Get Up and Get Moving
Since their bodies don't do it automatically, type 1 diabetics have to carefully control the level of glucose in their blood by watching their diet and taking insulin. Doctors have debated whether to encourage exercise, since physical activity might reduce blood sugar to potentially dangerous levels. But a new study suggests that regular exercise actually helps kids control their blood sugar levels and doesn't put them at undue risk. The study, which appears in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that not only did the people who exercised more often have better control, but the girls also lost weight--important, since being overweight worsens diabetes. Coauthor Antje Herbst, a pediatrician at the University of Bonn, says that while she would expect adult type 1 diabetics to see the same results, they may have circulatory or other issues that could make exercise harmful. If you're a type 1 diabetic, check with your doctor about how to incorporate exercise into your life.
Not Good at Saying (or Hearing) "No"; A Second Shield Against Cancer; Got Asthma? Hear This
Not Good at Saying (or Hearing) "No"
Many teenage girls who are having sex may not want to. Last week, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine who interviewed 279 girls from Indianapolis reported that 41 percent felt pressured into sex; 1 in 10 felt forced to submit. The study, of primarily inner-city teens, found that coerced sex happened more often when either person in the couple, but especially the guy, had been using alcohol or marijuana--and that condoms were used less often and unintended pregnancies were more likely. Parents can help by being open to talking about relationships, by teaching their daughters to be assertive, and by helping kids find other adult role models, says Margaret Blythe, lead author and a professor of pediatrics at Indiana. -Betsy Querna
A Second Shield Against Cancer
Women at increased risk of breast cancer because of family history can gain protection by taking the drug tamoxifen. Now it appears they have another option, the osteoporosis drug raloxifene. Earlier this year, the National Cancer Institute said the drug performs as well as tamoxifen in preventing invasive breast cancer; last week, a report published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association established that the risk of other health problems, including other cancers, heart disease, and stroke, is about the same with either. Patients on raloxifene had a lower risk of blood clots and cataracts but more vaginal dryness and weight gain. Those taking tamoxifen reported more gynecological problems, bladder control problems, and leg cramps--but better sexual function. Relatively few women who haven't already had breast cancer take tamoxifen now, says William Gradishar, co-author of an editorial accompanying the research and an oncologist at Northwestern University's medical school. "The upside to raloxifene is that primary-care doctors are familiar with it," he says. - K.H.
Got Asthma? Hear This
In the past three years, the Food and Drug Administration has warned asthma patients that long-acting beta agonists may actually make their asthma worse. Now, a study in the online Annals of Internal Medicine, which analyzed existing data from 19 clinical trials involving 33,826 patients, reports that those using the drugs were twice as likely to have life-threatening asthma attacks as patients on a placebo and 2.5 times as likely to be hospitalized. LABAs may also be responsible for 4,000 of the 5,000 asthma deaths in the United States each year, the study authors say. The new findings are controversial, since asthma death rates actually have fallen since 1996 even as LABAs have been aggressively marketed. But federal guidelines say the drugs should be used only with corticosteroids, which reduce the inflammation that triggers asthma attacks--and only if corticosteroids don't provide adequate control. LABAs open airways and make people feel better but don't treat inflammation. -Nancy Shute
This story appears in the June 19, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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