Americans Need More Fiber

The American Heart Association (AHA) says the public needs to double their average fiber intake if they hope to reap the heart-healthy benefits the nutrient can bring. "By concentrating on... inexpensive foods a lot of us usually ignore or avoid -- like the lowly bean -- we could vastly improve our nutritional health and save money," says Dr. Linda Van Horn, a registered dietitian and member of the AHA's volunteer Nutrition Committee. The AHA say the average American consumes just 15 grams of fiber per day -- half the recommended amount.

Fat, Alcohol Up Breast Cancer Risk

A new study shows that what you eat and drink can increase your risk of breast cancer. Researchers in Italy studied 2,569 women who had breast cancer and 2,588 who did not to determine which foods and nutrients may play a role in breast cancer risk. They established that saturated fat, alcohol, and starch -- in that order -- were associated with breast cancer risk. However, the researchers acknowledged that other studies have reached different conclusions, in part because investigators have used different statistical methods to evaluate the risk factors.

Sarcoidosis on Aircraft Carriers

Sarcoidosis, a disease that affects the lungs and other organs, may be more prevalent among U.S. Navy enlisted men who serve on aircraft carriers, especially black men, a new study shows. Doctors are unsure what causes sarcoidosis, but they do think it is more common among young and middle-aged adults, black men rather than white men, and men in certain professions, such as firefighters.

Gene Linked to Heart Attack Risk

People who carry a particular genetic variation in a blood clot-dissolving protein may be at higher risk of heart attack compared with the rest of the population, a new study suggests. Most researchers now believe that heart attacks are triggered by blood-clot formation at the site of a fatty plaque in coronary arteries. "This is the first firm evidence for a gene for heart attack," said Dr. Diederick E. Grobbee in a release from the American Heart Association (AHA). Grobbee, lead author of the new study, is in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Erasmus University Medical School in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Helping Kids Become Happy Campers

At its best, summer camp can be a welcome vacation for children (and their parents). But for many novice campers, that first time away from home stirs up feelings of homesickness and fear. "Two-week camps can be overwhelming and miserable for children who do not fit easily into groups," says Dr. Lou Ann Todd Mock, a clinical psychologist at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine. She says proper pre-camp preparation can make all the difference.

Americans Eating Less Fat

Americans are learning to eat better, a new study shows. Many are making smarter food choices and heeding dietary recommendations designed to promote health. But not all the news is good. Although everyone has probably heard about the importance of fiber, a 1992 study of about 11,000 people found that they hadn't added significantly more fiber to their diets since 1987.

Meat Eaters Develop Spare Tire

Letting weight creep increasingly higher as you age isn't good for your health, but piling the pounds around your waistline is particularly bad -- increasing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Now, a new study shows that certain eating and exercise habits can influence overall weight gain over time, as well as weight gain around the waist. The survey of nearly 80,000 people, aged 40 to 64 in 1982, found that frequent meat-eaters (seven times a week), and those who quit smoking were most likely to have gained weight when surveyed a decade later.

Magnetic Fields and Leukemia

People who have a high level of exposure to magnetic fields at work and at home have more than three times the risk of leukemia as those with lower exposures, a new study suggests. However, the number of people included in the study was relatively small, and the researchers estimated occupational exposure to magnetic fields based on job title, noted lead author Dr. Maria Feychting, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Drug Improves 'Working' Memory

Researchers at the National Institute on Aging report that intravenous administration of the drug physostigmine can improve 'working memory' -- the brain's ability to temporarily hold useful information, such as a phone number. The team reports that the physostigmine infusion "improved efficiency" of areas of the brain known to be associated with working memory. For example, the volunteers' ability to recognize faces they had just been shown improved when given the drug.

Genders Differ on Domestic Violence

A higher proportion of American women than men believe domestic abuse to be a "major" social problem, according to a new nationwide poll. "Eighty-five percent of women describe domestic violence as a major problem, compared with just 69% of men," according to a statement from Women's Work, a nonprofit outreach program funded by Liz Claiborne Inc. A Women's Work poll of over 1,000 men and women also found many Americans in disagreement over the definition of domestic violence itself.

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