Health line
By Times Staff
Published July 25, 2006
Children's allergies noted
Children's food allergies present special challenges to parents when the child is away from home. The company Stuck on You, which makes everything from personalized notepads to kitchen labels, offers a way to notify caregivers, teachers or play-date hosts about allergies with a package of labels and wrist tags for the child. The basic stick-on labels come in three sizes and styles - Nut-Free Zone, Dairy-Free Zone and Egg-Free Zone - but customized allergy or other health-related messages can be ordered. The allergy packs contain 50 items, including wristbands, bag tags, vinyl stick-on dots and customized, create-your-own labels for $44.95. Go to www.stuckonyou.biz, or call toll-free 1-888-236-2800 for a free brochure.
Exercise kit for traveling
No more excuses about missing workouts while on the road - Fitness magazine notes you can even pack these items in your carry-on: Decks of Yoga cards, typically in sets of 50, offer moves to sculpt your body. (Start at less than $10 on www.amazon.com.) Aquabells Travel Weights are less than 2 pounds when deflated and flat, but they can hold up to 16 pounds of water. ($59.95, from aquabells.com.) And listen to music and your customized exercise regime on your iPod from www.podfitness.com ($19.95 a month) or www.Pumpone.com ($19).
Supplements to slow aging
A physician and nutritionist is offering a free lecture Wednesday on how to select nutritional supplements - vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals - to aid a healthy diet and slow the effects of aging. Dr. Steven Masley of St. Anthony's Hospital and author of Ten Years Younger will discuss the issue from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Carillon Outpatient Center, 900 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, in conference rooms A and B. Registration is required; call (727) 825-1111.
By the numbers
19.8 percent, average risk to an American man of normal weight in developing diabetes. Weight classifications here are based on ratio of height to weight.
57 percent, average risk for obese men.
17.1 percent, average risk to a woman of normal weight.
54.6 percent, average risk for obese women.
20.8 millions of Americans who have diabetes, which is rapidly increasing worldwide.
Cataract surgery advancement
Scientists may have found an alternative to the traditional ways of closing incisions in the eye after cataract surgery, performed about 11-million times each year. Boston University physican Mark W. Grinstaff and colleagues have tested an adhesive gel that seals eye incisions quickly and has the strength to keep the incisions sealed. Now, surgeons either stitch the tiny incisions with nylon sutures or allow the incisions to self-seal. But sutures carry a risk of infection and unwanted formation of new blood vessels, and self-sealing carries a risk of infection and leakage of fluid from inside the eye.
- Compiled from staff and wire reports