European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A amps Gus sch Gottlef despite the ready availability of fitness centers fewer than 10 percent of americans exercise even three times a week holidays no excuse to Slack off on fitness by Gina Kolata the new York times y sister s Friend has a diet posted on her refrigerator. It goes something like this breakfast ones ice of dry Toast one half Grapefruit. Lunch three ounces of Chicken breastbone half cup of Green Beans one oreo cookie. Afternoon snack the rest of the Box of oreo cookies. Those who get the joke know exactly How a carefully planned diet can disintegrate especially during the dangerous Holiday season. But it s not just the holidays. Flab and torpor Are year round problems for Many americans. Despite the Boom in running shoes and health clubs and Low fat Yogurt the percentage of americans who Are overweight is actually higher now than five years ago. Now As then Only a tiny percentage exercise. Being overweight is a problem that inspires countless new year s resolutions of course and one that is seized upon by people who run diet programs and Rie Alth clubs the National health club association says january is the month when memberships soar. The calorie control Council a diet food Industry group says a 5 million adult americans go on diets after the holidays. But Why should we have so much trouble staying fit after All Many americans have quit smoking the National Center for health statistics says the percentage of americans who smoke dropped from 40 in 1965 to 26 in 1991and smoking is supposed to be one of the hardest habits to break. But the National Center for health statistics says the percentage of overweight americans has increased. Surveys from 1976 until 1980 found a Quarter of americans overweight defined As 20 percent or More above desirable weights. The most recent data from 1988 to 1991, show that one third Are overweight. Yet the calorie control Council says that 152 million adult americans or eight out of to Are eating Low calorie sugar free or reduced fat foods up from 141 million two years ago. The. Conclusion is inescapable buying reduced calorie foods is not making n _ to one has a Good answer for Why americans Are fatter than before but there Are Many hypotheses. People thin. Neither is exercise. It s not that Low calorie foods and exercise Don t work. It s that people Don t work at least not hard enough and they kid themselves. They think Low fat Granola in the morning entitles them to French Fries at noon and that walking around the Block makes up for driving to the pizza parlor. Despite the proliferation of health clubs w Ith Ever More sophisticated computer controlled equipment fewer than 10 percent of americans exercise even three times a week. No one has a Good answer for Why americans Are fatter than before but there Are Many hypotheses. One possibility said or. Susan Schiffman a weight control researcher at Duke University is that fat tastes so Good because it actually is addictive eliciting brain chemicals that act like heroin. The More fat you have the More you crave. On the other hand maybe part of the problem is the diet and exercise ideals that Are promoted to us. Quot we Are promoting As an Ideal a diet lower and lower in fat and More and More exercise for weight control Quot said or. Adam Drewnowski a nutritionist at the University of Michigan. Americans now eat 37 percent of their calories As fat Down slightly from a decade ago. But Many diets Call for As Little As 10 percent of their calories As fat. Exercise is promoted for weight control but zealots keep calling for More exercise although experts say the percentage of americans who work out is no higher now than several years ago. Drewnowski said Quot the message of responsible nutrition has always been moderation and  that May not get overweight and under exercised americans to change their ways but neither he argued has glorifying extremes. Drewnowski said that there is one group that follows All the extreme diet and exercise advice. It exercises strenuously. It eats Little or no fat. Unlike Many americans men typically list their favorite foods As Steak hamburger and nachos women say cookies ice Cream and Candy this group devours foods like Brown Rice Green Beans and asparagus. The problem is that these diet and exercise paragons Are anorexic  they Drewnowski added Are advised to see  wondering the color of bruises roots of Nicot inic acid by the new York times a Why Are Black eyes Black and Why do bruises change color it a blood released from capillaries and trapped under the skin and breakdown products of haemoglobin in the blood Are chiefly responsible for the coloration of Black eyes and other bruises said Elaine w. Gunter of the National health and nutrition examination Survey lab of the centers for disease control and prevention in Atlanta. In the Case of Black eyes she said the blood is never realty Black but dark purple and Green. The color of the pooled blood is magnified by the Loose and transparent skin around the eyes making a Bruise there Darker than it is on other parts of the body. The chemicals mainly responsible for the changing colors of bruises Are a series of products of the breakdown of haemoglobin the oxygen carrying compound in red blood cells she said. An important one is Bil Verdin which is Green. The oxygen carrying pigment myoglobin from bruised Muscles May add to the purple color. The timing of the breakdown and the mixing of colors Are not fully predictable although it is Safe to conclude a Bruise with yellow is More than 18 hours old. A  acid have anything to do with nicotine if eggplant contains it is it Safe to eat eggplant it a it is Safe to eat eggplant and you will probably want to add some lean meat whole grains nuts dried Beans or soybeans to be sure you Are getting enough Nicot inic acid said or. Rodney r. Dieted professor of immunogenetics and director of the Institute for comparative and environmental toxicology at Cornell University in Ithaca . Nicot inic acid is just another name for the acidic form of niacin or Vitamin b3, he said and a deficiency causes pellagra a disease that is now rare in the United states because of niacin enriched foods. Symptoms of advanced pellagra include skin lesions diarrhoea and mental aberrations. Nicot inic acid is not the same As nicotine though they May have some chemical groups in common he said. It is found in Trace amounts in All plants and plays an essential role in the activity of various enzymes involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates. It is used As a drug to reduce cholesterol and to treat some genetic defects that cause problems with excess lipids or fats in circulation in the blood Stream. One of these diseases is called . Quot there Are no data on the toxicity of niacin Quot Dietert said. Quot it is pretty Safe but can cause uncomfortable reactions in some people. Different people have different sensitivities. Skin changes like reddening Flushing etc., would be the first signal that someone had taken an unhelpful  tuesday december 21, 1993 the stars and stripes