ALL WAL-MART and selected Sam's Club stores are hosting free blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure screenings. The event is designed to promote awareness, prevention and management of diabetes. Customers and members will receive a complimentary diabetes resource book and product samples from event sponsors. The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at certain Sam's Clubs (call the club in your area for information) and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at all Wal-Mart stores.
AS IS TRUE FOR ADULTS, children are what they eat. And given the stage of development, perhaps even more so. But can a child be raised on a strict vegetarian diet? Yes, according to the American Dietetic Association, but only with a careful dietary regimen that takes into account these nutritional requirements:
* Calories and fat: A child's vegetarian diet may be heavily weighted toward belly-filling fiber, which makes it difficult to meet a child's energy needs. Avocados, nuts, seeds, dried fruits and soy products offer concentrated sources of calories.
* Protein: High-protein foods include legumes, grains, soy products, nuts, dairy products and eggs. Grains, such as rice, pasta, breads and cereals, also provide plenty of protein.
* Calcium: Dark green, leafy vegetables, calcium-fortified soy and rice milks and orange juice offer good sources of calcium.
* Vitamin D: Fortified cow's milk, some brands of soy or rice milk and most dry cereals are key dietary sources of vitamin D. And don't forget sunlight. Children exposed to 20 to 30 minutes a day on the hands and face, two or three times a week, sometimes do not need vitamin D from food sources.
* Iron: Sources of iron include whole or enriched grains, iron-fortified cereals, legumes, green, leafy vegetables and dried fruits.
* Vitamin B12: Foods fortified with vitamin B12 include fortified soy milk, fortified nutritional yeast and some breakfast cereals.
* Zinc: Look to legumes, hard cheeses, whole grain products, wheat germ, nuts and tofu to meet a child's zinc requirements.
ONLY SOME FORMS of carbohydrates are the true enemy in the battle of the bulge, researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston report. Careful analysis of the diets of mice showed that mice primarily fed carbohydrates that are low in sugar or are broken down slowly lose dramatically more weight than mice fed the same amount of starchy carbohydrates. The results published in the journal Lancet justify a large-scale trial of the so-called low-glycemic-index diet, which also may reduce risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Unlike the popular Atkins diet, the low-glycemic diet allows for eating a high percentage of some carbs - whole grains, vegetables, nuts and most fruits. But refined breads, breakfast cereals and concentrated sugars are no-nos, as they are on Atkins. Mice fed a diet of 69 percent starchy carbs had 71 percent more body fat and 8 percent less lean body mass than mice on a low-glycemic diet consisting of 69 percent carbohydrates. What the study shows is that when it comes to counting carbs, dieters don't have to go to extremes if they are careful about the carbohydrates they choose.
SEPSIS is a catastrophic and potentially deadly immune system response to blood infections that afflicts hundreds of thousands of hospital patients each year. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, think they have found a common enzyme that may act as a brake on the runaway reaction. The enzyme A20 is active during initial stages of a chain reaction of signals that mobilize an immune response to infections. When A20 is absent, mice experience an overactive immune response, which can lead to a deadly collapse in blood pressure. A20 apparently limits the response signals from certain receptors that directly sense the presence of dangerous microbes.
