European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday june 1, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 health & science news Early warning for strokes How Utt round div Tea it Ett Tequ Bott up Bouno Oil it Tot on Navy  by kit a a to tuft Al a Tat ctr Fri w Hwi Start to Kab Ruttjr hot con it Rel Kund wave in in mag thong the Pouw Whf in Loci Iton heavy drinkers run higher risk of often fatal stroke study says Chicago a heavy drinkers can add another item to heir list of reason Tor culling Down on alcohol nearly three times the risk or Hemorrhagic stroke the kind  is most often fatal a new study says. If you re casual Jot. A social Drinker we re not recommending any changes in hat  said Richard p. Donahue a researcher with inc National cart lung and blood Institute in Bethesda my. But if you re a heavy Drinker your risk not Only of stroke but also of. Cancers and death from motor vehicles is higher Donahue said in a Telephone interview. You should get yourself out of that category for a num Ber of reasons and Cut Down on your intake Donahue s comments accompanied a 12-year study on stroke the nation s third leading cause of death behind heart disease and once. The study 0 7.878 hawaiian men appears in the journal of the american medical association. Heavy drinkers those who consume 40 ounces of alcohol a month or the equivalent of slightly More than two Beers per Day were found to have 2.9 times the Chance of non drink ers of having a Hemorrhagic stroke in which a blood vessel in the brain Breaks and bleeds the study found. Subject who reduced their alcohol consumption Low ered their risk for Hemorrhagic stroke significantly the researchers did previously heavy alcohol consumption has been suspected of contributing to a trikes. But the increased risk was thought to occur mostly in people also prone to High blood pressure the researchers said. Subject in this study however had Normal blood pres sure Donihue id. Strokes killed 155,593 americans in 198the last year for which figures Are available did Robert win Izmir a a Ponaman for the National Center for health statistics in Hjal Tivitt. My among the study s subjects 197 of 4,962 Drinker bad i Roket and 93 of 2,916 non drinkers had strokes during the course of the study. About Ore Foi in of the strokes were Hemorrhagic. To compare a Les among groups figures were adjusted for differences such As age blood pressure blood Choles Terol and cigarette smoking the researchers said. After Suliin Imants it drinkers were found to be 3.3 times As Likely As non drinkers to suffer n Hemorrhagic stroke moderate drinkers were 2.5 times As Likely As non drinkers and heavy drinkers were 2.9 times As Likely the researchers found drinkers and non drinkers showed no differences in rates far Thrombi Embolic stroke in which a clot form in a blood vessel in the brain or travels there from another part of the body and gets stuck. Light drinkers were defined As those who consumed less than 14 ounces of alcohol per month or less than the equivalent of five Beers per week. Moderate drinkers were defined As those consuming 15 ounces to 39 ounces of alcohol a month or about five to 15 Beers per week. The study is one of the largest of its kind but Donahue cautioned it is limited by the of dict that All its subjects were men of japanese descent Between i lie Ages of 45 and 74. Uganda admits it has serious outbreak of aids Kampala Uganda up a top official acknowledged for the first time last week that the killer disease aids is wide spread in Uganda and announced Emer gency counter Casuras. Other sources said that in some areas one person in 1,000 already has aids and inc disease is out of control. In an interview with the government owned new vision newspaper. Health min ister or. Ruha Kanga Yugunda conceded Uganda was faced with a serious outbreak led raid it was seeking International help and advice including from the United Stila and the world health organization. La in  a Sigunda said Mak ing the first official acknowledgement that the nation has a major problem with aids. He announced a whole new package of emergency measures to Battle the outbreak rumoured by Independent doctors for months. Without specifying the sum he did Money bad now been allocated for a big couple Campaign including the Purchase of mass screening machinery better data collection and reporting systems and Educa Tion on How to avoid catching the disease which destroys the body s immune system. A special emergency disease surveil Lance committee we set up to Monitor the outbreak and the committee would be contacting the world health organization and the Center for disease control in the United suites. New vision warned of the High Preva Lence of the deadly aids disease in several parts of the country but printed Yugunda s warning against exaggeration of the situation. Yugunda appeared to be referring to the near hysteria in the reportedly worst affected area of the country Rake District 120 Miles Southwest of the ugandan capital of Kampala. Or. Mohammed Bajwa a pakistani missionary doctor operating a clinic in the Rakia District said around one person in 1,000 locally had aids and around four new patients turned up for treatment weekly. He said 500 people had died of the Dis ease in the area in the last in months. He said that figure was u minimum be cause of the Lack of a death registration system and that there was no official aids control program Bajwa painted a horrific picture saying none of the hospitals and clinics in he District had facilities to admit aids patients and almost All were simply sent Home after being Given remedies for the symptoms which include diarrhoea coughing and skin rashes. Everyone Here is simply caught up in an aids hysteria he said. Bajwa said there had been at least one suicide by a despairing aids sufferer in recent weeks and the population was treat ing other sufferers like lepers. Yugunda s comments break a Long silence in Uganda on the extent of the aids outbreak. No official figures have been compiled or released by the ministry of health on its incidence and doctors at the main Kampala hospitals routinely decline to say How Many aids patients Are being treated there. But serious health risks a so cited dirt eating May have benefits experts say Philadelphia a dirt eating a common practice in the Rural american South and around the world May have important medical benefits but could also pose serious health risks researchers said Fri Day. Dirt eating in the american South u most common among Blacks and lie prac Tice might Nave been brought by slaves from Africa where it it also common Aid Donald Vermeer an anthropologist it Louisiana sure unit entity and one of lie pioneers in the study of Geo Hagy u scientists cull the practice. Dirt eating also Ocean among Southern while Tad american Indianu Vermeer mid. Vermeer said at the annual meeting of the american association for the Advance ment of science that in Urban settings Many dirt eaters turn to the consumption of laundry starch or even baking Sod. Some northerner obtain Clay from relatives in the South Vermeer said. Darta Danford of then Tiona research Council in Washington said references to dirt eating go  As far us 300 b.c., in i he writings of Aristotle. Dirt eating occurs in both sexes in All races and in animals As Well As  she said. It is found at All social and economic Levels and in All cultures. For reasons that Vermeer cannot explain dirt eating trains a Little known phenomenon despite in being so widespread. Surprisingly few investigations of the practice have been undertaken Vermeer said. He began studying it 25 years ago when he observed it in West Africa. In parts of Nigeria Clay is mined in Large quantities Aad distributed for Sale in markets All Over West Africa Vanneer said. Most dirt eaten prefer some variety of Clay rather ban land or topsoil. One form of Clay kaolin is apparently used by Many dirt caters in part to control nausea and diarrhoea. Kaolin u a principal constituent of Kappe Clate the commercial anti diarrhoeal medication. Clays have been shown to be Able to re move toxins from lie body. Vermeer speculated that clays eaten in Nigeria Are High in Calcium for example Ana thus their fre quent use by pregnant women could be a Way of adding Calcium to the diet in a re Gion where milk an important source of cd Vium is not consumed. Timothy Johns of the University of Cali fornia in Berkeley reported Clay is eaten in combination with wild poisonous potatoes by indians in the Central Andes of South America and in the southwestern United states. The Clay removes the toxic substances called Glyco alkaloids from the digestive system before they can cause illness Johns Laid. Dan fond warned however that dirt eat ing can Lead to severe growth retardation anaemia and even death. Certain soils can Combine with minerals in the diet in such a Way that the minerals cannot be absorbed by the body she said. Iron deficiencies can then cause Frnia for example and Zinc deficiency can pro Duce growth retardation. She described u Geo magic syndrome that can be caused by dirt eating. The syn drome is marked by growth retardation delayed sexual maturity and liver and spleen enlargement she said. Clay also can Block the intestines a condition thai can be fatal Danford said Vermeer said no evidence Eijiu tint Normal consumption of clays in the Ameri can South is either beneficial or  dirt eating in the South occurs in Small Rural communities that have their own local sources at Clay. Many of these sources Are in Roadside Banks of Clay that have been exposed by Road building. Continual excavation undermines the Road Bank Var Mech said. In Alabama he damage to Roa Banks in some places has been so extensive that the Highway depart ment Hal posted Titu requesting local Resi dents not to dig into the  Vermeer said dirt eating is especially prevalent in pregnant women. In both the South and West Africa an ill defined craving for Cluny b taken to be the first evidence of pregnancy Vanneer said