in this morning's paper, the headline "20 things we could do to be 
healthier" caught my eye. I expected breastfeeding promotion, education, and 
support would be at the top of the list. it wasn't even on the list:
20 things we could do to be healthier

By Frank Greve

WASHINGTON - What preventive measures would keep us healthiest for the least 
money?

Former Surgeon General David Satcher led an alliance of health insurers, 
state health departments, academics and trade groups as they tried to answer 
that question by reviewing more than 8,000 preventive-medicine studies.

Below are their top 20 preventive measures in order of rank. Preventive 
measures that are ignored by more than half of those who would benefit from 
them are indicated by asterisks.

1. Daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks and stroke in men older than 40 
and women older than 50.*

2. Childhood immunizations for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, 
mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, etc.

3. Tobacco-use screening and brief counseling by doctors.*

4. Routine colorectal-cancer screening for adults 50 and older by any 
recognized method.*

5. Hypertension screening via routine blood-pressure tests and medication if 
necessary.

6. Annual flu shots for adults 50 and older.

7. Immunization of adults 65 and older against bacteria that cause pneumonia 
and related diseases.*

8. Screening of problem drinkers and brief counseling by doctors.*

9. Vision screening for adults 65 and older.*

10. Cervical-cancer screening for sexually active women and women older than 
21.

11. Cholesterol screening for men 35 and older and women 45 and older.

12. Routine breast-cancer screening for women 50 and older, and discussion 
with women ages 40 to 49 to set an age to begin screening.

13. Routine chlamydia screening for sexually active women younger than 25.*

14. Calcium-supplement counseling for adolescent girls and women.

15. Vision screening for children younger than 5.

16. Routine folic-acid-supplement counseling for women of childbearing age 
to prevent birth defects.

17. Obesity screening for adults and high-intensity diet and exercise 
counseling for the obese.

18. Depression screening for adults.

19. Hearing-impairment screening for adults 65 and older.

20. Promotion of child-safety measures such as car seats, pool fences, 
bicycle helmets, poison control and curbs on scalding-water burns.

for the rest of the article 
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003001893_health18.html

vision screening for kids <5; make sure women who could become pregnant know 
to take folic acid; put the children in car seats.... but nothing about 
breastfeeding!! when I went to the website http://prevent.org/nccp I 
couldn't find anything at all about breastfeeding.

if anyone wants to send a letter about it, the email address is 
[log in to unmask]

vicki hayes rn ibclc in wa

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