Stay ConnectedHealthy Living from the Cooper Aerobics Center is designed for listeners of any age who want to gain research-based, practical information that can improve the way they look and feel. The program focuses on timely topics in the areas of health, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle.
The program features Dr. Ken Cooper along with members of the Cooper Aerobics Center staff and is hosted by Todd Whitthorne.
In this interview with Todd Whitthorne by Joanie Greggains on KGO Radio in San Francisco, Todd discusses the following issues:
Cooper staffer Todd Whitthorne talks about the one thing we can do to enhance, and extend, our lifespan.
Former pro football player Scott Secules talks about his experiences at Cooper. The week following Thanksgiving (2009), Scott spent at Cooper. While here, he had a comprehensive physical and spent a week in our wellness program. Scott talks about the healthy habits he rediscovered during his week at Cooper which have contributed to his return to exercise, and weight loss of 50+ pounds.
Todd Whitthorne interviews Dr. Abram Eisenstein, director of gastroenterology at Cooper Clinic about colon cancer, the number two most deadly form of cancer. Fifty thousand Americans will die this year from colon cancer, a largely preventable disease. Dr. Eisenstein reviews the preventive measures he recommends when it comes to colonoscopy screenings, and shares his recommendations on how to evaluate and select the right physician to perform your colonoscopy.
Todd Whitthorne discusses Cooper Institute with director of development Connie Tyne. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the “Father of Aerobics,” founded the Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1970, six months before opening his world famous preventive medicine clinic. He knew an independent research institute was needed to bridge the gap between fitness faddism and scientific legitimacy in order to establish the direct relationship that exists between physical activity and good health. The Institute is governed by its own Board of Trustees and remains administratively and financially independent from any other enterprise.
Todd and Connie dicuss the upcoming luncheon Celebrating Generations of Wellness, honoring Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., Thursday April 29, 2010 at noon in the Khmer Pavilion, Hilton Anatole Hotel, Dallas. Guest speaker is Tom Brokaw.
Raffle - Win 2 tickets to Super Bowl XLV to be held in Dallas, Texas at the state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium on February 6, 2011; 2 nights lodging at the Cooper Guest Lodge; dinner for 2 at Fearing's Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton; transportation to and from the Cooper Guest Lodge and Cowboys Stadium. A singlc chance ticket is $150; or 4 tickets for $500. A maximum of 1,000 tickets will be in the raffle.
Go to www.cooperinst.org for more information.
John Cannaday, M.D., a staff radiologist at Cooper Clinic discusses two studies reported in the December issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, calling on physicians to limit CT Scans due to the risks associated with radiation exposure. The study headline read "Commonly performed CT scans are exposing patients to far more radiation than previously thought and in doses that could cause tens of thousands of cancers a year." In the two studies, the authors call on physicians to limit radiation exposure to patients.
Dr. Cannaday reports that CT scans are used regularly at Cooper Clinic as a tool in evaluating cardiovascular health, and diagnosing coronary artery disease and blockage. The technology over the past decade has dramatically improved - through CT scans it's possible to take a noninvasive three dimensional tour of the torso.
In the first study, a team (lead by Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman) at the University of California, San Francisco, collected data from 1,119 patients who received 11 types of CT scans in four area hospitals. The level of radiation exposure in the CT scans varied widely within and across the hospitals, with an average variation that was 13-fold. For example, the dose of radiation for a multiphase abdomen-pelvis CT scan ranged from 6 to 90 millisieverts, with an average dose of 31 millisieverts.
In the second study, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez and her team (from the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics) estimated that 29,000 future cancers could be related to scans performed in 2007, and that these cases could result in about 14,500 deaths.
From a consumer standpoint, the more exposure we have to radiation, the higher the potential risk of cancer. Dr. Cannaday says that we are not able to free ourselves from radiation, the average background radiation is 3 millisieverts. Scan ranges less than 100 millisieverts are considered low exposures. The team at the Cooper Clinic have aggressively trained to run these tests with the lowest possible exposure possible.
The average exposure for a multiple slice of the heart to look for calcium scoring is approximately .9 millisieverts, so less than 1 millisievert. For the coronary CT antiogram which is a more extensive test, Cooper Clinic routinely performs this test with a millisieverts score of 2 or less. The test is more involved when looking at coronary bypass patients, and Cooper Clinic performs this test for 2.5 millisieverts or less.
Dr. Cannaday believes patients should talk with their physician about the radiation exposure of any test, and to ascertain if there are alternative ways to get the results without non-ionizing radiation, for example through MRI or ultra sound. Any exam in the imaging department needs to be tailored to the question being asked, and minimizing radiation exposure should be a consideration.
Patients need to keep in mind that scans are a tremendous tool in diagnosing cardiovascular, abdominal, chest and head diseases. While we need to be aware of radiation exposure, Dr. Cannaday hopes that studies like these don't scare people away from having tests they may genuinely need for managing their overall health.
ReferenceStudies Quantify Cancer Risks From CT Scans
Jill Turner is VP of Operations for Cooper Concepts, the company that markets Cooper Complete nutritional supplements, and oversees the Cooper Wellness Program, where individuals come to live at Cooper for a week at a time to focus on living a healthy life. Jill regularly contributes information to the Cooper blog. Email jsturner@cooperwellness.com or call 972-560-3262 with your questions and comments.
Jennifer Engels, M.D. is a diagnostic radiologist at Cooper Clinic. Dr. Engels discusses new recommendations regarding mammograms from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
On November 17, 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new recommendations on screening mammography released in the Annals of Preventive Medicine.
The task force recommends that women who are considered "low risk for breast cancer" should start screening mammograms at age 50 instead of age 40, and they should be performed every other year instead of annually. The report further recommends that women 75 years of age and older should no longer be screened.Cooper Clinic recommends that all patients consider the risk of a potentially "false positive" mammogram in order to find an early, curable breast cancer. At Cooper Clinic, any additional mammographic views and/or breast ultrasound are performed on the same day as a screening mammogram. Patients leave Cooper Clinic that day with results from their exams without the anxiety of having to wait for the results to come through the mail.
Dr. Engels urges women continue to get their annual mammograms starting at age 40, as 23 percent of breast cancers are diagnosed in women under the age of 50. If the women are high risk, they may also want to talk to their physician about adding breast MRI.
Cooper Wellness Program with Peg Williams (Podcast)
Peg Williams, a two-time participant with Cooper Wellness Program, is interviewed by Todd Whitthorne. The Cooper Wellness Program is medically-supervised, in-residence lifestyle modification program. Since attending the program in June, 2008, Peg has lost 120 pounds.
Flying around the country for her job, Peg says she regularly saw the ad for the Cooper Wellness Program in the American Airlines in-flight magazine. While at a conference in 2008, Peg realized she was wearing her largest clothes, and they were tight! At that point, Peg made the decision to come to Cooper for help.
Peg says when she had a Cooper Clinic physical and spent a week in the Cooper Wellness Program, she knew she was overweight and that her clothes were tight, but at the time she didn't think she felt bad. After getting a download of data during her Cooper Clinic physical and then during the Wellness Program, Peg realized she had been headed in the wrong direction. Luckily for her, all of her potential health issues were fixable with weight loss.
With weight loss as the goal, Peg focused on getting healthier. She says the key to her success has been to learn how to eat right, to make healthier choices, and to get moving. Peg learned during her week at Cooper that good food doesn't have to taste bad. Departing a few pounds lighter after her week at Cooper, Peg started built on that success. She started watching her calories, and she started exercising.
In an exercise session at Cooper Fitness Center, a trainer told Peg she needed to get 200 minutes of aerobic exercise weekly. Peg says this number was about twice what she had hoped, but that little by little she slowly started upping her exercise time.
Between healthier eating habits, and increased activity at the gym, Peg was losing 2- to 3 pounds per week, and then it was just a matter of staying focused for the long run.
Peg travels most of the time on business, and is on a plane or in a hotel almost every week. She says the Wellness Program taught her that "this is only hard if you make it hard." She found a couple of time things she can do all the time, and arms herself against excuses. For example, every hotel has a fitness center – it might not be pretty, but it's there, so there's just no excuse not to utilize them. And, when it comes to food, there are tons of choices, and restaurants are accommodating if asked. Peg says she has a list of go-to meals she utilizes when on the road.
Peg's advice to those wanting to be healthier is to just get started. Do something and build on that. Get a little bit of exercise. And, at each meal, make one smarter choice. For example, for breakfast choose oatmeal instead of a donut. And, when ordering lunch, instead of ham and swiss with mayonnaise, order turkey on whole wheat. These are examples of small changes that add up. Success will follow!
Peg says her family, friends and colleagues all say she looks so much younger. And she truly feels great!
You can read about Peg's weight loss in the Southern Living magazine blog http://livehealthy.southernliving.com/2009/07/lost-one-tiny-celebrity-or-the-equivalent-thereof.html
For information on scheduling a 4 or 6-day visit (and bring a friend!) with the Cooper Wellness Program, contact Cindy Bostick at 800-444-5192 or clbostick@cooperwellnessprogram.com.
Jill Turner is VP of Operations for Cooper Concepts, the company that markets Cooper Complete nutritional supplements. Jill regularly contributes information to the Cooper blog. Email jsturner@cooperwellness.com or call 972-560-3262 with your questions and comments.
Reference Information
Cooper Wellness Program information
http://www.cooperaerobics.com/For-Individuals/Wellness-Program/Program-Information.aspx
Todd Whitthorne was interviewed by Joanie Greggains on KGO radio in San Francisco recently about Vitamin D, Omega-3, and taking a multivitamin.
Benefits of exercise differ by sex and race (Podcast)
Dr. Tedd Mitchell, Cooper Clinic president and CEO is interviewed by Todd Whitthorne, and talks about how the benefits of exercise differ by sex and race.
The study, reported in the Journal of Lipid Research (August 2009 issue), began in the late 1980s, and used data from more than 15,000 middle-aged African American and Caucasian men and women (already participating in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study). Researchers wanted to evaluate the benefits of one hour of "mild" or 30 minutes of "moderate" exercise on HDL, the healthy cholesterol.
"Mild" exercise activities included walking for pleasure, bowling, and weight lifting, while "moderate" exercise included playing basketball, hiking, and modern dance. Researchers found that either an hour of mild exercise or a half hour of moderate exercise each week increased the level of heart healthy HDL cholesterol. Regarding triglycerides and LDL (lousy) cholesterol, the impact exercise has is less clear. Researchers saw a reduction in triglycerides in Caucasians, but not in African Americans. And, researchers found that the LDL cholesterol level was reduced, but only in women.
Dr. Mitchell says the big takeaway from this study is that exercise is good, and for health benefits we don't need that much, and that consistency with exercise, not intensity, is the key. One hour of mild exercise, or 30 minutes of moderate exercise positively impacted HDL cholesterol levels.
Jill Turner is VP of Operations for Cooper Concepts, the company that markets Cooper Complete nutritional supplements. Jill regularly contributes information to the Cooper blog. Email jsturner@cooperwellness.com or call 972-560-3262 with your questions and comments.
Reference Information
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study: Community Surveillance and Cohort Morbidity/Mortality Follow-up
http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric/visit/General_Description_and_Study_Management.5_1.pdf
Benefits of exercise differ by sex and race
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5862SY20090907
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