Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve healthcare, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the United States include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

“Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on healthcare, is not able to keep up with other countries,” said Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 is expected to live an average of 77.9 years. That ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau.

It was followed by Japan, Macao, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectancies were clustered in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by HIV and AIDS, famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

Researchers say several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one, they say, is that 47 million people in the United States lack health insurance, whereas Canada and many European countries have universal healthcare.

But “it’s not as simple as saying, ‘We don’t have national health insurance,’” said Samuel B. Harper, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. “It’s not that easy.”

Among the other factors researchers cite:

• Adults in the United States have one of the world’s highest obesity rates. Nearly a third of those 20 or older are obese, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. “The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy,” said Paul D. Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta. “We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times.”
• Racial disparities. Black Americans’ average life expectancy is 73.3 years, five years less than white Americans’. Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.
• A relatively high percentage of babies born in the United States die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations: 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe, had lower infant mortality rates in 2004. The rate for black Americans was 13.7, the same as Saudi Arabia.

“It really reflects the social conditions in which African American women grow up and have children,” said Dr. Marie C. McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health. “We haven’t done anything to eliminate those disparities.”

Another reason for the U.S. drop in the rankings is that the Census Bureau now tracks life expectancy for many more countries - 222 in 2004 - than it did in the 1980s.

Murray said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But he said he doubted that the United States would move up in the rankings as long as the healthcare debate was limited to insurance. He said policymakers also should focus on reducing cancer, heart disease and lung disease. He advocates stepped up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar and increase access to information on diet, exercise, and supplementation.

“Even if we focused only on those four things, we would go along way toward improving healthcare in the United States,” Murray said.

The Associated Press 
Sunday 12 August 2007

Preventive Actions Like Cancer Screening Could Prevent Thousands of Deaths

If more Americans followed just five simple preventive health care practices, nearly 100,000 deaths each year could be prevented.

A new study shows that getting adults to follow simple steps like getting help to quit smoking or being screened for cancer could save tens of thousands of lives every year.

According to the study, the top five underutilized health care services with the biggest benefits are:

• Daily aspirin therapy to prevent heart disease.     
• Smoking cessation. An additional 42,000 lives would be saved each year by increasing to 90% the portion of smokers who are advised by a health care professional to quit and are offered assistance. Currently, only 28% of smokers receive such services.
• Colorectal cancer screening. Another 14,000 additional lives would be saved each year by increasing to 90% the portion of adults aged 50 and older who are up to date with any recommended screening for colorectal cancer. Today, fewer than 50% of adults are up to date with screening.
• Flu vaccination. An additional 12,000 additional lives would be saved each year by increasing the portion of adults aged 50 and older who got an annual flu vaccination to 90%. Only 37% of adults currently get an annual flu vaccination.
• Breast cancer screening. An additional 3,700 lives would be saved each year by increasing to 90% the portion of women ages 40 and older who have been screened for breast cancer in the past 2 years. Today, 67% of women have been screened in the past 2 years.

Disparities in Preventive Health Care

“A lot of Americans are not getting lifesaving preventive services, particularly racial and ethnic minorities. As a result, too many people are dying prematurely or living with diseases that could have been prevented,” says Eduardo Sanchez, MD, MPH, in a news release. Sanchez is chair of the National Commission on Prevention Priorities, which conducted the study. “We could get much better value for our health care dollar by focusing upstream on prevention.”

The study shows minorities consistently use preventive health care services less often than whites. For example, Hispanic smokers are 55% less likely to get assistance in quitting smoking than whites.

Overall, among the top 12 preventive health care services examined by the report, seven are used by about half or less of the people who should be using them.

By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

You know how you have those weeks (or maybe months or years) that just seem to be loaded with stress?  I know it’s all relative — one person’s stress is another’s holiday. People with two children think having just one child is a piece of cake, and so on. I’ve had one of those weeks — I’ve been on the road a lot and dealing with an injury, work hasn’t been going my way, and my three-year-old has been possessed by an alien. And I’m not talking about a friendly alien that wants to know what this planet is all about — no, I am talking about someone who wants to launch a full-scale assault, but only in public places. To be honest, this stress has even made it more challenging to relate to my husband in a free-and-easy “girlie” way. I’ve had more tones of “wife” in my voice during this past week than I’ve had in my entire 11-year relationship.

It takes a million years for one gene to change in our bodies. One million years!  I’m bringing this up because, physiologically, we’re the same humans we were 300 years ago. But look at how things have changed in that short time. Some things make life easier now: washers and dryers, transportation, abundance of food, electricity, etc. But some things make life today more insane: cell phones, traffic, increased population, fake food, TV, busy schedules. I heard a statistic from a doctor-friend that we make more decisions in one day than people used to make in a year. No wonder we’re stressed out and reaching for doughnuts or alcohol to cope.

All this craziness and high-speed living isn’t going away. Since we can’t change our genes, we have to create a map to navigate this crazy life. What can you do to try and stay on top of the stress so it doesn’t affect your health, happiness, or waistline?

1. Exercise. Amen for endorphins. Believe me, they’ve helped me many days with my perspective. If you have to work out, then go take a brisk walk and get that blood flowing. It isn’t about working out to lose weight — it’s about being healthy and staying sane.
2. Eat the real stuff. Crappy food (fast, processed, and loaded with sugar) doesn’t help your chemical brain and body handle stress. Living food, real food, helps support your mind and body while it’s trying to deal with the million things coming its way. Every time I reach for the chocolate, I’m looking to feel something from it. Don’t get me wrong — if it’s just a little here and there because I enjoy the taste of it, great. But if I’m using it the minute I feel overwhelmed, then that’s when that food is no longer OK to eat. It doesn’t make the problem go away, and then I just feel bad about eating the food to pacify myself. Grab green food instead. Put things in your mouth that are going to support your immune function and keep you levelheaded. Smart foods as well as supplements can accomplish this.
3. Notice. Try not to let the stress overtake you. Recognize the situations that cause the stress and notice them coming your way. You have a better shot at fending off the full effects of the stress when you can anticipate it.
4. Get it off your chest. Talk to a friend or partner about the stress. Sometimes just getting it off your chest can help unload some of the burden.
 5. Keep your sense of humor. If you do have the chance to talk about it, try to see the irony and humor in the wacky bits. I think someone is dead in the water once they lose their sense of humor.
6. Stay grateful. My daughter has large lungs and verbal skills she likes to display. Just when I start to wishfully think about her being quiet, I remind myself to be grateful that she can talk to me at all. In almost all of our problems are boatloads of blessings. “Oh, I don’t feel like going to the gym.”  Well, Amen that you have the means and the health to even be able to wrestle with the idea of going to work out. Make a habit of saying thank you. You will notice the sunny spots a lot more often, and not just the gray skies and storms.
7. Ask, “What’s the hurry?”  Have some fun. We’re always so busy going somewhere, we miss just enjoying the moment. If an opportunity comes your way to do something fun, take it.
8. Take a deep breath. When you feel the stress getting to you, take a moment. Get away, even if it’s just for an hour, to be with yourself and your thoughts. Some people like to take a walk, meditate, lock themselves away in a beautiful bath, or go to church. Find the peace and the silence.
9. Keep it simple. Simplify where you can. Does Junior really need to be in 78 activities at the age of 5?  Do you have to go to every little party or gathering you’re invited to?
10. Turn off the TV. A lot of it is bad news anyway, and it robs us of hours that we could use to be getting other things done. Since everyone complains that they have no time, get some by unplugging from the tube.
11. Sleep. If you’re rested, you have a better shot at handling things. Not to mention, you may not stress out as easily if you have a chance to recover at night.
12. Drink water. I have said it before: Americans consume 21 percent of their calories through liquid consumption. Hydrate with water. Help you entire system function better just by drinking enough water. Oh, and by the way, if you don’t think that weight loss and proper hydration have a relationship, think again. Shift the paradigm on its side — don’t think about exercise and nutritional eating just as something you have to suffer through to get into those jeans. Instead, think of them as armor that will protect you in this crazy world, with all of the bazillion details you deal with every day.

by Gabrielle Reece

Despite lingering beliefs to the contrary, recently examined data strongly indicate that for most cancer patients, using antioxidant supplements during chemotherapy is not only safe, it often enhances its effectiveness.
 
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Education have published a review* that may have you rethinking your opinions about this controversial topic.
 
Fewer side effects, better outcomes
 
“There’s a lot of confusion surrounding this issue, and the advice coming out of many medical institutions is based on the belief that antioxidants may interfere with the chemotherapeutic effect on cancer tissue,” says lead author Keith I. Block, MD. “The question has been, Do antioxidants protect healthy tissue, or do they protect cancer tissues from effects of chemotherapy?”
 
After examining the literature from 845 studies of the simultaneous use of antioxidants and chemotherapy, the team found that 19 studies met the study design criteria to include in the review – all randomized controlled clinical trials, which yield the most scientifically sound data. A total of 1,554 patients with a wide variety of cancers (most advanced or relapsed cases) were evaluated.
 
The studies examined the impact on 17 different chemotherapy drugs when they were used in conjunction with one or more of the following antioxidant supplements:
 
• Glutathione      
• Melatonin
• Vitamin A
• Antioxidant mixture
• Vitamin C
• N-acetylcysteine
• Vitamin E
• Ellagic acid
 
What the team found, Block says, was “solid and consistent data showing that antioxidants did not interfere with chemotherapeutic effects – and in fact mitigated cancer treatment toxicity – in most patients.” Here are just a few examples of their findings:
 
• Thirty-one percent of patients who used vitamin E supplements experienced neurotoxicity during treatment, compared to 86 percent of the control group. Patients had malignant cancers that included lung, head and neck, ovarian, and testicular. 
 
• Glutathione use during chemotherapy resulted in significantly reduced neurotoxicity – and significantly improved tumor response and survival rates – among patients suffering from cancers that included ovarian, colorectal, and gastric.
 
• A number of studies showed that patients who used melatonin supplements had consistently better chemotherapeutic responses, significantly fewer side effects, and significantly higher survival rates overall compared to patients who did not use melatonin. Cancers included in these data include lung, colorectal, and breast.
 
• In one study, metastatic breast cancer patients who used vitamin A supplements had more than double the treatment response rates of patients in the control group – and 38 percent experienced complete tumor shrinkage. In another study, 43-month survival rates among post-menopausal women was 78 percent, compared to 19 percent among women who did not take vitamin A supplements.
 
Shrinking tumors and lengthening lives is of course what cancer treatment is all about, but don’t underestimate the importance of reducing side effects. After all, fewer ill effects mean fewer patients forego their prescribed chemotherapy regimens.
 
When patients get sick from chemotherapy, their regimens often are interrupted – either on their doctors’ orders or because they choose to stop following them. In fact, Block says, side effects lead as many as one-third of cancer patients to abandon treatment altogether.
 
Both common sense and existing research tell us that by reducing dosing and interrupting or diminishing a patient’s chemotherapy schedule, the efficacy of the treatment – and therefore the outcome – is diminished.
“The potential for antioxidants to reduce chemotherapy side effects is the larger issue behind our research,” Block says. “Fewer side effects mean more patients will complete their prescribed regimens at the full recommended dosages and on schedule. We believe the research suggests that antioxidants can not only diminish toxicity, they can improve outcomes in terms of tumor response, survival rates, and treatment tolerance.”
 
“Science supports an integrative approach”
 
Confused and concerned chemotherapy patients often believe they’re taking the conservative route by avoiding antioxidants, says Block, “but science substantially supports an approach that integrates both. If you want to pursue therapies that are evidence-based, the current body of knowledge clearly suggests that most people are better off using antioxidants in conjunction with chemotherapy than not.”
 
This is not to say that there won’t be an occasional interaction or adverse effect from the use of supplements; there will be, he says.
 
“When it comes to combining natural products with conventional therapies, people should not assume that all natural products work well with all conventional treatments in all patients,” says Block. “Integrative medicine needs to be individualized, but the average patient can benefit from a chemotherapy-supplement regimen that’s tailored to his or her individual needs, and put together with a clear understanding of how the various drugs and supplements might interact.”
 
“There are a lot of variables that we can do something about – and those include our lifestyles and diets, as well as the individualized use of antioxidant supplements,” he says. “By precisely combining conventional and complementary therapies like antioxidant supplementation, and tailoring that regimen to the needs of each patient, we can have a substantial effect on mitigating toxicity and patient outcomes.”
 

* Block KI et al., “Impact of Antioxidant Supplementation on Chemotherapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review of the Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trials”, Cancer Treatment Reviews (March 14, 2007)

Modern commercial pet foods are a great boon to pet owners but can fall short of providing optimal nutrition. High heat and long storage times required for processing deplete nutrients. Unregulated “by-products,” low-quality protein sources, and refined grains, commonly added for economic reasons, lower the bioavailabilty, or bottom-line nutritional usefulness of the products.

Veterinarians are increasingly recognizing that nutritional supplements can lead to better health and resistance to disease in pets. A targeted program of supplementation may mean the difference between your pet thriving and merely “getting by.”

Diet is one of the cornerstones of robust health. Nutrients from food bolster your pet’s natural defenses against germs, environmental pollutants, and stress. Deficiencies in the diet often bring on health problems or prolong illness. Notwithstanding the fact that you should always consult with your veterinarian about any known or suspected medical problems, it’s very possible that if your pet suffers from a chronic lack of energy, dull coat, finicky digestive system, or susceptibility to infections, it may be due to inadequacies in your pet’s diet. Since many off-the-shelf pet foods are lacking in one or more nutritional aspects, it makes sense to look at pet supplements as an “insurance policy” – a guarantee that each day, your companion gets a complete nutritional package. Even if your pet is healthy and free of health concerns, consider dietary supplements as a means of adding back vital ingredients such as enzymes and helpful bacteria that are lost in highly-processed diets.

Older animals may benefit from antioxidants that fortify their immune system, probiotics that help with digestion and metabolism, and other supplements specifically formulated for senior animals.

There are several categories of supplements that can promote better health for your pet:

Vitamins: organic compounds that are essential to your pet’s growth and development and day-to-day life-support functions.

Minerals: such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium are required for your pet’s bone growth, nervous system, muscular system, and ability to assimilate nutrients.

Enzymes: these body workhorses are involved in a variety of basic biological processes, including cell creation and repair, conversion of food to energy and regulation of body chemistry.

Probiotics: “good bacteria” that fend off harmful bacteria and aid digestion. 

Each of these nutrient groups works synergistically with the others. Supplements can contribute to your pet’s overall health, vitality, and longevity, but they are supplementary to a healthy lifestyle that should include regular veterinary checkups, a premium diet, plenty of exercise, stress reduction and prevention measures, and emotional support. Supplements are most effective when integrated into a holistic program of optimum health for your pet.