Healthline

EATING FEWER CARBOHYDRATES has become almost a mantra in medical circles. Americans eat too many processed carbs such as bread, pastas, cookies, cakes and sodas. That diet triggers insulin production, weight gain and additional risks for diabetes and heart disease, recent studies find.

So what should be on our plates?

To the rescue comes Linda Gassenheimer, author of the best-selling Low-Carb Meals in Minutes, with more recipes, shopping lists and food facts in her new book, More Low-Carb Meals In Minutes (Bay Books San Francisco, 2003). In menus for quick suppers to party foods, Gassenheimer includes some carbs (whole wheat pasta, brown rice) and fats (olive and canola oils) in a sensible approach to losing weight while eating, and staying, well.

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY are typically the worst for eczema, a group of mild to severe skin conditions characterized by red, itchy patches.

One out of five children in the United States has eczema (a form found in infants is called cradle cap). It typically appears on the insides of elbows, backs of knees and the face.

Treatment to reduce inflammation, particularly in severe cases, often requires corticosteroids or other potent medications that affect the body's organs and can cause skin and vessel damage.

A new generation of medicines targets only the condition, dermatologist Mark Lebwohl, department chairman at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, told a meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Containing immunomodulors, used for over a decade but now being incorporated into topical preparations, the treatments appear to be safe and effective, he says.

Two steroid-free medicines approved for treating eczema are tacrolimus ointment and pimecrolimus cream. They work by interfering with white blood cells which trigger an immune response leading to eczema, psoriasis and other conditions.

DO IONIZED BRACELETS relieve muscle and joint pain?

One study reported in Mayo Clinic Proceedings randomly assigned 610 sufferers to wear either an ionized copper/zinc bracelet, priced at about $50 and claiming it can relieve pain the natural way, or a placebo bracelet.

About three-quarters of the participants in both groups reported significant reduction in pain.

The bracelets, researchers concluded, provide no more relief than the placebo.

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