claim that they may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. What about the other health claims made for them?
To Heave or to Hold
Just about anyone can experience motion sickness under severe conditions—a boat rolling over 10-foot waves, say, or a bus ride over twisting mountain roads. But even a simple car ride can cause symptoms in many people, from dizziness and cold sweats to nausea and vomiting. There may be some genetic factors involved, and women, children, and people who get migraines and vertigo are more susceptible. Here’s how to prevent it, using drugs, alternative remedies, and wrist bands.
When Dreaming Is Believing
Since ancient times people have believed in the predictive power of dreams. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theories made much of the significance of dreams. People undergoing psychotherapy spend their 50-minute hours talking about their dreams, as a possible key to their forgotten histories or innermost desires. Some scientists would agree that the content of dreams provides access to suppressed thoughts. Others regard dreams as mere electrical activity in the brain and of no particular value. Dreams surely do not predict the future, and there is little evidence that dreams influence health. But in one sense dreams can influence things to come, according to a recent study.
Hair-raising questions
Hair loss is a normal part of aging for most men—and quite a number of women. But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s not distressing, which is why many people with hair loss seek ways to halt or even reverse it. Here are answers to your questions
The fullness factor
There’s no magic fix for being overweight. But one promising approach to weight loss has been to identify factors that promote satiety, the feeling of fullness. If you feel full longer, you are less likely to overeat later, yet not feel deprived. In some cases, you may even be able to eat more and still lose weight. Satiety is a complex issue, affected by an interplay of variables that involve substances secreted by the body when food is eaten, molecules that signal the brain, and other feedback mechanisms. People also respond to food in different ways—and it can be easy to override a feeling of satiety and continue to eat for emotional reasons. Here are simple things you can do to feel more full.
ASK
THE EXPERTS
Our readers ask: Does adding milk to cocoa neutralize cocoa’s healthy compounds? Is lamb a red meat, and how does it compare to other meats, nutritionally and environmentally? Can exercise cause varicose veins? What are METs? Does oxalic acid prevent the absorption of calcium from dark leafy greens vegetables? Full
Story
WELL & INFORMED
Tips, Short Takes, and Other News You Can Use
Nocebos—the power of negative thinking . . . finding your roots (vegetables).
WELLNESS TIPS
• To lower your cholesterol, try flaxseeds. An analysis of 28 studies found that flaxseeds (typically 1 to 2 ounces a day) lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol modestly in people with high cholesterol. The effect is greatest in postmenopausal women and in those with higher cholesterol levels. Flaxseed oil had no effect at all.
• When you read food labels that boast about antioxidant content, don’t get your hopes up. Scientists have developed a variety of tests to measure a substance’s antioxidant capacity, but the “simplistic, one-dimensional” tests are of limited value in predicting antioxidant activity, concluded a recent article.
• To help keep your bones strong, get more vitamin K. According to a recent review, high doses of the vitamin (at least 200 micrograms from supplements) improved bone quality and reduced fracture risk in postmenopausal women.
• If you eat frozen meals, follow the cooking directions carefully. In some cases, the label advises using a conventional (not microwave) oven, plus a thermometer to check that the food reaches a certain internal temperature.
• If you buy ground beef, look for “extra lean” with the lowest percent fat. Labels on ground beef can be misleading. They typically give the percent fat or percent lean, by weight. Even extra-lean beef can be fatty. For example, 4 ounces of uncooked ground beef that is 15% fat has 17 grams of fat (much of it saturated), which supplies 63% of its 243 total calories.
• Here’s a way to strengthen your forearm muscles, wrists, and grip, as well as increase flexibility. With one outstretched arm, hold a page of newspaper by a corner and crumble it up into a small ball as fast as you can using only that hand. Repeat a few times, several times a week, as part of your regular exercise routine. This can help in a variety of sports, from tennis to rock climbing, as well as in daily activities.
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