Your Health: There are options for doing proper crunches

Crunch optionsTired of doing crunches? Self Magazine offers a few variations on the mini-sit-up to get six-pack abs for the summer, based on recommendations from Auburn University's Dr. Michelle Olson. All start from lying on your back:bull; With arms pointing to the ceiling, raise up slowly, one vertebra at a time, to a sitting position. Slowly roll back. Repeat 10 times.bull; Hold your legs in the air at a 90-degree angle as if sitting on a chair. Raise your head and shoulders off the floor, then raise and lower your arms at your side 10 times. Repeat 10 times for 100 pumps.bull; Lift your head and shoulders up and pull your left knee into your chest, holding your shin with both hands. Raise your right leg to a 45-angle degree angle with toes pointed and abs engaged. Switch legs to bring your right knee into your chest, hold it with both hands, and extend your left leg into air. Switch legs 20 times.Raw warningFederal regulators recently renewed warnings against drinking raw milk, which comes straight from the cow, without being pasteurized by high heat.Raw milk lovers say it gives them extra enzymes and other nutrients. But tests haven't found clear evidence of that.Instead, after investigating an outbreak of campylobacter from a dairy in Indiana, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reminds people that unpasteurized milk can contain various bacteria that can cause life-threatening intestinal illness, particularly in pregnant women, older people, young children, and people with weakened immunity.Cancer preventionPeople age 55 to 64 who got a sigmoidoscopy cut their rate of colorectal cancer by one-third and reduced deaths by 43 percent, a new study has found.Flexible sigmoidoscopy uses a plastic scope to let doctors examine the rectum and lower colon to remove cancers and other growths. The study by researchers in the journal "The Lancet" compared almost 113,000 British men and women in a control group, and another 57,000 in an intervention group, of whom 71 percent got flexible sigmoidoscopy.In comparison, the more common, cheaper and easier fecal occult studies, the authors reported, reduced mortality by about 15 percent in previous studies.Colon cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the United States, and early detection is key to survival. The scope saved one life for every 489 people screened, and authors believed it could cut costs by reducing the need for expensive colon cancer drugs.Autism advicePediatricians are offering free advice on how to deal with autism in a new online audio feature.The American Academy of Pediatrics answers questions such as what causes autism and what are the early signs; effective and alternative therapies; and what role diet may play.Sound Advice on Autism is at aap.org/audio/autism/.