Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

DIET DOES IT Doctors have known that eating lots of fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy foods and slightly higher-than-average amounts of protein can lower blood pressure. Last week they reported that the regimen works especially well for blacks. It lowers their blood pressure an average of 13 points--about as much as medication does. Among whites, readings drop 6 points. The diet works even for patients who do not cut back on salt.

ON YOUR FEET You needn't hang around in bed to treat sciatica, said Dutch doctors last Thursday. They found that after two weeks, leg and lower-back pain is just as likely to disappear--or not--whether patients are confined to bed or free to move about. And after six months, patients in both groups are equally likely to need surgery.

BAD NEWS

TRUE CONFESSIONS An astounding 40% of women and 30% of men suffer some kind of sexual problem, according to a study published last week. Lack of desire or arousal, inability to achieve orgasm and painful intercourse are among the troubles reported. These difficulties generally decline for women as they get older, but for men, they increase. "This certainly helps explain why Viagra was such a phenomenon," says lead author Edward Laumann, who was a paid consultant to the pill's manufacturer. In fact, only a small percentage of sufferers ever seek professional help.

BOTHERSOME BIOPSY Even if a breast biopsy detects no cancerous cells, you may not be out of the woods. A small number of biopsies show a microscopic abnormality in which tiny ducts in the breast tissue fan out like the spokes of a wheel. Women with this tissue pattern face twice the normal risk of developing breast cancer.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources--Good News: Journal of the American Medical Association (2/9/99), New England Journal of Medicine (2/10/99); Bad News: Journal of the American Medical Association (2/9/99), New England Journal of Medicine (2/10/99)