Most of the 5 percent to 20 percent of Americans who come down with influenza (flu) in a year have an unpleasant, short illness. The flu, however, can be quite dangerous to some: According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized with the flu each year, and about 36,000 people die from it.

Children and adolescents have the highest infection rates for flu; however, children less than age 2, people ages 65 or older, and persons of any age with serious medical conditions such as heart disease, are the groups who most often become seriously ill and die from influenza.

The CDC recommends getting a flu vaccination as soon as the vaccines become available in September. But if you miss this early vaccine time, there’s plenty of reason to get a vaccination later, since flu infections generally peak in February.
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Sellheart via Health News

The millions of Americans who are overweight or obese are putting their health in jeopardy. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death, and can raise your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and even gum disease. The underlying causes of obesity are numerous, from genetic disposition to binge eating, which may be caused by the same brain changes responsible for addiction. This link prompted researchers to test a potential addiction drug on lab rats bred to be obese-with surprising results.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory tested the drug, called vigabatrin or GVG, in 50 rats, some of which were bred obese and some were of normal weight. The animals were either given injections of various amounts of vigabatrin or a placebo for up to 40 days. The genetically obese rats lost up to 19 percent of their body weight, and normal-weight rats lost 12 to 20 percent of their body weight. “Our results appear to demonstrate that vigabratrin induced satiety in these animals,” said Amy DeMarco, who worked on the study. “When we gave GVG, they would steadily lose weight, and when we took them off GVG, they would steadily gain weight,” she told Reuters Health. » Read the rest of the entry..

(HealthDay News) — The path to heart disease begins in childhood, and that means preventive measures must be embraced by those at risk long before adulthood, researchers report.

Two of the biggest threats to heart health that trace back to childhood are prehypertension –blood pressure just below the official high blood pressure reading of 140/90 — and obesity.

“The message of the Bogalusa Heart Study is that coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension and heart disease all begin in childhood,” said study director Dr. Gerald Berenson, a professor of cardiology at the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health, in New Orleans.

Berenson was to present the findings Wednesday at the American Society of Hypertension annual meeting, in New Orleans.
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Daily doses of statins and blood pressure medications will not be enough to prevent heart disease among the ever-growing number of Baby Boomers who are overweight or obese, a new study suggests.

The simple truth, experts say, is that pounds must also be shed to keep cardiovascular trouble away.

“There is a debate out there about whether this generation is going to live as long as their parents, and the truth is they probably won’t,” said study author Dr. Gregory L. Burke, director of the division of public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.

“My ultimate worry is that we’ve seen a 50-year decline in cardiovascular disease mortality, but if you begin to look at recent trends, it’s beginning to plateau,” he added. “And my fear is that because of the increase in obesity we’re going to begin to see a reversal of that trend where heart disease rates begin to go up.” » Read the rest of the entry..

AP Medical Writer

New research challenges the notion that you can be fat and fit, finding that being active can lower but not eliminate heart risks faced by heavy women. “It doesn’t take away the risk entirely. Weight still matters,” said Dr. Martha Gulati, a heart specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Previous research has gone back and forth on whether exercise or weight has a greater influence on heart disease risks.

The new study involving nearly 39,000 women helps sort out the combined effects of physical activity and body mass on women’s chances of developing heart disease, said Gulati, who wasn’t involved in the research. » Read the rest of the entry..

Here asthma therapy medicine, the realities of having asthma is that you will probably need to take some type of asthma medicine for the rest of your life. There is no known cure for asthma and controlling asthma symptoms generally requires you to take asthma at least on an as needed basis for flare-ups. Most people need to take preventive, or controller, asthma medicine every day, or even twice a day.

A study reported in the April 6th issue of Thorax journal by Elizabeth Holloway, a Research Physiotherapist in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College London, involved 85 patients divided into a control group and a treatment group.
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Two of asthma medicine or rescue medicines, to relieve symptoms after they begin, and controller medications, to prevent asthma symptoms from arising in the first place.

In addition, asthma medications could be separated by mode of administration. While most asthma medicines are given via inhaler, some are swallowed in pill or syrup format, and one is injected.

For goals of asthma rescue medicines keep asthma treatment and had Asthma Tips

Try its. Your asthma treatment should be part of an overall asthma management plan that you develop with your asthma doctor. Your doctor is guided by current asthma treatment » Read the rest of the entry..

The Bowflex Ultimate® 2 Home Gym is a total-body solution for make your fitness and health power, that delivers everything you could possibly imagine for great fitness results. The Home Gym over 95 exercises and includes a lat tower, leg extension/leg curl station, preacher curl attachment, integrated squat station and more

The some guidelines to follow while creating healthy eating habits? Here’s a good rule of thumb that is easy to follow: go with the least processed version of the food.

Example, eat real green beans not those puffed, dried, green veggie chips. If you’re craving carbs have a baked potato instead of French fries. If you’re hankering for red meat, go with a lean cut like flank steak rather than a fast food hamburger. Or, if your desire is citrus, go with an actual orange over orange juice, but opt for orange juice over an orange flavored sports drink. It helps to shop the perimeter of your grocery store, because that is where the fresh food is located. » Read the rest of the entry..

The American Heart Association suggests these questions to ask your doctor when discussing treatment for your high cholesterol. What’s considered a healthy goal? How often should I have my cholesterol checked, and how long should it take me to reach a healthy cholesterol level? What types of foods should I eat? How does smoking affect my cholesterol? Should I lose weight? Do I need to exercise more?Should I take medication designed to lower my cholesterol?How does cholesterol medication work, and are there any side effects I should know about?

Keep health body for live …