The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Diet alone helps lower bad cholesterol - study
- Softer isn't safer for sleeping babies - study
- Gaddafi flees HQ ransacked by rebels
| Diet alone helps lower bad cholesterol - study Posted: 23 Aug 2011 09:22 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A diet packed full of "cholesterol-lowering" ingredients such as nuts, beans and high-fibre grains cut bad cholesterol better than a low-saturated-fat diet, even though both diets were vegetarian, according to a Canadian study. The drop in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol -- the so-called bad cholesterol -- was big enough that dietary changes could be an alternative to statin medications for many people, said researchers led by David Jenkins at the University of Toronto.
"There's no question that statins have made a major difference in terms of cardiovascular disease control," he told Reuters Health of the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But at least for now, "we can only get so far with statins." One in four adults aged 45 and older in the United States takes the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Jenkins and his colleagues wanted to see how big an effect a diet based on the pillars of cholesterol lowering foods could have on LDL numbers without statins. They randomly split 351 Canadians with high cholesterol into three groups, all of whom were assigned to vegetarian diets. One group got nutrition counselling promoting a low-saturated-fat died for six months. In the other two groups, dieticians helped participants fit more cholesterol-lowering foods -- including soy milk, tofu, nuts, oats, peas and beans -- into a healthy diet. The dieticians met with some people twice, others seven times. After six months, people on the low-saturated-fat diet saw a drop in LDL cholesterol of 8 milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL) on average. That compared to decreases of 24 mg/dL and 26 mg/dL in participants on the cholesterol-lowering diets. The average starting LDL was about 170 mg/dL, where a number 160 mg/dL and up is considered high. That drop is really a lot, said Yunsheng Ma, a nutrition and heart disease researcher from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, who was not involved in the study. "A lot of people rely on the medication, but diet is really powerful actually," he told Reuters Health. "People ignore that. They think if they're on statins, they can do anything they want, they can eat the high-fat foods because the statins are going to take care of that." One in five of the participants dropped out before the full six months, and even those that didn't had a hard time sticking closely to the diet plans -- but many still saw cholesterol benefits. The researchers had everyone in the study who was taking statins to go off the medication for the diet intervention. Jenkins said the question of how diet and statins could lower LDL in tandem is one for future research. But for those who like the idea of changing their diet instead of going on medications, this is a reasonable option, and doctors should try to encourage patients with high cholesterol to change their diets, Jenkins said. While genetics or very high cholesterol may mean that diet isn't enough to get LDL down without statins for some people, a majority of patients could benefit from a dietary change, said Joan Sabate, head of nutrition at Loma Linda University in California. "By changing the diet and their lifestyle he can establish good control of their cholesterol," she added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hwxtTL (Reporting by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; edited by Elaine Lies) Copyright © 2011 Reuters | ||
| Softer isn't safer for sleeping babies - study Posted: 23 Aug 2011 09:22 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many parents put soft bedding such as pillows and blankets where babies sleep, despite warnings that the cushioning increases the risk of infant death, a U.S. study said. That's because many are under the impression that a soft sleeping environment means the baby will be more comfortable or protected from injuries, said Rachel Moon, from Children's National Medical Centre in Washington D.C. and one of the study's authors.
"When it comes to babies' sleep environment, soft is not safe, it's actually dangerous," she added. Researchers know that black babies are at least twice as likely as white, Latino and Asian babies to die of accidental suffocation, strangulation or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as "crib death." While some of that higher incidence may be linked to genetics, some is also likely due to parents unknowingly putting infants in a dangerous sleeping place, Moon added. To find out whether black families know about the risks, Moon and her colleagues conducted one-to-one interviews and small group discussions with 83 black mothers in Washington D.C. and nearby Maryland. All had a new baby at home. The researchers asked women if they used soft bedding and bumper pads in their baby's crib or other sleeping location, and why or why not. While the interviews were only done with black mothers, parents of all races may misinterpret a paediatrician's recommendations or what constitutes a safe sleeping environment, said Debra Weese-Mayer, a paediatrician at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. According to findings published in Paediatrics, more than half of the mothers reported using soft bedding for their baby, telling researchers they wanted to make sure the children were comfortable and warm. They also said they used pillows as a barricade on beds or sofas, or to prop babies up. "We were surprised that people use (soft bedding) because they think it's going to make their baby safer," Moon told Reuters Health. "We weren't that surprised that people use it to make the babies comfortable." Some mothers thought doctors' recommendations to use a "firm sleep surface" included a bed where a sheet was tucked tightly over pillows -- but that's still a dangerous sleep situation, Moon and her colleagues warned. The mothers also used bumper pads on cribs if they worried that a baby would hit its head on the railings or get an arm or leg stuck. But as with pillows and blankets, bumper pads pose a suffocation risk, Moon said, adding that there really isn't any need for them -- especially for very young babies. SIDS kills about 2,500 babies every year in the United States. Putting babies to sleep on their sides or stomachs is known to increase the risk, as is having them sleep in their parents' bed. Fern Hauck, a SIDS researcher at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said she understood the desire to make babies comfortable with soft bedding in the hope that they'll sleep better and longer. "But babies can pretty much sleep anywhere. If you get them used to a firm crib mattress, they're going to sleep fine on a firm crib mattress," she added. All the experts agreed that awareness of the dangers needs to be raised across the board. "(The study) is a very humbling lesson that even though we think we're giving a very clear message, if the parent and the caretaker are interpreting it in a way different from what we intended, we're not doing a very good job," said Weese-Mayer. "If it can save some babies because we do a better job of translating our recommendations, that's wonderfully important." SOURCE: http://bit.ly/oqyquw (Reporting by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies) Copyright © 2011 Reuters | ||
| Gaddafi flees HQ ransacked by rebels Posted: 23 Aug 2011 09:22 PM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A beleaguered Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Wednesday to fight on to death or victory after rebels forced him to abandon his Tripoli stronghold in what appeared to be a decisive blow against the Libyan leader's 42-year rule.
Gleeful rebels ransacked Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya bastion, seizing weapons and smashing symbols of a government whose demise will transform Libya and send a warning to other Arab autocrats facing popular uprisings. Gaddafi said his withdrawal from his headquarters in the heart of the capital was a tactical move after it had been hit by 64 NATO air strikes and he vowed "martyrdom" or victory in his fight against the alliance. He was speaking to a Tripoli radio station and his whereabouts after leaving the compound remain a mystery. As night fell on Tuesday after a day in which rebels overran Tripoli, meeting little resistance with few casualties, heavy fighting was reported in a southern desert city, Sabha, that rebels forecast would be Gaddafi loyalists' last redoubt. Forces loyal to Gaddafi were shelling the towns of Zuara and Ajelat, west of Tripoli, Al-Arabiya television reported. In Tripoli itself, Reuters correspondents said there still appeared to be some hostile fire around the city centre as darkness descended and looting broke out. Omar al-Ghirani, a spokesman for the rebels, said loyalist forces had fired seven Grad missiles at residential areas of the capital, causing people to flee their homes in panic. He told Reuters Gaddafi forces had also fired mortar rounds in the area of the Tripoli airport. Graphic on rebel leadership, click http://link.reuters.com/quz33s Graphics on Libya/Middle East, click http://r.reuters.com/nym77r Live blog, click http://live.reuters.com/UK/Event/Tripoli_Besieged The continued shooting suggested the six-month popular insurgency against Gaddafi, a maverick Arab nationalist who defied the West and kept an iron hand on his oil-exporting, country for four decades, had not completely triumphed yet. A spokesman for Gaddafi said the Libyan leader was ready to resist the rebels for months, or even years. "We will turn Libya into a volcano of lava and fire under the feet of the invaders and their treacherous agents," Moussa Ibrahim said, speaking by telephone to satellite news channels. Rebel leaders would not enjoy peace if they carried out plans to move to Tripoli from their headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi, he said. But Gaddafi was already history in the eyes of the rebels and their political leaders planned high-level talks in Qatar on Wednesday with envoys of the United States, Britain, France, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on the way ahead. Another meeting was scheduled for Thursday in Istanbul. "It's over! Gaddafi is finished!" yelled a fighter over a din of celebratory gunfire across the Bab al-Aziziya compound, Gaddafi's sprawling citadel of power in the Libyan capital. KEEP REVOLUTION CLEAN, REBEL LEADER SAYS Opinion was divided about Gaddafi's whereabouts. Colonel Ahmed Bani told Al-Arabiya TV that rebels believed Gaddafi was probably holed up in one of many hideouts in Tripoli. "It will take a long time to find him," he said. Rebel National Council chief Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who was until February a loyal minister of Gaddafi, cautioned: "It is too early to say that the battle of Tripoli is over. That won't happen until Gaddafi and his sons are captured." Mahmoud Jibril, head of the rebel government, promised a transition toward a democracy for all Libyans. "The whole world is looking at Libya," he said, warning against summary justice. "We must not sully the final page of the revolution." Jibril said they had formed a new body including field commanders from a variety of local revolutionary groups to coordinate security. There is a long history of friction among villages and tribes, Arabs and ethnic Berbers, and between the east and west of a state formed as an Italian colony in 1934. Western powers who backed the revolt with air power held off from pronouncing victory although they are keen for a swift return to order, given fears that ethnic and tribal divisions among the insurgents could degenerate into the kind of anarchy that would thwart hopes of Libya resuming oil exports. But the fall of Gaddafi, with the arresting images on Arab satellite TV of rebels stomping through his inner sanctum and laying waste to the props of his long unaccountable domination, could be a shot in the arm for other revolts in the Arab world. It could underline that entrenched authoritarian leaders are no longer invincible, particularly in Syria where popular unrest has widened despite ever fiercer military crackdowns by President Bashar al-Assad. TRASHING GADDAFI At the Bab al-Aziziya, long a no-go area, armed men broke up a gilded statue of Gaddafi, kicking its face. Others ripped up his portrait or climbed on a monument depicting a clenched fist, which Gaddafi erected after a U.S. air strike in 1986. Another rebel sported a heavily braided, peaked military cap of a kind favoured by the colonel, who seized power in 1969. He said he had taken the hat from Gaddafi's bedroom. "House to house! Room to room!" chanted some men at Bab al-Aziziya, calling for a search of its bunkers and tunnels in a mocking echo of the words Gaddafi used six months ago when he vowed to crush the early stirrings of the Arab Spring revolt. Abdel Hakim Belhadj, a rebel commander, said he did not know where Gaddafi or his sons were. "They ran like rats." British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "We're in the death throes of this regime ... But it's still a very difficult and dangerous time. It's not over yet." On Tuesday night, youths danced in Tripoli's Green Square, another Gaddafi showpiece arena. They waved the red, green and black flag of the rebels to the sound of gunfire, though most of the city's 2 million people prudently stayed indoors. One man greeted the fall of a third autocrat in the Arab Spring and forecast others would share their fate: "1. Tunisia 2. Egypt 3. Libya ? Syria ? Yemen," his sign read. Rebel officials, who said they hoped to move from Benghazi in the east to the capital this week, spoke of trying Gaddafi in Libya rather than sending him to The Hague, where he and two others have been indicted by the International Criminal Court. The Russian head of the International Chess Federation, who had visited Tripoli in June, told Reuters Gaddafi called him on Tuesday to say he would stay in Tripoli and "fight to the end". But he had few places to make a stand. His home town of Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast between Tripoli and rebel Benghazi, was expected to welcome rebel forces shortly, Abdel-Jalil said. But Jibril spoke of a need still to "liberate" southern desert areas such as Sabha and of fighting there. "It really looks like it's pretty much over," said David Hartwell, a Middle East analyst at IHS Jane's in London. In the east of the country, government troops were pulling out of areas that are key to oil production, rebels said. The U.S. State Department, in a signal of the kind of activity likely to gather pace in diplomatic meetings over the coming days, said it was seeking the immediate release of up to $1.5 billion of frozen Libyan government assets to the rebels. (Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing, Missy Ryan, Peter Graff, Zohra Bensemra and Leon Malherbe in Tripoli, Thomas Grove in Moscow, Robert Birsel in Benghazi, William Maclean and Peter Apps in London, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Christian Lowe in Algiers, Souhail Karam in Rabat, Richard Valdmanis, Sami Aboudi in Cairo, Deepa Babington in Rome and Louis Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alison Williams) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
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