Apples, apple products reduce risk of heart disease, diabetes

More precisely, consumption of the fruit reduces the likelihood of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease and diabetes, according to a new examination of federal nutritional surveys.

The analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2004 found that adults who regularly ate apples and apple products had smaller waistlines, lower blood pressure and lower levels of C-reactive protein compared with those who didn't. These three are risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

The nutrition data were analyzed by Victor Fulgoni, head of a nutrition consulting firm, and presented this month at the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego.
- Marie McCullough

Scientists want further study of sleep problems and behavior

Researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Rhode Island analyzed the medical, behavioral and academic histories of more than 230 children and adolescents who were referred for sleep testing because of snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia or other sleep-disorder symptoms. They also assessed the children's weight, and compiled parents' observations of the youngsters' behavior.

Nearly half had histories of behavior problems. Those who were also overweight and had more than one sleep disorder were the most likely to have behavior problems.

The authors called for more study to decipher the role these risk factors play in reducing children's alertness, and the link between decreased alertness and behavior problems. The study appears in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. - M.M.

Exercise in early childhood is found to strengthen bones

Kathy Gunter, who teaches in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, conducted two studies, one with 80 grade-school children, one with 205.

Three times a week for a year, she made the kids do 100 jumps from a two-foot platform. "We found that the one year of jumping had measurable effects for up to eight years after they stopped doing the exercise," Gunter said.

The idea is that building up young bones cuts the risk of fractures later, when bones start to thin. Gunter plans to continue this research, which is to be published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and BONE, by following the children in the study into adulthood.

So if you're already past the hopscotch and jump-rope age, is it too late?

Earlier Oregon State studies of postmenopausal women found that weight-bearing exercise such as jumping rope didn't increase bone mass - but exercisers lost less bone than their sedentary counterparts over the next five years. Plus, they had increased balance and strength, making fracture-causing falls less likely.
- Faye Flam

Study: Doctors can reassure parents on child vaccinations

A new study of vaccination rates, in the April issue of Pediatrics, finds that parents do respond to such coverage, but not for long, and suggests that doctors' discussions with parents do help.

The researchers, from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Louisville School of Medicine, compared immunization rates for 215,643 children between 1995 and 2004 with the frequency of news about the controversy.

At its peak in 2000, children who did not get MMR (but did get other vaccines) made up about 2 percent of the total, more than double that of prior years. The percentage of opt-outs gradually declined to what are believed to be normal levels.

"The lesson for the public health community may be that the willingness to immunize a child is a story played out in the examination room during private conversation between the doctor and family," said Michael J. Smith, lead author of the study while at Children's Hospital.
- Sandy Bauers