Aaron Jencks

THURSDAY, Feb. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Fast-food restaurants get a bad rap for menus chockful of high-fat, high-salt foods with little nutrition. But are fast casual and sit-down chains better? The answer may surprise you. A University of South Carolina study looked at the calories in lunch and dinner entrees and found that fast-casual dishes had, on average, 200 more calories than fast-food ones — 760 compared to 560. Menus at fast-casual restaurants also have more high-calorie options to tempt you. But the study didn’t look at whether these higher calorie choices are healthier. For instance, a whole-wheat roll might have more calories than a fast-food white burger bun, but it could also have more nutrients. Researchers at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia focused on both nutrients and calories of 2,600 menu items served at local full-service restaurant chains. They found that choices in general...

THURSDAY, Feb. 21, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Infections with two strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) are showing marked declines among American women, and rising vaccination rates could be driving the trend. That’s the finding from a new study involving thousands of U.S. women who tested positive for precancerous conditions of the cervix. Infection with HPV is by far the leading cause of cervical cancer, and it has also been tied to genital warts and cancers of the mouth, throat, vulva, vagina and anus. But the new study finds that rates of infection with HPV 16 or 18 — the two strains most heavily implicated in cervical cancer — have markedly declined between 2008 and 2014. It’s during those years that rates of the use of HPV vaccines such as Gardasil and Cervarix became more widespread. Both vaccines target HPV 16 and 18, among other strains. The bottom...

(HealthDay News) — There are plenty of ways to encourage kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. Here are the agency’s suggestions: Create smoothies with fat-free or low-fat yogurt with fruit pieces and crushed ice. Use fresh, frozen, canned or even overripe fruit, such as bananas, berries, peaches or pineapple. Let your kids dip fruit and vegetables in a dip. Make fun kabobs resembling caterpillars by assembling chunks of melon, apple, orange and pear on skewers. For a raw veggie version, use zucchini, cucumber, squash, sweet peppers or tomatoes. Make personal pizzas with whole-wheat English muffins, bagels or pita bread as the crust. Add tomato sauce, low-fat cheese and cut-up vegetables or fruit for toppings. Assemble a fruity peanut butterfly by using carrot sticks or celery for the body and attaching wings made of thinly sliced apples with peanut butter. Decorate with halved grapes...

(HealthDay News) — Everyone needs some salt to help maintain the body’s balance of fluids. But too much salt may cause you to retain fluids and raise your blood pressure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns.
About 75 percent of the salt you consume is from processed foods, the FDA says.

The agency offers these tips to lower salt intake:

• • Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Eat foods that are rich in potassium, including leafy green veggies and bananas. Potassium can help lessen the effects of sodium on blood pressure.
  • Season food with herbs and spices, instead of salt.
  • Opt for unsalted snacks.
  • Read food labels and select foods low in sodium.

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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20, 2019 — (HealthDay News) — Dense root vegetables such as sweet potatoes and parsnips benefit from roasting. They sweeten as they cook, making for healthy comfort food during cold winter months. Follow these general steps for any hard vegetables: Start by cutting them into uniform pieces, so they’ll roast and brown evenly. (Otherwise, you can end up with either burnt or undercooked pieces.) Next, toss the vegetables in a healthy cooking oil like olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt, which helps to bring out their sweetness. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Then spread the vegetables evenly so that all pieces will brown at the same rate. Roast in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until tender. The high temperature is key to bringing out the sweet flavor — plus it gets dinner on the table faster. Serve roasted...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) — As excited as you are that your teen’s going to college, it’s normal to have mixed emotions, such as anxiety, sadness and possibly depression. It’s even normal to feel envious that his or her life is just beginning while yours is on the wane. For most parents, this rush of emotions will pass, but both generations might have to work to ease the transition, especially if your child is also experiencing a mix of joy and apprehension, which often manifests as bickering with mom and dad. Parents will need to loosen the reins and acknowledge that their child is his or her own person and may not see eye-to-eye with them on everything anymore. Realize that this is a natural progression in their development, not a rejection of you or an end to your closeness. And take comfort in the fact that most...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) — A half-hour of morning exercise can help control blood pressure in overweight and obese people for the entire day, a new study finds. And for women in particular, adding frequent short breaks from sitting through the day can offer additional benefit, the Australian researchers said. “For both men and women, the magnitude of reduction in average systolic blood pressure following exercise and breaks in sitting approached what might be expected from antihypertensive medication,” said lead author Michael Wheeler. “However, this reduction was greater for women,” he added. Wheeler is a member of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. The research involved 67 people between the ages of 55 and 80 who did three different laboratory sessions, in random order, separated by at least six days. Those sessions included: uninterrupted sitting for eight hours; one hour of sitting prior to 30 minutes...

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Interacting with lots of different people may help you live longer and healthier, a new study suggests. Older people who spend more time with family members, close friends, acquaintances, casual friends and even strangers were more likely to be physically active, spend less time sitting or lying around and have a more positive attitude and fewer negative feelings, the researchers found. “Adults often grow less physically active and more sedentary as they age, and these behaviors pose a risk factor for disease and death,” said study author Karen Fingerman. She’s a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Fingerman said that it can be hard to get people to exercise, but it might be easier to get them to reach out to acquaintances, go on group events or talk to the people who serve in restaurants....

(HealthDay News) — Infertility affects about 1 in 10 couples that are trying to have a baby, the U.S. National Institutes of Health says.
Advancing age is a prime cause of infertility, but there are other factors that are more under a person’s control, the agency says, including:

• • Alcohol consumption.
  • Smoking.
  • Environmental toxins, including pesticides and lead.
  • Certain medicines.
  • Radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
  • Stress.
  • Poor diet.
  • Being overweight.
  • Sexually transmitted infections.

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(HealthDay News) — Electrolytes are minerals in the body that have an electric charge. They are in your blood, urine, tissues and body fluids.
Sodium, calcium, potassium, chlorine, phosphate and magnesium are types of electrolytes that are absorbed from foods you eat and fluids you drink.

The U.S. Library of Medicine mentions these roles of electrolytes:

• • Balance the amount of water in your body.
  • Balance your body’s acid/base (pH).
  • Move nutrients into your cells.
  • Move wastes from your cells.
  • Help make sure the nerves, muscles, heart and brain work properly.

Copyright © 2018 HealthDay. All Rights Reserved.

TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Upper body strength is important at every age, but you don’t need to be a bodybuilder to benefit from working your pectoral, or chest, muscles. For a study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise, scientists from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse evaluated nine popular pec exercises to determine which ones best engaged these muscles. Popular Pec Strength-Training Exercises Barbell bench press Pec dec machine Bent-forward cable crossover Chest press machine Inclined dumbbell flys Dips Push-ups To develop muscle size, the barbell bench press is at the very top of the list, followed closely by the pec deck machine and the bent-forward cable crossover. Here’s how to perform the barbell bench press. Lie with your back flat on a weight bench. Knees are bent at the far end of the bench with feet flat on the floor. Grip the barbell with both...

TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) — More primary care doctors mean longer life for patients, but a shortage of these physicians is looming, a new study finds. Why? Fewer medical students are choosing primary care as a career, mostly because of money, the researchers noted. However, every 10 additional primary care doctors per 100,000 Americans was associated with a nearly 52-day increase in life expectancy from 2005 to 2015. In contrast, 10 more specialists per 100,000 increased life expectancy by only 19 days, the researchers found. “Primary care physicians serve as the primary point of contact for most of the population and often perform preventive care, cancer screening and early diagnosis,” said study lead author Dr. Sanjay Basu. He’s an assistant professor of medicine and health research and policy at Stanford University in California. But according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, a dramatic shortfall of primary care...