Your Health: H1N1 vaccine works well for pregnant women

H1N1 and pregnancy

Initial results show pregnant women mount a strong immune response to a single shot of H1N1 flu vaccine.

The results are reassuring for pregnant women, who are among the most vulnerable to serious health problems from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

Since the spring, federal officials report, at least 100 pregnant women have been hospitalized with the virus, and 28 have died.

The study by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases found that 47 out of 50 women vaccinated with either 15- or 30-micrograms got an immune response likely to protect them.

Look before you eat

Thinking about eating out in Lake County?

You might want to check out a new Web site that shows inspection reports for county food facilities, including fast food, grocery and convenience stores.

The county rates each business as high, medium or low risk for food-borne illness, based on criteria such as types of food served, food preparation procedures and populations served.

See lakecountyil.gov/health/EHS.htm, and click "Food Safety and Inspections" on the right.

The site also features an online food safety game for teaching food safety basics.

Big bites

The new book, "The Toddler Bistro," by nutritionist Christina Schmidt, offers numerous tips for getting a fussy toddler to eat. Here are a few:

•Don't be alarmed if something your child used to love now sits uneaten. Children's tastes change as they discover what they like, and their appetite fluctuates, so it's not unusual for them to skip a meal or two, then wolf down everything in sight.

•Research shows it takes 8 to 15 tries introducing a child to a food before he or she accepts it. Most parents give up after three tries - so try, try again!

Try not to label a child as a "vegetable hater" or a picky eater. It may be a self-fulfilling prophecy that you can avoid with patience and persistence.

•Let children have some control over their food. Let them help pour it into the bowl, or add seasoning, or let them help mix pancake batter or other foods. It should give them a greater feeling of participation and enjoyment of food.

•Remember to keep offering healthy foods like fruits and vegetables instead of fast food and overly sweet, salty or fatty foods. Tastes learned now can last a lifetime.

Patch plus lozenge

A study of five different methods for quitting smoking found that nicotine patches plus nicotine lozenges worked best.

The study by the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in the new issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, tested 1,500 adults who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day.

All treatments lasted two to three months and included six individual counseling sessions.

Six months after their last smoke, only those who used the patch plus lozenge were more successful than those taking a placebo. Other methods tested were the lozenge alone, the patch alone, buproprion alone, and buproprion plus lozenge.