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Pomagranate Juice
It seems like everybody is talking about pomegranate juice and there is good reason.  This fruit has gained tremendous popularity because it has higher antioxidant activity than red wine or green tea – which explains its ability to prevent skin cancer and kill breast and prostate cancer cells.   It appears to slow down aging in your brain and prevent hardening of the arteries.Pomegranates are now available year round.  Or, look for pomegranate juice in many stores - a little will go a long way. Try mixing it with other juices if you find it too sour, or if you’re going to have a martini, make sure it’s a pomegranate one!

Smoking Cessation
Today I want to talk to smokers and non-smokers alike about smoking.  There are two main categories of problems in preventative medicine: those where people don’t know any better, and those where simply knowing something is bad for you is insufficient to overcome the problem.  Smoking is in the second category. Smokers already know it’s bad for them. Nagging won’t help. Begging won’t help. Threatening won’t help. Support  will help.  If you smoke you know you should quit. But did you know that even cutting down makes a huge impact upon your risks of heart disease, cancer, and stroke?  Face it: smoking is an amazingly difficult problem to quit. But reducing your cigarettes is a first step.  And here is the good news: simple things can help reduce your craving for cigarettes. New research shows that five minutes – yes, you heard right – five minutes of exercise can work as well as a nicotine patch. Before you light up promise yourself you will take a brisk five minute walk. You can wait five minutes before you smoke, I know you can.  At the end of your walk ask yourself if you really need that cigarette. If you do, then light up, but just smoke a few puffs. It will be better than smoking the whole  cigarette and over time you will find that you won’t really need those few puffs.  If you want to help somebody quit smoking then go for that five minute walk with them and really spend that time talking. If they light up at the end then so be it. Not to worry – the benefit was there either way.Some herbs – particularly Lobelia – can help reduce cigarette craving. It turns out that lobelia works on the same nicotine receptors as cigarettes do.  Find an herbal preparation that includes lobelia and you might be on the right track. Don’t take too much lobelia or it will make you sick to your stomach the same way too many cigarettes will.  Remember, every puff you don’t take is the seed you plant for better health.  It’s best not to smoke at all but be easy on yourself and feel proud that you maybe smoked 10 instead of 20, then go for 5 instead of 10, and then two instead of 5. If you smoked two cigarettes a day for the rest of your life it would be better than feeling  hopeless and resigning yourself to a life of smoking the way you do now.

Avoiding Deep Vein Clots
There are lots of reasons why I tell my patients to keep moving. “Where there is movement there is life” I always say. But new research about office workers makes my message even more important. You might have heard of “economy class syndrome”.  There is some research that shows that sitting in a cramped airplane seat for long periods may boost your chances of suffering a blood clot in the deep veins of your leg.  But new research shows that office workers who sit at their desks for a long time are at a greater risk for these blood clots than airplane passengers.  Researchers found that 34% of their patients with these blood clots had been sitting at their desks for several hours without getting up and moving around. Another  problem with sitting at your desk too long may have to do with your posture. I am as bad as the next person when it comes to collapsing into my computer screen when I am spending time writing these radio spots. Here are some helpful tips to keep you fresh during those long hours at your desk:First, figure out a way to remind yourself to get up from your desk every hour. Set a timer, set an alarm, or some other strategy. Don’t rely on your ability to watch the clock because if you love your work the way I do then you won’t even notice the time. Every hour get up and stretch  for a few minutes. Massage your muscles if you want, or touch your toes. But get up. Walk around. It wouldn’t hurt you to go outside.   If your boss gives you grief then have him or her call me.But you can’t count on hourly breaks to fix your posture while you work.  I bought one of those packs of colored sticky circles that you use to put prices on things for your garage sale. I put one of those at the very top of my computer monitor. I didn’t write a thing on it but each time I see it I think that it is reminding me to  “Sit up straight”. If you are like me you might stop noticing the dot after a few weeks so  change the color of the dot periodically to attract your attention. Remember, you can have the most ergonomically correct desk and chair but there is still that part of your health that you are responsible for. Your little sticky friend will be there to remind you to sit up straight just like your mother did.

CPR Update
here in Santa Fe on Luisa Street.Today, you’re probably like most people; you know CPR and you are ready when  you ‘re in the grocery store and somebody collapses. You know just what to do - compress his chest and blow air into his mouth, right? Actually, no. The first thing is to get somebody to call an ambulance and then, according to new information, for the first few minutes you just focus on chest compressions.  There is an alarming amount of medical literature found in journals as prestigious as the New England Journal of Medicine which suggest that the so-called “breath of life” may do as much harm as good. First of all, in the first few minutes of CPR interrupting the chest compressions to deliver a breath reduces crucial circulation to the heart and brain enough  to make a significant impact upon survival.  Some researchers believe that the problem is found in the actual amount of time you pause the compressions. Others report that the amount of carbon dioxide in your exhaled breath, coupled with the decreased oxygen in your exhaled breath contribute to the problem.  It turns out that the victim might be moving enough air just because you are squeezing and releasing his rib cage. Japanese researchers found that just doing chest compressions alone makes it twice as likely that the victim will survive with good brain function compared with those who also got the ventilations.But before you get too worried about exactly what to do if you witness a collapse, listen to this frightening statistic: despite extensive CPR training of citizens of Seattle, bystanders do not perform CPR in almost half of witnessed cardiac arrests.  Let’s don’t let Santa Fe have the same sad outcome. Get trained in CPR and be ready to help.  If you have let your CPR lapse get a refresher. Although this is the least preferable option, remember that in emergencies the ambulance dispatcher can talk you through it until the ambulance arrives.

 Teenagers
Today’s health tip is for parents of teenagers and for teenagers with parents. The idea that teenagers are strongly affected by raging hormones is true – but not only in the way you are thinking. Today’s health tip has nothing to do with sex!It turns out that new brain research shows that a hormone called THP or also called alloprenanolone generally serves as a natural tranquilizer. THP acts via certain receptors on brain cells. Some researchers have shown that teenagers tend to have more of these kinds of receptors than adults, leading to a sort of “deficiency” in this kind of calming hormone.  Some researchers have speculated that there might even be a sort of paradoxical phenomenon where this normally calming hormone can make teenagers a little crazy.It’s not as though teenagers don’t have enough to figure out. Their job, according to many developmental psychologists, is to switch from a childhood mentality of absorbing everything, to an adolescent mentality of initially rejecting everything they have been taught, so that they can sort through old ways of living and decide what makes sense to incorporate and what makes sense to leave behind as young adults. It’s how our civilization moves forward and, unfortunately, adolescence is characterized by a time of anxiety and confusion.But here is the worrisome news: alcohol has been proven to increase levels of THP in teenagers to the extent that it might have a real “kick” in terms of relieving this anxiety and providing a real sense of well being.  And teenage girls are particularly vulnerable during the fluctuations of their menstrual period.  So alcohol use, it turns out, may not be just rebellious behavior but a real blind spot for teenagers seeking relief from this hormonal upheaval.   It’s a serious problem that deserves everybody’s attention.

Breast Cancer and Red Meat
Studies show that women who eat red meat in as few as 1.5 servings per day have a significantly higher risk of breast cancer.  That means that eating red meat 10 times a week increases your risk.  There are lots of reasons to lower your red meat intake if it’s high – cholesterol, colon cancer, and so on.  Substitute lean meats or fish for overall health benefits.

Smoking and Breast Cancer
Smoking and breast cancer have an association but here is news for our younger audience. It turns out that the more you smoke between the onset of your first period and the birth of your first child increases your risk. I’ve talked about quitting smoking before but if you are a young woman you especially need to quit now to reduce your risk of breast cancer.

Alcohol and Breast Cancer
Be moderate in your alcohol intake.  Current research shows that women who over indulge in  alcohol may be at higher risk for breast cancer especially if there are multiple risk factors like the use of the birth control pill, late onset of menopause, early onset of a menstrual period,  and so on.  Drinking more than one or two drinks per day is considered excessive. 

Green Tea and Breast Cancer
A recent study of women in China suggests that green tea consumption reduces the risk of breast cancer. The news about green tea is not new, but this study confirms its relationship to breast cancer. The more you drink, it says, the better off you are. Change your midmorning coffee to green tea, and your lunchtime coffee to green tea and you’ll cut your risks for  breast cancer.

Breastfeeding and Diabetes Prevention
I must confess at the outset that my own 33 year old stepson was diagnosed with diabetes at age 15 so I have a vested interest in preventing diabetes amongst young people.  We used to believe that children were exposed to viruses which caused their immune systems to cross react and attack the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. Today, there is an increasing amount of medical literature which suggests that certain compounds in infant formulas and powdered milk may get absorbed in the gut and cause problems which lead to childhood diabetes. The solution is to breastfeed! There are so many great reasons to breastfeed your baby, and now this new literature adds another reason. 

 Preventing Asthma in Children
We’re lucky here in Santa Fe when it comes to asthma. There isn’t a lot of air pollution which is a known risk factor for asthma.  But there might be indoor pollution which is a risk factor – namely cigarette smoke. You know that smoking is bad for you, but when it comes to your kids you are just going to have to take it outside. There’s no question about it – exposure to cigarette smoke causes asthma in kids.  So does exposure to many household cleaners.  But it turns out that even the mother’s exposure to chemicals at the time of conception can cause asthma, yet another reason to go green in your home!

YUK! to Softdrinks
Today,  teens drink twice as much soda as milk; 56 percent of 8-year-olds consume at least one soft drink a day; and one-fifth of all 1- to 2-year olds are given soft drinks.  Everybody needs to be aware of the dangersSugar in soft drinks can rot your teeth, but  even sugar-free versions of soda  are hazardous.  Soft drinks contain acids that are aggressive at eroding enamel and leaving teeth susceptible to decay. And, sugar in the drinks combine with the bacteria in the mouth to create even more acid.  Chugging a sports drink or commercial  iced teas or lemonade won’t help.  Those things are 11 times more damaging to tooth enamel than colas.

High Blood Pressure
Look, I am a doctor and to be perfectly honest,  it’s still scarey for even me to go for an office visit!  Unfortunately, some people are wrongly diagnosed as having hypertension because their blood pressure rises when they visit a doctor. This phenomenon is called “White Coat Syndrome” and can lead to unnecessary treatment.  To get a better idea of your true blood pressure, consider measuring at home several times. Make sure the equipment you use is accurate.  If you really do have high blood pressure then you have to do something about it – usually starting with diet, weight loss and exercising. The results can be amazing even without the use of medicines.

Avoiding Insect Bites
Warm weather is coming and so are the biting insects! It’s tempting to run out and buy strong insect repellants but they can be so toxic you wonder if the insect bite isn’t so bad after all. In particular, a popular chemical called DEET can cause neurological damage in high doses.  But the good news is that common catnip oil has repeatedly been shown to be as effective as DEET.  Interestingly, it even works on termites and cockroaches by driving them off rather than killing them. The topical application lasts about six hours, but be sure to buy the oil of catnip rather than the tincture and don’t stain your clothes.

Fish Story #1
Scientists did a novel experiment: they fed mice a really high fat diet consisting of high cholesterol animal fats and high levels of plant fats and guess what! The mice all got fat and got diabetes! That sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?   But here is the surprising finding: mice that were fed the same amount of fat but from fish oils and Omega 3’s didn’t get fat OR resistant to insulin! Take it to heart: substitute salmon  for your meat portion, or consider taking a fish oil capsule. In so doing, you’ll not only avoid saturated fats but also reduce inflammation, benefit your cardiovascular system, improve your memory, and even fight depression.

Sleep Better
Starting tonight you can sleep better.  First of all, remember it’s natural to wake up at night.  Unfortunately, we tend to panic and fear we’ll never get back to sleep. If you have a pain or need to go to the bathroom then take care of it and relax. Worrying about falling back to sleep isn’t necessary. Second, remember to apply the brakes before the car gets into the garage. After an action-packed day your brain needs time to unwind. Do this simple breathing exercise – inhale for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7, and exhale for a count of 8. Repeat that cycle three more times.

Immaculate Arteries
You were born with immaculate arteries. Boost your HDL and they can be that way again. Here’s a fantastic finding from Ohio University researchers who studied the impact of weight training.  They found that  men who did lower-body work--squats, leg extensions, leg presses--twice a week for 16 weeks raised their HDL levels by an amazing 19 percent. For legs and HDL levels that are something to look at, do three sets of six to eight repetitions of the half squat, leg extension, and leg press, resting no more than 2 minutes between sets. Use a weight that's about 85 percent of the amount you can lift just once

Benefits of Beer
Here’s good news for people who like beer!  Researchers in the Netherlands found that men who drank  two pints of beer a day increased their HDL (the good cholesterol) levels by 7 percent after only 10 days, and by 12 percent after 3 weeks. The exact way in which it affects HDL has never really been figured out, but the effect has been observed over and over again.  And, beer contains components that reduce a risk factor for heart disease called homocysteine.  But before you start to plan the party, here is cautionary advice about drinking beer: two per day is plenty .  More than that and the empty calories and alcohol outweigh the benefits.

Fish Story #2
Compared with omega-3-rich salmon or tuna, plain old fish sticks look empty of nutrition, don’t they? But when Canadian researchers recently compared a steady diet of whitefish with a steady diet of lean beef and chicken, they found that the fish-eating group experienced an astounding  26 percent increase in HDL2, a particularly protective form of HDL.  It turns out that fish protein and not just the Omega 3 fats may increase insulin sensitivity, which in turn can elevate HDL2 cholesterol. Still, fish sticks aren't health food--unless they're baked rather than fried.  But increasing all kinds of baked or grilled fish in your diet may be your ticket to improved heart health.