Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

EYE TO EYE Talk about easy on the eyes. A government report shows that high doses of antioxidants can slow the progress of macular degeneration, the nation's leading cause of blindness. The sight-saving supplements may prevent vision loss in more than 250,000 people with the disease. What to take? Vitamin C (500 mg), vitamin E (400 IU), beta-carotene (15 mg) and zinc (80 mg). The extra zinc may deplete copper, so take 2 mg of that too.

BAD NEWS

BEAST OF THE BELLY Despite all kinds of hi-tech diagnostic tools, like CT scans and laparoscopies, doctors don't always know when an appendix is inflamed enough to justify removing it. Each year as many as 40,000 unnecessary appendectomies are performed, mostly on women. Reason: tucked away in the back of the belly, the tiny appendix is hard to view.

PLAYING CHICKEN The routine use of antibiotics in livestock may create healthier--even fatter--animals, but it may take its toll on humans. New research shows that the same antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria found in meat and poultry are turning up in our intestines. As a consequence, food-borne illnesses, from eating undercooked meats or drinking water contaminated by animal droppings, may become more difficult to treat.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Good News--Archives of Ophthalmology; Bad News--Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine