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Healthwire

December 2006

THE APPLE AS GATEKEEPER?

The apple may be one of this season’s finest fruits, but did you know it may also serve as a gatekeeper for every cell in your body?

According to a study funded by the U.S. Apple Association and the Apple Products Research & Education Council, apples and apple products help protect cells from the type of damage that leads to heart disease and age-related cancers. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that the nutrients in apples fight off damage by promoting cellular communication and keeping unwelcome intruders out of the body that harm cells. They likened the flavonoids in apples to a computer’s spam filter, keeping in the good and filtering out the bad.

Researchers concluded that apples and apple products can contribute to better health and that further research will help identify additional ways the fruit can protect against disease. The findings appeared in the May 2006 issue of Experimental Biology & Medicine.

SLIDING GLASS SHOWER DOORS UNSAFE FOR SENIORS

Getting in and out of the bath or shower is often risky business for older adults, and glass shower doors are one of the main reasons, according to a University of Michigan Health System study.

Researchers studied people age 60 and older and found that one-third of the study’s 89 participants had difficulties with such activities as climbing in and out of the shower or tub, plopping onto a tub seat, or hitting the side of the tub or shower threshold with their legs. One of the major problem areas researchers uncovered involved sliding glass doors. Three-quarters of the participants who used them tried to use the door for balance or stability, an unsafe practice because shower doors aren’t designed to support a person’s weight.

Recommended fixes for safety problems included the installation of a shower curtain in place of a door, and providing proper instruction about built-in bathroom safety features to new residents of senior housing facilities. The study appeared in the August 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

NOW’S THE BEST TIME FOR FLU SHOTS

Haven’t gotten your flu shot yet? Well, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best time for vaccination is October and November, before the influenza season typically begins. In fact, vaccination can still provide protection in December and later, because most years, influenza does not peak until at least February.

Influenza vaccine manufacturers report that they expect to produce more than 100 million doses for the U.S. market this year. This is at least 17 million more doses of influenza vaccine than has ever been distributed in the past (previous high was 83.1 million doses in 2003) and about 19 million more doses than were distributed last year (81.2 million).

According to the CDC, everyone can benefit from an influenza vaccination, especially health care providers; children between 6 months and 5 years of age; people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease; and people 50 years old and up.

Each year in the United States, between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population is infected with influenza, about 36,000 people die and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized because of influenza complications.

For more information about influenza and influenza vaccine, visit www.cdc.gov/flu.