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4A – Daily News – Monday, July 12, 2010 Vitality & health It looks so simple. Football, soccer — whichever you prefer — has captured the attention of the globe with the World Cup. To the untrained eye, kicking a ball around a field looks effortless. For people with no experience who are interested in playing, there's lots to think about: physical fitness, leagues, gear, laws. The level of fitness required shocks some newcomers to the sport, says Jane Nauman, president of the Blue Sky Sports Center, which operates soccer facilities in Texas. "It's a very physically demanding sport," Nauman says. In an indoor game that lasts 90 minutes with no breaks, a soccer player is expected to run the entire time. Larry Hall, president of the North Texas Premier Soccer Association, says he has seen people have heart attacks on the field. It's not common, but it happens because people don't prepare themselves, he says. Bob Black, executive director of the North Texas State Soccer Associa- tion, says soccer players don't have to be good sprinters, but they must have endurance. Players should be able to do any type of strenuous aerobic exer- cise, he says. "Go to your doctor, make sure you're in good shape and can do a lot of running," Black advises. Nauman advises people interested in playing to condition themselves before signing up. Run on a treadmill, run outside — do something, she says. Second, she says, make a choice between indoor and outdoor soccer. While players can substitute in games more frequently in indoor soccer, play never stops. Soccer: You'd better be in shape fitness Nutrition Quiz: All about Vitamin K Clearly, vitamin K needs a new agent. It sim- ply doesn't garner the attention of those media- absorbing nutrients, vita- mins C, D and E. Today, we help rectify that by devoting our quiz to all things K. 1. From which German word does the "K" in vita- min K come? a) Kerngesund b) Koagulation c) Krapfen 2. In addition to pro- moting blood clotting, vit- amin K (according to recent studies) helps pro- tect against what condi- tion in older men? a) Diabetes b) Sciatica c) Gout 3. Which leafy-green vegetable has the highest amount of vitamin K? a) Spinach b) Kale c) Collard greens 4. Which specific pop- ulation group is particu- larly susceptible to vita- min K deficiency? The laws of the game are important to understand as well, Nauman warns. Soccer is a contact sport, and without understanding how to play, you can injure yourself or others, she says. FIFA, the international football associ- ation, lists current laws on fifa.com. After conditioning and learning the laws, the third step is easy: find a league. Recipe for D-ficiency If the sun burned out and all the cows died, pretty soon we'd all be walking around with rickets. Happily, the sun is still shining — that's pretty much a given in this heat — and the pastures are still populated with grazing bovines. But rickets is still making a slight come- back, particularly among infants and young children. The journal Pediatrics estimates 70 percent of American chil- dren are D-ficient. Not to the point of complications but still enough to get the attention of the medical profession. Rickets is just the most obvious of the compli- cations from a vitamin D deficiency, which means that you are getting less than the 400 IU Recommended Daily Allowance, or RDA. That's not much: 20 minutes in the sun produces up to 20,000 IU of D. Other symptoms of vitamin D deficiency occur- ring in young people, adults and seniors include "achy bones, achy joints, muscle fatigue and muscle weakness," says Dr. Steven Joyal, vice president of scientific affairs and medical development for the Life Extension Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "They are somewhat unspecific, but all are signs of a vitamin D deficiency." But wait, there's more. According to the National Insti- tutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements, vitamin D also prevents certain cancers; prevents diabetes, hyperten- sion, glucose intolerance and multiple sclerosis; wards off osteoporosis (with calcium) in older adults and "modulates neuromuscular and immune function and reduction of inflammation" (in other words, colds, fever and flu). There are also studies that indicate D-deficient diets are associated with lactose intolerance and milk allergies. Vitamin D comes to humans in dairy products, fatty fish (salmon, catfish, tuna), broccoli, mushrooms and, mainly, sunshine. That's why it's called "the sunshine vitamin." But over the years, we've reduced our milk intake because of alarms about animal fat, we've cut down on salmon because of mercury levels, and broccoli, parsley and mushrooms, well, "That's what food eats," as one disgruntled 12-year old boy was recently heard to say at the dinner table. And as for that sunshine, just one word: melanoma. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. More than 3.5 million cases in 2 million people are diagnosed each year (melanoma has a tenden- cy to recur if not successfully treated). One in five Americans will develop skin cancer. Each year, there are more new skin-cancer cases than there are cases of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon — combined. The incidence of melanoma is rising faster than any of the seven other leading causes of cancer. One person dies of melanoma every hour. Our educated cultural response has been to shield our vulnerable skin — and all of it is vulnerable — from the sun's rays with sunblock and sunscreens (see sidebar). Those chemicals, even the least expensive ones, are very effective in reducing the amounts of harmful UVA and UVB sunlight that penetrates the skin, some by as much as 97 percent. But there is little argument that those chemicals also reduce the amount of vitamin D that's produced by the skin. Vitamin D production is stimulated when ultraviolet light B — UVB — is absorbed in the skin. But when it's blocked, the production goes down. Professional Personal Convenient • Premium Digital Ask about our Open Fit Technology Discreet and Comfortable Red Bluff Community Center 1500 So. Jackson Wed., July 14, 2010 10:00 am - 3:00 pm 1-800-488-9906 Appointments CALL Limited Hearing Aids for every budget • FREE hearing evaluations • Service/Repair, all makes and models • Batteries & accessories • Preferred provider for most insurance plans: Including PERS, Carpenters, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, etc. • Low monthly payment plan available • Trial Period/ Satisfaction Guaranteed Performed for proper amplification selection only. Dangerously so? "There's a lot of discussion in the med- ical community," Joyal says. Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, director of the Bone Metabo- lism Laboratory at Tufts University, told The Boston Globe that "10 minutes a day of sun exposure to the face and arms without sunblock protection" is enough to trigger vitamin D production without increasing skin-cancer risk. In his book The UV Advantage, Dr. Michael F. Holick at Boston Uni- versity recommends "five to 15 minutes a day a few days a week" of sunlight exposure. The idea is to not overdo it. "A tan is a sign of sun damage; it's the body's reaction to sunlight as it tries to protect the skin from the sun," Joyal says. "The idea of a 'safe tan' is a myth." VETERINARY HOSPITAL welcomes a new addition to our team ANTELOPE Dr Gina Pedersen is a U.C. Davis graduate with training and inter- est in small and large animal medicine and surgery. As she joins us, we are once again able to offer large animal in-house and ambulatory service in addition to our full small animal service. WELCOME DR. PEDERSEN! (530) 527-4522 Sources: www.nal.usda.gov; lpi.oregonstate.edu; tuft- shealthletter.com a) Octogenarians in cold-weather climates b) Bodybuilders who use human growth hor- mone c) Newborns who are breast-fed 5. Adequate intake of vitamin K for adult males is 120 micrograms per day (90 for adult females). How many raw carrots would you have to eat to reach that level? a) 1 b) 9 c) 27 Stress too high? Give it a few years Feeling dissatisfied with your life as you approach middle age? A little worried about life at 50? Here's the good news from a recent study: You've probably hit bottom and you're headed up _ possibly to new heights. An analysis of a 2008 Gallup poll, which surveyed more than 340,000 adults aged 18 to 85, suggests an antidote to feelings of stress and worry. It's not a new car or a new spouse. It's age. Here's what to expect as you get older: In general, feelings of well-being are pretty high among older teenagers, but fall sharply through age 25, meander a bit for 10 years, then drop off again until about age 50. That's when things start looking up. By age 75, you may be feeling like a teenager again, at least in your sense of well-being. It keeps getting better until at least age 85, the study says. To researchers' surprise, the pattern wasn't much affected by unemployment, lack of a partner, children at home or gender — although women tended to score a little lower than men. Researchers also found that stress and anger declined steeply from the early 20s, worry built until middle age and then dropped, and sadness was fairly steady throughout adulthood. But feelings of enjoyment and happiness dropped slightly until the mid 50s, rose to previous highs around age 70 and pretty much stayed there. The study was conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York and published by the Nation- al Academy of Sciences. ANSWERS:1: b (Ger- man for coagulation); 2: a (reduces the risk of insulin resistance); 3: b (1 cup, 1,062 micro- grams); 4: c (human milk is relatively low in vita- min K compared with formula); 5: c