On Feb. 1, 1961, twins Debbie and Donna Horst arrived at the White House to fanfare. The 6-year-olds, decked out in fancy dresses and satin sashes, found themselves surrounded by a pressing crowd and a sea of blinding flashbulbs as they made their way to see Jacqueline Kennedy.
The girls -- both born with holes in their aortas -- were meeting with the first lady to kick off a national campaign to raise awareness about congenital heart defects.
"There were hundreds of reporters because this was Jacqueline Kennedy' first public act as first lady," Debbie said. She recalls being startled when the reporters asked Mrs. Kennedy if they could move in closer. "It was frightening because they all jumped at us at once."
The Pennsylvania twins, just a few weeks from turning 7, were among the first "Heart Fund Sweethearts" in the campaign to raise money as well as awareness. The month before, they'd met up with Micki and Patricia Gane, also of Pennsylvania, and Jackie and Jeri Pelletieri of New Jersey, at the U.S. Capitol Building. All but one of the six were born with a hole in their heart at the time, a devastating diagnosis.
More than 50 years later, the four surviving Sweethearts share their unforgettable childhood stories.
Debbie and Donna
When Debbie and Donna were born in 1954 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, they experienced seizures and turned blue, leading doctors to conclude they each had a hole in their aortas. The hole is supposed to close before birth. Otherwise, getting enough oxygen to the blood is a problem.
The condition could be repaired with surgery at age 5.
"Sixty years ago, it was major surgery," Debbie said. "We didn't go to kindergarten, because of a risk of infection from the other kids."
After their surgeries in 1959, the girls' parents were asked if the girls could be "poster sweethearts" for an American Heart Association campaign about congenital heart defects.
Fast-forward to that February day in 1961. President John F. Kennedy' inauguration was just 12 days before, and the press was clamoring to capture the first lady' first public act. Debbie and Donna remember being escorted into her office amid the chaos.
"She was so soft-spoken and kind," Debbie recalled. "She asked my mom how to tell us apart, and she told Mrs. Kennedy the story of me cutting my own hair in the front, so mine was a little shorter than Donna'."
The girls gave the first lady a gift of heart-shaped flowers and dolls wearing the same dresses they wore baby blue with red hearts to give to her daughter, Caroline. Kennedy gave Debbie and Donna heart charms with her initials and their initials.
"I still have that charm today on my charm bracelet," Debbie said.
Today, Debbie' a medical receptionist in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and is married to her high school sweetheart, John Deeney. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Donna eventually married, and she and her husband, Lenny Jachimowicz, had two children, Nicole and Raymond. The family lived in Virginia when Donna died from cardiac arrest in 1998 at age 44. It wasn't related to her congenital heart defect, but it was rooted in an undiagnosed heart problem, Debbie said.
"When I lost Donna, it was like I lost my right arm," Debbie said. "But I have a lot of faith in God."
Patricia and Micki
Patricia, whose last name is now Olekszyk, was the only one of the six Sweethearts with a normally functioning heart. But she was very involved in the world of heart disease.
"When your sibling, especially a twin, is going through something this impactful, you feel it almost as much," Patricia said.
Micki had surgery at age 5. The hospital stay was long four months. But when she got out, she had energy to spare, jumping fearlessly in piles of leaves, Patricia recalled.
While only Debbie and Donna met Jacqueline Kennedy, all six girls visited the U.S. Capitol and met then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"He saw what all of these little girls were going through, and what their families were going through, and I guess he just couldn't let it go overlooked," Patricia said.
Today, Patricia is married with a 29-year-old son. She teaches karate and self-defense and is the Delaware state champion for powerlifting and bench press for her age group.
Micki eventually married Jim Gaffney. She was a fan of Scottish country dancing and raising funds for projects she cared about, such as heart health. But Micki struggled with health problems. She suffered from chronic pain after a car accident and died in her sleep in 2016.
"I miss her, but at the same time, I feel like she never left," Patricia said.
Jackie and Jeri
Jackie and Jeri were well-known in their town of Milton, New Jersey, even before they went to Washington.
In addition to all the concerns about their condition and the upcoming surgery, their family was trying to rally their hometown to make sure they had enough blood for the procedure. They needed 48 pints of rare O-negative. Ads were placed in the local newspaper. One headline proclaimed, "100 donors helped twins facing knife."
Their mom' reaction matched the headline' drama she was terrified.
So, she told the 5-year-old girls they were just getting their tonsils out. The girls survived the lie, the surgery and long stints cooped up at the hospital and home. From their kitchen cots, Jackie and Jeri "operated" on their dolls, crayoning scars down the plastic chests.
When they went to Washington in 1961, they too met Johnson. A photo famously shows all the Sweethearts circling him while he clutched a large heart made of flowers. They recall his kindness and the letters he sent afterward; he said meeting them had been good for his heart.
Just a few years later, in 1964, Johnson would issue the first-ever national proclamation declaring February as American Heart Month to raise national awareness about heart disease. The tradition has continued ever since.
Today the sisters both live in Milton. Jackie Meller is retired after many years of waitressing. She has been married 23 years and has three children and five grandchildren. Jeri Wyse is a board assembler for Hubble, where she' worked for 40 years.
The family has seen some health scares. Twelve years ago, Jeri needed a stent. Eight years later, a quivering heartbeat required treatment.
More recently, a cousin' young son had surgery for a hole in his heart. His hospital stay was a few days, and Jeri couldn't help but to note how much less fuss and drama there was compared to her day.
"It' amazing what they can do for your heart today," Jeri said.
The girls -- both born with holes in their aortas -- were meeting with the first lady to kick off a national campaign to raise awareness about congenital heart defects.
"There were hundreds of reporters because this was Jacqueline Kennedy' first public act as first lady," Debbie said. She recalls being startled when the reporters asked Mrs. Kennedy if they could move in closer. "It was frightening because they all jumped at us at once."
The Pennsylvania twins, just a few weeks from turning 7, were among the first "Heart Fund Sweethearts" in the campaign to raise money as well as awareness. The month before, they'd met up with Micki and Patricia Gane, also of Pennsylvania, and Jackie and Jeri Pelletieri of New Jersey, at the U.S. Capitol Building. All but one of the six were born with a hole in their heart at the time, a devastating diagnosis.
More than 50 years later, the four surviving Sweethearts share their unforgettable childhood stories.
Debbie and Donna
When Debbie and Donna were born in 1954 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, they experienced seizures and turned blue, leading doctors to conclude they each had a hole in their aortas. The hole is supposed to close before birth. Otherwise, getting enough oxygen to the blood is a problem.
The condition could be repaired with surgery at age 5.
"Sixty years ago, it was major surgery," Debbie said. "We didn't go to kindergarten, because of a risk of infection from the other kids."
After their surgeries in 1959, the girls' parents were asked if the girls could be "poster sweethearts" for an American Heart Association campaign about congenital heart defects.
Fast-forward to that February day in 1961. President John F. Kennedy' inauguration was just 12 days before, and the press was clamoring to capture the first lady' first public act. Debbie and Donna remember being escorted into her office amid the chaos.
"She was so soft-spoken and kind," Debbie recalled. "She asked my mom how to tell us apart, and she told Mrs. Kennedy the story of me cutting my own hair in the front, so mine was a little shorter than Donna'."
The girls gave the first lady a gift of heart-shaped flowers and dolls wearing the same dresses they wore baby blue with red hearts to give to her daughter, Caroline. Kennedy gave Debbie and Donna heart charms with her initials and their initials.
"I still have that charm today on my charm bracelet," Debbie said.
Today, Debbie' a medical receptionist in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and is married to her high school sweetheart, John Deeney. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Donna eventually married, and she and her husband, Lenny Jachimowicz, had two children, Nicole and Raymond. The family lived in Virginia when Donna died from cardiac arrest in 1998 at age 44. It wasn't related to her congenital heart defect, but it was rooted in an undiagnosed heart problem, Debbie said.
"When I lost Donna, it was like I lost my right arm," Debbie said. "But I have a lot of faith in God."
Patricia and Micki
Patricia, whose last name is now Olekszyk, was the only one of the six Sweethearts with a normally functioning heart. But she was very involved in the world of heart disease.
"When your sibling, especially a twin, is going through something this impactful, you feel it almost as much," Patricia said.
Micki had surgery at age 5. The hospital stay was long four months. But when she got out, she had energy to spare, jumping fearlessly in piles of leaves, Patricia recalled.
While only Debbie and Donna met Jacqueline Kennedy, all six girls visited the U.S. Capitol and met then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
"He saw what all of these little girls were going through, and what their families were going through, and I guess he just couldn't let it go overlooked," Patricia said.
Today, Patricia is married with a 29-year-old son. She teaches karate and self-defense and is the Delaware state champion for powerlifting and bench press for her age group.
Micki eventually married Jim Gaffney. She was a fan of Scottish country dancing and raising funds for projects she cared about, such as heart health. But Micki struggled with health problems. She suffered from chronic pain after a car accident and died in her sleep in 2016.
"I miss her, but at the same time, I feel like she never left," Patricia said.
Jackie and Jeri
Jackie and Jeri were well-known in their town of Milton, New Jersey, even before they went to Washington.
In addition to all the concerns about their condition and the upcoming surgery, their family was trying to rally their hometown to make sure they had enough blood for the procedure. They needed 48 pints of rare O-negative. Ads were placed in the local newspaper. One headline proclaimed, "100 donors helped twins facing knife."
Their mom' reaction matched the headline' drama she was terrified.
So, she told the 5-year-old girls they were just getting their tonsils out. The girls survived the lie, the surgery and long stints cooped up at the hospital and home. From their kitchen cots, Jackie and Jeri "operated" on their dolls, crayoning scars down the plastic chests.
When they went to Washington in 1961, they too met Johnson. A photo famously shows all the Sweethearts circling him while he clutched a large heart made of flowers. They recall his kindness and the letters he sent afterward; he said meeting them had been good for his heart.
Just a few years later, in 1964, Johnson would issue the first-ever national proclamation declaring February as American Heart Month to raise national awareness about heart disease. The tradition has continued ever since.
Today the sisters both live in Milton. Jackie Meller is retired after many years of waitressing. She has been married 23 years and has three children and five grandchildren. Jeri Wyse is a board assembler for Hubble, where she' worked for 40 years.
The family has seen some health scares. Twelve years ago, Jeri needed a stent. Eight years later, a quivering heartbeat required treatment.
More recently, a cousin' young son had surgery for a hole in his heart. His hospital stay was a few days, and Jeri couldn't help but to note how much less fuss and drama there was compared to her day.
"It' amazing what they can do for your heart today," Jeri said.
Ever wonder how your diet habits -- good or bad -- compare to others?
ОтветитьУдалитьAnnual surveys done by the International Food Information Council Foundation detail positive changes that people are making and where improvement is still needed.
People are, in general, hungry for more food information and get it from sources as varied as dietitians and government websites, but most rely on friends and family. That could explain why nearly 80% of last year's respondents said they were confused by information overload and, at times, contradictory advice.
People want to eat healthier, but aren't always sure what to do. Know-how seems to come with age, as those over age 50 were far more confident in their choices and get more of their information from reliable sources compared with younger people.
Just over one-third of the respondents in the most recent survey follow a set eating pattern. Most popular is intermittent fasting. (This is usually done in one of two ways -- either eating during an eight-hour span each day followed by 16 hours of fasting, or fasting on two days each week.)
Sixteen percent of people adhere to a low-carb approach, such as the Keto and Paleo diets. These diets have their fans, but also their critics who cite the unhealthy side effects of eliminating entire food groups.
Not surprisingly, as people cut down on their grain intake, they're eating much more protein than recommended by the government's ChooseMyPlate guidelines -- 38% versus 25% -- and, good news, more veggies.
Another interesting finding: Few people use mindful eating, a proven technique to get more in tune with consumption and avoid unwanted, or mindless, eating. That could help the many people who say they keep eating even after they feel full.
Yogurt is a healthy food, and it may also be a cancer fighter, a new study suggests.
ОтветитьУдалитьMen who had two or more servings of yogurt a week had a 26% lower risk of developing precancerous growths in their colon, a new study reports. Researchers didn't find the same cancer-fighting benefit for women, however.
"These data suggest that other characteristics of yogurt, such as its potential role in altering the natural bacteria in our guts, may have cancer-preventive properties," said researcher Dr. Andrew Chan. He's a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
But researchers cautioned that the study doesn't prove yogurt prevents colon cancer, only that there appears to be an association.
Specifically, the findings suggest that Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, two bacteria usually found in yogurt, may reduce cancer-causing chemicals in the colon.
Researchers said yogurt may also reduce acid in the gut, creating a more hospitable environment for these beneficial bacteria. In addition, yogurt may fight inflammation, helping to reduce cancer risk, they said.
Удалить"These findings require further corroboration in other populations and additional work in understanding the mechanisms by which yogurt may affect gut health," Chan said.
Researchers said they did not receive any funding for the study from the yogurt industry.
For the study, Chan and his team collected data on nearly 33,000 men and nearly 56,000 women.
All had an endoscopy between 1986 and 2012 to check for growths inside the lower bowel. Every four years, they also told researchers about their diet and how much yogurt they ate.
During the study, more than 5,800 men developed colon polyps, as did more than 8,100 women. The abnormal growths, also called adenomas, precede development of cancer.
Men who ate yogurt two or more times a week had a 26% lower risk for the kind of adenomas that are likely to become cancerous and for those in the colon rather than the rectum.
Their risk for noncancerous adenomas was 19% lower, researchers found.
Chan's team, however, didn't find any link between yogurt consumption and adenoma risk in women.
Dr. Arun Swaminath is director of inflammatory bowel disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It's not clear why this association didn't hold true for women," said Swaminath, who had no role in the study.
He said it's also unclear if yogurt with probiotics -- live bacteria and yeasts that help keep the gut healthy -- is superior to plain yogurt, "though the mechanism of benefit is thought to result from improvements to the microbiome."
In any case, tweaking your diet to include more yogurt is easy and may be beneficial, Swaminath said.
"If you're motivated, you can replace your red meat servings with yogurt to get a fantastic bounce for your gut health," he said.
The report was published online June 18 in the journal Gut.
Popcorn, with its ample dietary fiber and typically low calorie count, makes it easy to understand why many people think a giant bucket at the movie theater qualifies as a healthy snack.
ОтветитьУдалитьBut be careful before you start scooping handfuls into your mouth as the opening credits roll; not all popcorn is created equal.
When it's air-popped and lightly seasoned, popcorn is an efficiently healthy snack. That's because it is a whole grain, and high-fiber whole grains have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and other health problems. Federal dietary guidelines say half of all grains consumed should be whole grains, and popcorn packs more fiber per serving than whole-wheat bread.
"When prepared well, popcorn actually is a pretty good snack," said Maya Vadiveloo, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Rhode Island. "It's stable. It's inexpensive. It's fairly tasty. For people who might be struggling to eat adequate fruits or vegetables or other whole grains, it's a low-risk snack to start.
"Popcorn at the movies is very different than popcorn made at home."
A tub of movie theater popcorn can contain up to 1,090 calories and 2,650 milligrams of sodium.
"Even a small movie theater popcorn has significant calories and is very high in salt," Vadiveloo said. "Sodium is one of the leading risk factors for hypertension and stroke in general, so it's something we do care about from a perspective of heart disease."
Some theater chains pop their popcorn in canola oil. Vadiveloo said popcorn made with measured amounts of heart-healthy oils such as canola or olive oil can still be healthy. But, she said, it's better to have control over how the snack is prepared from the start.
The same logic goes for popcorn coated in sugar, such as caramel corn, she said.
"Air-popped would be a good way to prepare popcorn because it gives you some control over the seasonings that you add afterward -- how much salt, or how much oil or butter," Vadiveloo said.
Microwave popcorn may have posed an entirely different set of health problems in the past, but many of the chemicals involved have been removed in recent years.
One such chemical, diacetyl, has been linked to a disease called popcorn lung, which causes shortness of breath and wheezing. Diacetyl, which gives some microwave popcorn its buttery taste, is found in cheese, butter, yogurt and wine, and it's not harmful if swallowed; the danger comes when it is inhaled in large amounts.
In addition to fiber, popcorn also is a good source of polyphenols, which are antioxidants that have been linked to better blood circulation and digestive health, as well as a potentially lower risk of certain cancers.
Another health benefit of popcorn is its high satiety. Because of popcorn's high fiber content, its low calorie count and its low energy density, popcorn is considered to be a food that can aid in weight loss. For example, popcorn has been shown to make people feel fuller than a similar calorie amount of potato chips.
"I could give you 200 calories of a milkshake, and that might be 5 or 6 ounces," Vadiveloo said. "Your body isn't going to recognize you've had 200 calories and feel satisfied. But if you eat 200 calories of fruits and vegetables, which are high in fiber and water, you're going to eat quite a large portion size to get to 200 calories. The same goes for popcorn."