PREPARING FISH—A fishmonger prepares fish for a client in a market in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

by Marilyn Marchione

AP Chief Medical Writer

Pour on the olive oil, preferably over fish and vegetables: One of the longest and most scientific tests of a Mediterranean diet suggests this style of eating can cut the chance of suffering heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them.

The study lasted five years and involved about 7,500 people in Spain. Those who ate Mediterranean-style with lots of olive oil or nuts had a 30 percent lower risk of major cardiovascular problems compared to those who were told to follow a low-fat diet but who in reality, didn't cut fat very much. Mediterranean meant lots of fruit, fish, chicken, beans, tomato sauce, salads, and wine and little baked goods and pastries.

Mediterranean diets have long been touted as heart-healthy, but that's based on observational studies that can't prove the point. The new research is much stronger because people were assigned diets to follow for a long time and carefully monitored. Doctors even did lab tests to verify that the Mediterranean diet folks were consuming more olive oil or nuts as recommended.

Most of these people were taking medicines for high cholesterol and blood pressure, and researchers did not alter those proven treatments, said one study leader, Dr. Ramon Estruch of Hospital Clinic in Barcelona.

But as a first step to prevent heart problems, "we think diet is better than a drug" because it has few if any side effects, Estruch said. "Diet works."

Results were published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine and were discussed at a nutrition conference in Loma Linda, Calif.

People in the study were not given rigid menus or calorie goals because weight loss was not the aim. That could be why they found the "diets" easy to stick with — only about 7 percent dropped out within two years. There were twice as many dropouts in the low-fat group than among those eating Mediterranean-style.

Researchers also provided the nuts and olive oil, so it didn't cost participants anything to use these relatively pricey ingredients.  The type of oil may have mattered — they used extra-virgin olive oil, which is minimally processed and richer than regular or light olive oil in the chemicals and nutrients that earlier studies have suggested are beneficial.

The study involved people ages 55 to 80, just over half of them women. All were free of heart disease at the start but were at high risk for it because of health problems — half had diabetes and most were overweight and had high cholesterol and blood pressure.

They were assigned to one of three groups: Two followed a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either extra-virgin olive oil (4 tablespoons a day) or with walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds (a fistful a day). The third group was urged to eat a low-fat diet heavy on bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, fruits, vegetables and fish and light on baked goods, nuts, oils and red meat.

Independent monitors stopped the study after nearly five years when they saw fewer problems in the two groups on Mediterranean diets.

Doctors tracked a composite of heart attacks, strokes or heart-related deaths. There were 96 of these in the Mediterranean-olive oil group, 83 in the Mediterranean-nut group and 109 in the low-fat group.

Looked at individually, stroke was the only problem where type of diet made a big difference. Diet had no effect on death rates overall.

The Mediterranean diet proved better even though its followers ate about  200 calories more per day than the low-fat group did. The study leaders now are analyzing how each of the diets affected weight gain or loss and body mass index.

The Spanish government's health research agency initiated and paid for the study, and foods were supplied by olive oil and nut producers in Spain and the California Walnut Commission. Many of the authors have extensive financial ties to food, wine and other industry groups but said the sponsors had no role in designing the study or analyzing and reporting its results.

Rachel Johnson, a University of Vermont professor who heads the American Heart Association's nutrition committee, said the study is very strong because of the lab tests to verify oil and nut consumption and because researchers tracked actual heart attacks, strokes and deaths — not just changes in risk factors such as high cholesterol.

"At the end of the day, what we care about is whether or not disease develops," she said. "It's an important study."

Rena Wing, a weight-loss expert at Brown University, noted that researchers provided the oil and nuts, and said "it's not clear if people could get the same results from self-designed Mediterranean diets" — or if Americans would stick to them more than Europeans who are used to such foods.

Dr. George Bray of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said he would give the study "a positive — even glowing — comment" and called it "the best and certainly one of the largest prospective dietary trials ever done."

"The data are sufficiently strong to convince me to move my dietary pattern closer to the Mediterranean Diet that they outline," he added.

Another independent expert also praised the study as evidence diet can lower heart risks.

"The risk reduction is close to that achieved with statins," cholesterol-lowering drugs, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a diet and heart disease expert at the University of Colorado.

"But this study was not carried out or intended to compare diet to statins or blood pressure medicines," he warned. "I don't think people should think now they can quit taking their medicines."

Online:

Journal: http://www.nejm.org

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

The Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild announces its latest exhibit, “Topographies,” which features art by renowned artist Barbara Sorensen. The exhibit will be on display from Jan. 22 to March 15 in MCG’s Connie Kerr Gallery.
Rooted in clay, Barbara Sorensen is known for monumental sculptural installations that draw on geological formations and classical elements. While she works with a variety of media, including metals, resisns and experimental mixed-media prints, this exhibit focuses on her ceramic work. Sorensen’s artist statement reads, “I instinctively respond to the form, surface and texture of the Earth, echoing them in my work. I look at the landscape, interpret and reinterpret it, processing it within, and give it back, transformed.”
Sorensen discovered clay, an ideal medium for her interest in textural plasticity, as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. She later worked with notable ceramic artists such as Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, Don Reitz and Rudy Autio, who she considers mentors. Today, in her Colorado and Florida studios, she continues to evolve and expand her concerns in the series of works that explore her enduring interests: the natural environment and conceptual notions of the vessel.
“I build in layers, stacking and joining the clay as I move upward to create layers of antiquity, layers of time, and layers of myself. Petrified ghosts and seas of ancient years are recorded as the process drapes the landscape. I let the sculpture lead me where it should go.”
Sorensen’s work can be viewed in museums and private collections nationwide, including the White House Collection in Washington, DC. And she has a unique Pittsburgh connection. Her daughter, Kristine Sorensen, is a television news anchor with KDKA.
An artist talk and gallery reception is scheduled for Feb. 7, from 6-8 p.m. The talk and reception are free and open to the public.
For more information on the artist, visit www.barbarasorensen.com

NIKKI DYER works as an RN in the Pittsburgh Job Corps Wellness Department.

by Matthew Sior
Nikki Dyer, originally of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, has been named as the Pittsburgh Job Corps Staff Member of the Year. Dyer has been with the Job Corps program in several capacities for the past 20 years and truly represents the Job Corps mission of professional growth and success.
Dyer’s time with Job Corps began as a student enrolled in Pittsburgh Job Corps Off-Center Training Program in 1992. She completed her associates degree at CCAC in 1994.
She was hired by the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center in 1999 as a Recreation Specialist and continued in that capacity until 2009. During this time Dyer completed an associates degree in education and also obtained her Registered Nursing degree. She worked full-time while she continued her studies at CCAC.
After receiving her newly acquired credentials, she was hired as a Health Occupations Instructor for the center’s Certified Nursing Assistant Program. She served in this role until she received a position as a Registered Nurse in the center’s Health & Wellness Department. Today her basic duties include assisting Job Corps students with health care needs, processing new trainees into the program while assessing health needs and concerns, administering and educating about medications and immunizations, and developing new health initiatives on center through exercise classes and flu vaccination clinics.
Greatly respected among students and staff as, “Ms. Nikki” has utilized the opportunities by the Job Corps program to the fullest.
 “Having the chance to interact with students while positively impacting their own expectations helps them to achieve more than they ever believed possible,” she said. “This is the most rewarding part of my work.” She also reminds trainees that, “You will become what you choose to become based on the choices you make daily.”
Dyer is currently pursuing her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from California University, while continuing to work fulltime at the Pittsburgh Job Corps Center. She provides an excellent example of the success young people can gain from the Job Corps program.
Job Corps is operated by the US Department of Labor. With 125 centers around the country, each center offers education and vocation programs which specifically support regional labor trends. Pittsburgh Job Corps has an enrollment capacity of 850 students, providing training in the Construction, Culinary Arts and Healthcare fields, in addition to college education opportunities through partnerships with Community College of Allegheny County and Butler County Community College. These programs equip graduates with the education, training and hands-on experiences to prepare them for an entry-level position in their field.
“We are so proud of Ms. Nikki—we are lucky to have her as part of our team,” said Taleb, Center Director of the Pittsburgh Job Corps.
For more information about PJCC, please call 412-441-8779.

Madam C.J. Walker

The name Madam C.J. Walker belongs in the beauty archives right beside Elizabeth Arden, and Helena Rubinstein.

Madam C.J. Walker, was born as Sarah Breedlove. We should always want to honor this great businesswoman by keeping our hair fierce and fabulous.

During the 1890s, Sarah Breedlove developed a scalp disorder that caused her to lose much of her hair, and she began to experiment with both home remedies and store-bought hair care treatments in an attempt to improve her condition.

In 1905, Breedlove was hired as a commission agent by Annie Turnbo Malone—a successful, Black, hair care product entrepreneur—and she moved to Denver, Colorado. While there, Breedlove's husband Charles helped her create advertisements for a hair care treatment for African Americans that she was perfecting. Her husband also encouraged her to use the more recognizable name "Madam C.J. Walker," by which she was thereafter known.

In 1907, Walker and her husband traveled around the South and Southeast promoting her products and giving lecture demonstrations of her "Walker Method"—involving her own formula for pomade, brushing and the use of heated combs.

As profits continued to grow, in 1908 Walker opened a factory and a beauty school in Pittsburgh, and by 1910, when Walker transferred her business operations to Indianapolis, the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company had become wildly successful, with profits that were the modern-day equivalent of several million dollars.

Madam C.J. Walker died of hypertension on May 25, 1919, at age 51, at the estate home she had built for herself in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.

At the time of her death, Walker was sole owner of her business, which was valued at more than $1 million. Her personal fortune was estimated at between $600,000 and $700,000. Today, Walker is widely credited as the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire.