The lovely spring weather is a pleasant wake-up call after a long, cold and sometimes dreary winter in my home state of Minnesota.

We should be invigorated by the sunshine and warmer temperatures. But many of us are more fatigued than ever. A new study by the University of Virginia has found overwhelming evidence that regular exercise can play a significant role in reducing fatigue.

The researchers analyzed 70 previous exercise trials that had originally looked at whether exercise helped prevent or improve symptoms of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity. This time around, they also examined whether exercise reduced fatigue.

“More than 90 percent of the studies showed the same thing: Sedentary people who completed a regular exercise program reported improved fatigue compared to groups that did not exercise,” says Patrick O’Connor, co-director of the University of Georgia exercise psychology laboratory. “A lot of times when people are fatigued, the last thing they want to do is exercise. But if you’re physically inactive and fatigued, being just a little more active will help.”

The researchers found in their analysis that nearly every group benefited from exercise.

And though it may seem counterintuitive that expending energy will give you more energy, study after study told the same story.

“We live in a society that’s always looking for the next sports drink, energy bar or cup of coffee that will give them the extra edge to get through the day,” said the lead author of the University of Virginia study. “But it may be that lacing up your tennis shoes and getting out there and doing some physical activity every day can provide that spark of energy that people are looking for.”

I don’t need a study to tell me about exercise. I’ve been doing it all my life. It just makes me feel better, gives me energy to work more productively and, I hope, live longer. My philosophy is exercise doesn’t take time; it makes time.

Back in the 1960s, I attended Stanford University for three months for its Graduate School of Business Executive Program. There were many people from other countries in the group who were addicted to running, and they asked me to join them. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve been a runner ever since and have run 10 marathons.

I also swim regularly and play a lot of golf. And I walk the courses whenever possible. Mark Twain quipped that golf was a good walk spoiled. And while my game isn’t always on, I can’t emphasize enough how much I disagree with that quote. There’s never a bad day if you can spend part of it on a golf course.

I’m not talking hard-core here. I don’t go for the “no pain, no gain” mentality. Just get moving, even if it means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or parking at the far end of the parking lot. You don’t need a personal trainer or a special wardrobe.

At Mackay Envelope Co., we have groups of employees that go out every noon hour for a walk — year-round, even in the snow.

A 12-year Harvard Medical School study showed that as little as 10 to 15 minutes a day of private time can cut down on tension, headaches, colds, poor sleep and can reduce stress . . . and increase your productivity.

Block out time in your planner to exercise!

Mackay’s Moral: Too many people confine their exercise to jumping at conclusions, running down their friends, sidestepping responsibility and pushing their luck.

Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times best-seller “Pushing the Envelope” (Ballantine Books). He can be reached through his Web site: www.mackay.com; or Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.

(c) 2007 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

In a study that tracked 143,000 people with an average age of 63 over 10 years, 413 people developed Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers found that those with moderate to vigorous activity levels — an average of one-half hour per day or more — were 40 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those with no or light activity levels, according to lead author Evan L. Thacker of the Harvard University School of Public Health.

The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston.

This study does not prove that exercise caused the lowered risk of Parkinson’s disease — it’s possible that something else lowers the risk, Thacker said in a statement. But considering all of the other benefits of exercise, it certainly doesn’t hurt to make sure you get some moderate or vigorous exercise several times a week.

Discomfort is one of the most common reasons given for stopping an exercise routine.

Muscle burn during a workout and/or mild soreness a day or two after working out are to be expected, but sometimes, pain or chronic soreness occurs. This can become so preoccupying that even with modifications, exercise becomes too difficult to continue. The low back, shoulders, knees and feet are a few of the most commonly affected areas of discomfort felt during physical activity.

Figuring out the source of exercise-related problems can be difficult. They may arise as a result of previous injuries, medical conditions, biomechanics, doing too much too soon and, often, simple overuse.

Overtraining is common among avid exercisers. If left unchecked, this eventually weakens the body, leaving it vulnerable to illness and injury.

When planning your exercise routine, consider the frequency, duration and intensity, and plan for days of rest. The harder you work the body, the longer the time needed between workouts to recover.

Don’t automatically assume that just because you are performing a particular exercise when difficulty arises that it is to blame, as not all exerciserelated discomfort occurs immediately. Instead, look at your entire workout regimen when trying to pinpoint the source of the problem.

Injury that occurs during one type of exercise can lead to symptoms that may not flare up until later in the day or even the next day when you are performing a different type of exercise or task. An example might be someone who runs for many miles on a daily basis. The person goes jogging in the morning and then after work heads to the gym to do a weight-training workout that includes a set of lunges. While performing lunges, the knees begin to ache. Fearing further problems, the decision is made to avoid this particular exercise in the future.

A better way to determine the cause of discomfort would have been to eliminate all possible exercises affecting the area, rest and recover, and, once ready to workout again, choose only one exercise (the one normally least overdone) to see if the problem goes away or flares up again.

Once the source of the problem is identified, you can take steps to modify and/or restructure your workout routine.

Keep in mind that discomfort can arise from overtraining and undertraining. The weekend warrior who is physically active only once in a while and then suddenly engages in intensive exercise is just as likely to pay the price as someone who exercises too much on a continual basis. Although most people try to work through pain, this typically only makes matters worse. Far better to listen to your body if you are experiencing pain than to risk injury.

The ability to identify and distinguish between normal and abnormal responses to exercise has literally meant the difference between life and death for thousands of individuals each year. Sudden shortness of breath or weakness, extreme fatigue, unusually rapid or weak heartbeat, pain, dizziness, speech or sight disturbances and/or nausea that occurs during physical activity are warning signals. If any of these symptoms occur, stop exercising and tell someone what you are experiencing. If your symptoms don’t go away quickly, immediate medical attention should be obtained. If they go away but then return, this should be reported to your doctor.

Marjie Gilliam is an International Sports Sciences Association Master certified personal trainer and fitness consultant. She owns Custom Fitness Personal Training Services. Write to her in care of the Dayton Daily News, call her at (937) 878-9018 or send e-mail to OHTrainer@aol.com. Her Web site is www.ohtrainer.com.

Next week: More on staying safe while exercising.

(c) 2007 Dayton Daily News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Two federal lawsuits accuse Vitamin Shoppe of fraudulently selling a supplement that contained unacceptably high levels of lead.

The suits claim that the North Bergen-based vitamin vendor failed to warn consumers about the potentially harmful effects of its “Especially For Women” multivitamins. The company voluntarily pulled the multivitamins from its stores and Internet sales site in January after allegations that the product contained trace quantities of lead in excess of California labeling requirements.

Ronald M. Neifield, Vitamin Shoppe’s general counsel, said the company wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.

“We don’t believe the product causes any health concerns,” he said.

In a suit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Newark, two California users of the vitamins say Vitamin Shoppe committed “numerous deceptive acts and unconscionable business practices.”

The women, who seek to represent all similar users in a class action, demand more than $5 million in damages.

“Vitamin Shoppe misled the public into believing that its ‘Especially for Women’ multivitamins would be good for their health and provide long term benefits,” the lawsuit says.

As a result, users were subjected to a health risk and purchased more of the product than they otherwise would have, the suit alleges.

It says the lead levels were discovered by ConsumerLab.com, an independent testing company that found the product contained 15.3 micrograms of lead per daily serving. The other suit, filed on April 2, makes similar claims, and says the lead in the vitamin is “10 times the allowable level in California.”

Both suits say Especially For Women also contains only 54 percent of the 200 mg of calcium claimed on the label.

Vitamin Shoppe, which was started in 1977, has 316 stores and 2,500 employees.

The suits accuse Vitamin Shoppe of violating the state consumer fraud act and of unjust enrichment. In addition, the April 2 suit which is also filed against Vitamin Shoppe subsidiaries accuses the companies of intentional misrepresentation, negligence and breach of implied warranty.

The defendants named in the suit include Nature’s Value Inc., a Bayshore, N.Y.-based company that made and supplied the Especially For Women vitamins.

The suits seek damages and a court ruling that the company change its marketing and packaging of the vitamins. Neifield said the Especially for Women case was the first time the company pulled a product from the shelves “in response to a report of this nature.”

Neifield noted that all customers are entitled to a refund on the product.

“We will continue to honor that offer,” he said.

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E-mail: morley@northjersey.com

(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Eating dark chocolate may be almost as effective at lowering blood pressure as taking the most common anti-hypertensive drugs, a review of studies has found. Tea, on the other hand, appears to be ineffective.

The article says a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is healthy partly because plants contain chemical substances called polyphenols that help control blood pressure. From more than 3,000 papers, researchers picked the largest randomized and controlled prospective studies and used statistical techniques to combine the data. It appears in the April 9 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.

Four of the five studies on chocolate found reduced blood pressure

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PREDICTING HEART DISEASE Apparently, it is never too soon to be screened for cardiac disease. A study has found that mildly elevated levels of cholesterol or slightly above normal blood pressure from ages 18 to 30 are strong predictors of having coronary artery calcium at ages 30 to 35. Coronary artery calcium, a form of arterial plaque, is a predictor of heart disease. Researchers recruited 5,115 people from 18 to 30 in 1985 and 1986 and followed them with physical examinations 2, 5, 7, 10 and 15 years later. The scientists tested blood pressure, cholesterol and serum glucose levels and recorded body mass index. The study appears Tuesday in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

At the year-15 examination, 10 percent had coronary artery calcium detectable on a CT scan. Compared with young adults who had below-optimal levels of the risk factors at the start of the study, those with above-optimal levels were one and a half to three times as likely to have coronary artery calcium 15 years later.

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SWEDES GAINING WEIGHT Swedish children are growing fatter, researchers say. Scientists writing in the April issue of Acta Paediatrica describe two groups of children in Uppsala, Sweden. The first included children ages 4, 10 and 16 in 1982. The second group had children who were the same ages in 2002, for a total of 1,066 participants. The prevalence of overweight and obese children as measured by body mass index increased among the 4-year-old girls, to 22 percent in 2002 from 10 percent in 1982, and among 10-year-old girls, to 30 percent in 2002 from 14 percent in 1982.

Among the boys, 10 percent of 4-year-olds had a ratio of 25 or higher in 1982, and 18 percent in 2002. Among the 10-year-old boys, 8 percent were overweight in 1982 and 21 percent in 2002. Among 16- year-olds, there were no differences between the 1982 and 2002 groups.

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BACTERIUM AND ASTHMA Helicobacter pylori, the main cause of peptic ulcer disease, might have a beneficial effect in reducing the risk of asthma and allergies, a study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine suggests. Researchers questioned 7,663 men and women about their history of asthma, allergic rhinitis and allergy symptoms, and tested them for antibodies to H. pylori.

Overall, there was no association between the presence of H. pylori and current asthma status. But subjects under 43 who were colonized with the most virulent strain of H. pylori, called cagA, were 32 percent less likely to have asthma, 35 percent less likely to have allergic rhinitis and 20 percent less likely to report allergy symptoms than those who did not carry the bacterium.

(c) 2007 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Schools across the country should boot out junk-food offerings and adopt better nutrition standards for the extra foods children buy during the school day, a prestigious federal advisory group said Wednesday.

The Institute of Medicine, which advises Congress on health and science, issued new guidelines that recommend schools stop offering soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack cakes, regular potato chips and other high-fat, high-calorie foods and beverages in vending machines, a la carte lines, stores and at fundraising events and holiday parties.

Instead, schools, which would have to voluntarily adopt the recommendations, should be offering foods such as apples, raisins, carrot sticks, fruit cups, some granola bars, bottled water, yogurt and non-fat or low-fat milk.

The landmark report, prepared by food and nutrition experts, addresses discretionary purchases of “competitive” foods but does not cover bagged lunches that children bring to school or what’s served in the federal school lunch and breakfast programs.

Some schools have limited the sale of soft drinks and highly processed foods on their campuses, but experts see the institute’s report as adding momentum to a national effort to curb childhood obesity.

If adopted by school districts across the country, the guidelines could have a far-reaching effect on 50 million children.

These guidelines “could dramatically improve the dietary intake of all the school-aged children,” says Virginia Stallings, chairwoman of the institute committee and director of the Nutrition Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.

Critics have charged for years that schools have become junk-food free-for-alls and called for tougher standards on what’s offered because of concern over childhood obesity.

About one-third of children and teens in the USA are overweight or obese, which puts them at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems.

Only about 20% of school districts have nutrition standards for foods sold outside of school-prepared meals, says Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer group. “We desperately need these standards to be the law of the land. We need Congress to get junk food out of schools.”

On school days, children get 30% to 50% of their calories there, she says. “They eat lunch, one or two snacks and sometimes even breakfast. What they are fed in school has a huge impact on their diets now and the attitudes about food over their lifetime.”

Many parents who are trying to feed their children well find their efforts “are undermined when their kids go to school and use their lunch money to buy HoHos and Gatorade instead of a balanced school meal,” Wootan says.

And kids learn by example, she says. “You don’t want to teach kids nutrition in the classroom and then send them into the hallway with vending machines stocked with candy, chips and soda.”

Janey Thornton, president of the School Nutrition Association, which represents more than 55,000 school food service directors and cafeteria employees, says there are “some conscientious districts that will apply the recommendations, but others will say ‘There’s nothing that says we have to do this,’ and they’ll keep doing exactly what they are doing right now.”

“We need congressional action so that every schoolchild across the country is offered a nutritionally sound diet based on the latest scientific evidence and common sense,” she says.

These kinds of changes can’t be made overnight, says Penny McConnell, director of Food and Nutrition Services for the Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools. “This would have to be a gradual thing. We have to offer foods that children will select and eat.”

Others say the real culprit behind childhood obesity is inactivity.

“Kids are far less active now than they were years ago,” says Rick Berman, executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, a group financed by the restaurant and food industry. “Kids have far more opportunities to be sedentary and far fewer opportunities to be active in school and out of school.”

WASHINGTON - Scientists have found clusters of new gene variants that raise the risk of Type 2 diabetes - and how the researchers did it is as important as what they found.

In one of the largest studies yet of human genetic variability, the scientists tested the DNA of more than 32,000 people in five countries to pin down spots that harbor genetic risk factors for this complicated killer.

This type of research - called a “genome-wide association” study - promises to usher in a new era of genetics. Most breakthroughs so far have come from finding a mutation in a single gene that causes illness. But some of the world’s most common killers, such as heart disease and diabetes, are caused by complex interactions among numerous genes and modern lifestyles - and teasing out the genetic culprits until now has been almost impossible.

“We have been for all of the last decade or more looking under the lamppost to try to find those genes … and lots of times the lamplight was not actually where we wanted it,” said Dr. Francis Collins, genetics chief at the National Institutes of Health, a co-author of the research unveiled Thursday.

This new approach “allows us to light up the whole street, and look what we find.”

What? Four previously unknown gene variants that can increase people’s risk of Type 2 diabetes, and confirmation that six other genes play a role, too.

The work, by three international research teams that shared their findings, was published online Thursday by the journal Science.

Next, the researchers will have to figure out just what those genes do, in hopes they’ll point toward new ways to treat or prevent a disease that affects more than 170 million people worldwide, and rising.

With Type 2 diabetes, the body gradually loses its ability to use insulin, a hormone key for turning blood sugar into insulin. It is a major cause of heart disease, as high blood sugar damages blood vessels, and leads to kidney failure, blindness and amputations.

Obesity and lack of exercise are chief risk factors. But heredity is involved, too: People with an affected parent or sibling are at 3.5 times greater risk of developing diabetes than people from diabetes-free families.

The new work scanned DNA to find patterns of small gene variations known as SNPs (pronounced “snips”) more common in diabetics. SNPs can serve as signposts for tracing disease-promoting genes. To be certain the implicated SNPs were involved, the researchers then checked for them in still more volunteers, ultimately testing DNA from 32,500 people in Britain, Finland, Poland, Sweden and the U.S.

The highest-risk variants can increase by 20 percent someone’s odds of developing Type 2 diabetes, the teams reported.

Among the genes implicated:

-One that helps pump zinc into insulin-producing pancreatic cells, raising questions about the metal’s role in insulin secretion.

-A pair previously linked only to certain cancers, another brand new area for diabetes researchers to probe.

-A region of chromosome 11 where genes of any sort had never been described.

CINCINNATI - Seventeen-year-old Amanda Munson gained confidence and energy as she lost 40 of her 296 pounds after weight-loss surgery and her diabetes went into remission.

“People have told me I not only look thinner, but I seem to glow - maybe because I’m so much happier,” she said. The 5-foot-5 high school senior from nearby Burlington, Ky., hopes to lose 75 to 100 more pounds.

Munson is the first of 200 teenagers who will be enrolled in a five-year, federally funded study on the benefits and risks of bariatric surgery on adolescents.

Surgery has been effective in treating extreme obesity in adults. Researchers want to find out if adults and adolescents who have the surgery have significantly different health problems and whether there is any benefit to having the operation earlier in life.

The researchers are responding to the growing problem of extreme obesity among the young.

“We know bariatric surgery is effective for weight-loss. We just need to carefully document how teenagers respond,” said Dr. Thomas Inge, associate professor of pediatrics and surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, which is leading the study.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that about 2 million U.S. adolescents may be severely obese and have complications of obesity previously seen only in adults.

While adult weight-loss surgery still is more common, an estimated 2,744 youngsters nationwide had the operations from 1996 through 2003, with the pace tripling between 2000 and 2003, according to an earlier study co-written by Inge.

The doctors expect their research will show that severe obesity in teens is associated with medical and psychosocial problems which may be more effectively treated during adolescence than waiting until adulthood.

“What’s fascinating is that teenagers already can have a half-dozen complications of obesity that the surgery within months - if not weeks - can remedy,” he said Inge, who has been performing the surgery on adolescents for five years.

The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disorders provided more than $5 million last year for the study. Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham and the University of Pittsburgh also are collecting data.

Researchers will compare data before and after surgery on health factors that include cholesterol levels, liver function, cardiosvascular risk and markers for diabetes. Those findings will be compared with data from a similar study on adults who have been obese since adolescence but are only now having the surgery.

Participants must already have been scheduled for the surgery and must have compelling obesity-related complications such as Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure or other cardiovascular risk factors.

Information also will be collected on psychological and social effects of the surgery on the teenagers. Severe obesity can lead to low self-esteem, less social interaction with peers and depression.

Kerri Green, director of education for the Weller Health Education Center in Easton, Pa., believes studies are needed to find out if young people can understand the physical, psychological and emotional consequences of bariatric surgery, which she said should be done only for compelling medical reasons.

“We see a lot of what we call the ‘Extreme Makeover’ phenomenon, where kids see surgery as a quick fix that will make up for poor eating habits and a lack of exercise,” she said.

Munson’s mother, Barbara Farnsworth, said they exhausted all other options before resorting to surgery.

“It breaks your heart to see your child struggling and becoming so depressed and to hear doctors say she won’t see 30 if she doesn’t lose weight,” Farnsworth said. “This is only a tool, but I now see a future for Amanda that just wasn’t there before.”

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On the Net:

http://www.cchmc.org/teen-LABS

Apr. 25–The Children’s Medical Research Institute is generating $4 million to help support diabetes and cancer research centers being built in Oklahoma City.

Two endowed research positions are being funded by a $1 million gift from the Inasmuch Foundation: $500,000 for the CMRI Edith Kinney Gaylord Chair in Childhood Diabetes and $500,000 for the CMRI Inasmuch Foundation Chair in Childhood Cancer.

“This is a big deal for a small organization like CMRI, with 14 employees,” said Kathy McCracken, institute executive director.

The institute is matching the $1 million from the Inasmuch Foundation, officials said.

Then, the $2 million will be matched by $2 million from the Oklahoma Higher Education Regents — creating two $2 million positions for diabetes and cancer research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Edith Kinney Gaylord founded the Inasmuch Foundation in 1982 to support charitable, scientific and educational causes that enhance the progress and quality of life for Oklahomans.

For the research institute, the two endowed positions are part of a five-year, $30 million fund-raising campaign. To date, $27 million has been raised, officials said.

Funds will support “a significant piece” of the new Oklahoma Diabetes Center and the OU Cancer Institute, McCracken said. Work already has started on the two centers in Oklahoma City.

The research institute in 2002 began efforts to create a nationally recognized program in childhood diabetes and cancer.

Oklahoma has 2,300 children with diabetes; 376,000 Oklahomans have diabetes.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, children with Type 2 diabetes at age 10 will see their lives shortened by 19 years.

“We are extremely fortunate to have the support of the Inasmuch Foundation and are honored that it will bear the name of Edith Kinney Gaylord,” said Dr. Kenneth Copeland, director of the institute’s childhood diabetes program.

“This chair in childhood diabetes will allow us to bring cutting-edge diabetes research to our state and to address the terrible epidemic of diabetes and its associated conditions,” Copeland said.

About 12,600 new cases of cancer in children and adolescents up to age 19 are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, with approximately 150 cases in Oklahoma, officials said.

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of disease-related mortality in children up to 15 years in age. “Although we have made great strides, too many children and adolescents still die from their disease,” said OU cancer expert Dr. William Meyer.

For more information go to www.cmri.net.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Daily Oklahoman

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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Dr. Qiao-Xin Li and colleagues from the University of Melbourne and the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, along with Malcolm Horne of the Howard Florey Institute, found people with Parkinson’s disease had low levels of the brain-secreted protein alpha-synuclein in their blood, while people without Parkinson’s disease had high levels of the protein.

The findings, published in Experimental Neurology, detail how the test measures alpha-synuclein levels in blood.

Currently there is no specific Parkinson’s disease diagnostic test so doctors rely on their observations to make a diagnosis, which means some patients may not be prescribed the most suitable medication and around 15 percent of those diagnosed may actually be suffering from something else, Horne said in a statement.

Further studies are required to establish whether this test can distinguish between people who are responsive to treatment and those who are not.