Athletic-Minded Traveler

Several news items caught our attention this week:

First, ten states and over 100 municipalities have now banned smoking in all public places. Kudos to: California, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Montana, Vermont and most recently Washington. Virginia's try for a ban was defeated last year; the law is pending in New Jersey and recently put on hold in Ohio. Visit this site for a status check.

Second, a British study published in this week's Archives of Interal Medicine found that upping your vegetable protein intake can reduce blood pressure-something to do with the particular amino acids found in vegetables. Another reason to frequent the salad bar.

Third, a Cleveland Clinic study found that dextrose (a naturally occurring sugar) may be superior in improving athletic performance over the more commonly used sugar form "ribose." The study evaluated and tracked the performance of 31 women collegiate rowers over eight weeks. Those whose sports drink contained dextrose did better.

Last, a new database of foreign travel related illnesses is being used by health agencies to update foreign travel advisories. The surveillance program, called GeoSentinel, monitors emerging trends in travel related disease and uses its centralized network of medical clinics to quickly disperse current information. Prior to this database being released, most foreign travel health advisories were based upon old data or one-country studies.