Health briefs

Aim for symmetry with workouts

Can you fake fit?

If your shoulders are smoldering, aren’t they strong? If your abs are alluring, aren’t they in shape?

Not necessarily.

But why tamper with toned triceps?

Because, although you may appear perfectly proportioned in one genetically gifted muscle group, those muscles may not be strong and flexible. And you shouldn’t neglect them.

A great way to train those genetically gifted muscle groups is with a variation on a traditional exercise, throwing in a balance component for good measure literally. For your already sleek shoulders, balance two six-pound medicine balls in the palms of your hands with your fingers spread cupping the ball. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly bent.

Raise both balls to the level where your elbows are dipping just below shoulder level. To begin, slowly press the weights upward toward the ceiling, stopping at the top just before you lock out your elbows. Pause at the top of the movement, then slowly return to the starting position. Repeat for 16 to 20 reps.

So, if your glutes are gushy and mushy, yet your shoulders are sleek and sexy, train both, albeit not with the same intensity and frequency. Aiming for symmetry says you’re serious about fitness — not just faking it.

Toning a teen goal, some use supplements

Getting a sculpted look is a goal for many U.S. teens — and while some are using dangerous supplements to get it, sizable numbers of girls and boys are engaging in more healthy strength-training, a survey found.

Eight percent of girls and 12 percent of boys surveyed said they used supplements in striving to become more buff. Protein shakes and powders were the most commonly used, but teens also listed steroids, growth hormone, amino acids and other potentially unhealthful products among those they’d tried in the previous year.

With obesity on the rise, it’s encouraging on the one hand that many teens try to look fit, said lead author Alison Fields, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. But there’s “a fine line” between fighting obesity and using potentially unhealthy methods to achieve potentially unrealistic goals, she said.

“Our results would suggest that some of these kids have gone right past healthy to something unhealthy,” Field said.

The report appears in the August edition of Pediatrics.

Weight-loss gurus scramble to lead the way

More dieters are ditching carb counts and biting into baguettes with gusto these days.

The recent bankruptcy filing by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins’ old company provide fresh evidence of the low-carb diet’s demise, a downward spiral that began early last year. But no single new diet has filled the void.

Observers say the only sure thing — given the boom-and-bust nature of weight-loss trends — is that something will pop up eventually.

“There isn’t one single strong contender,” said Anne M. Russell, editor-in-chief of Shape magazine. “If you look at what the single largest trend is, it’s weight gain.”

Smaller tumors boost survival of breast cancer

Much of the improvement in breast cancer survival in recent years is because the average tumor is smaller, not just because treatments are so much better, a huge new study has found.

Examining 25 years of cancer records nationwide, researchers concluded that smaller tumor size accounted for 61 percent of the improvement in survival when cancer had not spread beyond the breast, and 28 percent when it had spread just a little.

For women 65 and older with early-stage tumors — the most common scenario — the shift in size accounted for virtually all of the improvement in survival.

“We don’t in any way want to diminish the benefits we’ve seen from advances in treatment, because they’ve been enormous,” said lead researcher Elena Elkin.

The study wasn’t designed to determine the value of mammograms or treatments. But it implies much about the value of early detection.

Treating cellulite

Cellulite can happen to anyone. What matters is a woman’s circulation and water retention, not her body fat, says Anne Bramhan, consultant for Spa Montage, part of the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, Calif.

This is good news, because it means something can be done about it.

Spa Montage offers a cellulite treatment plan that begins with an evaluation to determine what stage a woman’s cellulite is in.

The treatment is a combination of counseling, including how to improve tissue movement through exercise and food awareness, and noninvasive therapies, such as connective tissue massage, and algae and clay wraps.

The spa then sends clients home with a maintenance program they can do on their own. Suggestions include from deep abdominal breathing, water exercise, dry-body brushing, bathing three times a week in a seaweed bath, and ending showers with a cold rinse.

Also there are certain things Bramhan advises avoiding: junk food, diet soda, high pressure massage, high impact exercise and tight and restrictive clothing, among them.

Wishful thinking?

For years you heard how chocolate was bad for your skin. It didn’t do much for your teeth or figure, either.

Today, not only has it become a health food because of the antioxidants and heart benefits in dark chocolate, but it is now a popular ingredient in skin cream. It softens the skin, advocates say, and cocoa might even protect collagen and elastin in the skin’s lower levels from free radical damage. In short, some say it keeps you looking young.

The New York Times reports this news with some skepticism. Scientific evidence is lacking.

But according to the Times, at least 90 new cocoa-infused skin treatments surfaced in 2004, quadruple the number from the year before, the Global New Products Database, a market research firm, reports. Thirty more have moved into the market this year.

Experts know chocolate products do soften the skin. Cocoa butter has been in use since the mid-19th century. But does it rejuvenate? The jury is out. Other antioxidants may be more effective.

— Wire services