Your Health

CT no cure-all

Screening for lung cancer with CT scans may help reduce lung cancer deaths, but smokers are still at greater risk of dying from other types of cancer, heat and respiratory disease.

Researchers at Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic entered data from CT scan results of 1,520 current and former smokers into a computer program that simulates the development of lung cancer. "It's sort of like the computer game 'The Sims,' except there are no graphics and smoking and lung cancer are the main events, said Dr. Pamela McMahon, the lead researcher.

The program projected that patients who had annual CT screenings for five years had a 37 percent increase in lung cancer detection and a 28 percent reduction in lung cancer deaths. But their overall death rate was only 4 percent lower.

The number one goal should still be to quit smoking, because it will reduce risk of death from many causes, including lung cancer, McMahon said.

Menopause and memory

The more hot flashes a woman has, the worse her ability to recall words, names and stories, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Researchers outfitted 29 women with monitors that measured changes in skin conductance that occur during a hot flash. They also gave the women standard neuropsychological tests of verbal memory. "The more true hot flashes a woman had, the worse her memory performance," said Pauline Maki, associate professor of pyschiatry and psychology and lead author on the study.

The women averaged 19.5 true hot flashes during a 24-hour period, according to the study. The researchers also found that women in midlife tend to underreport the number of hot flashes they experience by more than 40 percent.

Flexible eaters

Are you a vegetarian, or just inclined to be?

A new poll published by Vegetarian Times finds that 3.2 percent of American adults say they're vegetarians, Newsweek reports. That's slightly up from a 2006 poll, when the number was 2.3 percent.

But 10 percent of us claim to be "vegetarian inclined" flexitarians who eat mostly veggies and plant protein but allow a little meat to cross our plates now and then.

If you're mainly concerned about your own health - rather than philosophically opposed to the killing of animals for food - then being a flexitarian is a good option. Nutrition is not all-or-nothing; cutting back on meat helps too. While research shows that the healthiest diet emphasizes fruits, veggies, whole grains, low-fat dairy and nuts and legumes, you really can have your grilled brat or burger and a healthy diet, too.

Just be flexible and make it a once-in-a-while treat, not a regular menu item.