ENAFS Connection Newsletter

LINKING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOR FLORIDA'S ELDERS
This project is possible thanks to funding by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs in partnership with state, county, and local agencies.   

HIGHLIGHTS

Get Ready for Senior Fitness Day!

The eighth annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day will be held on Wednesday, May 30th. Organizers are expecting about 150,000 older adults to participate in activities at 1,500 locations throughout the United States. An additional 3 million older adults will read special Senior Day editorial inserts in newspapers across the country, making the National Senior Health & Fitness Day the largest older adult health promotion event in the nation. The goal for this day, according to the organizers, is to help keep older Americans healthy and fit.

Any local organization can host a National Senior Health & Fitness Day event. The requirements are simple. Your organization can register an event by purchasing a registration packet ($36.95 plus shipping). This packet contains everything you need to organize the event, from suggestions for the type of activities to organize to posters, calendars, and handouts about the event. Last year's events included health screenings, low impact exercises, walks, and health information workshops.

National Senior Fitness Day is a good incentive to many national groups to reach their members and inform them about the importance of physical activity in maintaining optimal health. This fitness campaign has the capability of reaching large numbers of people and provides good strategies for including health education in a variety of groups.

For more information about the National Senior Health & Fitness Day, call 1-800-828-8225. You can also visit their web site at: www.fitnessday.com SR

Jump in American Life Span

Researchers are calling it a "triumph of public health and biomedical research." Over the past century, the number of deaths has decreased while life expectancy has increased by more than 50 percent. Life expectancy increased from roughly 49 years for people born in 1900 to 76 years for people born in 1998.

As a result of these changes in death rates and life expectancy, the elder population grew incrementally during the 20th century. The large increase in this population, which is expected to begin in 2010, will significantly decrease the difference between the size of the elder and child populations by the year 2030. The challenge for the 21st century is to balance the needs of children with the growing demands of a large, continually aging, population of elders.

Source: Pediatrics 2000;106:1307-1317. LM

Focus on Food Safety

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as "mad cow disease," is a progressive, lethal, degenerative central nervous system disorder of cattle. The brain of the affected cow appears sponge-like; this is where the term spongiform comes from. BSE was first recognized in United Kingdom cattle in 1986. Since then, over 10 million cows have been infected and destroyed. BSE is caused by prions, which are abnormal variants of proteins that normally occur in cells such as brain cells or nerve cells. Prions are self-replicating proteins that have no nucleic acid (DNA or RNA). Normal prion proteins are produced in the nerve or brain cells but they are digested by protease enzymes. Abnormal prion proteins resist digestion by protease enzymes; therefore, they can build up in cells, especially in brain neurons, thus causing death of the brain cells. In addition, abnormal prions can convert normal prion proteins into abnormal forms; this is the mode of infection. This aggregation of abnormal prion proteins is very similar to that of Alzheimer's disease. Prions are sensitive to organic solvents, but can survive boiling and many disinfectants. Prions can be destroyed by extremely high temperatures (ten degrees higher than an autoclave) or by oxidizing agents.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), no case of BSE has ever been found in the United States. Since 1989, the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration have had stringent safeguards in place to prevent BSE from entering the country. According to current research, prions are not transmitted through skeletal muscle, milk, or connective tissue, but can be transmitted through bovine brain, eye, spinal cord, or nerve tissue. These tissues are not part of human or animal food chains in the United States; thus, the risk of contracting the human version of BSE in the U.S. is extremely low.

References: Prusiner, S.B. Prion diseases and the BSE crisis. http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/prusiner/245.html
Prusiner, S.B. The prion diseases. CDC Emerg Infect Dis. Jan-Feb 2001.
IFST 2001 Current Hot Topics: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. http://www.ifst.org/hottop5.htm
AS

Many Elder Women use Herbal Products

According to a new study from the University of Florida, nearly half of women over 65 are using herbal products to prevent or treat health problems. Only 41% of herbal users, however, reported the supplement use to their health-care providers. In addition, those who did report using herbal products did not disclose all of the products being used. Participants in this study took an average of 7 prescription and/or nonprescription medicines. Elders who take several medications have a higher risk for harmful drug interactions, including interactions with herbal products. For example, hemorrhages can occur if the blood-thinning medication warfarin is taken with gingko biloba or garlic.

The herbal users reported taking an average of 2.5 herbal products during the previous year. The most frequently used products were ginkgo biloba, garlic, and glucosamine with chondroitin. While the participants perceived that only about half of the products they used were somewhat or very effective, they continued to take the products because they believed them not to be harmful. However, herbal users are putting themselves at risk for unwanted drug interactions, especially if they are also taking several prescription and/or nonprescription medicines. Source: J Adv Nurs 2001;33(1):51-59. JH

National Nutrition Month(R)

March is National Nutrition Month(R)!

DOEA Support for ENAFS Project Ending February 2001

As you read this ENAFS newsletter, the second year contract between the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA) will already be ended, and DOEA's fiscal support for this statewide educational project through Title III-F funding will no longer exist. We have enjoyed the opportunity that this funding provided for us to formulate the Elder Nutrition and Food Safety (ENAFS) project.

It has been both a challenge and a pleasure to develop educational modules that are theory-driven and research-based as well as thoroughly enjoyable for the clientele. We appreciate the positive feedback that we have received from many of you on both the quality of the educational modules and the enjoyment that the elders get from participating in the activities. The reporting forms that we have received were encouraging in the number of participants who indicated that they planned to make behavior changes as a result of participating in the lessons. That is what ENAFS is about ... helping elders make positive changes that can improve their nutritional and overall health.

We thoroughly enjoyed conducting the annual regional inservice training workshops, and have appreciated the excellent feedback we received from you. We look forward to being able to continue these opportunities, pending future funding. As I write this, our Web site should be up and running, and I hope that you will enjoy visiting it at http://enafs.ifas.ufl.edu

We have been very gratified to receive a number of letters of support and encouragement from county Extension faculty, meal site managers, dietitians, and meal site participants during the past few weeks. The ENAFS staff would like to continue to support your efforts in reducing nutritional and health risks of your elder clientele by providing educational materials, training workshops, and other forms of support. To this end, we are investigating other funding opportunities. Our current professional staff will be under contract with the University of Florida at least until the first week in June

. We will continue to support Extension n

utrition and health programs with elders as we search for funding that will allow us to rebuild our program to better serve the needs of Florida's elders and those who work with them. I wish you all the best.

Linda B. Bobroff, PhD, RD, LD/N ENAFS Project Director

ENAFS Web Site

The ENAFS Project is now on the World Wide Web! With the purpose of improving our services and reaching a larger number of professionals, we have developed a web site that includes the latest information in the areas of elder nutrition, food safety, and health. The ENAFS web site is a tool that allows us to provide fast, readily available, and reliable information to nutrition and health professionals throughout Florida.

Take a moment to check us out and give us feedback on how we can improve this new site. We look forward to reading your comments and suggestions!

http://enafs.ifas.ufl.edu

Living Alone and Women's Health

In a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, researchers surveyed 28,324 woman age 60 to 72 years to measure physical health, vitality, and mental health.

They found that older women who live alone are no more isolated or at greater risk of poor health than women who live with a spouse. In addition, women living independently performed better on measures of mental health than those living with a spouse.

These findings can be explained by the fact that among single women, social interaction with friends and relatives was associated with a decreased risk of mental health decline. The same socialization was not found to decrease the risk in women living with a spouse.

The study suggests that marriage may not provide the same physical and mental health protection for women that it does for men. In addition, a woman is more likely than a man to maintain family ties if divorced or widowed.

Source: Am J Epidemiol 2001;153(2):123-131. LM

 

 Fast Facts

In 1900, infectious respiratory diseases accounted for nearly a quarter of all deaths. In 1998, the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. were heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accidents, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, suicide, kidney diseases, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. Together these leading causes accounted for 84% of all deaths.

Source: Pediatrics 2000;106:1307-1317.

 

New Resources - Check It Out!

  • http://www.aboutproduce.com, from the Produce for Better Health Foundation, has information on selecting, storing, and cooking produce from A to Z.
  • http://www.nutrition.gov provides easy access to all online federal government information on nutrition, physical activity, and food safety.
  • http://ods.od.nih.gov/links/links_consumer.html is a new Web site from the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health, which provides consumer information on dietary supplements.
  • Visit http://www.cholesterollowdown.org to register for a free rewards program from the American Heart Association, which helps motivate people with high cholesterol to take steps to improve their heart health.
  • http://medlineplus.gov is now updated every weekday morning with health-related articles from the Associated Press, New York Times Syndicate, and United Press International. Each article is linked to related health topics within MEDLINE plus.
  • The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) has developed new publications: Diabetes in Asian and Pacific Islander Americans; Diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives; and Gastroparesis and Diabetes. http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/diabetes/diabetes.htm
  • The New American Plate is a new publication from the American Institute for Cancer Research. Read and/or print an online version or order a free single printed copy from http://www.aicr.org
  • Economics of Food Labeling is a new publication from the Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, which covers nutrition labeling, organic labeling, and biotech food labeling. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer793/