Your Health

Good News
OLD AND HEAVY Being overweight when you're over 65 may not be so bad after all, according to a German report that analyzed data on 6,000 men and women. Obese young and middle-aged folks have a greater risk of dying than the fit, but the danger seems to diminish as they grow older. Researchers even suggest that most adults can safely gain 10 lbs. every decade without cutting their life short.

BABY ASPIRIN Low doses of aspirin may help infertile women get pregnant, finds a new study. Women undergoing in-vitro fertilization who took 100 mg of aspirin daily along with ovary-stimulating drugs produced nearly twice as many eggs each month as those who didn't take aspirin. Better still, they were 50% more likely to become pregnant.

Bad News
SNORE SCARE As if expectant mothers don't have enough to worry about. Now two studies show a curious link between snoring and high blood pressure. One found that snoring moms-to-be are more than twice as likely to have elevated blood pressure--and three times as likely to give birth to underweight infants. Another shows that when nighttime breathing problems are corrected with a mechanical device, elevated blood-pressure levels fall.

LET THE SUN SHINE Vitamin D may be even more important than we knew for keeping women's bones strong. A new study shows that 50% of females with hip fractures are D-deficient. The vitamin not only helps the body absorb calcium, but it's now thought to play a critical role in bone repair. What to do: load up on fortified milk and cereal--and get some sun.

Sources--Good News: Journal of the American Medical Association (4/27/99); Fertility and Sterility (5/99) Bad News: American Lung Association/American Thoracic Society meeting; Journal of the American Medical Association (4/27/99)