Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

September/October, 1997

Facts That Will Change Your Life
from the recent pages of The University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter

Which B vitamins can prevent heart disease?

FACT #1 B vitamins can help avert heart attacks. Folacin, the B vitamin that’s particularly abundant in leafy greens, has been shown to play a role in preventing certain birth defects and possibly cervical cancer. Now it appears that this vitamin (also called folic acid), along with its close relatives vitamins B-6 and B-12, may play a complex but possibly key role in averting heart attacks.

FACT #2 Aspirin may protect against colon cancer. Plain aspirin, the kind you can buy for less than a penny a tablet, looks more and more like a miracle drug. Millions now take an aspirin daily or every other day as a blood thinner, to ward off heart attacks. A body of research includes a study that long-term aspirin use can cut the risk of colon cancer... but so far nobody is suggesting that you immediately begin taking a daily aspirin to prevent colon cancer.

FACT #3 You can boost your metabolism. Most people approach weight control wrong; they simply try to cut down on the food/fat/calories they consume, and they usually fail. The trick is to stoke up the furnace - that is, increase the number of calories your body burns. Obviously, exercise burns calories, but not so obviously, it also boosts your metabolic rate. This was seen in a recent study at Tufts University.

FACT #4 Calf stretches can help prevent ankle sprains. Before and after exercising, stretch your calf muscles. Tight calf muscles pull on the Achilles tendon (which is attached to the heel bone) and can reduce the range of motion of your foot, thus increasing the risk of an ankle sprain. Calf stretches are also good if you have painful heels (plantar fascitis).

FACT #5 You can eat to keep your eyes healthy. A high consumption of certain vitamins and minerals, as well as beta carotene and related compounds that occur in carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and other vegetables may reduce the risk not only of cataracts but of macular degeneration as well. Antioxidants (vitamins C and E plus beta carotene and other carotenoids) seem to act most powerfully. There’s some evidence that minerals such as zinc may also be involved.

FACT #6 To reduce your risk of stroke, take a walk. A recent study showed that people who reported an inactive life-style were nearly seven times more likely to suffer a stroke than those who were moderately or very active. A daily walk of just one mile was found to be the minimum for reducing stroke risk.

FACT #7 Ulcers may be contagious. The discovery that bacteria are involved in most peptic ulcers - and that ulcers can thus be cured with antibiotics - has been one of the most impressive recent advances in medicine. For years ulcers were blamed on stress or a bad diet. Then in 1982, two Australian physicians identified a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, now acknowledged as a cause of chronic gastritis and a factor in the development of peptic ulcers. If your spouse is infected, that doesn’t mean you will get ulcers - or that you should take antibiotics just in case. Ulcers may be contagious, but apparently they aren’t easily transmitted.

FACT #8 Exercise can give you energy. What are the effects of exercise on energy levels? If you’re tired, will exercise make matters worse, or will it perk you up? It depends on your physical and emotional state, of course, and on what kind of exercise you do and how much. If your fatigue has no medical cause, exercise may give you a boost. In fact, being tired may actually be caused, at least in part, by a lack of exercise - what the experts call “sedentary inertia” or “exercise deficiency” - in which case exercise is the best antidote. FACT #9 You can reduce your risk of ovarian cancer. Women have been misinformed about birth control pills. The truth is that the health benefits of the Pill far outweigh the risks. Not only does it provide safe, reliable contraception, it dramatically reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. The risk decreases the longer the Pill is used and lasts at least 15 years after use is discontinued. Indeed, women at high risk for ovarian cancer can protect themselves simply by going on the Pill. Why don’t women know this?

FASCINATING FACTS:

Ounce for ounce, raw red peppers have four times more vitamin C than peeled oranges.

Fatty meat has about the same amount of cholesterol as lean cuts, since cholesterol is found primarily in the lean tissue, not the fat.

A lumberjack or boxer needs about the same amount of protein as a middle-aged office worker who rarely leaves his desk.

One cup of cantaloupe contains the equivalent of 5,150 international units (IU) of vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene), which meets the daily recommended allowance. Honeydew has only 68 IU. As a general rule, yellow or orange fruit is high in beta carotene.

Dry-roasted nuts are not significantly lower in fat and calories than regular roasted nuts. Because nuts are so high in fat to begin with, roasting them in oil (read: frying) hardly makes a difference.

Boston or bibb lettuce has twice as much vitamin C and three times as much beta carotene by weight as iceberg lettuce. Even better, romaine has six times as much vitamin C and eight times as much beta carotene as iceberg.