Sibling Rivalry: Dealing With It Healthy Events Community-Wide ALISON ASHTON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 0 STORMY SIBLINGS p arents often are dismayed when their children argue, complain about, tattle on and tease one another. But Susan Bryant of Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory University in Atlanta says that contentious kids don't grow up to be feuding adults. "Siblings learn important so- cial lessons from all their bick- ering and arguing — lessons they'll use later in relationships outside the family," says Ms. Bryant. "And they often form life- long bonds of loyalty and affec- tion in the process." Still, squabbling siblings can disturb the peace in any house- hold. Here are some ways to pre- vent and deal with sibling rivalry: • Stay out of your children's arguments as much as possible. • Don't play favorites. Bicker- ing often arises when one child feels jealous. • Regularly spend time alone with each child. • Don't force your children to like each other all the time. • Praise them when they get along or cooperate. • Let children know that they don't have to be friends, but they may not hurt each other. DESIGNER FOODS Two foods expected to move into the nutritional spotlight are soy and licorice. Soy is the only nonanimal food that is a complete protein. That means substituting soy protein (in the form of beans or tofu, for example) in place of meat and dairy products may reduce "bad" cholesterol substan- tially. The phytochemicals found in soy also may combat certain types of cancer, such as prostate, breast or colon. That's be- cause phytoestrogens found in soy appear to lower es- trogen levels linked to hor- mone-related cancers. Licorice contains more than 400 active phytochemicals, ac- cording to Dr. James Duke of the U.S. De- partment of Agricul- ture. That may explain why it has been used in traditional Indi- an and Egyptian medicine for cen- turies. Traditional Chinese medicine uses licorice for contraception, liver dysfunc- tion, coughs and cancer, and as an anti-fungal and anti-inflam- matory treatment. Researchers also speculate that licorice extract may be ef- fective against HIV. In one study, 16 HIV-infected patients were treated with licorice extract for three to sev- en years. None of their cases pro- gressed to AIDS. CHOLESTEROL COUNT An article in Nutrition Today challenges the dietary guidelines that limit cholesterol to 300 mil- ligrams or less per day. Dr. C. Wayne Callaway notes that "the recommendation for an `appropriate' cholesterol intake per day was first made in the late '70s. However, instead of basing this number on specific studies, 300 milligrams was chosen as a `best guess' and has never been challenged since." Dr. Donald J. McNamara of the University of Arizona, is one of the experts who advocates in- dividualized dietary cholesterol recommendations. "Nearly two-thirds of Ameri- cans can handle almost any lev- el of cholesterol you give them.," says Dr. McNamara. "This means that most people can eat eggs without increasing their cholesterol levels." For the 25 percent to 30 per- cent of the population that can't handle high levels of cholesterol, Dr. Callaway recommends fo- cusing "on identifying predictors for hyperresponsiveness to di- etary cholesterol so that more ef- fective, individualized counseling can be used, rather than making broad population-based recom- mendations that, research sug- gests, benefit a minority of people." LA LECHE Although most doctors agree that mother's milk is best for Baby, less than half think they know enough about breast-feed- ing to counsel new mothers, ac- cording to a Journal of the American Medical Association article. More than 50 percent of prac- ticing physicians rated their res- idency training in breast-feeding as inadequate and felt they were not prepared to provide their pa- tients with good support. This lack of knowledge and practical experience, the authors of the article say, "poses a true threat to successful breast-feed- ing initiation and duration." Studies have shown that breast-fed infants have lower rates of hospital admissions, ear and respiratory infections, diar- rhea illnesses and atopic disor- ders than bottle-fed babies. But only half of American mothers initiate breast-feeding, and less than 20 percent contin- ue nursing their infants for five to six month. SENSITIVE STOMACH There may be some truth to the saying that your eyes are big- ger than your stomach. Re- searchers at Purdue University have found that the neural net- work in the digestive tract helps monitor and control what we eat. Nerves in the stomach and gas- trointestinal tract constantly as- sess every morsel we consume. Terry L. Powley, professor of psychological sciences at Purdue, says that with the help of new tech- nology, scientists are able to see the sensors that track nutrient in- take. For now, researchers are peering into the tummies of rats, whose nerve endings evaluate the various qualities of food, such as volume, acidity and quality. "This first fundamental look certainly opens up many more questions as to how the nerve endings work and what they can tell us," Dr. Powley says. One day, researchers may be able to discover the differences between fat and skinny subjects, looking for nerves with structural deficiencies in those with eating disorders. E Alison Ashton writes for Copley News Service. Skin Anxiety William Beaumont Hospital will offer a free program called "Face Value: How to keep that healthy glow" from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 3, at the Beau- mont Medical Building in Rochester Hills. Advanced reser- vations are required. For more information, call 1-800-633-7377. Blood Drives The Children's Leukemia Foun- dation of Michigan will conduct a blood drive on behalf of the American Red Cross on Friday, April 28. The drive will be held from 9:30 am. to 3:30 p.m. in the CLF offices in the Onyx Plaza building on Telegraph in South- field. Individuals who would like to donate blood may contact Glo- ria Warren for an advance ap- pointment. Walk-ins are welcome. For more information, call (810) 353-0783. Havenwyck Hospital in Auburn Hills will be a local site partici- pating in the National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day on May 3. From 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., the hospital, along with more than 15 national mental health organizations, will provide a free program to detect anxiety disor- ders. For more information, call (810) 373-9200, ext. 390. Huron Valley Hospital, in con- junction with the American Red Cross of Oakland County, is re- cruiting donors for its Spring Blood Drive from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 19, in the hospital's conference center. Ap- pointments can be made by call- ing (810) 360-3314. Walk-ins are welcome. Stroke To help celebrate Stroke Aware- ness Month in May and to in- crease public awareness of stroke symptoms, prevention and re- covery, William Beaumont Hos- pital in Royal Oak will present "Brain Attack: Stroke in the 90s." The free program will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thurs- day, May 4, at Beaumont's Ad- ministration Building Auditorium. Preregistration is required. Call 1-800-633-7377. Shots The Oakland County Health Di- vision will offer an immuniza- tion clinic for Farmington and surrounding areas at the Clarenceville United Methodist Church from 9 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, May 10. Immu- nizations for measles, German measles, mumps, polio, diph- theria, tetanus, whooping cough and hemophilus influenza Type B will be available. A parent or legal guardian must accompany a child under 18 years of age. Bring previous records of immunizations, in- cluding notices which might have been sent home from the child's school pertaining to im- munizations. Immunization will be given at the same time and lo- cation on the second Wednesday of every month. For more infor- mation, call (810) 424-7046. Support C.O.P.E., a support group for those having trouble coping with the stress of parenting, is spon- sored by St. Joseph Mercy Hos- pital in Pontiac. The program consists of a 12-week session. Dates and times vary. The pro- gram, coordinated by the hos- pital's child protection team, provides parent education, in- formation and assistance in cop- ing with anger and stress. Call the hospital's patient and fami- ly services department at (810) 858-3020. Volunteers Volunteer positions are available in the waiting rooms of the sur- gical and emergency depart- ments at Oakland General Hospital, Osteopathic in Madi- son Heights. Volunteers will as- sist in communicating with families of patients. Shifts run Monday through Friday. For more information, call volunteer coordinator Joyce Wise at (810) 967-7721 or (810) 967-7024. Professionals The Geriatric Social Workers of Southeast Michigan will be hold- ing its second annual spring con- ference on May 4 at Botsford General Hospital. The subject of the conference is ethics and ag- ing. Keynote speaker is Dr. Leonard Weber of the Ethics In- stitute at the University of De- troit, Mercy. There is a charge. Ethics workshops will be pre- sented from legal, medical and familial perspectives. Profes- sionals who work with older adults are encouraged to attend. Call Carole Boris at (810) 424- 2764 or Chris Korycki at (810) 471-8776. Prostate Crittenton Hospital in Rochester offers a free, self-help support group for men and their families who are coping with prostate cancer. Dr. Patrick McLaughlin, a radiologist, will serve as guest speaker. The program will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, at the hospital. For more infor- mation, call the community health education department at (810) 652-5269. LO -1 CC 63