BELOW ZERO

ZERO TO 20

Breast-feeding cuts down the risk of food allergy in later life

Breast-feeding in the first three months of life appears to help shield children from developing food allergies. That’s a finding on food allergies scheduled to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Dallas. Women should avoid peanuts and tree nuts during pregnancy and while breast-feeding. Delay feeding children solid foods until they’re six months old. Delay introduction of milk and egg until age 1 and peanut and tree nuts until age 3. Start early intervention when signs of food allergy appear (secondary prevention).

20 TO 60

Herbal sex pills pose hidden dangers

Many of the pills marketed as safe herbal alternatives to Viagra and other prescription sex medications pose a hidden danger: For men on heart and blood-pressure drugs, popping one could lead to a stroke, or even death. These “all-natural”products promise rare Asian ingredients, but many work because they contain unregulated versions of the very pharmaceuticals they are supposed to replace. This is a special danger for the millions of men who take nitrates, drugs prescribed to lower blood pressure and regulate heart disease. When mixed, nitrates and impotency pharmaceuticals can slow blood flow catastrophically, leading to a heart attack or stroke. Spiked herbal impotency pills are emerging as a major public health concern. Emergency rooms are starting to log more incidents of the long-ignored phenomenon.

60 AND ABOVE

Eyeglasses upgrade helps the elderly battle depression

Correcting poor vision not only boosts quality of life for the elderly, it may lower risks for depression, found researchers of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In a study of 78 nursing home residents, the researchers found that those who received eyeglasses had higher scores for general vision, reading, activities, hobbies, social interaction, and fewer depressive symptoms.