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Health/Fitness

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–All Saints

is a totally tobacco-free organization.

Unless otherwise noted, for information or

to register, please call Community Health

Education at (262) 687-3000.

In Partnership with the Felician Sisters

For a complete listing of all our classes and programs, visit us online at www.wfhealthcare.org/racine.

Breastfeeding: Learn Before

You Return toWork or School

Tuesday, August 14

10:00 am–Noon • Fee: $10

For details or to register, call (262) 687-3000.

Colon Cancer and Early DetectionColon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related

deaths in the United States. Early detection is key.

Join Jack Ohringer, MD, gastroenterologist, and Dean

Tajnai and Tricia Seidler, nurse practitioners, as they

discuss colon cancer, the risk factors, and the importance

of screening and screening options. Registration is required.

Call (262) 687-3000.

Date: Thursday, August 9, 4:00–5:00 pm

Fee: Free

Location: Note Location!

Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group

2408 Four Mile Road, Racine

Baby Sign Language –How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk

Join us for this Baby Signs® Parent Workshop for parents of children from

birth to 24 months. Two decades of research have proven that this program

helps promote positive emotional development, jump starts intellectual

development, helps babies learn to talk and strengthens the parent/infant

bond. Early childhood educators, parent educators, social workers and

health specialists are also welcome. Registration is required. Call 687-3000.

Date: Thursday, August 9, 6:00–7:30 pmFee: Class: $15; Materials: $35Location: Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare–All Saints

Spring Street CampusHealth Pavilion3821 Spring Street, Racine

20037294

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2007 THE JOURNAL TIMES SECTION Bpage editor: Heather Gascoigne

HEALTH AND FITNESS FILE

talk aboutsomething to

tomato power?Shop: Workout clothesThe expert: Fitness expert Jari Love,

creator of the popular “Get Ripped!” series (the most recent workout, “Get Ripped! 1000,” is said to get you burning up to 1,000 calories per session). Love’s Web site is http://www.jarilove.comThe product: workout clothesWhat I want: We’ve moved way beyond

the old torn T-shirt and baggy sweats. I want quality material that’s long-wearing, doesn’t impede movement and is moisture-wicking.I must have: Practicality. Can I wear it

outside the gym as well? And fi t. Some workout clothes are expensive, but remember, the higher the quality of fabric, the better it will wear and the longer it will last through multiple washings. (They’ve come out with some very smart materials like Dupont’s CoolMax and Lycra; the former enhances evaporation and cooling while the latter stretches and then rebounds back into shape.) That being said, more expensive is not necessarily better, so ... shop smart!What I hate: Clothes that don’t

wash or wear well and lose their shape. Tops without a built-in bra.Savvy shopper: I can’t stress enough

getting a good fi t. Workout garb that’s either extreme — too tight or too loose — makes for uncomfortable chafi ng (ouch — especially in the summertime). Also check the seams (rough-edged seams irritate). And shop at the end of the season for the best deals.My pick: Bebe Sport. Not only does the

BeFit fabric wick moisture away from the body and retain fi t, it slims with a two-way stretch and provides maximum mobility (long pants and top, $150).Next best thing: Nike outlet stores

— you can fi nd great-quality Nike clothes for a fraction of the cost. (Pants and tops starting at $29.99 each, at outlet stores.)

— Laurie Squires, special to Newsday

WISCONSIN INSTITUTE OF NATURAL WELLNESS

MASSAGE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE:

Tour the institute and learn about starting a career as a massage therapist. The 700-hour program is state-approved and graduates can sit for the national exam. 4-6 p.m. Aug. 5, Wisconsin Institute of Natural Wellness, 6211 Durand Ave. For more information, call (262) 554-8722.

AURORA HEALTH CARE

Classes are held at the Aurora Wellness Center, 300 McCanna Parkway, Burlington, unless otherwise listed. To register for a class, call toll-free at (800) 499-5736 or (262) 767-7100, unless otherwise listed.

ASTHMA — TAKE CONTROL: Learn what triggers your asthma and the best ways to control it at this free program for persons 14 and older who have asthma. Parents of children who have

More on FITNESS, Page 5B

The fruit is popular, but its power to boost health is not defi nite

BY CHELSEA MARTINEZLos Angeles Times

This just in: Organic tomatoes have more lycopene than conventionally farmed tomatoes. This also just in: Lycopene might not be as healthful as we thought. So goes the bold fi eld of tomato research.As the most frequently consumed produce in America after

potatoes, tomatoes provide vitamins, minerals and fi ber — and, of course, they’re nonfat. Plus, with high levels of the antioxidant lycopene, they’ve been considered a potentially powerful cancer fi ghter.

But even as new research identifi es which growing methods produce the most lycopene-rich tomatoes, the Food and Drug Administration has said the fruit’s health-boosting powers can’t be proved.

In a review published in the July 18 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers at the FDA explain the agency’s 2005 decision not to allow beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt health claims for tomatoes.

The FDA looked at 64 studies of tomatoes and cancer, and 81 studies of lycopene and cancer, and found the majority didn’t make a convincing argument either way. The agency can ban a claim when there is “no credible evidence” published to support it or when stronger evidence contradicts those fi ndings.

But it has strict requirements for what constitutes “credible” evidence, and only a small percentage of the studies fi ts that description.

None of the 81 lycopene studies were judged by the FDA to support the

cancer prevention claims. The studies either used tomato

consumption instead of blood lycopene

levels or they measured these levels only once. Tomato intake can’t

be used to infer lycopene intake,

because the amount in

every tomato varies, depending on how the food has been stored, prepared and consumed.

For starters, different strains of a vegetable or fruit produce different amounts of antioxidants. Lycopene, for example, is not present in green or yellow tomatoes. And if a tomato is cooked and mashed, lycopene is absorbed by the body more readily than if it’s eaten raw and whole. Absorption also improves when the chemical is consumed with fats.

How the tomatoes are grown also might matter. A study published June 23 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that tomatoes grown using organic farming techniques produce more fl avonoids, which have

similar antioxidant properties to lycopene (lycopene is technically a carotenoid, not fl avonoid) than do conventionally farmed tomatoes. Organic tomatoes expend less energy metabolizing nitrogen from fertilizer, and more on making antioxidants, than their conventional counterparts, the researchers said.

Regina Ziegler, a senior investigator in the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, says a study of a lycopene supplement could prove the chemical’s health benefi t. But the National Institutes of Health, which often funds such research, would need strong evidence from small studies before launching such a project, she said.

“You can’t argue that there are things other than tomatoes in tomatoes,” Ziegler says.

If lycopene is just one of several compounds in tomatoes that reduce cancer risk, studies of the fruit itself should be more promising. But of the 64 tomato studies, 25 were rejected by the FDA because they reanalyzed old data or measured chemical biomarkers rather than actual cancer incidence.

The remaining 39 studies looked at nine cancer types, including 13 on prostate cancer, the type for which the lycopene link was fi rst hypothesized. Even for this most well-studied cancer type, only two of the 13 showed a strong preventive effect from tomatoes.

None of the few studies on endometrial, cervical and colorectal cancer indicated a preventive effect for tomatoes. In gastric, pancreatic, prostate and ovarian cancer studies, subjects who ate tomatoes showed slightly lower incidences of cancer recurrence but not in great enough numbers to gain any but the lowest of the FDA’s four strength-of-evidence ratings. “The FDA,” Ziegler says, “is setting the bar very high ... and maybe that’s not incorrect.”

Perhaps studying tomatoes alone narrows the dietary focus too much.

More on TOMATO, Page 5B

Furniture design: A new direction for David Rockwell

New York star-chitect David Rockwell has designed it all: sets for Broadway’s Tony-winning 2002 musical “Hairspray” and the 2000 revival of “The Rocky Horror Show”; Manhattan’s famed fusion restaurant Nobu; and homes, stores, lighting and barware. He is also an Interior Design magazine hall of famer.

And now he has launched his fi rst furniture line.

His Uni Form indoor-outdoor collection for Appoggi includes a contemporary club chair, ottoman and bar stool made of woven recycled nylon fi ber on steel frames. The pieces come in solid white and stripes; a burnt-orange version will be out later this year. Pieces can be ordered now from www.unicahome.com.

The chairs are “not only comfortable to sit in, but to shlump in, to sit back in and relax,” said Rockwell, 51, who created the furniture for the pool area of a planned chain of hotels called Aloft, part of the luxury Starwood Hotels chain.

Annie Groer, The Washington Post