Quitting smoking helps women’s health risks

Women who stop smoking dramatically reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke by 20 percent within five years, and have a lung cancer risk similar to that of a non-smoker after 30 years, a new study shows.

Meanwhile, a U.S. panel headed by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher released updated guidelines on the best way to quit.

The new recommendations encourage use of both counseling and medication to fight the addiction, and stress that physicians should ask every patient at every visit about their smoking status.

“If you’re ready to quit, there are evidence-based treatments out there to help you succeed,” said Michael Fiore, director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention and chairman of the U.S. panel on smoking cessation guidelines.

Fiore said that a third of all smokers try to quit each year, and that 70 percent of Wisconsin smokers say they’ve tried to stop at least once.

Nutrition on the go

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Antibiotics versus sinus infection

For most people, sinus infections start with a throbbing headache, swell into a fever and result in the inevitable thick nasal secretions.

For years, doctors have prescribed an antibiotic such as amoxicillin or a steroid nasal spray. But several studies have found that they are no better at shortening a sinus infection than no medication at all.

The latest study assigned subjects to four groups for treatments: a full amoxicillin course for a week with 400 units of steroid spray for 10 days; just the spray; just the amoxicillin; or just a placebo. The treatments were no better than placebo, a finding shown in studies of children. Researchers suspect that antibiotics may not be very good at reaching the sinuses. Experts recommend taking ibuprofen, inhaling steam or using salt water to flush the nasal cavity.

— Journal wire reports