In This Issue:

This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com
Featured Q&A
Featured Home Remedy
Exercise Reduces Smoking Urges
Grape Juice to Start Your Day
Cocoa is Good for Your Heart
Pesticides and Diabetes
Antibiotics and Sinusitis
Are You Eating Your Vegetables?

Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy

We are pleased to announce our new book, Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy. Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy is a how-to for consumers trying to work out which treatments, including diet, home remedies, dietary supplements and drugs, are best for what ails them. Click the link below to purchase a copy at a discount of $21.95 plus $5 shipping and handling!

Note: We are shipping single book orders Media Mail with an expected transit time of 3-9 days from shipment, and orders for two or more books by FedEx Ground. Shipping and handling is $5 per book. We also include a FREE copy of Chocolate without Guilt, regularly $14.95, autographed by Terry, with orders for three of more copies of Best Choices shipped to the same address.

http://secure.peoplespharmacy.com/PPcart.asp?pg=products&specific=joppfog0

This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com:

Dr. Tyrone Hayes has found that a commonly used herbicide has a big impact on how frogs develop. What are the implications for human health?
Read a short excerpt of the program or order it on CD by clicking the link below:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/radio_shows/626_pesticides_and_health.asp

Our newspaper columns this week discuss pain relievers, the addictiveness of lip balms and what about grape juice for my dog:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/editorial/popular_pain_relievers_pose_dilemma.asp

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/is_lip_balm_addicting.asp

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/herb_home_remedy_qa/no_grape_juice_for_dogs.asp

Featured Q & A

Q. Please tell me about the home remedy for head lice. I remember reading it in your column once before, but I didn't need it at that time.

A. People who have used standard lice shampoos or rinses without success may want to consider suffocating the lice. This is a desperate measure and tends to be messy.

Readers have suggested covering the hair with mayonnaise or petroleum jelly overnight. (A shower cap is essential to protect the pillow.) The next day, try mineral oil to help remove the petroleum jelly.

Along the same lines, a school nurse recently offered the following: "Olive oil on the hair for 8 hours will smother live lice. But ALL the eggs (nits) still need to be removed."

"There are also several natural remedies out. One involves anise oil, coconut and ylang ylang oil (HairClean 1-2-3). Please tell people not to use pet flea shampoos or kerosene!"

One additional ingredient in HairClean 1-2-3 is isopropyl alcohol. We have been told that Listerine, which also contains alcohol, is toxic to lice when applied to the hair.

Featured Home Remedy

I would like to share a home remedy with your readers. It is Vicks VapoRub for paper cuts. It works better than aloe or anything else I have tried. I keep a jar on my desk at work. Everyone who uses it is surprised that it doesn’t hurt and it works fast.

You can read more home remedies on our website:
http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/home_remedies/index.asp

Health Headlines:

Exercise Reduces Smoking Urges
Exercise can help smokers who want to kick the habit. A review of 12 different studies of smokers and their cravings found that as little as 5 minutes of brisk walking can help smokers fight the urge to light up. More exercise increases the amount of time, on average, that a smoker is able to resist. One of the scientists who reviewed the data has pointed out that a drug with similar effectiveness would be hailed as a valuable aid. Exercise isn't a magic wand, of course, and researchers do not know exactly how it works. But it appears that the benefit goes well beyond distraction and may have to do with the impact exercise can have on biochemicals in the brain.
[Addiction; March 2007]

Grape Juice to Start Your Day
Purple grape juice may be a better choice for breakfast than orange juice. Investigators compared a range of commercially available juices and found that purple grape juice had the highest content of phenolic compounds and other antioxidant flavonoids. It is the phenols in red wine, chocolate and green tea that are thought to provide protection against a range of health problems. High intake of phenol-rich fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes and even Alzheimer's disease. The investigators suggest that people get a range of phenolic compounds by drinking juices made from grapes, grapefruits, cranberries and apples.
[Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry; published online March 16, 2007]
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jafcau/asap/abs/jf062970x.html

Cocoa is Good for Your Heart Flavonoid compounds in cocoa may be the key to a medical mystery in Panama. Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School has been fascinated by the fact that the Kuna Indians who live on islands off the coast of Panama rarely if ever develop high blood pressure and heart disease. When they move to the mainland, however, they are subject to these ills at the same rate as other Panamanians. Hollenberg's team thinks the answer lies in the cocoa beverages that the island Kuna drink several times a day. This cocoa is minimally processed and contains lots of bitter tasting flavonoids. But these compounds increase nitric oxide that relaxes blood vessels and reduces blood pressure.
[report at AAAS meetings, February 15-19, 2007]

Pesticides and Diabetes Women who work with agricultural chemicals during the first trimester of pregnancy have twice the risk of developing diabetes during their pregnancy. The Agricultural Health Study conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences followed more than 11,000 women who became pregnant during the course of the study. About 500 of them developed gestational diabetes. Women only indirectly exposed to pesticides had no increased risk of diabetes during their pregnancy. This study points up the need to better understand how environmental factors may influence blood sugar control.
[Diabetes Care March 20, 2007]
http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/13/5/1611

Antibiotics and Sinusitis The usual treatments prescribed for sinusitis are antibiotics and steroids. About 17 million people seek medical care for this inflammatory condition each year, and 70 to 80 percent of them get prescriptions for antibiotics. According to a new study, many of these prescriptions are not based on results of a bacterial culture. Studies suggest that a much lower proportion of sinusitis is due to bacterial infection. Antibiotic overuse can contribute to resistance. The investigators suggest that ear-nose-and-throat doctors need more evidence to guide their prescribing-and should stick closer to the evidence that they have.
[Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, March 19, 2007]

Are You Eating Your Vegetables? Americans have been encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables. Despite a lot of publicity for the "Five-A-Day" campaign, vegetable and fruit consumption did not increase at all between 1988 and 2002. The survey of nearly 15,000 Americans revealed that 62 percent didn't eat fruit and 25 percent didn't eat vegetables on a daily basis. Only 11 percent met the guidelines. Clearly, Americans need to do better when it comes to eating their vegetables.
[American Journal of Preventive Medicine, April, 2007]