Health Headlines - July 6

Children with High BMI Not Necessarily Fat: Report

Pediatricians shouldn't focus only on height and weight when they assess whether a child is too fat, says a report by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a non-governmental panel of medical researchers.

The report says there's no evidence that all children with a high body mass index (BMI) need to lose weight. It also said there's no evidence that counseling by pediatricians results in weight loss and better health among their patients, the Associated Press reported.

While it can be fairly effective at identifying children with weight problems, BMI doesn't reveal whether body mass is mostly fat or lean tissue, noted task force member Dr. Virginia Moyer, a pediatrics professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Pediatricians should pay close attention to children who experience rapid weight increases that aren't accompanied by increases in their height, Moyer told the AP.

The report appears in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Merck Seeks to Delay Vioxx Trial

Drug maker Merck & Co. is seeking to postpone the first wrongful death trial over its pain drug Vioxx.

The company says it can't receive a fair trial if the Texas case begins July 11 as scheduled, due to recent publicity about Vioxx. Merck wants to trial delayed for at least 60 days, the Associated Press reported.

The case involves a woman suing Merck over here husband's death in 2001. The woman's lawyer, Mark Lanier, said he'll oppose Merck's attempts to delay the trial.

A hearing on Merck's motion was scheduled for Tuesday. The company said a lawsuit launched last week by the Texas attorney general means that the company could not receive a fair trial in the case scheduled to begin July 11, the AP reported.

Vioxx was taken off the market last September after research showed that patients who took the drug for 18 months or longer had an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. More than 2,400 Vioxx lawsuits have been filed in the United States.

Birth Control Better than Abstinence-Only Approach, Experts Say

Birth control and emergency contraception are better for American teens than the abstinence-only approach to sex education promoted by religious groups and the White House, say new recommendations in the American Academy of Pediatrics' updated teen pregnancy policy.

The report, published Tuesday in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics, updates the teen pregnancy policy by omitting the statement that "abstinence counseling is an important role for all pediatricians," the Associated Press reported.

Instead, the new policy says that while doctors should encourage teens to postpone becoming sexual active, the doctors should also do their best to ensure that all teens have access to birth control, including emergency contraception.

"Even though there is great enthusiasm in some circles for abstinence-only interventions, the evidence does not support abstinence-only interventions as the best way to keep young people from unintended pregnancy," Dr. Jonathon Klein, chairman of the committee that wrote the new recommendations, told the AP.

More Research Needed to Help Children With Chronic Pain

Children and teenagers may suffer as much as pain as adults, but there is little scientific data as to how to treat them.

That's the conclusion of a study from the pain management unit at the University of Bath in England. In fact, recent studies have shown that as many as 15 percent of children in the United Kingdom -- about one in 50 -- suffers from headaches, abdominal and musculoskeletal pain. Another two percent have pain so severe that it interrupts their sleep, restricts physical activity and prevents them from attending school, the researchers add.

Yet, with this significant percentage of young people in chronic pain, there isn't enough evidence to guide doctors in providing treatment. "Many parents that we have spoken to were highly distressed by their inability to alleviate their child's pain..." said Christopher Eccleston, Director of the university's Pain Management Unit, in a news release.

The best doctors can do, Eccleston said, was to prescribe medication based on research on adults in pain. "Controlled trials are urgently needed for all conditions of childhood and adolescence that are characterized by chronic or recurrent pain," he concluded.

Internal Review Takes AIDS Agency to Task

An internal review has painted a disturbing picture of the federal government's AIDS research agency, one where internal feuding, sexually explicit language and inappropriate conduct has hampered efforts to fight the disease in this country, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

The report confirms much of what has been alleged by whistle-blower Jonathan Fishbein concerning the agency's research division and its senior managers, the wire service added.

The situation has been "rife for too long," claimed the report, which was obtained by the AP.

Meanwhile, Fishbein was formally fired by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Friday, despite the objections of several members of Congress. He was originally hired in 2003 to improve the safety of AIDS research within the agency.

"Retaliation against an employee for reporting misconduct or voicing concerns is unacceptable, illegal and violates the Whistleblower Protection Act," Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) wrote in a letter to the NIH late last week, according to the AP.

NIH officials refused to comment on either the firing or any Congressional protest, citing personnel privacy.

Food Fact:
Water works.

Water has no calories, vitamins or minerals, but drinking plenty of it it can reduce your risk of disease. Drinking more than six glasses of water each day cuts the risk of developing bladder cancer in half. Some evidence suggests that staying well hydrated cuts the risk of colon and breast cancer, and lessens your chances of developing kidney stones -- even if you've already passed one or more. Women should aim for about nine cups of fluids daily. Men should shoot for 12 cups.

Fitness Tip of the day:
Be a walkie-talkie.

Instead of chewing the fat with co-workers over lunch, discuss office issues while you walk. Next time you find yourself in a meeting, suggest to your boss that you take it outside during a stroll around the block or through the office halls. Just 20 minutes a day of brisk walking will lower your risk of serious diseases -- that's just four five-minute walks a day! A half-hour a day is even healthier. Walk 45 minutes a day, and watch your waistline shrink.

FAQ of the day:
Should I throw out my saltshaker?

If you're concerned about sodium, your saltshaker isn't your biggest concern. For starters, eat fewer processed foods, which tend to be high in salt, and more fruits and vegetables. But typically, rather than limiting sodium, blood pressure control depends more on maintaining a healthy weight and getting enough calcium, potassium (found in all fruits and vegetables) and magnesium (in green vegetables, whole grains and nuts). In the large DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) study, more than 600 volunteers who ate 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, along with three servings of calcium-rich low-fat dairy foods, significantly reduced blood pressure across all age groups and ethnicities.