Table of Contents : May 2006: "WELLNESS TIPS

• Move grapefruit, especially the red varieties, toward the top of your list of heart-healthy foods. A recent Israeli study found that people with high blood cholesterol (but not taking statin drugs) who ate a red grapefruit every day for a month lowered their total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides by an average of 15 to 20%. White grapefruit had only half the effect.

• But if you are taking a prescription medication, check with your doctor or pharmacist before eating grapefruit or drinking the juice. Grapefruit can greatly boost blood levels of many common drugs, including most statins, increasing the risk of possibly serious reactions.

• To stave off a stroke, eat more fruits and vegetables. This advice is based on an analysis of eight studies, reported in the Lancet, that included nearly 260,000 people followed for an average of 13 years. Those who ate more than five servings a day had a 26% lower risk of stroke, compared to those who ate three or fewer.

• To help prevent gallstones, watch your waistline. In a recent study of more than 42,000 female nurses, those with a waist of 36 inches or larger were twice as likely to need gallstone surgery as women with a waist of 26 inches or smaller.