5 New Rules for Good Health (TIME)

Time
Healthland
(Red writing = support it 101 percent /Stig)

1. Learn Hands-Only CPR

None of us ever hopes to need — or give — cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). But in case of emergency, it pays to understand new guidelines for the procedure, which make it easier for untrained bystanders to perform CPR.
The American Heart Association now advises both trained and untrained rescuers to begin CPR with chest compressions and, in most cases that do not involve a drowning victim, to do away with the resuscitating breaths altogether. Studies have shown that using chest compressions only is just as effective in re-starting a failing heart as doing the full version of CPR.
Another benefit of hands-only rescuing? Untrained good Samaritans are more likely to jump in and try to save a life if they have to do only chest compressions as opposed to the combination of pumps and mouth-to-mouth. That increases the chances that more victims of cardiac arrest will survive.Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/03/5-new-rules-for-good-health/#ixzz1AFNsCXqQ

2. Relax. You're Likely Getting Enough Vitamin D

Thanks to conflicting study results that tag-team health headlines, it's hard to know whether daily vitamins really enhance health and keep diseases at bay, or whether they're just an expensive excuse to pop more pills. At least when it comes to vitamin D, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has taken the guesswork out of it for you. The IOM gathered a group of nutrition experts and released the first recommended dietary allowance for the vitamin: adults are advised to consume 600 IU of vitamin D daily, along with 1,000 mg of calcium, in order to keep bones strong and protect against fractures.
Most people get the required amounts of the vitamins through natural sources like diet and sunlight, the expert panel found, and advised that taking daily supplements — particularly in the potentially harmful megadoses that some doctors recommend — is unnecessary.
Also, the panel said, people shouldn't expect vitamin D supplements to prevent the host of other conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes that recent studies have claimed. After reviewing the data on these associations, the IOM panel determined that the evidence isn't strong enough to recommend adequate levels of vitamin D for any other purpose than to protect bones.Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/03/5-new-rules-for-good-health/#ixzz1AFOQOG8k

3. Better Diagnosis of Food Allergies

More children are being diagnosed with allergies to common foods such as milk, eggs and peanuts than ever before, but surprisingly, up to this point experts have not always agreed on exactly how to diagnose a food allergy. So, some experts say, a stunning 90% of so-called food allergies may not even be allergies at all — rather than having full-blown immune-based reactions to foods (i.e., an allergy), many children may simply have food sensitivities.
In December 2010, the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), working with more than 30 other professional, government and advocacy organizations, released new recommendations to help standardize the testing and diagnosis of potential food allergies and sensitivities. Teasing apart the difference between the two involves a series of increasingly specific tests. As we reported last month:
In order to diagnose a food allergy, the guidelines advise, ideally, confirming the presence of four factors: a report from the patient (or from the parent, in the case of children) of an adverse reaction such as a rash, intestinal difficulties, difficulty breathing or other reactions after consuming a particular food; a blood test that measures antibodies indicating an allergic immune reaction, a skin prick test with the allergen that shows an adverse reaction; and finally, the gold standard, a positive oral challenge test, in which the patient ingests a small amount of the food allergen.
With more doctors applying these common guidelines, researchers should get a better handle on the prevalence of food allergies among youngsters, as well as better ideas for how to control and eventually prevent them.Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/03/5-new-rules-for-good-health/#ixzz1AFP1FgQB

4. Exercise Often and Over the Long Haul

A new year means new resolutions — or old ones. For most of us, one of our New Year's goals probably involves dusting off that gym membership card and getting more active in 2011. As we all know, exercise, in combination with a healthy diet, plays a critical role in keeping our hearts healthy and our bodies slim.
Of course, that won't happen overnight. The latest study on exercise and weight, conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, found that the trick to keeping excess weight off during middle-age was to maintain a consistent regimen of regular physical activity — at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity like running each week, as recommended by government health officials — starting in youth. The most active people in the study gained less weight over a 20-year period than those who remained sedentary or exercised only sporadically. (Women take note — exercise was more effective in holding off middle-age creep among female volunteers than among the men.)
But how do these results line up with those of previous studies that have failed to document significant weight loss among regularly active folks? Many of those studies focused on weight loss, rather than preventing weight gain, say the authors. Plus, those surveys followed volunteers for relatively short periods of time, even though losing weight through exercise can take much longer — a year or more.Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/03/5-new-rules-for-good-health/#ixzz1AFPgkmoB

5. Early Blood Tests to Predict Disease?

Forget whole body scans. Scientists are looking at a new way to glean early clues from the body to prognosticate potential health problems, in hopes of catching them quickly or, someday, even preventing them. Intriguing preliminary work suggests that it may be possible to use a simple blood test to identify early telltale signs of impending diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and even heart problems. By honing in on a suite of proteins specific to these conditions, doctors are hoping to identify at-risk patients early in their disease process, perhaps even before symptoms start, in order to intervene with treatments that may lessen the impact of the disease.Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/03/5-new-rules-for-good-health/#ixzz1AFQPGmrs

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