Bombshell blonds, buxom brunettes and fiery redheads--that's what most associate with these hair colors, right? But what about eye problems, nicotine addiction or Parkinson's disease? Your natural hair color could give insight into what to watch out for in your health.

You may have been told you’re easy on the eyes, blonds, but the eyes you really need to be easy on is your own. Ladies with lighter locks are more likely to experience an eye condition known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In some cases, AMD can lead to blindness. The good news? Eating foods rich in vitamins such as lutein can help boost eye health.

As for you brunettes out there, steer clear of cigarettes because the extra melanin—the compound responsible for your dark hair and complexion—in your system makes it easier for you to get hooked on nicotine. According to Gray, increasing your vitamin C intake can help curb the craving.

Fiery redheads tend to be more resistant to anesthetics. Talking to your doc about additional pain management or popping an ibuprofen pre-operation can help minimize pain. Redheaded women are also more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.

Keep in mind that your hair color might increase the likelihood of developing certain conditions, but it doesn’t set anything in stone. Other factors such as genetics and leading a healthy lifestyle make a difference, regardless of your hair color.

Check out MSNBC to get the full story and learn more about the health risks associated with your hair color.

Do you suffer from recurring sinus problems? If so, a friend's cigarette could be to blame. Two out of five cases of chronic sinusitis may be due to exposure to secondhand smoke.

Sinusitis occurs when the sinuses become swollen or infected. According to Mayo Clinic, sinusitis is usually the result of a cold, allergies or other nasal problems, and can easily be treated with antibiotics, heat (to relieve sinus pressure) or a variety of over-the counter medications.

When the condition persists for more than eight weeks or recurs frequently, this is known as chronic sinusitis. Secondhand smoke contains over 50 known carcinogens; these chemicals can also cause heart problems, asthma attacks and nasal irritation.

Researchers from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, recruited 612 non-smokers to participate in a study investigating the relationship of secondhand smoke (SHS) and its source to chronic sinusitis. All had been exposed to SHS for five years prior to the study, and half had been diagnosed with chronic sinusitis (CRS).

Researchers focused on four locations where participants were primarily exposed—home, work, public places and social functions. All showed a marked relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and incidence of chronic sinusitis, especially at social functions (51 percent) and in public places (90 percent).

Although levels of exposure were significantly lower for nonsmokers who had not been diagnosed with chronic sinusitis, study co-author Amanda Holm, MPH, says even modest levels of exposure carry risk.

"The poisons found in secondhand smoke are quite an irritant to the sinus and nasal passages and are a major contributor to the development of rhinosinusitis," Holm said in a press release. “"Our findings reaffirm the health hazards of secondhand smoke."

Visit Mayo Clinic to learn more about chronic sinusitis, or learn more about Holm’s study in The Archives of Otolaryngology.

Smoking, heavy drinking, a poor diet, and too much time spent on the couch are bad for your health, but they may also be taking years off your life. These four bad habits could actually be causing your body to age up to 12 years, research suggests.

Nearly 4,900 men and women age 18 or older were randomly chosen to participate in a University of Oslo study examining the effects of certain habits—smoking, excessive alcohol consumption (3 or more drinks for men, and two or more for women), getting less than 2 hours of exercise per week, and not eating well (specifically, not enough fruits and vegetables).

The study began in 1985, and followed participants for 20 years, checking death certificates and doing follow-ups. Of the 314 participants who had all four habits, almost one-third died over the duration of the study, while less than 10 percent of the 387 people who had none passed away.

Heart disease and cancer topped the list for cause-of-death for people who had a combination of these habits, while the health of those still living was “equivalent to being 12 years older” than their healthier counterparts.

Lead researcher Elizabeth Kvaavik thinks these findings may be the extra incentive some people need to improve their lifestyles.

"You don't need to be extreme to be in the healthy category,” Kvaavik said in a news piece by MSNBC. "These (healthy) behaviors add up, so together it's quite good…It should be possible for most people to manage."

Kvaavik and her colleagues acknowledge that changing these habits may not be easy, but that they pay off.

“The combined effect of poor health behaviors on mortality was substantial, indicating that modest, but sustained, improvements to diet and lifestyle could have significant public health benefits,” authors of the study concluded.

Visit the Archives of Internal Medicine to read more on the study.

Controversy is brewing over K2, a "drug" similar to pot. Prior to its ban last week in Kansas and another county in Missouri, the drug was completely legal in all 50 states. Now there is debate over the dangers involved with its use.

K2—sometimes called “genie” or “Zohai”—is a substance chemically similar to pot. Its key ingredient, JWH-018, is a synthetic cannabinoid that mimics marijuana’s euphoria-causing agent THC.

Clemson University chemist John W. Huffman developed the chemical in 1995 for purely experimental purposes, but its legitimacy and availability made it a popular alternative to marijuana.

The chemical is sprayed on herbs and sold as an incense called “spice”, but is more often smoked to get high—JWH can be up to five times more potent than marijuana.

Little is known about the actual effects of the drug, but some users have reported hallucinations, vomiting and high blood pressure. Others say it’s one of the best highs they’ve ever experienced. The drug is unregulated, which may explain why some users have experienced adverse effects. You can never be sure of what you’ll get.

Legislators and concerned parents continue to squabble about its legitimacy, but for now it’s still legal in most states. Huffman told The Observer he’s just surprised it didn’t catch on sooner.

"I've come to the conclusion,” he says, “that if an enterprising person wants to find a new way to get high, they're going to do it."

The bottom line is that more investigation is needed to determine the effects of the drug’s use. Read the original article on K2 in Newsweek, or see Huffman’s interview in The Observer.

Current unemployment rates stand at nearly 10 percent, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this number to continue to rise. While this has been the cause of serious worry among the labor force, there may also be a reason to celebrate. A poor economy appears to add years to a person’s life expectancy, according to research from the University of Michigan.

Communities are finally starting to see payoff from bans on public smoking. The bans, which prohibit smoking in restaurants, health facilities, and businesses, correspond with a decline in the rate of heart attacks.

Information comes from a recent study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. The study is a compilation of nine previously published research articles on the topic. The study notes a decrease in the risk of AMI (acute myocardial infarction), another name for a heart attack.

“The risk of AMI falls rapidly after smoking cessation,” wrote study authors James M. Lightwood, Ph. D, and Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D. And even those who never light up themselves benefit. “The effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) on many biological mediators that lead to heart disease occur rapidly and are nearly as large as those of smoking.”

Research showed an estimated 15 percent decline in the incidence of heart attacks in the first year of smoking bans alone. Three years following enforcement of the laws saw an even greater decline, roughly 36 percent, with a 40 percent drop in Montana.

Research from five European countries that have adopted similar policies was also examined in this study. Heart attack rates fell a full 11 percent in just two months following a ban on smoking in Italy. Similar statistics were found in Ireland.    

“Secondhand smoke (SHS) increases the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) by 25% to 31% (1–5),” researchers^* from the Kansas University School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiovascular Diseases write. “In countries where smoking prevalence is high, for example, Britain 50%, Europe 62%, and Greece 156%, versus 22% in the U.S., AMI in nonsmokers is particularly increased.”

Individuals who ceased smoking after the laws went into effect were not accounted for, and most of the statistics come from restaurant workers. Although this somewhat limits the data, researchers believe rates are underestimated and expect this trend to continue exponentially as more legislation goes into effect.

Authors of the study write, “Passage of strong smoke-free legislation produces rapid and substantial benefits in terms of reduced AMIs and that these benefits grow with time.”

*David G. Meyers, M.D, M.Ph.; John S. Neuberger, DRPH, M.Ph.; M.B.A., and Jianghua He, Ph.D

Stressing about losing your job may cause more harm than actual job loss. More than 1,700 participants in the American’s Changing Lives (ACL) and the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) studies were asked: How likely is it that during the next couple of years you will involuntarily lose your job? Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California wanted to find the effects of job insecurity on employee health.

"It may seem surprising that chronically high job-insecurity is more strongly linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment," says Sarah Burgard, lead author of the study and research assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Sociology and School of Public Health, "but there are a number of reasons why this is the case.”

The states with the highest smoking rates are mostly located in the Southern United States. On April 1st, the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes was raised from the 39 cents to $1.01 per-pack. This tax will exert a larger toll among the states listed below.  

In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Office on Smoking and Health released a report ranking states by smoking prevalence. The goal of this report was to highlight the importance of tobacco control programs and to encourage smoking cessation. For the purposes of this report, current smokers were defined as adults who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes and who currently smoked every day or some days.  The latest data available are from 2004 and states were ranked in ascending order, meaning that the state ranked 50th had the highest smoking prevalence rate.

The top 10 states ranked in order of highest smoking prevalence are:

1.    Kentucky (ranked 50th out of 50)
2.    West Virginia (49)
3.    Tennessee (47)
4.    Oklahoma (47)
5.    Ohio (46)
6.    Arkansas (45)
7.    Indiana (44)
8.    Alabama (42)
9.    Alaska (42)
10.  Mississippi (41)

Have a good tip for quitting smoking or looking for help? Join Healia's support group for quitting smoking.

Source:  CDC, Sustaining State Programs for Tobacco Control Data Highlights 2006.


_{Photo: Qfamily, Flickr, Creative Commons}

In February of this year, President Obama signed into law an expansion of the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to help provide health insurance for uninsured children. The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 will be funded by a significant increase in the federal tax for cigarettes. The new taxes go into effect on April 1 and will raise the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes from the current 39 cents to $1.01 per-pack. Public health experts predict that the new tax may result in as many as 1 million U.S. smokers quitting.

With the tax hike, smoking will become a very expensive, in addition to be being a deadly, habit. According to the American Cancer Society, about 443,000 people in the United States die every year from smoking-related illnesses. This death toll is more than the numbers of deaths from alcohol, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined.

President Obama, a cigarette smoker himself, has been trying to quit according to recent news reports.

Interested in quitting smoking before the new federal taxes kick in? Try the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services new website for quitting or call their hotline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. You can also try posting your questions on the online support group for smoking on Healia Communities.

_{Photo: gruntzooki, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Deaths due to cigarette smoking have declined since the 1960s thanks to a parallel decline in smoking rates. When the Surgeon General first reported that smoking may be hazardous to your health in 1964, about 42 percent of American adults smoked. The most recent data available show that this rate has now dropped below twenty percent (19.8%) for the first time on record. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs report shows that overall death rates from smoking declined in all but one state (Oklahoma) between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004. Below is a list of the states with the lowest rates of smoking-related deaths, followed in parentheses by the smoking-attributable death rate per 100,000 residents and the percent change in that death rate between 1996-1999 and 2000-2004.

The top 10 states with the lowest rates of smoking-related deaths for 2000-2004 are:

1. Utah (138.3 deaths per 100,000 residents, -11.0% change)
2. Hawaii (167.6, -28.0%)
3. Minnesota (215.1, -14.4%)
4. North Dakota (225.6, -10.9%)
5. New Mexico (234, -21.1%)
6. California (235, -37.8%)
7. Nebraska (235.8, -25.9%)
8. Idaho (237.4, -21.5%)
9. Colorado (237.6, -24.3%)
10. Connecticut (238.3, -18.4%)

To find out more about lung diseases related to smoking, visit the Healia Health Community for Lung Diseases. Find help and support to quit smoking at the Healia Health Community for Smoking.

_{Source: Adhikari B et al "State-specific smoking-attributable mortality and years of potential life lost-United States 2000-2004" MMWR 2009; 58:29-33. http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5802a2.htm}

Photo: Paraflyer, Flickr, Creative Commons