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| News Capsules - March-April issue - Page 3 |
Americans Told to
Lower Salt Intake
Americans must lower their salt
intake if they want to lower their
blood pressures, says the Journal
of the American Medical
Association. In a strongly worded
statement, AMA officials called on
restaurants and companies that
process food to reduce the
amount of sodium they add to
foods. About 80% of salt in the U.
S. diet comes from processed and
restaurant foods. The upper
recommended limit on daily
sodium intake is 2,400 mg but
some restaurant meals contain
that much by themselves or even
much more.—Mayo Clinic Health
Letter (January, 2008)
Australian Teen
Changes Blood Type
A teenage girl from Australia has
become the world’s first known
transplant patient to have
changed blood groups and taken
on the immune system of her
organ donor. Doctors called her a
“one in six-billion miracle.” The girl
was 9 when she received a donor
liver due to the failure of her own
liver. Her body changed from O
negative to O positive after she
became ill while on drugs to avoid
the rejection of the organ by her
own immune system.—news.
yahoo.com (1/24/08)
Lower Salt Intake
Americans must lower their salt
intake if they want to lower their
blood pressures, says the Journal
of the American Medical
Association. In a strongly worded
statement, AMA officials called on
restaurants and companies that
process food to reduce the
amount of sodium they add to
foods. About 80% of salt in the U.
S. diet comes from processed and
restaurant foods. The upper
recommended limit on daily
sodium intake is 2,400 mg but
some restaurant meals contain
that much by themselves or even
much more.—Mayo Clinic Health
Letter (January, 2008)
Australian Teen
Changes Blood Type
A teenage girl from Australia has
become the world’s first known
transplant patient to have
changed blood groups and taken
on the immune system of her
organ donor. Doctors called her a
“one in six-billion miracle.” The girl
was 9 when she received a donor
liver due to the failure of her own
liver. Her body changed from O
negative to O positive after she
became ill while on drugs to avoid
the rejection of the organ by her
own immune system.—news.
yahoo.com (1/24/08)
Vitamin D Deficiency
Creates Many Problems
The lack of enough vitamin D in
one’s diet not only can lead to
rickets but has been linked to
other ailments such as colon
cancer, cancer of the prostate,
breast cancer, tuberculosis and
even schizophrenia. It appears
that most tissues and cells in the
body have receptors for vitamin
D, suggesting the vitamin is
needed for overall optimal health.
Vitamin D can be obtained from
exposure to the sun, foods such
as fatty fish and fortified cereals,
and supplements.—Discover
(January, 2008)
African-American
Reporter Turning White
An African-American TV reporter
in Detroit is turning white right
before the eyes of his viewers.
Lee Thomas has vitiligo, a skin
condition in which the pigment-
making cells are being destroyed.
White patches are appearing on
different parts of his body. There
is no known cause and no cure,
and he expects to turn mostly
white or even “all the way white.”—
www.cnn.com (12/18/07)
Trading Sleep for Study Doesn’
t Help Students
Students who stay up all night
studying have poorer grades than
those who never rely on all-
nighters. That was the result of a
study of 120 students at New York
state’s St. Lawrence U. which
discovered a 2.95 average GPA
for the former group but a 3.2
GPA for the latter. Conducted by
psychology students and a clinical
psychologist, the thinking is that
sleep deprivation interferes with
concentration for most students.—
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
(12/16/07)
Creates Many Problems
The lack of enough vitamin D in
one’s diet not only can lead to
rickets but has been linked to
other ailments such as colon
cancer, cancer of the prostate,
breast cancer, tuberculosis and
even schizophrenia. It appears
that most tissues and cells in the
body have receptors for vitamin
D, suggesting the vitamin is
needed for overall optimal health.
Vitamin D can be obtained from
exposure to the sun, foods such
as fatty fish and fortified cereals,
and supplements.—Discover
(January, 2008)
African-American
Reporter Turning White
An African-American TV reporter
in Detroit is turning white right
before the eyes of his viewers.
Lee Thomas has vitiligo, a skin
condition in which the pigment-
making cells are being destroyed.
White patches are appearing on
different parts of his body. There
is no known cause and no cure,
and he expects to turn mostly
white or even “all the way white.”—
www.cnn.com (12/18/07)
Trading Sleep for Study Doesn’
t Help Students
Students who stay up all night
studying have poorer grades than
those who never rely on all-
nighters. That was the result of a
study of 120 students at New York
state’s St. Lawrence U. which
discovered a 2.95 average GPA
for the former group but a 3.2
GPA for the latter. Conducted by
psychology students and a clinical
psychologist, the thinking is that
sleep deprivation interferes with
concentration for most students.—
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
(12/16/07)
Collapse of Ice Sheet
Caused ‘Noah’s Flood’
Some researchers believe the
collapse of the Laurentide Ice
Sheet led to major floods that
raised global sea levels 4.5 feet
and inspired the story of Noah’s
Ark. So claims a report in the
journal Quaternary Science
Reviews which used radiocarbon
dating and shoreline
reconstructions to estimate that
28,000 square miles of coastal
land in the Mediterranean and
Black Sea regions was lost to the
floods.” People living in what is
now southeast Europe must have
felt as though the whole world had
flooded,” said one of the
researchers.—Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel (12/10/07)
Nature Plays Role in
Arctic Thawing
Nature and not only man-made
global warming is responsible for
the alarming thawing of the Arctic
region. New research shows there’
s a natural and cyclical increase
in the amount of energy in the
atmosphere moving around the
Arctic Circle. Computer models
based on global warming alone do
not show the Arctic should be
warming as fast as it is. In
September, the Arctic Ocean had
23% less sea ice than the
previous record low.—(Racine)
Journal Times (1/3/08)
Caused ‘Noah’s Flood’
Some researchers believe the
collapse of the Laurentide Ice
Sheet led to major floods that
raised global sea levels 4.5 feet
and inspired the story of Noah’s
Ark. So claims a report in the
journal Quaternary Science
Reviews which used radiocarbon
dating and shoreline
reconstructions to estimate that
28,000 square miles of coastal
land in the Mediterranean and
Black Sea regions was lost to the
floods.” People living in what is
now southeast Europe must have
felt as though the whole world had
flooded,” said one of the
researchers.—Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel (12/10/07)
Nature Plays Role in
Arctic Thawing
Nature and not only man-made
global warming is responsible for
the alarming thawing of the Arctic
region. New research shows there’
s a natural and cyclical increase
in the amount of energy in the
atmosphere moving around the
Arctic Circle. Computer models
based on global warming alone do
not show the Arctic should be
warming as fast as it is. In
September, the Arctic Ocean had
23% less sea ice than the
previous record low.—(Racine)
Journal Times (1/3/08)
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