The popularity of energy drinks containing high amounts of caffeine has food and beverage producers launching all sorts of products with a jolt of caffeine—gum, jelly beans, water, and even popcorn!

Meanwhile, this trend has not escaped the attention of the Food and Drug Administration which announced that it wants to examine the cumulative impact of so many new sources of caffeine—especially since many of them are marketed to children and adolescents.

The FDA is already investigating the safety of energy drinks and energy shots following at least 150 reports of illness and 25 deaths.

Current FDA regulations governing caffeine were put in place for cola-type beverages in the 1950s and did not anticipate the proliferation of caffeine added to foods. Caffeine has the regulatory classification of "generally recognized as safe," or GRAS, which means manufacturers can add it to products and then determine on their own whether the product is safe.

Others Concerned

But it’s not just the FDA that’s noticed the influx of caffeine in the marketplace. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) shared its concerns with the FDA last year.

"Could caffeinated macaroni and cheese or breakfast cereal be next?" asked CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "One serving of any of these foods isn't likely to harm anyone. The concern is that it will be increasingly easy to consume caffeine throughout the day, sometimes unwittingly, as companies add caffeine to candies, nuts, snacks and other foods. And that's on top of the soda, coffee, tea, and energy drinks that are already widely consumed."

The American Academy of Pediatrics has also issued a report that discourages the consumption of caffeine and other stimulant substances in the diets of children and adolescents. They warned that too much caffeine can be dangerous for children, who have less ability to process the stimulant than adults.

Large amounts of caffeine can cause rapid heartbeat, seizures anxiety, restlessness, irritability, and insomnia.

We’ll be watching what happens with this hot topic. In the meantime parents may want to keep an eye out for these amped up foods.

Sources:

NBC News

Courier Journal

Center for the Public Interest

Every year National Women’s Health Week turns our attention to the importance of women’s health issues and encourages women to take important steps to safeguard their health. Men can play a role by supporting the women in their lives to do the following:

Step 1 – Get regular check-ups and screenings

Women’s Health Week kicks off on Monday with National Check-up Day. If you haven’t already done so, it’s a good time to pick up the phone and schedule your next regular check-up or screening.

Regular checkups provide a number of benefits to women:

• Screening tests, such as mammograms and Pap tests, can find diseases early, when they are easier to treat. Some women need certain screening tests earlier or more often than other women do. Recent changes in health care laws require that  women can now receive some types of preventive screenings without copays.

• Screenings and routine care can help women lower their risks of many health conditions, including heart disease, the leading cause of death among women.

Step 2 – Get regular exercise.

Step 3 – Eat a healthy diet.

Step 4 – Get adequate sleep and manage stress to promote good mental health.

Getting Started

We realize that for many women these steps sound like a very tall order to fill in an already hectic schedule. But the truth is that’s exactly why women need to take time for these important preventive measures—to keep up with their demanding lives.

Hopefully some of these tips and tools from our health library will help get you started:

• Women: Go-to Health Guidelines at Any Age

• BUSTED! Health & Aging Myths that Every Woman Should Know

• Exercise Myths for Adults Over 40

• 8 Natural Ways to Fight Weight Gain During Menopause

• Practical Ways to Strike a Work/Life Balance and Reduce Stress

Source:

Women’s Health

Gone are the days when tattoos were only associated with sailors and bikers. From suburban housewives to Wall Street bankers, getting “inked” has definitely gone mainstream.

But what you may not know is that the practice is largely unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration. That responsibility is left to state and local authorities.

So if you are thinking about getting a tattoo, it’s important to understand what’s involved, including the risks and how to protect yourself.

Tattoo Process

Permanent tattoos are made by using needles to inject colored ink below the skin's surface. Permanent make-up is considered a permanent tattoo that mimics the results of cosmetic products such as an eyebrow pencil, lip liner, eyeliner, or blush.

Tattoo Inks

• The FDA has not approved any tattoo pigments for injection into the skin. This applies to all tattoo pigments, including those used for ultraviolet (UV) and glow-in-the-dark tattoos. Many pigments used in tattoo inks are industrial-grade colors suitable for printers' ink or automobile paint.
• The use of henna in temporary tattoos has not been approved by FDA. Henna is approved only for use as a hair dye.
• Because the FDA has received reports of reactions to some dyes, they are beginning to conduct safety studies of tattoo ink. Prior to this, there had been no systemic studies of the safety of tattoo inks.

What are the Risks?

• Infection – Dirty needles can pass infections, like hepatitis and HIV, from one person to another.
• Allergies – Allergies to various ink pigments in both permanent and temporary tattoos have been reported and can cause problems.
• Permanence - Consider tattoos permanent. Removal is time-consuming, costly, and doesn't always work. Unwanted scar tissue may form when getting or removing a tattoo.
• Granulomas – These small knots or bumps may form around material that the body perceives as foreign, such as particles of tattoo pigment.
• MRI complications – People may have swelling or burning in the tattoo when they have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This happens rarely and does not last long.

Getting Inked

If you decide to get a tattoo, health experts suggest that you take these safety precautions:

• Go to a professional tattoo parlor with tattoo artists that are licensed according to state requirements.
• Choose a parlor that uses new/sterile tattoo equipment for each customer.
• After the procedure, follow instructions to prevent infection. Report any signs of infection or allergy to the tattoo artist. If a problem lasts more than one to two weeks, see a doctor.
• People with a chronic skin condition such as psoriasis, eczema or a tendency toward keloid scarring should check with a dermatologist before getting a tattoo.
• Do not get a tattoo over a mole. Doing so will make it more difficult to diagnose a problem if the mole changes in the future.

Source:

Food and Drug Administration

The goal of a detox is to stimulate liver enzymes, increase bowel movements to empty intestines of waste, and help the kidneys eliminate toxins that build up in your tissues, organs, and blood.

And while some cleanses involve fasting, gallons of fiber drinks, and herbal laxatives, a good detox doesn’t have to be that extreme and is easier that you might think.

By eating a few naturally detoxifying foods and avoiding a few others, you’ll see and feel results—more energy, clearer brain, and even weight loss—in as little as a week.  

Just follow these three guidelines:

1. Lighten your toxic load by avoiding alcohol, coffee, saturated fats (meat, cheese) soy, chocolate, sugar, and salty foods during the detox.
2. Drink lots of liquids and eat plant-based high-fiber organic foods to stimulate the colon.
3. Try to include at least five of the following detoxifying foods in your diet every day for one to two weeks.  
   1. Artichokes – steam and serve with herbed olive oil
   2. Daikon Radish – peel, grate or shred and add to sandwiches, salads or slaws
   3. Flax Seeds – add ground flaxseed to cereal, yogurt or smoothies
   4. Garlic – mash or mince one clove daily and mix into hummus, salad dressings or sautéed vegetables
   5. Green Tea – drink 2-4 cups daily
   6. Leafy Greens – Eat fresh or lightly steam spinach, watercress, arugula, collards, and kale
   7. Lemon – Squeeze half  a lemon in warm water or green tea and drink every morning to stay hydrated and stimulate intestinal muscles.
   8. Rosemary – a great seasoning for roasted rood vegetables or salad dressings
   9. Sea Vegetables – Seaweed can be used as an herb or vegetable to season soups, salads or pasta dishes
   10. Tumeric – include ¼ to ½ teaspoon daily in scrambled eggs, cooked rice, or steamed vegetables

A Word of Caution

Healthcare practitioners caution against detoxifying for nursing mothers, children, and patients with chronic degenerative diseases, cancer or tuberculosis. Consult your healthcare practitioner if you have questions about whether detoxing is right for you.

To learn more, see The Natural Way to Detox ...and Why You Should.

Sources:

Delicious Living

The use of meditation to calm the mind and focus or control thoughts is well known. But the benefits of meditation extend far beyond the mind. Several studies designed specifically to understand the effects of meditation on the body have shown that meditation helps to reverse heart disease, reduce pain, lessen chronological ageing, reduce blood pressure, fight inflammation, decrease anxiety, and control asthma.

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that deep, relaxing meditation seems to switch off 'disease causing' genes, while switching on genes that actively protect us from a variety of conditions such as high blood pressure, pain infertility, and even rheumatoid arthritis.

But there’s more good news. In people who don’t meditate, the researchers found that the process of turning off the bad genes and switching on the good ones, happened in as little as two months.

It sounds pretty amazing and begs the question: how can one technique be so effective against such a wide range of diseases?

It appears that a lot of the positive physical changes associated with meditation have their roots in stress management. In numerous studies, meditation has been shown to increase alpha waves (relaxed brain waves) and decrease production of the stress hormone cortisol.

Stress affects our heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen consumption, immunity and brain activity. While short-term stress seems to boost immunity, prolonged increases in levels of cortisol can suppress your immune system and decrease the number of brain cells, impairing your memory. Stress can also increase your susceptibility to cardiac disease and stroke.

Meditation and Overall Health

Over the years, research suggests that several conditions may benefit from meditation, including:

• Anxiety and depression - Meditation decreases oxygen consumption, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure, and increases the intensity of alpha, theta, and delta brain waves--the opposite of the physiological changes that occur during the stress response. One study showed that cancer patients who practiced meditation for as little as 7 weeks were significantly less depressed and anxious than their counterparts who did not meditate.
• Pain – In one study, patients suffering from backache, chronic migraine and tension headaches were able to lessen or even stop their pain medication.
• Inflammation - Meditation slows the heart rate by sending signals through the vagus nerve. Researchers believe these signals may also reduce the immune response and the resulting inflammation associated with diseases like arthritis, asthma and eczema.
• Diabetes - Researchers have shown that following meditation, the reduced stress levels correlate with a decrease in blood glucose levels.
• Hypertension – Meditation also reduces blood pressure and contributes to the overall reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers studying the effect of meditation on atherosclerosis reported that those who had practiced meditation for 6-9 months showed an 11% decrease in the risk of heart attacks and up to a 15% decrease in the risk of stroke.
• Infertility – A group of Italian researchers found that meditation, by stimulating the pituitary gland that is responsible for regulating female reproductive hormones, was able to help with infertility issues.

Sources:

Family Health Guide

Every year stroke kills twice as many women as breast cancer, but a new study gives women a simple way to reduce their risk—take a walk.

The researchers found that women who walk at least three hours every week are less likely to have a stroke than women who walk less.

Among nearly 33,000 men and women who completed the study questionnaire, women who were regular walkers experienced a 43 percent reduction in stroke risk compared to the inactive group.

In addition, the scientists found that walking seemed to be more beneficial than other forms of exercise. Women who walked briskly for 3 or more hours per week not only had a lower stroke risk than inactive women but also lower than those who cycled and did other higher-intensity workouts for a shorter amount of time.

There was no reduction seen for men based on exercise type or frequency. The researchers are not sure why this occured, but hypothesized that the men in the study may have been in better physical condition than the women.

Women and Stroke

Women suffer more strokes each year than men, mainly because women live longer than men and stroke occurs more often at older ages. Annually, about 55,000 more women than men have strokes, but stroke incidence is higher in men than women at younger ages.

Both men and women share certain risk factors for stroke:

• a family history of stroke
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• smoking
• diabetes
• being overweight
• not exercising

Women also have risk factors unique to their gender:

• Taking birth control pills
• Pregnancy -- Stroke risk increases during a normal pregnancy due to natural changes in the body such as increased blood pressure and stress on the heart.
• Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) -- A combined hormone therapy of progestin and estrogen, to relieve menopausal symptoms increases stroke risk.
• Thick waist and high triglyceride (blood fat) level -- Post-menopausal women with a waist size larger than 35.2 inches and a triglyceride level higher than 128 milligrams per liter may have a five-fold increased risk for stroke.
• Presence of migraine headaches -- Migraines can increase a woman's stroke risk 3-6 times, and most Americans who suffer migraines are women.

To understand and control your particular stroke risk, talk to your doctor.

Sources:

Reuters

National Stroke Association

In recent years, reports have raised concern regarding a potential adverse effect of calcium supplements on the risk of heart attack. For the millions of people who take calcium supplements to support bone health, it raises the question: Should I stop taking calcium supplements?

If you take calcium supplements, you’ll be relieved to know that a new study has addressed this critical question and found no correlation between calcium intake and an increased risk of arterial calcification.

Study Details

The researchers used data from the Framingham Heart Study, the longest running medical study in history. They measured the amount of calcification in the arteries of over 1,300 men and women using CT scans and then compared these scores to each participant’s calcium intake via diet or supplements.

Study participants who had the highest calcium intake from diet or supplements or both had the same coronary artery calcification score as those who had the lowest calcium intake. There was no increased risk of calcified arteries with higher amounts of calcium intake from food or supplements.

Concurring Opinions

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) also concluded that evidence from clinical trials does not support an adverse effect of calcium intake on risk of cardiovascular disease. They recommended the following guidelines for calcium intake considered safe and effective for bone health:

• 1,200 mg per day of calcium for women over 50 and men over 70
• 1,000 mg per day for men between 50 and 70.

The guidelines say supplementation can be used if the minimum requirements are not being met through diet.

It is important to note that these are only general guidelines; each individual should discuss with a healthcare provider whether the recommendations are appropriate given his or her personal medical history.

Source:

Science Daily

Shopping for the perfect toy to light up a child’s face this holiday can be tough—and we don’t mean fighting the holiday crowds. In our quest to make a child happy we also have to make sure that the toys we buy are safe. In today’s toy marketplace, that is becoming increasingly difficult.

However, avoiding these top five safety concerns outlined by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group can go a long way to ensure your gift will not be a health hazard.

1. Choking is the most common cause of toy-related deaths. Do not buy small toys or toys with small parts for children under age 3. Use the toilet paper tube test. If a toy or part of a toy can pass through it, don’t buy it for a child under age 3. Small balls and balloons or pieces of balloons are a common choking hazard.

2. Magnets used in most magnetic building toys, toy darts, magnetic jewelry, and other toys can fall out of small toys and look like shiny candy. If a child swallows more than one magnet, the magnets can attract each other in the body (in the stomach and intestines) and cause life-threatening complications. If a child swallows even one magnet, seek immediate medical attention.

3. Button batteries, like magnets can also be mistaken for candy and swallowed. The batteries contain acid that can cause fatal internal injuries.

4. Strangulation can occur with toys like infant mobiles and cords or drawstrings on clothing or home furnishings. Keep mobiles out of the reach of children in cribs and remove them before the baby is five months old or can push him/herself up. Remove knobs and beads from cords longer than one foot to prevent the cords from tangling into a dangerous loop.

5. Toxic chemicals can appear in a number of places, from kids cosmetics and jewelry to art supplies and painted toys. Read the labels of play cosmetics and avoid products with xylene, toluene, or dibutyl phthalate. To test jewelry for lead, use a home lead tester available at the hardware store, or simply throw costume jewelry made with such heavy metals away. Avoid toys made of PVC plastic which could contain toxic phthalates posing developmental hazards; choose unpainted wooden or cloth toys instead.

Additional Tips

• Be Careful with Loud Toys - Children's ears are sensitive. If a toy seems too loud for your ears, it is probably too loud for a child. Take the batteries out of loud toys or cover the speakers with tape.
• Include Safety Accessories - Toys such as bicycles, scooters, skateboards and inline skates are safer when children wear protective gear. If you plan to give any of these toys as gifts, make them safer by also giving a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards.
• Get Alerts on Recalls - Check www.recalls.gov for an archive of old recalls and to sign up to receive email alerts of new recalls.
• Report Dangerous Toys - The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has the authority to recall dangerous toys and products from the market. If you think a toy or product is hazardous, contact the CPSC and submit a report by: Phone: 1-800-638-2772 or visit their website: Report a dangerous toy at www.saferproducts.gov 

Source:

U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Last week the news headlines warned of a “new health threat” -- arsenic in rice. While we applaud the media for covering research that confirmed what many have known for years, there is a much bigger story here. And that is the overwhelming, pervasive presence of toxins in our food supply to the point that they are nearly unavoidable—even by eating organic.

It may sound trite, but it’s true--we live in a toxic world. The air, soil and water, including the world’s oceans are filled with increasing amounts of chemicals and heavy metals from a variety of sources. From industrial waste and pollution to “modern” farming techniques that employ a chemical cocktail of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, the sources of harmful contaminants are all around us.

So is it any wonder that rice—or any food for that matter--contains high amounts of arsenic or other harmful substances?

Still, the news leaves many wondering what amount of rice is safe to eat.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. “Our advice right now is that consumers should continue to eat a balanced diet that includes a wide variety of grains – not only for good nutrition but also to minimize any potential consequences from consuming any one particular food.”

For infants who are often weaned on rice, the recommendation is to limit rice to once a week or consider other alternatives such as barley or oatmeal. It is best to speak with your pediatrician if you have any questions or concerns.

The type of rice and growing region can also affect your risk. In resent tests, brown rice, which retains the outer bran, carried higher levels of arsenic. Also rice from Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas generally showed higher levels of arsenic than rice samples from India, Thailand and California.

More to the Story

Frankly, we are saddened every time we write yet another post about the latest toxic food scare. It wasn’t that long ago that we reported on high levels of arsenic found in apple juice or mercury and PCBs in fish.

But perhaps even more worrisome is what we don’t yet know. Only a fraction of the food we eat is even tested for known toxins like arsenic. And, in many cases, as with rice, there are no set limits or agreement on what is a “safe” amount in food.

This means that we could be just scratching the surface of a much bigger health problem.

Sources:

NPR

Chicago Tribune

Through research, we know that good bacteria in the gut are needed to digest food, to synthesize certain vitamins and help fend off disease-causing bacteria.

But with over 100 trillion bacteria in our bodies, we have barely scratched the surface of our understanding of the beneficial roles that microbes play in our health.  But The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) hopes to change all that.

HMP, which is being compared to the Human Genome Project that sequenced human DNA, is a collaboration of 200 scientists and 80 institutions to sequence genetic material of microbial communities found at specific sites on the human body.

Once it’s complete, we’ll know more about the bacteria that naturally coexist in or on a healthy person. This will help us understand how changes in their populations affect our health and hopefully, how to restore balance.

Not that long ago it was thought that the bacteria on our bodies where just along for the ride. And since many bacteria have adapted to live on our bodies, they didn’t always grow well in a petri dish making them difficult to study.

Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have created a new field of research, called metagenomics, allowing comprehensive examination of microbial communities, even those that are difficult to cultivate outside the body.

Little Bugs, Big Impact?

Meanwhile, other research continues to discover how microscopic hitchhikers affect our health.

One study found that the gut bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus may help us stay cool in stressful situations by reducing stress hormones and increasing GABA receptors in the brain that have a calming effect.

Another study found that the presence of Firmicutes bacterial species increase fat absorption in the gut. Therefore, an excess amount of these bacteria may play a role in weight gain.

Sources:

New York Times

The NIH Common Fund

Nutraingredients

New Hope 360

While there is really no “safe” level of lead, the CDC has lowered the threshold level for defining lead poisoning in children from 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood to 5 mcg/dl.

The change was made at the recommendation of a CDC advisory committee that based the new threshold on a growing number of studies indicating that even low blood lead levels can cause lifelong health effects including lower IQ. The old 10 mcg level has been in place for 20 years.

Lowering the level deemed unsafe is good news as parents who would have been told their child tested negative will now be alerted to a problem with lead. With the new lower threshold,  the number of children over the limit could double, from approximately 250,000 to 450,000.

What Now?

The CDC suggests that parents contact their local health departments for testing of paint and dust to detect lead levels. If lead is present, the CDC recommends that parents regularly wash children’s hands and toys and wet-mop floors and windowsills. Children should also not be allowed to play on bare soil.

Lead Dangers

The vast majority of lead poisoning is linked to ingestion of dust and flakes from lead-based paint, which was widely used in homes through the 1950s. It was banned for residential use in 1978, but the paint remains in many older houses. Other possible sources include older water pipes, lead dust in soil and imported toys or jewelry made of lead or coated with lead-based paint.

Even at very low levels, lead can cause irreparable cognitive impairment. Recent studies have found that third-grade test scores, which are highly correlated with high-school dropout rates, were significantly lower among children exposed to lead. Many of these children had blood levels as low as 3 or 4 mcg/dl which is even less than the new threshold.

Sources:

Health Finder

Baltimore Sun

National Center for Biotechnology Information

About 17 million people with friggatriskaidekaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th) probably cringed when they looked at their calendar this morning.

But even if Friday the 13th doesn’t faze you, polls reveal that most Americans admit to being at least a little superstitious.

Do you ever wonder where some of these superstitions come from, or why superstitions can hold such power over us? Like these superstitions, for example:

• Saying “Bless You” when someone sneezes. In ancient times it was thought that a sneeze was a sign of illness. Hence covering your mouth when you sneeze would prevent your soul from escaping. Others would say “bless you” for added protection.
• Full moons lead to chaos and psychosis. Lawyers in 19th-century England employed the "guilty by reason of the full moon" defense to argue their "lunatic" clients could not be held accountable for the influence the moon had on their actions.
• Making a wish on a wishbone. Legend has it that first-century Romans used to fight over dried wishbones as they believed wishbones brought the bearer good luck. Inevitably the tug-of-war over the bones led to breaks and the idea that whoever has the largest bit of bone gets their wish.
• Wearing amber to protect your health. In medieval times when medical knowledge was limited, amber was thought to warm the heart and protect you from colds and flu. To this day, many believe that certain gemstones hold healing powers.

Helpful or Harmful?

Experts say holding a superstition is usually harmless and may actually boost your confidence and performance. There is a positive placebo effect-- if you think something will help you, it may do just that. Any athlete or sports fan can attest to the power of superstitions.

Stuart Vyse, PhD, and the author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, says there can be a real psychological effect of superstitious thoughts. If you've done well before when you wear a particular shirt, for example, it might be a good idea to wear the shirt again, if it helps to relieve anxiety and promotes positive thoughts. However this way of thinking can backfire if you lose your lucky object.

Superstitions can also have a negative impact when they are phobic (fearful) superstitions that interfere with your life and cause a lot of anxiety. Today, Friday the 13th, for example—some people might change travel arrangements or skip an appointment because of unnecessary fears. These types of superstitions can be counter-productive and harmful.

Sources:

MSN Health

Medicine Net

MSNBC

Halloween kicks off the holiday season -- when all your best intentions to eat a healthy diet can go out the window. We often give our kids a “pass” too during this time of year. However, with a few simple tricks, you can enjoy Halloween treats without sabotaging your family’s health and tipping the scale in the wrong direction.

The trick to avoiding sugar-overload is balance, moderation and a little pre-planning.

Healthy Treat Choices

Here’s a few strategies to avoid sugar overload:

• Purchase non-candy or sugar-free treats such as:
  • snack size animal crackers, pretzels or baked chips
  • fruit snacks made from fruit
  • mini rice cereal treat bars
  • sugar free gum
• Another option is non-food treats such as Halloween pencils, pens, stickers, tattoos and spider rings.
• If you want to include candy among your treats, read the labels and choose those that are low in sugar and fat with less than 60 calories each.
  • Good options are lollipops, hard candy, sweet tarts, tootsie rolls, and sugar free gum.
  • Avoid caramels, candy bars, caramel corn and marshmallow candies. Even a snack size candy bar can contain over 150 calories and 6 grams of fat.
• Avoid temptation. If your willpower isn’t the best, don’t buy your favorite candy.

Moderation is a Must

As with any treat, candy can be a part of a child's healthful eating plan—in moderation.

You and your kids should agree in advance on how much candy they can eat at a time, and when they can eat it. And don’t forget to consider your child’s current health and exercise levels. If your child is already overweight, you may need to limit their candy consumption to once a week or less.

When they get home from trick-or-treating, have your children sort their candy into piles of "favorites" "not so favorites" and those they simply don’t like. You can speak with your child about keeping only their favorites and sharing the balance with others or donating some of their candy to charity (food banks or care packages for servicemen overseas).

Parents should also be the “keeper of the candy” and store candy out of sight so no one, even mom and dad are tempted to overindulge.

Source:

American Dietetic Association

Whether you’re exercising outdoors, working in the yard, or lying out by the pool this summer, it’s important to replace lost fluids and stay hydrated.

The amount of fluid that needs to be replaced depends on the individual, and the degree of activity. But there’s some confusion and outright myths about what to drink, how much to drink, and when. We’ve done the research for you and compiled these tips from the experts:

What to drink:

• For most people doing light to moderate activity outdoors, plain water is best to replace lost fluids and prevent dehydration.
• Sports drinks are generally preferred over water only when exercising at a high intensity, for a long duration of time and/or in high temperatures. Sport drinks contain sodium that enables the body to retain fluid that is lost through sweat. They also provide calories to help replace energy lost during exercise. Drinking plain water throughout the day is still encouraged in addition to sports drinks during long periods of intense exercise.
• The National Athletic Training Association (NATA) recommends that sports drinks should be below eight percent in carbohydrate content. Any more than this will impede the rate of fluid emptying from the stomach and absorbed by the intestine. This is why high sugar drinks such as soda or juice are not the best liquids to replace lost fluids.
• Since sports drinks are intended for intense exercise, they are high in carbohydrates (mostly sugars) which can lead to weight gain if consumed for light or moderate physical activity.
• Avoid drinks that contain caffeine or alcohol, which actually promote fluid loss.

How much and when to drink fluids: More...

When the state of health in America has been discussed in this space, typically, it's been focused on "big picture" issues like the general decline in cancer rates. What I found particularly interesting and different about this recent Gallup study (a longitudinal sampling of 662 adults combining three independent surveys done in 2009), however, is how it puts a simple dollar value on a person's wellbeing (living a healthy lifestyle).

Researchers codified a patient's wellbeing based on five thriving "dimensions": Career, Community, Financial, Physical and Social. The more dimensions you have, the lower your risk of experiencing an increased disease burden. For example, thriving in all five dimensions lessened one's risk of new health burdens to 11 percent, while possessing none of them more than tripled their chances to 35.3 percent.

The same analogy applies, unfortunately, to individual health care costs too. The disease burden for the average patient thriving in no wellbeing dimensions paid nearly $7,400 annually, some 60 percent more than a person enjoying all five (about $3,000).

By the way, there is some good to be found in this report, especially if you're on the downside of these numbers but moving upward. The steepest bump in health savings/disease burden between dimensions is the nearly $1,700 difference between none (nearly $7,400) and one ($5,700).

Gallup Management Journal August 12, 2010