Ashkenazi Jews Should Be Screened for Canavan Disease
By Ilene Springer
Prospective Jewish parents have another disease they should be screened for: Canavan Disease, a fatal genetic childhood disease for which there is no known cure. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that carriers of the disease--primarily Ashkenazi (Eastern European-descent) Jews should be tested for the gene before contemplating pregnancy or during very early pregnancy. As with Tay-Sachs disease, another fatal genetic disorder, screening requires only a small blood sample that is evaluated by a laboratory with expertise in genetic testing and counseling. During pregnancy, testing for the genetic defect can be done with either chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. Canavan disease starts manifesting itself in early infancy with low overall muscle tone and lack of head control. Mental retardation results and speech never develops. Blindness, seizures and severe feeding problems also arise. Many children do not live to reach adolescence. If both parents are carriers of the disease, there is a one-in-four chance that each pregnancy will result in a child with the disease. For more information on the disease and a list of testing sites contact the Canavan Foundation, 600 West 11th Street, New York, NY 10025. 212-316-6488.
Click here: The Canavan Foundation
www.canavanfoundation.org
Shape Matters in Heart Disease Risk
Women whose waists measure more than 30 inches or whose waist and hip measurements are almost the same are in trouble, says Richard Knox writing for the Boston Globe. These women, while not even being necessarily overweight according to the charts, have double or triple the risk of heart disease compared to women with smaller waists, according to a study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The risks of an oversize waist is so significant, say researchers at Brigham and Womenıs Hospital in Boston who conducted the study, say that waist size and waist-to-hip ratio should be considered an independent risk factor for heart disease, just as smoking , elevated cholesterol and inactivity. An expanded waistline indicates that there is excess abdominal fat which may be more metabolically dangerous than other fat in the body, such as in the hips and thighs. Advice: Get out there and reduce that waistline. Exchange an apple shape for that of a pear, which is less risky.
lene Springer writes on health for Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home
Journal, Family Circle and other national magazines. She
lives in Brookline, MA with her husband and two children and
is editor of JewishHealth.com
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