MATURE MARKET HEADLINES POSTED 03/13/98
Ostriches Dying to Meat Healthy Dieters
Most people hope to live a long, long time. But that takes some doing. And diet is just one of the many factors that help people reach a ripe old age. The quest for the perfect health food has led to some interesting dietary habits. Here's the latest.
Ostrich meat is now labeled as "The Original Healthy Red Meat" because it is lower in fat, cholesterol, and calories than skinless chicken or turkey. That's good news for you, the chickens, and the turkeys. Bad news for ostriches. The American Heart Association, along with their counterparts in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Japan, China, and France all agree that ostrich meat is a healthy addition to almost every diet. Increasing numbers of doctors, cardiologists, dietitians, nutritionists, and others involved promoting a healthy lifestyle are recommending the benefits of ostrich meat because it's 99% fat free, says Ostriches On Line owner, Steve Warrington.
"All our ostriches are fed a diet of natural alfalfa and corn feed, and because they are hormone and steroid-free, they are one of the few major food sources not to be tainted by biochemical additives." Ostriches On Line has offices in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Manchester, England. The company imports and exports ostrich products to 85 countries with the help of their internet website at: www.ostrichesonline.com.
"With many people looking for a high protein, low calorie, low cholesterol, and virtually fat free diet", says Warrington, "this is one product that they can introduce into their daily lifestyle with total confidence".
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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New UI Treatment Helps 11Million Women
Eleven million American women suffer from urinary incontinence, according to the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Stress Incontinence is the most common type, affecting 25 percent of women age 30 to 59. Stress incontinence occurs when damaged pelvic muscles cause the bladder to leak during exercise, coughing, sneezing, or any body movement that puts pressure on the bladder.
Fifty percent of the elderly living at home or in long-term care facilities are incontinent. Approximately 80 percent of those affected by incontinence can be cured or improved. Treatment options range from simple changes in diet or medication to a combination of drugs, behavioral modification, pelvic muscle exercise, absorbent products, surgery, and collagen injections. Thanks to Bard Urological, a division of C.R. Bard Inc, there's yet another effective treatment, the new CapSure Continence Shield (CCS).
The Capsure Shield is a simple, patient-administered, external device that helps prevent accidental urine leakage caused by stress incontinence. Studies demonstrate that eight out of 10 women using the CapSure Shield remained dry with the device in place, despite the fact that more than 90 percent entered the study with moderate or severe incontinence.
The CCS is a small, nipple-shaped continence shield that works by creating a mild vacuum over the urethral opening. Its unique design helps maintain urine in the bladder until to patient removes it to void the bladder. Even with this new treatment, there is one major obstacle yet to be overcome, patient embarrassment.
Despite the high rate of success in treating incontinence, only one-in-12 people affected seeks medical help. Even then, most wait an average of three years before discussing their condition with their physician.
See AgeVenture archives for related articles:
Embarrassment Is Major Medical Problem
Debunking Common Myths About UI
Five Most Embarrassing Health Issues
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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One-in-Four Hospital Operations Unnecessary
Twenty-five percent of all hospital operations are unnecessary, according to a special report by Sue Ellen Browder in the March issue of New Choices magazine. In particular, the majority of back surgeries, coronary bypasses, and hysterectomies are simply overkill, neglecting far more routine treatments. The statistics are rather alarming. For example, consider the controversy surrounding back surgery.
UNNECESSARY BACK SURGERY
can actually cause back pain, says one physician. Another physician speculates that only as few as 4-in-100,000 back surgeries are necessary. In fact, those who don't follow-through with the surgery get along about as well as those who do. "The overwhelming majority of people who have a herniated disk get better without surgery in an average of about six weeks."
UNNECESSARY HYSTERECTOMIES
are also a problem. Before a women reaches age 60, she has a 1-in-3 chance of having her uterus removed. 90% of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed each year are not necessary. The surgery is done to "cure" benign conditions such as pelvic pain, irregular bleeding, or fibroids. Since these conditions can nearly always be treated by less radical means, hysterectomy in such cases is medical overkill. One gynecologist believes that "treating a benign pelvic disease with a hysterectomy is like treating a mild headache with decapitation".
CORONARY BYPASS SURGERY
is so overused, some doctors call it the "male version of a hysterectomy". There's no question that surgeons perform far too many bypasses. Between 1980 and 1993, the number of men over age 45 who had coronary bypass surgery skyrocketed from 99,000 annually to 335,000 annually.
These alarming trends in unnecessary surgeries should make the average health consumer think twice. Maybe you don't really need that operation. But if you and your doctor decide to go ahead with the surgery anyway, perhaps there is one procedure that you both need to consider ... have your head examined.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Florida's Retirement Industry Tops $70 Billion
Florida's retirement industry is second only to that state's tourist industry, which accounts for $42 billion annually. However, if you combine retiree spending ($37 billion) with spending generated by the retirement industry ($37 billion), then you have to conclude that Florida's major industry is Aging.
According to a recent research project conducted by the Orlando-based Fishkind & Associates and commissioned by The Villages of Lake/Sumter Inc, Florida attracts 2.65 million retired residents who have a $70 billion impact on the state's economy. The retirement industry, says the new study, currently accounts for 20 percent of all the jobs in the state.
The research shows that 1.34 million Florida jobs have been created by companies that have opened a new business in the state, or expanded an already-existing one, to serve Florida's retirees. Of the 1.46 million retiree residences in Florida, each spend an average of $25,000 per household. If that sounds good for Florida's economy, there's even better news.
Retirees don't have school-age children, tend to use public roads less, have a smaller demand on municipal services, and usually have adequate health and property insurance. This means retirees don't make the same demands on tax-supported services that younger residents do.
However, taxes paid by retirees each year add an extra $1.04 billion to public school revenues in Florida's 67 counties and more than $258 million to the counties' general tax revenues. That reduces taxes in non-retiree households by $260 each year. The sponsor of this study, The Villages of Lake/Sumter Inc is an active retirement community of 17,000 residents in Florida's Lake, Sumter, and Marion counties.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Tax Law Windfall for Boomer Homeowners
Many homeowners are set to sell their homes in 1998 in order to take advantage of the new Taxpayer Relief Act, says Rita McNeil, a certified residential specialist.
This trend comes as homeowners take advantage of this new law that allows married taxpayers filing a joint return to exclude up to $500,000 of gain on the sale of their principal residence. Single taxpayers can exclude up to $250,000 of gain. In order to qualify for the exclusion, homeowners must have lived in and used the home as their primary residence for two of the past five years.
McNeil says "Today's homeowners are allowed to take the exclusion once every two years, unlike the previous law, which granted a once-in-a-lifetime $125,000 exclusion on capital gains to homeowners 55 or older". The Residential Sales Council (RSC), a 42,000 member national organization, explains that sellers do not have to worry about the rollover rules and can decide to purchase more modest homes.
The extra revenue can be invested in retirement funds, used to cover living expenses, take a vacation or spend however they like. "The new law allows consumers to buy a home to meet their lifestyle, rather than changing their lifestyle to buy a new home," says the RSC.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Science Continues to Drive Wellness Boom
Its been nearly four years since Tufts University researchers literally turned back the clock for 40 female research subjects. Although the study focused on the effects of strength conditioning on bone density, the research subjects reported increased energy, confidence, and improved body composition.
Under the direction of Dr. Miriam Nelson, the forty healthy, but sedentary, postmenopausal women (who were not taking hormones) were invited to participate in twice weekly, 40-minute weight lifting sessions, with remarkable results.
"After one year, the women's bodies were 15 to 20 years more youthful. They actually gained bone at an age when women typically lose bone," said Dr. Nelson. As recently as the early 1980's, it was commonly believed in the scientific community that as a person aged, the loss of muscle, bone, and strength was inevitable and irreversible. Time and research seems to have changed all that.
As a result, mature market watchers can expect continued growth in the health and fitness industries. Growth that's fueled by studies such as the Tufts breakthrough. And consumers can expect greater scientific accuracy in the media's coverage of this wellness revolution, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFICF).
The IFICF recently completed an analysis of media coverage of food and nutrition. Their survey of last year's wellness coverage in the media found increasing use of academic sources by the news reporters, resulting in greater scientific accuracy in wellness news.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Dr. David Demko, Editor
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