Health Report: Nov. 21, 1994

THE GOOD NEWS

— A new study finds that adults who eat two to four helpings each week of dark-green leafy vegetables — spinach, say, or collard greens — may be substantially lowering their risk of suffering from macular degeneration, a condition that is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

— The Food and Drug Administration is close to granting approval for use of the antidepressant drug Prozac in treating bulimia, the mental disorder characterized by binge eating and purging.

— A new cream containing the drug doxepin has been shown to alleviate the often severe itching associated with eczema.

THE BAD NEWS

— American teenagers are much less physically active today than they were a decade ago, says a new report, which found that only 37% of high school students exercised vigorously at least three times a week. A similar study in 1984 put the figure at more than 60%.

— More reason why today’s teens could be easily beaten up by their forebears: a federal report concludes that 1 in 5 is overweight; that’s up from 15% in the 1970s.

— New research shows that men under intense psychological stress are 4 to 6 times as likely to die of sudden heart failure than other, calmer men.

Sources – GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association; Associated Press; Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

BAD: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Circulation