Best tips on how to make your diet more heart friendly.

1. Swap nonfat yogurt for sour cream.
Using nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream in this recipe for Salmon Cakes With Creamy Ginger-Sesame Sauce cuts out 4 grams of fat and 2 grams of saturated fat, and doubles the calcium, says Ellie Krieger, a registered dietitian and host of the Food Network’s Healthy Appetite.

Quick tip: Straining yogurt in a paper towel for at least 30 minutes will eliminate some of the water, giving it a rich, creamy texture closer to that of sour cream.

2. Say bye to butter with canola oil.
Krieger also suggests eliminating some of the butter in desserts and replacing it with heart-healthy canola oil, which is rich in monounsaturated fat. The neutral taste lets the remaining butter flavor shine through while slashing fat. Her Double-Chocolate Brownies, for example, call for only 2 tablespoons of butter, about 1 gram of fat per brownie in a recipe that yields 24.

Quick tip: Heart-healthy eaters should skip traditional brownies, which can pack more than half a tablespoon of butter per brownie!

3. Learn to love leaner meats.
Choosing lean cuts of meat will help zap the fat from your diet. Opt for round, sirloin, chuck, or loin, and extra-lean hamburger. Even better, add bulk with meatless ingredients, as Krieger does in these Burgers With Green Olives, or this Greek Burger With Peppers. Each patty has less meat and packs lots of vitamins and nutrients in the space the veggies take up.

Quick tip: If you simply can’t resist a traditional burger in all its juicy glory, make sure the meat is at least 90% lean, says Krieger. Turn lean ground beef into delicious comfort food with Health’s take on meatloaf.

4. Discover the joy of soy.
After leaving reality TV show Top Chef, Lee Anne Wong lost 50 pounds, in part by eating more soy, which adds lean protein without much fat. Stick to natural sources, like edamame, to avoid the blood-pressure-boosting sodium added to some processed products. Wong’s recipe for Grilled Tofu With Asparagus is a little heavy on the oil, but had the dish featured lean pork chops, the meat alone would rack up 11 grams of fat (including 4 grams of saturated fat) per serving.

Attention to bone health is important for all ages, not just older adults. Researchers are finding a number of factors that can affect bone from conception forward. The dietary and lifestyle habits of a mother can affect the bone status of her unborn child. The years of childhood and adolescence, are when bones become longer and stronger. During middle and older age, the goal is to maintain the bone that has been acquired.

Through all these stages, nutrition is key. Vitamin D appears to play a large role beginning during pregnancy. Pregnant women need to cover their own needs as well as the needs of their child. With all the new research on this important vitamin, there is controversy as to exactly what that requirement should be, but many suggest at least a baseline intake of 1000 IU a day, some say as much as much as 2000 or more, especially for a mom of multiples.

The sun can create vitamin D through our skin, but numerous factors interfere with us getting adequate amounts — less intense sun in New England for about nine months of the year, use of sunscreen, the aging process, clothing, and less time outdoors. Food sources are also limited, so a supplement is usually warranted.

Calcium is a major ingredient for bone. Survey research tells us that most Americans do not get enough. Sources include dairy products, fortified foods/beverages, dark leafy greens, almonds, beans, and a little from some fruit. Children needs about 800mg a day, 10-18 year olds need about 1300 mg, and middle-age adults need 1000 mg. Pregnant women should consider 1000-1200 mg a day and those breastfeeding, 1300-1500 mg.

Postmenopausal women, people with osteopenia or osteoporosis, people on bone-depleting medications (like steroids), and older adults should get closer to 1500 mg a day.

What do these numbers mean relative to servings of dairy? An 8 ounce serving of milk or yogurt provides about 300 mg. For a child, this means about three servings a day, for a teen about four servings, for middle-aged adults, about three servings and for those needing 1500 mg a day, close to five servings. Dairy products or similarly fortified foods/beverages are the most concentrated sources.

Bone is more than just calcium and vitamin D, however. Protein is a major structural component of bone, as are a number of minerals. Other nutrients (vitamin C, B12, etc.) are involved behind the scenes to create and maintain bone tissue. This means paying attention to the whole diet — getting a variety of nutrient-rich foods and beverages.

Lifestyle factors can positively or negatively affect bone. Smoking and second-hand smoke are very detrimental. Excessive alcohol intake is another negative. For women, restrictive eating that causes loss of menstrual cycling, can prompt a decrease in bone density.

On the positive side, exercise can assist with bone building and maintenance. Weight-bearing cardiovascular exercise and strength-building exercises are especially helpful. Some studies have shown that jumping exercises for children and teens (jumping rope, volleyball, etc.) improve bone density.

As women age, their dietary needs change.A healthy diet is always important, but even more so as women get older.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggests women should consume:

At least 1,500 milligrams daily of calcium, which may be found in dairy products and leafy green vegetables, or dietary supplements.
Eight milligrams of daily iron — needed to help produce red blood cells. Healthy sources of iron include fortified breakfast cereals, spinach and beans.
Limited intake of saturated and trans fats.
Limited intake of salt (sodium) and added sugars.

Plenty of fiber.

What to do if menopause makes you miserable?

Start with a visit to your doctor. If you don’t have one you really trust, fix that problem before you try to tackle the rest, women’s health experts recommend.

A good doctor will do an exam to make sure menopause is what is causing your symptoms, take stock of which ones are most bothering you, and help you weigh the benefits and risks of treatment options with your medical history in mind. For example, women bothered most by sleep problems may find a non-hormone solution. Ditto for vaginal dryness.

Hormone therapy — taking estrogen, progestin or both — works. It tames hot flashes, improves sleep, keeps bones strong and prevents vaginal dryness. It also can raise the risk of cancer and heart problems. However, studies show that the risk is small to an individual woman who starts on the pills at normal menopause age and uses them for fewer than five years.

Experts suggest:

If you use hormones, use the lowest dose for the shortest time possible, and try to quit or cut down every few months.

Ask about ways to use hormones other than taking pills, such as estrogen patches that can be cut to adjust the dose, or estrogen-secreting vaginal rings. Some preliminary research suggests these modes may be safer than taking pills.

Do not take hormones to try to prevent heart disease or dementia. If you take them to keep your bones strong, talk with your doctor about possible alternatives.

If you were taking birth control pills for symptoms during the transition into menopause, check with your doctor about whether to continue. Many oral contraceptives contain far more estrogen and progestin than traditional hormone replacement therapy does.

For hot flashes, try to figure what triggers one, such as hot drinks, spicy foods, alcoholic drinks, stress, hot weather, or a warm room. Dress in layers, and keep your office and home cool.

Eat a healthy diet to keep bones strong, maintain a healthy weight, get regular exercise and don’t smoke.

To sleep better, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, eat regular meals at regular times, and not late at night. Limit caffeine. Avoid nightcaps: Alcohol may make you feel drowsy, but it interferes with sleep patterns.

Weight loss can be achieved in many ways. You can achieve weight loss by diet control, exercising, yoga, medicines, etc.

The best way is to follow a combination of all these to ensure that your daily routing life is not affected in any way.

The thumb rule is very simple “be happy”. Always try to come out of stress and other worries. Feel free and flying. Most of us feel very heavy and tired only because of our mind. Mind is the cause of all diseases. Your confidence is what will talk about your fitness.

Know all, follow what your want. You are the best judge for yor life.

How can I best care for my child’s teeth?

Good dental hygiene habits should begin before your child’s first tooth comes in. Wiping your baby’s gums with a soft damp cloth after feedings helps to prevent the buildup of bacteria. When teeth appear, start using a soft children’s toothbrush twice a day.

Once your child is preschool-age, start using fluoride toothpaste. Don’t cover the brush with toothpaste; a pea-sized amount is just right (see picture above). Young children tend to swallow most of the toothpaste, and swallowing too much fluoride toothpaste can cause permanent stains on their teeth.

What about using fluoride tablets?
Fluoride helps make teeth strong by hardening the tooth enamel. Many cities are required to add fluoride to tap water. If you live in an area where the tap water doesn’t contain fluoride, your doctor may prescribe daily fluoride tablets when your child is about 6 months old. Fluoride is an important part of your child’s dental health, but don’t give him or her more than the directions call for. If you miss a dose, don’t give your child extra fluoride to make up. Just as with swallowed toothpaste, too much oral fluoride can cause stains on your child’s teeth.

What are cavities?

Cavities are holes that are formed when bacteria (germs) in your mouth use the sugar in food to make acid. This acid eats away at the teeth. Cavities are the most common disease in children. Good tooth care can keep cavities from happening in your child

Is my child at risk for cavities?

Your child might be at risk for cavities if he or she eats a lot of sugary foods (such as raisins, cookies and candy) and drinks a lot of sweet liquids (such as fruit juice and punch, soda and sweetened drinks). Your child also might be at risk if he or she has any of the following risk factors:

* Was born early (prematurely) or weighed very little at birth (low birth weight)
* Has ongoing special health care needs
* Has white spots or brown areas on any teeth
* Does not go to the dentist very often

The full results of a landmark trial of an AIDS vaccine show that the shot did have limited success in protecting recipients from HIV.

But the study, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, also suggests that this effect fades with time and may not work well for those at highest risk from HIV, such as people who engage in risky sexual practices or abuse intravenous drugs.

“Although our study provided preliminary evidence that an HIV vaccine regimen has the potential to prevent infection, it did not have the power to address two intriguing questions: vaccine efficacy may have decreased over the first year after vaccination, and vaccine efficacy may have been greater in persons at lower risk of infection,” wrote the researchers who tested the vaccine on more than 16,000 young adult volunteers in Thailand.

Overall, the vaccine cut the risk of infection by almost a third, the researchers first reported in September. The full results were also described Tuesday at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris.

The researchers acknowledged that the protection offered by the vaccine was relatively modest and did not represent a breakthrough. But the trial results marked a significant gain in the so-far frustrating fight against AIDS, which has killed an estimated 32 million people worldwide since it struck more than a quarter century ago.

Speaking when preliminary results were first described last month, experts said the trial should give scientists important insights into HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and how it attacks the body’s immune system, with the ultimate goal of producing a more effective vaccine.

“I don’t want to use a word like ‘breakthrough,’ but I don’t think there’s any doubt that this is a very important result,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the trial’s sponsors, told The New York Times last month.

“For more than 20 years now, vaccine trials have essentially been failures,” he said. “Now it’s like we were groping down an unlit path, and a door has been opened. We can start asking some very important questions.”

The World Health Organization and the U.N. agency UNAIDS said in September that the results “instilled new hope” in the field of HIV vaccine research.

The vaccine is a combination of two vaccines that had previously been unsuccessful in clinical trials. When the Thai clinical trial began in 2006, many scientists thought it would also fail.

The study, which used strains of HIV common in Thailand, tested the two-vaccine combination in what’s called a “prime-boost” approach. The first vaccine primes the immune system to attack HIV and the second one strengthens the response.

The two vaccines are called ALVAC and AIDSVAX. ALVAC contains canarypox — a bird virus that has been genetically altered so it can’t cause disease in humans — to transport synthetic versions of three HIV genes into the body. AIDSVAX contains a genetically engineered version of a protein on HIV’s surface. Because the vaccines aren’t made from a whole virus — either dead or alive — they can’t cause AIDS, according to the Associated Press.

The study was done in Thailand because U.S. Army scientists did key research in that country when the AIDS epidemic emerged there, isolating virus strains and providing genetic information on them to vaccine makers. The Thai government also strongly supported the idea of doing the study, the AP reported.

For the trial, half of the 16,402 volunteers were given six doses of the two vaccines in 2006 and half were given placebos. They then got regular HIV tests for three years. Fifty-one of those who got the vaccines became infected compared to 74 who were given placebos, the Times said.

Although the 31 percent reduction in rates of infection was modest, Col. Jerome H. Kim, a doctor who manages the U.S. Army’s HIV vaccine program, called the finding statistically significant. And, he added, it’s “first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine,” AP reported.

The Thais chosen for the study were a cross-section of that country’s young adult population, not just high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users or sex workers, Kim added.

According to the study, there was a non-significant trend that suggested that low-risk individuals gained more protective benefit from the vaccine than those at higher risk, such as intravenous drug users who shared needles, or people who had contact with prostitutes.

“Perhaps the requirements for protection against transmission in low-risk, heterosexual persons are considerably different or less stringent than those in high-risk subjects,” Dr. Raphael Dolin, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, wrote Tuesday in an accompanying editorial in the journal.

Dorin also noted that although the trial lasted three years, “there is a suggestion that more of the effect might have occurred during the first year.” More study needs to be done to determine if, in fact, the shot’s benefits fade with time, he said.

The chief usefulness of the ALVAC-AIDSVAX vaccine will probably be what it can teach infectious-disease researchers about what is happening in the immune system when a person is even somewhat protected against HIV.

Glucosamine takes a hit in a new study that finds it doesn’t prevent cartilage loss in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, University of Pittsburgh researchers report.

Many arthritis sufferers take glucosamine supplements in an attempt to reduce pain or to slow the disease’s progression, but previous studies have questioned its effectiveness.

In this new study, Dr. C. Kent Kwoh, professor of medicine and epidemiology in the university’s division of rheumatology and clinical immunology, had 201 people with mild to moderate knee pain randomly assigned to receive glucosamine or placebo. The study participants underwent MRI and X-ray screening at the start of the trial and 24 weeks later.

Kwoh’s group found the same progression of cartilage damage in those who received glucosamine as in those who received placebo. Worsening bone lesions were also the same for both groups, and there was no difference in cartilage synthesis between the groups, the researchers noted.

The result of the study is “not surprising,” said Dr. Carlos Lozada, an associate professor of rheumatology and immunology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, who was familiar with the study.

“The larger studies that have been done to date looking at cartilage preservation using glucosamine have essentially been negative,” Lozada said.

These new results were scheduled to be presented Tuesday at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting, held Oct. 17 to 21 in Philadelphia.

“In this six-month study using state-of-the-art MR imaging, we were not able to demonstrate any benefit of glucosamine on the prevention of worsening joint damage in individuals with mild to moderate knee pain,” Kwoh said in a prepared statement.

Osteoarthritis, the most common joint disease among middle-aged and older people, results from progressive damage to the joint cartilage. The disease causes fluid accumulation, bony overgrowth, and loosening and weakness of muscles and tendons, which can limit movement and cause pain and swelling.

Weight-bearing joints — the knees, hips and spine — are most often affected. Osteoarthritis in the knee and hip can result in chronic pain or discomfort while standing or walking.

Glucosamine, a natural compound, is part of healthy cartilage. Another recent study found no evidence that glucosamine supplements had any effect on pain or function, and no improvement was noted in the X-rays of people taking it.

Despite these results, Lozada thinks glucosamine might have a role in managing pain. There are studies suggesting that that is possible — but the studies have been conflicting.

“For most doctors, glucosamine is not a standard recommendation for treating osteoarthritis,” Lozada said. “It is something you might mention to a patient who is motivated to try nutritional supplements,” he said.

If a patient has tried other painkillers, weight loss and exercise, and these haven’t worked, then the doctor might mention trying glucosamine, Lozada said. “But it is in no way something every single patient should try,” he said. “We really don’t have the data to support that.”

Infant car seats have saved countless young lives, but those same seats are also responsible for injuring thousands of youngsters when improperly used outside a vehicle, a new study found.

More than 43,000 infants in the United States required emergency room care between 2003 and 2007 after falling in car seats that were improperly placed on tables, counters and other elevated surfaces. Accidents were even reported after seats rolled over on soft surfaces, such as beds and sofas, the study discovered.

“In our hospital, we saw some fractures caused by these falls, and decided it was probably a wider problem,” said study author Dr. Shital Parikh, a pediatric orthopaedist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “These injuries are not common compared with some other causes, but they are significant enough to take notice.”

Parikh was to present the research Monday at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Accidents occur when unrestrained babies, especially those older than 2 months, rock and fidget inside an unattended seat, causing the device to tip over or fall, said Dr. Peter Richel, chief of pediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital Center, in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

According to Parikh, the most common injuries during the five-year period were to the head, followed by fractures and dislocations. Three babies died.

The study comes two months after another study advised parents to remove their children from infant car seats after a car trip because the seats can compress the chest and lower levels of oxygen.

However, experts all agree that car seats are critical inside a vehicle to protect children from injury in a collision, just like seatbelt restraints protect adults.

In Parikh’s study, 62 percent of the accidents involved infants younger than 4 months old. About half the accidents occurred at home, and 8 percent of the infants had to be hospitalized, said Parikh, who based his findings on data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“Babies older than 2 months are capable of real movement,” said Richel, who was not part of the study. “We as physicians and health-care providers have to be aware of these kinds of accidents when we advise parents.”

To prevent harm, Richel and Parikh recommended that car seats be used only in cars and only when the infants are properly restrained.

“The best thing is for babies to come out [of the car seat] when you come home,” Richel said. “Barring any danger to the child, such as an aggressive dog, put the car seat directly on the floor.”

Parikh also recommended that car-seat manufacturers do a better job of informing consumers about the danger of misusing their products, including offering explicit printed instructions. Car seat companies should also strive to engineer more stable seats, he added.

In related news, researchers confirmed earlier reports that booster seats significantly reduce the risk of crash injury in children ages 4 through 8.

According to the study, reported online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, children in belt-positioning booster seats were 45 percent less likely to sustain injuries than similarly aged children in standard vehicle seat belts. Booster seats with and without backs provided similar protection.

Feeling run-down? Can’t seem to get back the pep you once enjoyed? Well you’re not alone, thousands of people are experiencing symptoms of feeling overly tried during the day due to lack of energy.

For people in their forties and older it’s due to stress, anxiety, depression, not enough sleep, poor eating habits, and the lack of physical exercise.

Chronic fatigue among older people may be the result of thyroid disease, diabetes, hepatitis, and anemia.

For many, lack of energy is due to people overloading their day with a self induced work ethnic causing them to become overly tried. This is often due to skipping lunch, working through breaks and so-on. Work on your organizational and time management skills to lessen your work load.

Good new! Most fatigue sufferers don’t have to head for that rocking chair yet!

Here are some tips that will put pep back in your step:

• Take a good vitamin B complex supplement

• Join the gym and exercise at least four times a week

• Cut back on carbohydrates and eliminate sugar from your diet

• Drink water instead of soda, at least 8 glasses of water a day

• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables

• Lose weight. Even a small amount of extra weight will make

some people feel tired.

• Get plenty of sleep. Most Americans sleep less than 8 hours a night. Just an extra 45 minutes of sleep will bring your energy level up.

• Clutter distracts the mind, making it difficult to concentrate. De-clutter your life and get a boost.

Make it a point to schedule time for exercise, sports, hobbies and vacations. The time you’ll enjoy the most is the quality time you spend with your family doing the fun things you all enjoy.