“Bad Is Good”
Saturday, June 17th, 2000In the Woody Allen movie Sleeper, one of the funniest jokes was how people in the future ate. They ate lots of junk food because after hundreds of years of research “junk” food turned out to be the healthiest! I think what makes this irony so hilarious is that we have all had the experience of seeing Great New Things crumble under scrutiny. If you liked Sleeper, there is a report in Science News (157:188, 2000) that should make you smile.
Lots of people love chocolate, and we all “know” that it’s bad for you. However several recent studies have revealed that chocolate is high in flavonoid antioxidants! These flavonoids help prevent atherosclerosis (the narrowing of arteries by deposits of cholesterol), stabilize blood platelets, and they are especially good at raising your level of HDL (“good” cholesterol). So chocolate turns out to be good for your heart!
Now before you go out and hit the candy aisle, remember a few things. First, a “chocolate” bar is not usually pure chocolate. It has sugar added, and often fats or fatty things like nuts and caramel. Unfortunately no research we know of indicates sugar will double your IQ, and no studies have shown fat consumption gives you big muscles. Those two are still on the “bad” list. Secondly, until more is known, only about two ounces of chocolate per day is recommended. So if you eat the whole box of chocolates, you are still going to have to feel guilty about most of it. Finally, almost all of these reports have come from research funded at least in part by the chocolate industry. Let’s remain a little skeptical until some independent confirmation comes in!
Good Is Bad
Hot tubs can be very therapeutic. Now it turns out they can harbor bacteria. Doctors at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver recently treated nine people for lung disease. Four were children. The lung disease was caused by nontuberculosis mycobacteria found in hot tub water or in the air of their homes! Apparently researches at National Jewish found several strains of the bacteria can thrive in the floating “slime layers” in ornamental waterfalls, heated pools, hot tubs, and even hot water heaters!
Fortunately, these bacteria are not contagious like tuberculosis. They way they get into your body is by air. The hot tub jets “aerosolize” the bacteria; so can your showerhead. If you are healthy, that steamy shower poses little threat, but if you already have a lung disease you have a greater chance of becoming infected. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, night sweats, coughing, and weight loss. For mild cases the best thing to do is remove the hot tub from the home. For severe cases antibiotics are prescribed.
Now if only life were a Woody Allen movie so all our harmful bacteria turn out to be beneficial! Another Revealing Study
Do balding men get more heart attacks? Or less?
A study at Harvard University deemed this question worthwhile. Archives of Internal Medicine (160: 165, 2000) reported an analysis of the hair loss and heart problems of almost 20,000 physicians. It turns out that if you are starting to get bald in the front by age 45 you have a 10% increased risk of developing angina (chest pain due to heart disease), a heart attack, or to require coronary artery bypass surgery over the next 11 years. “Vertex pattern baldness,” which is losing a roundish patch of hair on the top of your head, indicates a 25% risk of heart trouble, and both types of baldness indicates a 75% risk of heart problems by age 56. As if men with hair loss don’t already have enough to worry about!