Health News

• The Greeks know, it’s their diet: a study by the University of Athens Medical School indicates not all components of the so-called “Mediterranean diet” lead to living a long life. A diet with large amounts of veggies, fruits, nuts, legumes and olive oil with only moderate drinking and little meat works. Lots of fish or seafood and little dairy has no benefits for living longer according to the study. After examining the diets of 23K Greeks for almost 10 years, the longevity benefits for the Mediterranean diet were lost if heavy vegetable consumption, light meat intake or moderate drinking were removed from the results matrix. Combinations of several components, especially abundant vegetables and olive oil showed positive health benefits. Several studies have advanced the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, but this is the first to analyze its various components.

• An increasing number of companies have concluded it’s cheaper to pay their employees to get and stay healthy instead of paying for the health care costs once they get sick. With estimates showing more than 40% of premature deaths in the U.S. due to unhealthy behaviors like smoking, obesity or improperly taking prescription drugs, companies are looking to incentivize their workers to give up bad habits, get in shape or otherwise take charge of their health. Statistics indicate 20% of Americans continue to smoke and over 70% are overweight or obese. General Electric was able to induce nearly 10% of its workers who smoked to quit by offering them a $750 incentive if they remained clean for 18 months. Only 3.6% of smokers quit without the bonus. Similar programs for weight loss and taking prescriptions daily were successful with rewards as little as $3/day.

• It has long been known that taking antibiotics can upset beneficial bacteria in the body. A new study shows gut flora may be disrupted for weeks after stopping medication according to a report in the June 2009 issue of Infection and Immunity.

• For the third straight year, Massachusetts leads the U.S. in use of electronically routed prescriptions. The Obama administration is pushing e-prescriptions as a means for reducing mistakes and cutting the escalating cost of health care.

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