Parents, is it time to get schools to adopt nutrition programs?

Have you ever worried that all the good work you do at home to get your kids to eat healthily unravels the moment they step through the school gates? With obesity in kids on the increase, some public health experts believe that schools should be part of the solution. Now new research has shown that school policies can make a difference when it comes to making sure kids keep to a healthy weight.

Researchers worked with nearly 1,500 students in fourth to sixth grades in 10 Philadelphia schools. They introduced a two-year nutrition program in half the schools, banning candy and unhealthy snacks, replacing sodas with water, low-fat milk or pure juice, and educating teachers, students and families about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise. The students in all the schools had their height, weight and physical activity measured once a year.

The good news is that, after two years, only 7.5 percent of students who attended schools with a nutrition policy became overweight, compared with 15 percent of students in schools without a policy.

What you need to know

These findings are promising. If there are parents out there who want to help their kids' schools adopt a healthy living plan, this study could help you get started. It shows it can work. But the researchers say that the policies need to be tougher, with more emphasis on physical education. Plus, prevention programs probably need to start earlier than fourth grade. As many as 4 in 10 kids age 9 to 12 are already overweight. There's really no time to waste.

—Zosia Kmietowicz, patient editor, BMJ Group

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

6 Spring cleaning tips for your sinuses

If you have stubborn sinuses or sinusitis, here are six tips for tackling allergens around your home that may be causing or aggravating your symptoms, like dust, dust mites, and pet dander.

1. Encase your mattresses, box springs, and pillows in allergen-proof covers.
2. Use an air conditioner or dehumidifier to keep humidity levels in your home under 50 percent.
3. Remove carpeting from your bedroom.
4. Vacuum weekly. High-efficiency particulate (HEPA) filters are good at trapping particles, although vacs without the filters can do just as good a job.
5. Wash curtains, throw rugs, bedding, and clothes in very hot (140° F or higher) water or add an extra rinse cycle.
6. If symptoms persist after you try all these things, consider a good portable or whole-house air cleaner that will remove fine particles like dust mite droppings and pet dander from the air.

Read more on sinusitis (free), and on avoiding allergens inside—and outside the home (subscribers only).

Exergaming: Fun and games for your health

If you think video games are just for fun, some folks beg to differ: more than 300 of them, to be exact, who gathered in  Baltimore recently for the 2008 Games for Health conference. Sponsored in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the conference explored how cutting-edge video-game technology can be applied to health and health care. This can range from “exergaming,” or video games used for exercise (think Dance Dance Revolution or Nintendo Wii’s version of tennis), to games used to reduce stress or pain, aid in rehabilitation, or cut the risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases.

Among the most exciting advances are those that have the potential to help people with serious medical conditions. A few examples we heard about in a teleconference our reporter attended last week and in an accompanying press release:

• Guitar Hero for amputees. A new, one-armed version of the popular video game, unveiled in prototype form at the conference, is designed to aid in the rehabilitation of people who’ve had an arm amputated.
• Wii for Parkinson's. A specially designed version of the Wii—called PDWii, for Parkinson’s Disease, and currently under development in California—would be used to aid balance and mobility and help track progress in Parkinson's patients. Similar technology could also help people recovering from strokes.
• Ditto for young burn victims. A virtual-reality device designed to control pain and stress among young patients undergoing burn and orthopedic procedures.

For more on the burgeoning applications of video games in the health arena, check out the web site of the Games for Health Project, www.gamesforhealth.org. And stay tuned for our evaluation of the much-anticipated Wii Fit, which is to debut in the United States May 19.

—Jamie Hirsh, Associate Editor

Trying to save time? Do one task at a time.

Think you're saving time by preparing dinner, balancing your checkbook, and helping Junior with his Algebra homework all at the same time? Well, studies say, "Not so fast."

Researchers at the University of Michigan and the Federal Aviation Administration have found that working on several tasks at the same time can take two to four times longer than if you try tackling them one after the other. Brain-scan studies help explain why: When you try to do two or more things at once, your brain constantly switches back and forth between the tasks, a less efficient use of your neurons. Sleep loss, stress, and mood disorders can worsen the problem.

So fight the urge to multitask and try to do just one thing at a time.

Mother's Day: Stay healthy—heed your own advice

Mothers give their children quite good advice: eat your breakfast, go to bed, and, when needed, take your medicine. We schedule yearly visits to the pediatrician, call for appointments at the first sign of infection, and make sure that vaccinations are kept up-to-date.

But when it comes to our own health, we often toss all wisdom aside, getting too little sleep, eating on the run forgetting to schedule an annual physical. And when I ask patient-moms which regular doctor they see, most will admit they haven’t gotten around to finding one yet. We could feel lousy for weeks before we seek care, and by the time we schedule a visit, we’re at the end of our ropes.

A few years back, I ignored a minor shoulder injury. Even though the pain was severe enough to wake me up at night, I continued to carry a heavy laptop for months. When I finally saw an orthopedist, he told me I had an enormous bone spur. I could have avoided the damage if I had gone to him earlier and followed a few easy restrictions. All the sleep deprivation also took its toll—I was tired at work, and at home, too.

When we’re sick and run down, our patience runs thin, and our mothering tends to suffer along with our health. As they say before takeoff, put your own oxygen mask on first—you’ll be less help to your children if you’re not ready yourself. So, mothers, get enough rest, eat balanced meals, and don't forget to take your calcium. And for this Mother’s Day focus on health—if not for yourself, for your family’s sake.

—Orly Avitzur, M.D., medical adviser to Consumers Union

Read more on women's health at our Women's Condition Center—and take a peek at gift ideas for Mother's Day.

Women can get different heart attack symptoms than men

It seems Hollywood has been doing a disservice to women when it comes to showing what a heart attack  feels like. Although men often get the signs of a heart attack that appear on the Silver Screen, like tightening of the chest, shortness of breath, clutching the chest and dropping to one knee, a new and as yet unpublished study has found that women can get different symptoms.

Researchers conducted in-depth telephone interviews with 30 women who had had a heart attack, within seven days of their being discharged from the hospital, about what had happened to them. The average age of the women was 48—not the age you might associate with heart disease. Many of the women said they didn't realize their symptoms could be due to a heart problem, or that they were even at risk of heart disease.

The study, presented by researchers from Yale School of Medicine at a recent meeting of the American Heart Association, found that women who had a heart attack often got atypical symptoms, such as neck and shoulder pain, discomfort that was easy to mistake for indigestion, or unusual fatigue.

Researchers say they found the women were surprised to find their actual symptoms differed from the "Hollywood heart attack" that they would have expected. And because they didn't link these symptoms to heart problems, women often delayed seeking medical care. But it's not just the women who were confused. They reported that doctors also often failed to act quickly because they didn't realize women were having a heart attack.

A knowledge gap that needs filling

This study highlights the need to educate both the public and the medical profession about what symptoms women can get with a heart attack. Although heart disease is still quite uncommon in women in their late 40s and early 50s, every year 16,000 American women in this age group die from heart problems and 40,000 need to be treated in the hospital. Overall, 460,000 American women die from a heart attack annually.

—Zosia Kmietowicz, patient editor, BMJ Group

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

Q&A: Are fish oil and omega-3s the same thing?

Are fish oil and omega-3s the same thing? —H.B., Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

No. Fish oil is an especially rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are also found in flaxseed, walnuts, and dark leafy greens. Research has shown that certain omega-3s reduce the risk of a second heart attack and lower heart-attack risk in healthy people. But fish oil contains other fatty acids and fats, too. So when choosing a supplement, look at the amount of omega-3s—not the total amount of fish oil—in each pill to determine what dose to take. With most fish-oil pills, you’ll need several capsules a day to get the 1-gram daily dose recommended for people with heart disease, CONSUMER REPORTS tests have found. (People without heart disease need only about 2 grams of omega-3s per week, an amount you can usually reach by eating several servings of omega-3-rich foods, particularly fatty fish such as salmon, trout, and whitefish.)

For more information, read about the benefits of fish oil and a heart-healthy diet (free), and take a look at our Natural Medicine Ratintgs. (subscribers only).

This article first appeared in the April 2008 issue of Consumer Reports On Health.

How to find a good patient advocate

In 2004, Edward Moskowitz was hospitalized near his home outside Miami with internal bleeding, but after a week he was worse, his daughter Sandy Tepper says. That's when he became a human pinball. Over the next seven weeks, he was sent to rehab, grew worse, was transferred by a new doctor to a different hospital, then was bounced for insurance reasons to a second rehab facility (at 2 a.m.), despite his daughter's attempts to intervene. Ordered to physical therapy a few days later, he struggled from his wheelchair and fell to the floor, dead of apparent heart failure. He was 84.

What if someone had been there to ask the right questions and ease the family’s trauma? Enter the patient advocate, part of a growing field. Advocates, who are often former nurses or other health professionals, link patients and the health-care system. They can help get an elusive doctor's appointment, research treatments, file medical paperwork, or persuade an insurance company to cover a procedure. They might also stand in for faraway relatives by accompanying an ailing person to appointments or sitting at a hospital bedside. Some advocates work privately, on a case-by-case or hourly basis. Others work at no charge or are supplied by employers as part of benefits packages.

Pros, cons of rheumatoid arthritis drugs—and an FDA alert on Enbrel

Rheumatoid arthritis can be debilitating. So doctors and patients had high hopes a few years ago for TNF blockers, a class of drugs that promised to revolutionize treatment by targeting the inflammation that underlies the disease. But it turns out that the drugs, which interfere with a protein called tumor necrosis factor, can increase the risk of life-threatening infections and certain cancers. Now new evidence helps quantify those risks and provides guidance on when and how to use TNF blockers and other rheumatoid arthritis drugs.

The FDA has issued a new boxed warning about infections, including serious infections leading to hospitalization or death that have been observed in patients treated with etanercept (Enbrel). Infections have included bacterial sepsis and tuberculosis. The warning advises doctors to screen patients for latent tuberculosis infection before beginning Enbrel, and recommends patients educate themselves on the symptoms of infection and be closely monitored for any signs and symptoms of infection during or after treatment with the drug.

Is "grass-fed" beef a healthier choice?

Ever wondered what the "grass-fed" label on meats in your supermarket really means? Well, thanks to a new rule, the grass-fed claim on beef and lamb now means that the meat came from animals that actually, well, ate grass. The animals also have to have access to pasture during the growing season. Be sure to look for the accompanying "USDA Process Verified" shield, since a loophole allows producers who previously used the grass-fed claim to continue to do so without having to meet the new requirements. The shield also guarantees the farms were inspected by the USDA to meet the new standard.

Why it's good

Grass-fed meats are lower in total fats than conventional meats and have higher levels of good fats like omega-3s. But they may not be as tender. Grass-fed ground beef usually has more conjugated linoleic acid, which might improve the immune system and help fight cancer, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes, lab and animal studies show.

To learn more about labels on the foods you eat, visit the Eco-labels center at www.GreenerChoices.org.