Tennessee Department of Health report “Cholesterol: Friend and Enemy of Healthy Aging”

Nashville, TN – Whether you’re in your twenties or your sixties, you can reduce your chances of having a stroke or developing heart disease by learning about “bad” and “good” cholesterol. This knowledge isn’t just for “old people;” strokes and heart disease happen to people of all ages.

In Tennessee from 2007 to 2011, some 16,241 people died from stroke; of these, 1,307 or eight percent were under the age of 55. Similarly, from 2007 to 2011 there were 71,625 Tennesseans who died from heart disease; of these, 8,226 or 11.5 percent were under the age of 55. [Read more]

Jenny Craig rated Best Diet; Weight Watchers scores a distant Third

Yonkers, NY – Jenny Craig, the diet program that combines counseling with a portion-controlled regimen of pre-made foods supplemented by home cooked sides, has been designated a Ratings winner by Consumer Reports Health. With an overall score of 85, Jenny Craig easily surpassed the popular Weight Watchers (57) program by nearly 30 points.

The diet Ratings are based on adherence to nutritional guidelines set forth by the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and weight loss and drop-out rates, both short-term and long-term, derived from published clinical trials. And that’s where Jenny Craig excelled. In a 332-person, two-year study of the program published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 92 percent of participants stuck with Jenny Craig for two years, a remarkable level of adherence. As a result, those participants shaved off an average of about 8 percent of their weight. [Read more]