1.

The Argument Over Salt and Health

Eating less salt can reduce blood pressure, but can it cut heart disease, too?

  02 March 2010

Some experts question the extent to which cutting salt in the diet would mean fewer heart
attacks and strokes.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Last month we reported about a study that showed eating even a little less salt could greatly
help the heart. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The
scientists used a computer model to predict how just three grams less salt a day would affect
heart disease in the United States.

The scientists said the results would be thirteen percent fewer heart attacks, eight percent
fewer strokes, four percent fewer deaths and eleven percent fewer new cases of heart disease.
And two hundred forty billion dollars in health care savings. Researchers said it could
prevent one hundred thousand heart attacks and ninety-two thousand deaths every year.

The researchers were from the University of California, San Francisco, Stanford University
and Columbia University.

They and public health professionals in the United States are interested in a national
campaign to persuade people to eat less salt. Such campaigns are already in place in Britain,
Japan and Finland.

However, some scientists say such a campaign is an experiment with the health of millions of
people.

Michael Alderman is among the critics. He is a high blood pressure expert and professor at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Doctor Alderman says that eating less salt
results in lower blood pressure. But he says studies have not clearly shown that lowering salt
means fewer heart attacks or strokes.

And he says salt has other biological effects. He says calling for reductions in the national
diet could have good effects, but it could also have harmful results. He says there is not
enough evidence either way.

Another critic is David McCarron, a nutrition and kidney disease expert at the University of
California, Davis. He and his team looked at large studies of diets in thirty-three countries.
They found that most people around the world eat about the same amount of salt. Most of
them eat more salt than American health officials advise.

Doctor McCarron says the worldwide similarity suggests that a person’s brain might decide
how much salt to eat.
Both Doctor McCarron and Doctor Alderman have connections to the Salt Institute, a trade
group for the salt industry. Doctor Alderman is a member of an advisory committee. But he
says he receives no money from the group. Doctor McCarron is paid for offering scientific
advice to the Salt Institute. 

2. Health: Now, an Update on Those New Year's

Resolutions
A study found a short-term increase in diabetes risk in people who quit smoking. Another
study links each hour spent sitting and watching TV daily to an increased risk of death.
Transcript of radio broadcast:

  13 January 2010

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

People who stop smoking often replace cigarettes with food. A new study says the weight
they gain may increase their diabetes risk in the short term.

Type two diabetes is common in people who eat too much and exercise too little and those
with a family history of it. Smoking is another risk factor. But quitting smoking may carry a
temporary risk.

The study found that smokers who quit had a seventy percent increased risk of developing the
disease in the first six years. That was compared to those who had never smoked.

The risks were highest in the first three years. And the risk returned to normal after ten years
of not smoking.

The researchers say weight gain is probably to blame for the increase. But they say smokers
should stop anyway -- and the real message is not to even start.

Type two diabetes interferes with the body's use of insulin. The substance produced by the
pancreas normally lowers blood sugar during and after eating. Over time, high blood sugar
can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and nerve damage.

The study is from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. It appears in the Annals
of Internal Medicine.

Another American study says obesity has become as great a threat to quality of life as
smoking. It compared losses in what are called "quality-adjusted life years." The study found
that losses from obesity are now equal to, if not greater than, those from smoking.

These days, there are fewer smokers in the country but more people who are extremely
overweight. The findings are based on questions about health-related quality of life in
government telephone surveys.

The study is from Columbia University and the City College of New York. It appears in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
And another study has linked each hour of watching television daily to an eighteen percent
increased risk of death from heart disease. The study of adults in Australia also found an
increased risk of death from others causes. The findings are published in Circulation: Journal
of the American Heart Association.

Lead author David Dunstan at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria says the
body was designed to move. He says even if people have a healthy body weight, sitting for
long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on blood sugar and blood fats.

3. In Developing World, Health Services May Be Just a

Phone Call Away
  02 May 2010

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Sending and receiving money by text message. Sharing crop prices. Just talking to a loved
one far from home. These are some of the ways that mobile phones have changed lives in
developing countries. Another way is through e-health, electronic health services.

One example is a telephone hotline in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Callers can receive
information about family planning and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies. They are
able to speak privately with trained operators about contraceptive methods and about health
clinics.

The nonprofit group Population Services International and its partner Association de Sante
Familiale launched the service in two thousand five. The United States Agency for
International Development finances the program. And an agreement with the Vodacom
company makes the service free to callers.

We talked with Jamaica Corker, on her cell phone, at the Population Services International
office in the D.R.C.

JAMAICA CORKER: "The hotline has given us an opportunity to take advantage of cell
phone technology, to reach people outside of our intervention zone with family planning
messaging. In a country the size of western Europe, we can't be everywhere at the same time,
and the hotline allows them to call in no matter where they are and to ask us the information
that we can provide -- even if we're not necessarily able to provide the services directly."

Jamaica Corker says more than twenty thousand people called the hotline in two thousand
eight, the latest year available. More than eighty percent were men. She says this is mainly
because men own most of the phones.

The group also has family planning hotlines in Benin and Pakistan.  And it is launching a
mobile phone program to gather records on condom sales around Tanzania.

The journal Health Affairs recently published an issue on "E-Health in the Developing
World." Editor Susan Dentzer says e-health is improving lives in different ways.
SUSAN DENTZER:  "For example in Rwanda, where cell phone-based technologies are
being used to keep track of dispensation of drugs to patients with H.I.V. And Rwanda is
actually at the leading edge of developing nations in tapping these technologies to advance
health and health care."

In South Africa, a campaign of text messages about H.I.V. led to a large increase in calls to
the national AIDS helpline. And a program in Peru sends text messages to patients with
H.I.V., reminding them to take their medicines.

4. Scientists Look at Plant Products With an Eye to New

Possibilities for Health
  31 May 2010

BOB DOUGHTY: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, a program in VOA Special English.
I’m Bob Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, we will tell about herbs and spices, and
some of their many uses.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: People have been using herbs and spices for thousands of years.
Generally, herbs come from the green leaves of plants or vegetables. Spices come from other
parts of plants and trees. For example, cinnamon comes from the hard outer cover of
cinnamon plants. The spice ginger comes from the part of the ginger plant that grows
underground.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Some herbs and spices are valued for their taste. They help to sharpen the
taste of many foods.  Others are chosen for their smell. Still others were used traditionally for
health reasons.

Some herbs and spices may be gaining importance in modern medicine. For example, natural
chemicals from black pepper and the Indian spice turmeric might help to prevent breast
cancer. Researchers at the University of Michigan say a substance developed from the spices
could reduce the possibility of breast tumors.

BOB DOUGHTY: Turmeric is a plant.  It also is used to make the spicy food seasoning
curry. In the study, researchers tested curcumin, a chemical compound taken from turmeric.
They also used peperine, which comes from black peppers.

The researchers combined the two compounds, and placed the mixture on breast cancer cells
in a laboratory. The mixture caused the number of stem cells to decrease. Normal breast
tissue, however, was not affected.

Results of the study were reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 
Madhuri Kakarala was lead writer of the report.  Doctor Kakarala teaches at the University of
Michigan’s Medical School.  She also works as a research investigator for the Veterans
Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Doctor Kakarala says the cancer-fighting treatments known as
chemotherapy do not control tumors containing cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are
found inside tumors. They help the tumor continue growing without restriction. This means
the disease can spread and return. The disappearance of cancer stem cells, then, is important
for cancer control.

The doctor also says researchers could be able to limit the number of cells that can form
tumors if they limit the number of normal stem cells. That would reduce the possibility of the
disease appearing.

BOB DOUGHTY: Research involving turmeric is not new. Scientists have been studying its
medical possibilities for many years. For example, researchers in Singapore completed one
such study several years ago. The study was based on earlier evidence that turmeric has
strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities. These qualities can help protect against
damage to the body’s tissues and other injuries.

The researchers said turmeric has been shown to reduce evidence of damage in the brains of
patients with Alzheimer’s disease. But, they said evidence was lacking about cases of
Alzheimer’s in people who ate curry compared with people who did not use curry.

For this reason, the researchers designed a study that examined results from a mental-
performance test of older Asian adults. The adults were sixty to ninety-three years old.  None
had severe memory losses. Those who sometimes ate curry, or ate it often or very often, did
better on the tests than individuals who rarely or never ate curry.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: The work of the Mayo Clinic and its medical experts is world-famous.
The Clinic operates medical centers in three American states. Its “Health Letter” publication
of November, two thousand seven provided more evidence that herbs and spices can aid
health.  Mayo Clinic experts said people could reduce salt use by using herbs and spices
instead. Too much salt is a problem for people with health conditions like high blood
pressure.

The experts said some plant chemicals are high in antioxidants. In addition to turmeric, these
include cloves, cinnamon, ginger, oregano, sage and thyme.

BOB DOUGHTY: The experts also said antioxidants like garlic, rosemary and saffron have
qualities that could fight cancer. They said limited evidence shows that cinnamon, fenugreek
and turmeric may affect blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.

Not all studies agree that spices could help diabetes patients. But some research suggests that
they could because of a suspected link between inflammation and diabetes.  Inflammation is
the body’s way of reacting to infection.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Researchers from the University of Georgia reported two years ago that
cinnamon could help reduce blood sugar. The researchers tested twenty-four common herbs
and spices. The tests showed that many of the substances contained high levels of antioxidant
chemicals known as polyphenols.

The researchers found that ground cloves had the most polyphenols. Cloves were the most
effective at calming inflammation of any spice or herb they tested. Cinnamon was second.
Other research has shown that cinnamon gets more use in cooking than ground cloves. This
means it could affect the health of more people. Still, the Mayo Clinic warns that cinnamon
CANNOT replace proven medicines for diabetes.

BOB DOUGHTY: Another American study found that adding spices to meat before cooking
at high temperatures may reduce harmful chemicals. Researchers at Kansas State University
reported on their experiments with steaks in two thousand eight. They found a major decrease
in unwanted chemicals by preparing the meat with spice and herb marinades. The study
showed that this may decrease formation of heterocyclic amines, also known as HCAs. The
researchers say these chemicals may cause cancer in some people.

America’s National Cancer Institute says cooking meat at very high temperatures produces
the most HCAs. The chemicals form when amino acids react with creatine, a chemical found
in muscles. But meats from organs and non-meat protein sources have little or no HCA.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Research on HCAs has made some people afraid to prepare meat on a
grill – the place where meat is cooked on hot coals or an open fire. Cooking meat this way is
a traditional favorite of many Americans during warm weather.

The Kansas State University study, however, may show a way that reduces risk for people
who grill on high heat.  The researchers placed some steaks in already prepared spice mixes,
or marinades. The meat then was grilled for five minutes on each side at a temperature of
more than two hundred degrees Celsius. The researchers also cooked steaks marinated
without spices, and steaks that were not marinated. They were prepared at the same
temperature as meat with the marinade mixes.

The researchers compared levels of the HCAs in all the steaks. They found the HCAs in the
meat marinated in spices had decreased up to eighty-eight percent.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Herbs and spices are often used because they can make food taste better.
Some spices also destroy bacteria. Spices have long been used to keep food safe to eat.  In the
past, spices also helped to prevent the wasting away of dead bodies.

Herb and spice plants grow in many countries. For example, the Molucca Islands in Indonesia
are famous for producing spices like cloves, nutmeg or mace. Vanilla comes from orchid
plants growing in South America and other places with warm, moist weather.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Spices have influenced world history. For example, the Goth people of
Europe defeated Roman forces in battle more than sixteen centuries ago. After the fighting
ended, the leader of the Goths is said to have demanded five-thousand pounds of gold and
three thousand pounds of pepper.
More recently, Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus discovered new lands while seeking to
expand trade with spice-growing areas in Asia. The Italian cities of Genoa and Venice
became powerful because they were at the center of the spice trade. The trade was so
important to national economies that rulers launched wars in their struggle to control spices.

5. Snacking Adds to Weight Issue for Children in US

A researcher says the current average of three snacks a day is two too many in a nation where
17 percent of kids are obese.

  16 March 2010

A study shows how American children are snacking more than they did in the 1970s

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Researchers say American children now eat an average of three snacks a day between meals.
A study found that those snacks add up to almost one-third of all the daily calories eaten by
children. And those extra calories could help explain the rise in overweight children in the
United States.

The study was done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers
studied the diets of thirty-one thousand children ages two to eighteen over a thirty-year
period.

They found that snacking has increased since the nineteen seventies. And what kinds of
snacks have increased the most? Salty, high-fat foods like chips.

The study also found greater snacking on cake, cookies and other treats that past generations
might have saved for after dinner.

The study is in the journal Health Affairs. Nutrition professor Barry Popkin was the lead
investigator. He says parents should limit snacks to one a day for children age six and older.
He also advises parents and caregivers to provide healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables.

Professor Popkin says American schools also need to improve their nutrition. For example,
schools may have vending machines that offer what many people would consider junk food.

There has been a push for schools to offer more healthful snacks and lunch choices and fewer
sugary drinks.

Earlier this month Coca-Cola said it would stop selling sugary drinks in American schools
unless parents requested them. Its competitors at Pepsi just announced that they will stop
sales of sugared drinks to schools worldwide.

America's top public health officer wants to see more changes like this. Surgeon General
Regina Benjamin recently spoke to lawmakers about making healthy foods more available.
REGINA BENJAMIN: "There is a growing consensus that we as a nation need to recreate
our communities and environments where healthy choices are easy choices and affordable
choices.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack -- who has talked about his own childhood struggles with
weight -- agrees about the need.

TOM VILSACK: “We need to do a much better job of making sure that what's in those
vending machines is very consistent. We think that the time has come for standards."

First lady Michelle Obama is leading a campaign to fight childhood obesity. Public health
officials reported in January that seventeen percent of American children are severely
overweight.

6. Hospital Infections in US Continue to Rise

  20 April 2010 

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Hospitals not only treat infections -- they can also cause them.

In the United States alone, the number of infections in hospitals is estimated at close to two
million each year. About one hundred thousand patients die.

A new government report notes that very little progress has been made in reducing what are
called health care-associated infections. The most common are infections of the urinary tract,
surgical site and bloodstream.

Many infections have been increasing even as hospitals have made efforts to improve. The
report shows, for example, an eight percent increase in cases of sepsis, or bloodstream
infection, following operations.

About forty percent of all health care-associated infections are linked to the use of catheters.
A tube is placed inside the body to collect urine, so the patient does not have to get out of
bed.

But the latest report says urinary tract infections after surgery increased more than three and a
half percent. It says catheters should be used only if necessary.

Another way to prevent infections is to give patients antibiotics before surgery. Doctors are
advised to give them within the hour before the operation. Patients who get antibiotics earlier
than one hour are more likely to get an infected surgical wound.

Also, doctors are advised to discontinue the antibiotics within twenty-four hours after the
surgery. The report says longer than that is usually not necessary. It can increase the risk of
antibiotic resistance and serious kinds of diarrhea.
Not all the news was bad. The report said the rate of pneumonia in adults after surgery
decreased more than eleven and a half percent.

A separate report looked at the differences last year in health care for different groups in
society.

Kathleen Sebelius is secretary of health and human services. Her department produced the
two thousand nine National Healthcare Disparities Report and National Healthcare Quality
Report. She noted that racial and ethnic minorities were less likely to have insurance and less
likely to get the treatments they needed. She called the numbers "troubling."

But she also said the health care reforms passed by Congress will improve the quality of care
for all Americans. She said the new law will reward quality over quantity of care, creating a
system that prevents diseases before more costly treatment is required.

7. South Africa's Huge HIV Testing Campaign

  27 April 2010

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

South Africa plans to test fifteen million people for H.I.V. by June of next year. That is
almost one-third of its population.

South Africa has the most people living with H.I.V. of any nation. The number of infected
men, women and children is estimated at more than five and a half million -- or eleven
percent of the population.

President Jacob Zuma launched the testing campaign on Sunday in Johannesburg. He

announced the results of his latest blood test for H.I.V.

JACOB ZUMA: "My April results, like the three previous ones, registered a negative
outcome."

He said he was sharing the results to support openness and understanding.

JACOB ZUMA: “We have to work harder together to fight the perceptions and the stigma.
We have to make all South Africans understand that people living with H.I.V. have not
committed any crime."

The country's former president, Thabo Mbeki, was known for the unaggressive way his
government dealt with AIDS. He questioned whether H.I.V. even caused the disease.

The new testing and counseling campaign will start at a single location in each of South
Africa's nine provinces this month. The program will be expanded every two months until
fifty-two health centers are offering the service.

The government says it will also expand treatment and support services.
Francois Venter is a senior director in the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit at the
University of Witwatersrand. He says the testing campaign may put additional stress on the
health system, but that will show where the weaknesses are. He says knowing which areas of
the system are going to cause future problems will make the effort worthwhile, even if the
goal of fifteen million is not reached.

The South Africa National AIDS Council is heading the campaign. The council includes
government representatives, medical experts and health activists. The theme of the campaign
is "I am responsible. We are responsible. South Africa is taking responsibility."

Along with H.I.V., South Africa also has high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and
tuberculosis. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the campaign will be used to improve
all health care. People who get tested for H.I.V. will also get other services including
screening for blood pressure, blood sugar and TB.

This June the eyes of the football world will be on South Africa when it becomes the first
African country to host the World Cup.

8. Eating White Rice Increases Risk of Diabetes

  29 June 2010

Researchers say eating brown rice reduces the risk of type two diabetes

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Rice is an important part of many people’s diets. Researchers from the Harvard School of
Public Health in Massachusetts have released a report about rice. It shows that eating white
rice increases the risk of type two diabetes. However, eating brown rice reduces the risk of
the disease.

The World Health Organization says more than two hundred twenty million people
worldwide have diabetes. Type two diabetes results when the body cannot effectively use the
sugar it produces.

More than thirty-nine thousand men and one hundred fifty-seven thousand women took part
in the study. They were asked about their diet and day-to-day activities, as well as any pre-
existing diseases. The study found that the people who ate five or more servings of white rice
per week had a seventeen percent increased risk of developing type two diabetes. But those
who ate two or more servings of brown rice a week had an eleven percent reduced risk of
getting the disease.

Brown rice is the grain in its natural form. White rice results after it has been refined. This
involves removing the outer cover, including the husk, bran and germ. Only the inner white
kernel is left. White rice is often enriched to replace some nutrients lost during the refining
process.
Qi Sun is the lead writer of the report. He says the outer parts of brown rice slow down the
work of the body’s digestive enzymes into starch. This means that the release of sugar into
the bloodstream is slower after eating brown rice compared to white rice.

A diet of foods that quickly release sugar into the bloodstream has been linked with a greater
risk of type two diabetes. The exact reason for this is not known.

Doctor Sun says less refined grains have more nutritional value than refined grains. He says
replacing white rice with whole grains like whole wheat or barley could result in a thirty-six
percent lower chance of developing type two diabetes. He says people should replace white
rice and other refined carbohydrates with whole grains whenever possible.

However, brown rice does not last as long as white rice because of the oil-rich layer of bran.
This makes it less usable in poor communities. The International Rice Research Institute is
working to develop kinds of white rice whose starch is released more slowly.

9. For Africa, a Possible New Way to Treat Sleeping

Sickness
A weakness is found in the parasite that causes the deadly disease, which infects about
60,000 people a year.

  06 April 2010

The tsetse spreads sleeping sickness through its bite

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Sleeping sickness is a deadly disease that infects about sixty thousand people in Africa each
year. Now scientists in Scotland say they may have found a new treatment. Their findings are
in the journal Science.

Sleeping sickness is spread by the bite of the tsetse fly. The insect can carry a parasite that
infects the central nervous system. First the infection causes fever, headache, itchy skin and
weakness.

Then, when the parasite enters the brain, it causes more serious problems. People suffer
seizures and thinking problems, and they sleep for extended periods. If the disease is not
treated, it almost always kills the victim.

Paul Wyatt at the Drug Discovery for Tropical Diseases program at the University of Dundee
led the study. He says the research identified a weakness in the parasite. The weakness is an
enzyme called N-myristoyl transferase, or NMT. The parasite needs NMT to survive.

The researchers developed a mixture of chemicals that interfered with the performance of the
enzyme. They tried it in test tubes containing the parasites. As a result, the parasites stopped
reproducing.
The scientists also tested the treatment on laboratory mice with sleeping sickness. They gave
them the chemical compound by mouth and say the infection disappeared.

Now, Paul Wyatt says a drug based on the research could be ready for testing in humans
within eighteen months. Currently, medicine for sleeping sickness requires a series of
injections that are costly and painful. Hospital stays are also needed. And the side effects of
the treatment can be serious, sometimes even causing death.

Francois Chappuis is a specialist in neglected tropical diseases with the international group
Doctors Without Borders. He says a less costly, easy-to-use medicine for sleeping sickness is
badly needed.

FRANCOIS CHAPPUIS: "In areas where the sleeping sickness is still very prevalent, such as
remote areas of some central African countries -- which are by the way very unstable areas --
it will be also crucial to have simpler treatment and obviously oral treatment would be the
best.”

10. Ear Care: Do-It-Yourself Wax Removal

Advice from experts about what to do -- and not to do -- when your ear is blocked with wax.

 30 March 2010

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Some people's ears produce wax like busy little bees. This can be a problem even though
earwax appears to serve an important purpose.

Experts say it protects and cleans the ear. It traps dirt and other matter and keeps insects out.
Doctors think it might also help protect against infections. And the waxy oil keeps ears from
getting too dry.

So earwax is good. It even has a medical name: cerumen. And there are two kinds. Most
people of European or African ancestry have the "wet" kind: thick and sticky. East Asians
commonly have "dry" earwax.

But you can have too much of a good thing.

The glands in the ear canal that produce the wax make too much in some people. Earwax is
normally expelled; it falls out of the ear or gets washed away. But extra wax can harden and
form a blockage that interferes with sound waves and reduces hearing.

People can also cause a blockage when they try to clean out their ears, but only push the wax
deeper inside. Earwax removal is sometimes necessary. But you have to use a safe method or
you could do a lot of damage.

Experts at N.I.H., the National Institutes of Health, suggest some ways to treat excessive
earwax yourself. They say the wax can be softened with mineral oil, glycerin or ear drops.
They say hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide may also help.
Another way to remove wax is known as irrigation. With the head upright, take hold of the
outer part of the ear. Gently pull upward to straighten the ear canal. Use a syringe device to
gently direct water against the wall of the ear canal. Then turn the head to the side to let the
water out.

The experts at N.I.H. say you may have to repeat this process a few times. Use water that is
body temperature. If the water is cooler or warmer, it could make you feel dizzy. Never try
irrigation if the eardrum is broken. It could lead to infection and other problems.

After the earwax is gone, gently dry the ear. But if irrigation fails, the best thing to do is to go
to a health care provider for professional assistance.

You should never put a cotton swab or other object into the ear canal. But you can use a swab
or cloth to clean the outer part of the ear. The experts agree with the old saying that you
should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear.