ChooseMyPlate.gov

The food pyramid has been retired! The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, part of the US Department of Agriculture, just released MyPlate, a new way to communicate the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The website choosemyplate.gov has nutritional information, sample menus, tips, individualized plans and other interactive tools and much more. The site has information for kids, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and those who want to loose weight. There are tools to analyze your diet, plan and track your food and physical activity, get a personalized daily food plan for you and your family, and a special planning tool for new moms or a mom-to-be. There is information on each food group and MyFoodapedia gives you information on calories and food comparisons.

Although MyPyramid will no longer be the icon for the dietary guidelines, the nutritional information is still available on the MyPlate site.

How can you make a healthy plate? The new guidelines encourage changes in these three areas:

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid oversized portions.

Food to Increase

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Make at least half your grains whole grains.
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals-and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Report: Americans Can Prevent Thousands of Colorectal Cancer Cases Each Year

An expert panel of the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research just released a report confirming that colorectal cancer is linked to diet. After a systematic review of the evidence, this update to a previous report shows that Americans should limit red meat to around 17 oz. (cooked weight) per week and avoid processed meat. This would be approximately five or six medium portions. The report also concluded that the evidence is even stronger that dietary fiber like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

The evidence for the protective effect of physical activity remains convincing, as well as the evidence that being overweight or obese increases the risk for colorectal cancer.

What should you do?

• Eat more whole grains, beans, vegetables, and fruit and eat less processed meat. (most deli meats, hot dogs, bacon, sausage, beef jerky, or other foods containing sodium nitrite)
• Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity.
• Move toward a healthier weight.

More recommendations and the report can be found here.

June is Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month

Myasthenia gravis is caused when there is a problem transmitting nerve signals to the muscles telling them to contract. In myasthenia gravis the body's own immune system blocks that signal. Many people with myasthenia gravis have problems with swallowing, facial expressions and eye and eyelid movement. Go to MedlinePlus for more information on myasthenia gravis.

The local chapter of the Myastenia Gravis Foundation of American meets the first Saturday of every other month (August 6, October 1, and December 3) at Allied Services in Scranton (475 Morgan Highway) in the Charles Luger Outpatient Center Community Room. For more information contact Vera Krewsun (570)687-6009. For information regarding the location contact Allied Services (570) 348-1407.

More Benefits of Exercise

We all know we should get up and get moving but three recent studies offer even more incentives for regular exercise.

Researchers reported at recent meeting of the American Heart Association that blood pressure in people who are less physically active rises more in response to a high-salt diet, and that following a low-salt diet may be especially important in lowering blood pressure among people who are not active.

            See the full article here.

In another study researchers at the Mayo Clinic discovered that fitness, not body weight, is a more important predictor of whether people with clogged blood vessels in their heart will die in the near future.

            Read about this study here. 

Lastly, researchers at an American College of Cardiology meeting reported that consistent, lifelong exercise preserves heart muscle in the elderly to levels that match (or even exceed!) those of health, non-active people.

           

            Read about this study here.

Disease Clusters in NEPA

The Natural Resources Defense Council just published a report, Health Alert: Disease Clusters Spotlight the Need to Protect People from Toxic Chemicals, reporting a cluster of Non-Hodkin's lymphoma and lupus in Wilkes-Barre associated with workplace exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE). In Luzerne, Schuylkill, and Carbon counties there is a cluster of polycythmia vera, which some blame on a chemicals and suspected carcinogens in a power plant and recycling facility. Go to the the NRDC website for a link to the full paper and the state fact sheet on Pennsylvania.

Area Comes in Second….in Unhealthy Behavior

According to the Daily Beast, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area is second worst in the nation in terms of smokers.  To figure out which cities have the worst smoking problem, they measured which had the largest population of smokers (1/3 of score), where smokers smoked the most cigarettes per day (1/3 of score) and where fewest smokers tried to quit (1/3 0r score).  

#2, Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pennsylvania
Smokers: 23.5%
Cigarettes per day: 16.8
Tried to quit with gum: 25.8%
Tried to quit with patch: 27.6%
Tried to quit with support program: 9.3%

New CDC Report on Health Behaviors

The Center for Disease Control has just published the Surveillance for Certain Halth Behaviors Among States & Selected Local Areas--United States, 2008. (MMWR Surveillance Summaries Dec 10, 2010 59(SS10);1-221)  The report gives statistics for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area on things like teeth extractions, medical screening, smoking, drinking, leisure time, weight, and some specific diseases (asthma, coronary artery disease, stroke). The report is over 200 pages long and takes a while to load. 

 Health Info NEPA has links to information on many of these local public health issues.