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I spent Independence Day in the Shenandoah Valley. Anytime I’m there this time of year I start thinking about how when I was a kid my grandparents would take my brother and me to the orchards to pick fresh fruit. Apples, peaches, grapes, nectarines – it seems we picked everything short of tropical fruit.

I recently learned that this variety of fruit wasn’t around during colonial times. “Government Book Talk,” a blog by the Government Printing Office, highlighted the interesting book, “Fruitful Legacy: A Historic Context for Orchards in the United States” that traces the evolution of orchards from 1600 to today.

In colonial times, chances of grabbing a tasty apple or peach from a tree were slim. Most fruit was grown for animal feed and cider and was not fit for human consumption when raw. Garden orchards, which were only grown on the residences of the wealthy, produced the fruit that we easily find at the store today.

There are still orchards in operation that use these older types of fruits and some of their trees are actually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. If you’ve never picked fruit, you can find orchards in your state or if you want to skip the work, pick up some fruit from your local farmers’ market.

How often do you eat fresh fruit?

Music can lift you up. It can bring tears to your eyes. It can help you relax or make you get up and dance. You probably hear it several times a day—on the radio or TV, in the supermarket, at the gym or hummed by a passerby. Music’s been with us since ancient times, and it’s part of every known culture. Music strikes a chord with all of us.

“There’s something about music and engaging in musical activities that appears to be very stimulating for the brain and body,” says neuroscientist Dr. Petr Janata of the University of California, Davis. Singing favorite songs with family and friends, playing in a band or dancing to music can also help you bond with others. “It’s a way of synchronizing groups of people and engaging in a common activity that everyone can do at the same time,” Janata adds.

NIH-funded scientists are exploring the different ways music can influence our bodies and minds. Their research may also shed light on creative processes. Ultimately, scientists hope to harness the power of music to develop new treatments for people with stroke, autism and many other conditions.

Several well-controlled studies have found that listening to music can alleviate pain or reduce the need for pain medications. Other research suggests that music can benefit heart disease patients by reducing their blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety. Music therapy has also been shown to lift the spirits of patients with depression. Making music yourself—either playing instruments or singing—can have therapeutic effects as well.

Scientists have long known that when music and other sounds enter the ear, they’re converted to electrical signals. The signals travel up the auditory nerve to the brain’s auditory cortex, which processes sound. From there, the brain’s responses to music become much more complex.
 
 Source: http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2010/January/feature1.htm

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The Health Benefits of Cutting Salt

A computer model suggests that even a modest reduction in salt intake could significantly reduce the number of deaths nationwide from coronary heart disease.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a serious condition that can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and other health problems. About 1 in 3 adults in the United States has hypertension.

Blood pressure can be reduced by lowering dietary sodium. Experts recommend that people consume less than 2,400 milligrams of sodium a day—that’s what’s in about 6 grams of salt, or about a teaspoon. People with high blood pressure should shoot for 1,500 milligrams or less—about 3.7 grams of salt. However, the average man in the United States takes in over 10 grams of salt per day and the average woman over 7.

While some dietary sodium comes from people sprinkling salt on their food, about three-quarters comes from processed food, including breads and cereals, dairy products and processed meats. To limit dietary sodium, people need to read food labels carefully.

Some countries have reduced their populations’ salt intake by using various strategies, such as regulating the salt content in processed foods, requiring labels on ready-to-eat foods and educating the public. Researchers led by Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California, San Francisco, set out to explore the potential impact of a modest reduction in dietary salt on the health of the U.S. population.

The researchers built on the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model, a computer simulation of heart disease in U.S. adults 35 to 84 years old. The data for the model came from several studies. These include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the Framingham studies conducted and supported by NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and trials testing the effects of reduced salt on blood pressure and heart disease, such as NHLBI’s Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial. The new study was supported by NIH’s National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and the American Heart Association.

As reported in the January 20, 2010, online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the scientists found that reducing salt intake by 3 grams per day could cut the number of new cases of coronary heart disease each year by as many as 120,000, stroke by 66,000 and heart attack by nearly 100,000. It could also prevent up to 92,000 deaths each year. All segments of the population would benefit, with African-Americans having the greatest improvements overall. Women would particularly benefit from reductions in stroke, older adults from reductions in coronary heart disease and younger adults from lower mortality rates.

Reducing salt intake by 3 grams per day would save the country up to $24 billion in health care costs a year, the researchers estimated. Even a modest reduction of 1 gram per day between 2010 and 2019 would be more cost-effective than using medications to lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure.

“Our study suggests that the food industry and those who regulate it could contribute substantially to the health of the nation by working toward reducing the amount of salt in the processed foods that all of us consume,” Bibbins-Domingo says.

—by Harrison Wein, Ph.D.