European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Diet recommendations to reduce the risk of cancer by Jane e. Brody new York times Etters from readers indicate Hal Thuro is widespread confusion and concern about Ito relationship Between Diol and cancer. Given the pronouncements that anywhere Tram 30 percent to 70 percent of cancers in this country arc Diot Fola cd. This is not a minor Nutter. Yet a Telephone Survey conducted Early last year among 2,167 adult s for the american cancer society indicated that while eight in 10 americans know Hal a poor diet can cause cancer Only 15 percent of those people had made changes to improve their diets. It is easy to sea Why people Are not sure what to Eal to lower their risk of developing cancer or to Ward off its spread or recurrence. Public health organizations have recommended changes in diello prevent a variety of cancers but periodically the results of new studies seem to Challenge some of those recommendations. For example it has been recommended Hal of reduce your risk of developing certain cancers you should Eal less fat and More Liber vet a recent report found Hal women who reduced the amount of Jat they ate were nol less Likely to develop Beasl cancer and another report depicted certain dietary ii Beis As cancer promoting rather than cancer preventing. Other recommendations have included Ealing More fruits Ami vegetables especially members of the cabbage family and those Rich in Bela carotene Vitamin a and Vitamin a drinking less alcohol Ealing Tower barbecued Salt cured and smoked foods and maintaining a Normal body weight Bui sometimes the very foods suggested As beneficial various fresh trails and vegetables fish and null for a do Rich in vegetable May help prevent cancer. It also reduces the risk of heart disease and obesity. Example have later been denounced As contaminated will cancer causing chemicals. And certain foods condemned by some experts As cancer promoting Coffee and saccharin for example Are regarded As innocuous by other equally qualified experts. And while medical teams conduct studies to assess the ability of various vitamins and minerals to Ward off cancer nutrition specialists warn the Public against treating itself with supplements of the same nutrients. Whal sense can an Ordinary health conscious person make of the sometimes contradictory research findings and advice is it premature to follow the dietary guidelines issued separately by the National Academy of sciences the National cancer Institute and the american cancer society among others is it reasonable and Safe to Lake modes supplements of nutrients like vitamins a c and a Lolic acid and selenium that some experts believe can protect against cancer first it helps to understand the nature healthy habits could lower insurance premiums by Glenn Kramon new York times he Good Driver pays less Lor car insurance. The nonsmoker can find lower Rales on Lile insurance but the employee Wilh Good health habits virtually always pays the same Premium for health insurance As colleagues who smoke drink heavily never exercise ignore Seal bolls and do not Walch their weight or blood pressure. That would change in the United states it insurers conform to a controversial Model regulation Likely to be completed in december by the National association of insurance commissioners Lor use by the states. It would require Hal an insurer s health plan not be certified unless it oilers a discount for healthy habits. The states would not have to adopt the regulation and even in those Hal did an insurer could avoid the Rule by offering an uncertified plan Bui same american insurance officials and executives think this would be a bad mistake. They argue Hal tying premiums to health habits is an idea whose time has come the discounts give insurers and companies an incentive to put pressure on employees to mind their health in a decade when medical costs have soared. And they provide insurers with a powerful marketing Ion in ally acting the most desirable kind of customer the healthy employee group whose medical costs arc lower. Indeed Al least iwo big insurers the travellers corp. And the Prudential insurance co. Have already begun uttering a discount to certain smaller companies and the John Alden life insurance co plans to do so Starling in january Page 16 the stars and stripes meanwhile the insurance commissioner of Delaware and a new Jersey state senator Are pushing their sales to require such economic incentives in All certified plans. But other insurance regulators and executives Aro uncomfortable Wilh the idea. They question whether arbitrary standards for habits such As exercise and alcohol consumption really Aro accurate indicators of How healthy and therefore How expensive an employee will be. They wonder How such habits could be documented Lor insurance purposes and fear higher administrative costs in figuring Oul who qualifies. They also worry that the approach would create an uproar among employees. Those employees not meeting the standards whose premiums would go up to pay for the discounts would Likely resist. Other workers might View the requests for information on their personal habits As discriminatory and intrusive and might even file lawsuits. What s to say that tomorrow you Don l Start discriminating against people who have venereal disease or aids asked Donna de Sanulis of the health insurance association of America which represents health insurers. But David a Levinson the insurance commissioner of Delaware and a leading advocate of such health plans argued that the discounts would Only motivate people to change what they can  he said that conscientious employees have subsidized others for years and Hal has proposed regulation is a matter of Plain  supporters of he new wellness health plans Point to accent studies showing a Strong correlation Between health habits and medical claims for example a study by the Center Lor corporate health promotion inca subsidiary of tin veers. Found saturday october 10,1967 that medical costs of companies whose employees had the worst health habits were $750 a year per employee More than at the Best companies or almost double the Cost. The travellers discount health plan which resulted from such findings oilers 12 percent off the Standard Premium to certain groups of 100 or fewer employee. To qualify the groups answer a questionnaire that covers smoking drinking weight and blood a Ysaura with smoking the most heavily weighted actor. About 2,000 of the 30.000 groups of two to 50 employees insured by travellers have qualified said Michael j. Manley a vice president. The year old program is too new to be evaluated he said but if makes us More competitive in gelling and keeping the business of healthy  a desirable customer. The Prudential plan offers a discount of up to 30 percent to Smalt groups that qualify in such areas a smoking drinking and exercise. Levinson Delaware s insurance commission a. Will soon hold hearings on his proposed slate regulation which formed the basis for the Model being drawn up by the National association. 11 would require the following discounts 10 percent to the nonsmoker 5 percent to the employee who exercises Al 60 percent of his or her maximum heart rate for 20 minutes three times a week 5 percent for consumption of less than one Beer one Glass of we or one 1.5-ounce liquor drink a Day 5 percent to those who have or Are under treatment to maintain blood pressure of 140-90 or less 5 percent to those of desirable weigh As measured by insurance last of body mass or skin foot calculations 5 percent to whom who avoid illegal drugs and 5 percent to xhosa who always Wear seat belts. In new Jersey slalom sen. S. Gerald cardinals a Bergen county Republican has my reduced legislation requiring health Insu ers to develop similar incentive