Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

American adults have an average of 4% less blood cholesterol than they did 12 years ago, and only 20% of adults have very high cholesterol, down from 26%. Death rates from heart disease are down too.

Cocaine seems to prevent brain cells from absorbing the neurotransmitter dopamine; researchers have reduced the narcotic's high in addicted rats -- and thus the craving for it -- by giving them a drug that overrides the cocaine and helps cells absorb dopamine.

The FDA will aid credulous consumers by requiring companies that market vitamins and diet supplements to back up their therapeutic claims with hard evidence. Only calcium supplements taken to prevent osteoporosis now meet the proposed standards.

THE BAD NEWS

AIDS has become the leading cause of death, beating out cancer, accidents and heart disease, among men between ages 25 and 44 in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. It also leads in 64 cities, including such unlikely places as Salt Lake City, Utah.

About 12 million American children suffer from chronic hunger. The problem is worst in some Southern states, where more than a fourth of all children regularly go hungry; the rate is more than 18% in New York, South Dakota and California.

Megadoses of vitamin E, commonly thought to slow the progress of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary form of blindness, actually make the disease worse, according to a controlled study of 600 sufferers. Only vitamin A seems to help.

SOURCES: Journal of the American Medical Association; Science; Archives of Ophthalmology; American Diabetes Association