Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Hypertension a Burgeoning Health Threat

The number of American adults with high blood pressure increased by 30 percent during the 1990s, according to a new federal survey.

And while the numbers in the report are four years old, there are reasons to believe the trend is continuing, experts said, according to HealthDay.

From survey periods 1988-94 to 1999-2000, the number of adults in the United States with high blood pressure increased 30 percent, to 65 million, according to the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

High blood pressure -- also called hypertension -- is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems. Normal blood pressure is defined as a reading of 120 over 80, while hypertension is any reading of 140 over 90 or higher. In-between readings are described as borderline hypertension.

The survey findings appear in the Aug. 24 issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Survey: Americans Skimp on Fruits and Vegetables

The longstanding admonition to "eat your fruits and veggies" has been falling on deaf ears. At least in America.

A new survey found that more than 85 percent of consumers aren't eating the federally recommended minimum of five servings of produce a day.

What's more, nearly 60 percent of the respondents said they thought one to four servings ensured a healthy diet, while 20 percent said one or two servings were enough, according to the Associated Press.

The federal government, as part of it's 5 A Day Campaign, recommends between five and nine servings each day of fruits and vegetables. Doing so can help protect against a wide range of health problems, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer, according to health experts.

The survey, commissioned by the nonprofit Produce for Better Health Foundation, revealed that almost half of the people questioned ate just one or two servings of produce a day, according to the AP.

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Contraceptive Tied to Higher Sexual Disease Risk

Women who use the contraceptive Depo Provera are at more than three times the risk of acquiring the sexually transmitted diseases chlamydia and gonorrhea, a new U.S. government-sponsored study indicates.

As many as 30 million women worldwide use the contraceptive, which is injected every three months, according to an account in USA Today. The research involved 819 Baltimore-area women ages 15 to 45.

Compared with participants who took nonhormonal contraceptives, those on Depo Provera were about 3.5 times more likely to become infected. The researchers, writing in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases, said they can't explain the findings and stressed that more research was needed.

The study was sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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Vaccinated Troops Give Blood to Combat Anthrax

U.S. government researchers are developing an experimental anthrax treatment that's derived from the blood of American soldiers who have been vaccinated against the deadly bacterium, the Associated Press reported.

The scientists are aiming for an emergency stockpile that could treat some 2,700 people in the event of a terrorist anthrax attack, the wire service account said. Such a treatment has never been tested on humans, but experts theorize it has a good chance of working, particularly among a minority of people for whom antibiotics prove ineffective, the AP said.

The government will offer interested soldiers $60 for a liter of blood plasma. Some 1.2 million troops deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and elsewhere have been vaccinated since 1998, the wire service reported. The account didn't mention whether the treatment could be used by people for whom the anthrax vaccine isn't recommended, including pregnant women, people on chemotherapy, or AIDS patients.

The treatment, to be called anthrax immune globulin (AIG), is made from antibodies derived from the soldiers' plasma. It could be available within a few months, the AP said.

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Controversial Machine Allows Inhalation of Liquor

A pressurized inhaler's debut is the buzz of many a New Yorker, though for now they won't get a buzz from it.

The machine is designed to let users inhale liquor by mixing it with pressurized oxygen. Known as the Alcohol Without Liquid vaporizer (AWOL), its manufacturer says a vaporized shot will get users euphoric, but not drunk or hung over.

Since its New York City debut last week, the device, sold by Spirit Partners of Greensboro, N.C., has been limited to dispensing vaporized fruit juice and Gatorade, the Associated Press reported. While the company president says the public is ready for such a device, bar and lounge owners concerned about the health and legal ramifications are taking a wait-and-see approach, according to the AP account.

A state senator and the government of nearby Westchester County has already moved to ban the device, concerned that it will promote underage alcohol consumption, the wire service said.

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Insurers Balk at Expanded Medicare Role

A key component of the new Medicare reform law calls for private insurers to expand their role in Medicare so they would serve large multistate regions. But leading insurers, including the massive Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs, have told Bush administration officials in recent weeks that they aren't willing to make such a commitment, The New York Times reported.

Congress last year substantially increased payments to private health plans as a way to entice them to serve many more Medicare beneficiaries. But the insurers contend it wouldn't be feasible for them to create networks of doctors and hospitals to serve large regions like New England or the Midwest, the newspaper reported.

Instead, they want the government to designate 50 regions, one for each state. That proposal is backed by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and by America's Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry's chief lobbying group, according to the Times.

The Bush administration believes that large regions would force health plans to serve rural areas that have historically been underserved.

Last Updated: Aug-23-2004