Your Health

Good News
EVADING INFLUENZA Other than a quarantine, how can you protect your family when one of your kids comes home with the flu? The answer may lie in Relenza, the first flu drug that's inhaled. Researchers say if a strict protocol is followed, Relenza can reduce the odds that the flu will spread within a family by 79%. Beginning with the first sign of the flu, the sick child must inhale Relenza twice a day for five days. Siblings and parents, meanwhile, should use it once a day for 10 days. Even better: get a flu shot in the first place.

Bad News
RICKETS RESURFACES Talk about a paradox. Breast-feeding mothers who actually listen to their pediatrician and slather their kids with sunscreen may be creating another problem: vitamin D deficiency. Fortified formula and sunlight are two excellent sources of the nutrient, and now researchers say that rickets--a bone-weakening disease linked to lack of D--is on the rise in children. You might consider supplementing mother's milk with formula or giving your child a multi-vitamin containing D. Caution: too much D--more than 400 IUs from all sources daily--is toxic to toddlers.

YO-YO, NO Losing weight and then putting it back on is not only frustrating, it may be downright unhealthy. Data on nearly 500 weight-conscious women suggest that yo-yo dieting can drive down blood levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease. Who qualifies as a yo-yo dieter? Anyone who's lost at least 10 lbs. three or more times.

KIDNEY CONCERN Here's a powerful reason to keep your weight--and blood pressure--under control. Folks who are obese have twice the risk of renal-cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer. High blood pressure also increases the risk of developing the cancer, with the odds doubling when readings exceed 160/110. Exactly why is unclear, but it is known that hypertension can damage the kidneys, which may make them vulnerable to carcinogens.

Sources: Good News--New England Journal of Medicine (11/02/00); Bad News--American Academy of Pediatrics; American College of Cardiology; NEJM (11/02/00)