Health Buzz: A Little Milk for the Lactose Intolerant

February 25, 2010 RSS Feed Print

Lactose Intolerant? Don't Give Up on Milk

Lactose intolerance may not consign you to a life without milk or ice cream, experts at the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday. People with the condition can still ingest small amounts of dairy products without getting sick. And evidence suggests that regular milk intake can actually boost your tolerance, HealthDay reports.

Last year, U.S. News contributor Kerry Hannon wrote about lactose intolerance in kids and the benefits of drinking milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents not to give up on feeding dairy products to lactose-intolerant children and teens, Hannon wrote. Calcium in these foods is important for bone health, and dairy products also contain other nutrients that are important for growth. One helpful hint: Yogurt and cheese contain less lactose per serving than milk. Read more.

[Read Milk: Raw, Local, or Pasteurized? 5 Answers About a Fresh Drink and Raw Milk Is Gaining Fans, But the Science Says It's Dangerous.]

How to Determine Your Heart Attack Risk

How do you know whether your arteries are smooth and plaque free or clogged and interfering with your heart function? Unless you've been diagnosed with heart disease, you probably don't know whether your blood is flowing freely or is on the verge of becoming blocked, triggering a heart attack or stroke.

There are, though, several things you can do to assess your risk, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz writes. A study released last week found that simplified risk guidelines adopted in 2007 by the American Heart Association really can determine the likelihood of a woman suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease within the next 10 years.

The study, which used data from the Women's Health Initiative trial, found that nearly 13 percent of the women deemed to be at "high risk" did have a heart attack or died from heart disease within 10 years. Those deemed to be "at risk" had a 3 percent chance, and those at "optimal risk" had just a 1 percent chance. Read more.

[Slide show: 6 Reasons Most Americans Are at Risk for Heart Disease.] [Read Heart Disease Prevention: Mistakes Women Make and Are You at Low Risk for Heart Disease? Probably Not.]

To Cut Healthcare Costs, Let's Start With the Secret Prices

California Anthem Blue Cross customers, facing a 39 percent rise in their premiums, might have felt a tinge of satisfaction yesterday knowing the plan's boss was in the hot seat before Congress. During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, committee Chairman Henry Waxman accused WellPoint, Anthem's parent company, of raising rates to increase profits, Reuters reported. But Angela Braly, CEO of WellPoint, the largest insurer in the nation, said the premium increases are a product of the down economy and rising healthcare costs. The cost problem, Braly said, is not being adequately addressed under current reform proposals.

In September U.S. News columnist and physician Bernadine Healy wrote that containing runaway costs is an imperative for health reform. The elephant in the room that is a real driver of costs is something few people are talking about: the variable and hush-hush pricing of medical goods and services, set by the government or negotiated by insurers, Healy wrote. Consumers' ignorance of what services truly cost blurs the connection between their rising insurance premiums and prices, setting the stage for those prices to soar ever higher. Read more.

[Read Why Rush Health Reform? Let's Fix Insurance First and Two Fatal Flaws in Health Reform Resuscitation.]

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