Many Patients Don't Understand Nutrition Labels
Sept. 27, 2006 <p> -- MANY DON'T UNDERSTAND NUTRITION LABELS A study of 200 patients in their family doctors' offices finds that many of them have a hard time reading nutrition labels on food packages. Although 77 percent of the people had at least ninth-grade literacy skills and more than two-thirds had at least some college, many participants had trouble with basic math calculations. The results, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that only 32 percent could correctly calculate the amount of carbohydrates in a 20-ounce bottle of soda with 2½ servings in the container. Only 60 percent could calculate the number of carbs in half a bagel when the serving size on the package was a whole bagel.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHEMOTHERAPY This week marks the 60th anniversary of the first description of the use of chemotherapy to treat cancer. Published Sept. 21, 1946, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the article describes how doctors had joined a wartime study on the effects of poison mustard gas on lymphoma. As it turned out, injection of nitric mustard could shrink tumors. This was initially kept secret during World War II and published only after the conclusion of the war.
HEALTH PREMIUMS UP, BUT LESS SO THAN LAST YEAR According to the results of an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 7.7 percent in 2006, which is less than the 9.2 percent raise in 2005. This year marked the slowest growth since 2000, but premiums still increased at a rate twice as high as workers' wages (3.8 percent) and overall inflation (3.5 percent). Family health coverage now costs an average of $11,480, with workers paying an average of nearly $3,000. These findings were published this week in the Journal Health Affairs.
STAT is a brief look at the latest medical research and is compiled by Joanna Schaffhausen, who holds a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience. She works in the ABC News Medical Unit, evaluating medical studies, abstracts and news releases.
