Do you plan to get a swine flu vaccination?

Health officials are urging people to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus (as well as the regular seasonal flu). Yet some worry about the safety of the vaccine.

Because I have a high risk of exposure (I live with a teacher), I'm planning to get vaccinated as soon as high-risk populations have been taken care of and enough vaccine is available in my area.

Are you planning to be vaccinated? Vote below then feel free to post any comment or discussion.

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Four steps to a longer healthier life?

A giant study (involving over 20,000 subjects over 8 years) looked at how four "healthy lifestyle habits" affected the risk of common diseases like heart disease and cancer. The four habits they chose to track?

1. Never smoking

2. Maintaining a BMI of 30 or lower (Calculate your BMI here.)

3. Engaging in at least 3 1/2 hours of physical activity per week

4. Eating a healthy diet, which was defined as one high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in meat. (Don't shoot the messenger!)

Less than 4% of the subjects had zero healthy behaviors. About twice as many (9%) could take credit for all four.  Here's what's making headlines: The Four-Behavior Group had:

• 93% lower risk of diabetes
• 81% lower risk of heart attack
• 50% lower risk of stroke
• 36% lower risk of cancer

Of course, this study was purely observational, and there may be (and probably ARE) other unmeasured variables that came into play. 

But, for what it's worth, the correlation between these four behaviors (especially in combination) and the risk of the four most common diseases is notable.  Note that diabetes appears to be almost three times more "responsive" to lifestyle than cancer.

It's also interesting that of the four factors, diet had the weakest effect on risk.  Avoiding obesity was the strongest factor, followed by never smoking, exercise, and (in last place) diet. Of course, that could have something to do with the way they defined "healthy" diet.

But it does underline something I've been saying a lot lately in comments and discussion on the blog.  I suspect that obesity has a stronger impact on health than the details of dietary composition. In other words, it's an oversimplification to say that a certain diet (low-fat, low-carb, whatever) is healthier than another.  Whatever diet (within reason) helps you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight has my vote. And, obviously, we're not all the same.

Just for kicks, how do Nutrition Data readers stack up against the German subjects in this study?

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Source: Archives of Internal Medicine

Weight fluctuations: How much is normal?

Q. I have heard that it is completely normal for a person's weight to vary throughout the day, but by how much does it change? Is it a sign of weight gain if I weigh over three pounds more at the end of a day than at the beginning?

A. A weight fluctuation of three to five pounds over the course of a day is completely normal and doesn't suggest that you've gained weight.  Weight can be temporarily affected by things like the amount of fluids you've consumed, the timing of your last work-out, or (how to put this?) the status of your digestive processes.

It's best to weigh yourself at the same time of day.  If you're in the habit of charting your weight, you might want to start plotting the moving average, as well.  A moving average is a statistical trick that smooths out those daily ups and downs and gives you a much more accurate picture of the overall trend: are you gaining, losing, or maintaining? 

I've been using this nifty little gadget called The Google 15.  Type in your weight every day and it is displayed on a graph.   After 7 days, the graph will also display your moving average. The gadget even gives you encouraging pats or stern little warnings if you drift too far from your goal.

If Google's pending domination of the universe gives you the creeps and you're good with math, here's the formula for calculating a simple moving average yourself. 

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Are your drinking habits healthy or harmful?

My recent post on moderate drinking and breast cancer risk spurred a lot of comments.  So I thought you might also be interested in a new initiative from the National Institutes of Health called Rethinking Drinking. The goal is to help people assess the risks and/or benefits of their drinking habits.

I think some people will be suprised to see how low the threshold for "low-risk" drinking is, especially when you consider the size of a "standard" drink is just 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. The newly (or once again) popular martini drinks usually contain the equivalent of 2 to 4 servings of alcohol.

Our social norms make it completely unremarkable to have a drink before dinner and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. This alone would put you in the high risk category.  If you're motivated by this to make a change, the site offers tools and ideas for cutting back your alcohol consumption.

What do you think? Is this too heavy-handed an approach? Are we American's showing our latent puritanism here?  Are the risks of moderate drinking being overstated?

I will say that, for those who are motivated to make a change in their drinking habits, the tools and strategies on this site are very well designed. They are consistent with the proven approach developed by James Prochaska and outlined in his excellent book Changing for Good.

National Nutrition Month: How does your diet stack up?

March is National Nutrition Month, an observance sponsored by the American Dietetic Assocation to increase awareness about the importance of good nutrition. 

How healthy is your diet? Just for fun, here's a little quiz to rate how your nutrition habits stack up in several important areas. Note: You may need to analyze a typical day's food intake to answer some of these questions. Our tracking tools can help.

Answer True or False for each statement:

1. I eat at least five servings of vegetables every day.  (A serving is a half cup of cooked vegetables or a whole cup of uncooked greens.) 
2. At least two of my vegetable servings each day are eaten raw.
3. Over the course of the week, I eat at least ten different kinds of vegetables. 
4. I get at least 1000 mg of calcium a day.
5. I get at least half of my daily calcium from foods.
6. I avoid cooking unmarinated meats over direct flame or at high temperatures.
7. I keep sodium to 2500mg per day or less.
8. I keep trans fats to an absolute minimum (less than 2% of daily calories).
9. I eat at least 25 grams of fiber a day.
10. I keep added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories.

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Scoring: If you answered "true" for 8 or more statements, you're doing a great job.  If you answered "true" for 5 to 7 statements, you're on the right track but there's room for improvement.  If you answered "true" for fewer than 5 statements, why not use National Nutrition Month as your excuse to upgrade your nutrition?

Related Content:
Guide to Grilling Meats
Five Ways to Get Five A Day
Benefits of Fiber
Reasons to Reduce Sodium

Today's Poll: Will the recent news on alcohol and breast cancer risk affect your drinking habits?

British researchers this week announced findings from a seven year study of over a million women, finding that even low to moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of some cancers; breast cancer, in particular.  At least one of the authors concludes that "there is no level of alcohol consumption that could be considered safe."

Yet moderate alcohol consumption (that's one drink per day for women and two for men) is associated with lower risk of heart disease and longer, healthier lives.  How do you weigh these seemingly contradictory findings?

I don't have the answer, but here are some questions to consider and discuss with your doctor to decide whether moderate alcohol consumption is a boon or bust for your health:

1. Is there a family history of breast cancer or heart disease? Either one might tip your decision.

2. Do you have other modifiable risk factors that might be more significant? 

For example, the recent study found that each daily drink increases your risk of breast cancer by about 1.5%.   On the other hand, regular exercise can decrease your risk of breast cancer by up to 30%. Eating more fiber can slash your risk by up to 50%.  Sleeping fewer than six hours a night can increase your risk by 60%, and so on.  Maintaining a healthy weight as you get older also has a substantial protective effect.

I'm also reminded of some research a couple of years ago that found that women who drank moderately had absolutely no increased risk of breast cancer, as long as they ate a diet high in folic acid.

My point is this: If you're 30 pounds overweight, are using your treadmill as a laundry-folding station, are chronically sleep-deprived, and/or have little time for green vegetables, that evening glass of wine may be the least of your worries.

There are a lot of pros and cons to weigh and any decision on how to respond to this latest news will be highly personal.   What's your take? 

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Please also add your comments by clicking on "Post a Comment" below.

Today's Poll: How often do you weigh yourself?

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Today's Poll: Are you a vegetarian (even some of the time)?

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Read more: The New Vegetarian: A new take on an ancient diet

Can you still afford to buy organic?

Organic products have always been more expensive than conventional products.  But over the last ten years, as growing demand for organics led more growers and manufacturers into the organic marketplace, we've seen organic products become more widely available and less expensive.  Good news for both health-conscious consumers and the environment!

But now, things seem to be tipping in the other direction.  The supply of organic feeds and other raw materials that organic farmers need hasn't grown fast enough to keep pace with demand. As supply tightens, prices go up for the farmers.  So now, many farmers are finding organic practices too expensive and are returning to conventional farming.  See also: Organic supply squeeze tightens (offsite).

Bad news for health conscious consumers and the environment

If farmers revert to conventional practices, reduced demand may ease price pressure for organic raw materials. But it's clearly a step backwards for the environment. And I'm pretty sure that fewer organic products coming to market means higher prices for consumers. And it couldn't come at a worse time.  Food prices are up across the board--for both conventional and organic products--and everyone's budget is stretched to the limit. 

How are you handling it? Have rising prices affected whether or how often you can afford to choose organic?

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The link between cholesterol and heart disease: Your opinion?

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As always, please add your comments below! (I know you have some...)

Then, continue the conversation here: September is National Cholesterol Month: Should You Care?