The Checkup

Health in the News and in Your Life

A Condom for Her

The first product of the Female Health Co., named the FC (for female condom), was launched in 1994 and landed like a lead balloon. Consumers complained that it was too pricey, that its feel wasn't conducive to satisfying sex and that, of all things, it made too much noise. In March, though, the Chicago-based company received Food and Drug Administration approval for a new and improved model, the FC2, which should be available by autumn.

Putting the protective device in place appears to require a bit more work than a male condom does, though you can insert one up to eight hours before engaging in sex, so any gymnastics can be done in private. But the best thing about female condoms is that they put women in charge.

-- Jennifer LaRue Huget

skipper7 wrote:

I wonder how much education or incentive is going to be required for people to use these. My sense is that many women simply are not persistent in requiring a condom before sex with their partner, and these men are not going to respond well to the FC, either. Male condoms, as you point out, are the definition of simplicity, yet compliance among at-risk populations is still pretty weak. At a minimum, the FC seems to require some knowledge of female anatomy, and I am not sure that that information is as well understood as you might expect.

Is That Right?

I've been noticing a lot of package-label claims that could mislead consumers. So every Friday, The Checkup blog will now feature "Is That Right?," a look at nutrition-related products and the ads that promote them.

First up: Nestle's new Juicy Juice Fruit Juice Beverage, featuring 16 milligrams of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) per serving. "DHA -- A Building Block for Brain Development" screams a big blue banner across the front of the package.

DHA, derived from fatty fish and other rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, is indeed credited with promoting neurological health among babies, and it's been added to many infant formulas for nearly a decade, though there's no real science showing that DHA makes anyone smarter. But in this instance, trumpeting DHA's brain-development capacity seems like a way to hawk a product that otherwise has very little nutritional value. (Okay, it does have 100 percent of the daily value for Vitamin C -- from the ascorbic acid added to the apple/grape juice -- plus a bit of potassium.)

-- Jennifer LaRue Huget

oldguy2 wrote:

Iffy health claims? Find some claims -- aside from ads for legitimate medical products -- that aren't iffy. Arthritis cures, vitamins or antioxidants that supposedly prevent disease, homeopathic immune system boosters, probiotics, omega-3 fish oil capsules, etc. I wonder how many billions of dollars Americans spend each year on this junk.

floof wrote:

One of my year-old twins is having trouble gaining weight and his doctor suggested juice as a quick, easy way to pack on some extra calories. This should tell you something. For people who are already a healthy weight or overweight, juice isn't a great thing to have in your daily diet in large quantities.

Does Acupuncture Help?

Lots of people swear by acupuncture for all sorts of things, including relieving backaches. An interesting study in the Archives of Internal Medicine raises some provocative questions about how well acupuncture really works.

Daniel Cherkin of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle and his colleagues compared four different types of treatment in a randomized clinical trial involving 638 adults with chronic low-back pain. After eight weeks, about 40 percent of those who received standard medical care reported feeling better and about 60 percent of those getting acupuncture reported improvement.

Are you an acupuncture believer or a skeptic?

-- Rob Stein

milwaukee1 wrote:

Two spinal compression fractures left me with sciatic pain down my left leg and drop foot. I suffered for six weeks with only nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) suggested by my doctor.

I went to a highly recommended, licensed acupuncturist, and the sciatic pain and drop foot went away right after the acupuncture. My doctor's response was it must have been spontaneous nerve improvement.