ULCERSThe Drinking Cure
Could a drink a day keep the ulcers away? When German researchers tested 1,800 people for Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes most ulcers, an interesting pattern emerged. Compared with teetotalers, people who drank about one drink a day had 7 percent fewer infections. Those who had two had 18 percent fewer. And heavier drinkers were a third less likely to have it. But go easy: heavy drinkers die more often of cirrhosis, cancer and trauma.
SUN DAMAGESaving Your Skin
New research suggests that a rare tree could protect your skin this summer–and not with its shade. When the sun’s ultraviolet rays hit skin cells, molecules called free radicals go on a rampage, leading to sunburn, wrinkles and even cancer. Antioxidants, including such common nutrients as vitamins E and C, can halt their advance. But an antioxidant supplement sold under the name Pycnogenol is especially effective at protecting skin cells. Extracted from the bark of a pine tree that grows only in southwestern France, Pycnogenol is the latest in a centuries-old tradition of pine-based healing remedies. Yet this particular permutation is backed by science. “Pycnogenol is one of the best antioxidants I’ve studied,” says Lester Packer, antioxidants expert at the University of California, Berkeley. “It affects the skin in very special ways.” But remember, while Pycnogenol might help prevent damage, it won’t make you sunproof, so keep using sunblock.
HEPATITIS CTesting at Home
Hepatitis C is called the “shadow epidemic,” because it’s so silent and so pervasive. A new home test could help cast light on it. Four million Americans are infected with the blood-borne virus; 10,000 will die from it this year. Yet because hepatitis C causes almost no symptoms, most people never even suspect they’re sick. The American Liver Foundation says that anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1992, has ever injected drugs (even just once) or has had unsafe sex with multiple partners in the last 20 years should use the Hepatitis C Check (available in early June at www.homeaccess.com). Doctors say new treatments are successful in almost half the cases.
