Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

TICK TEST Months before ticks are out full force, researchers have announced a new blood test that can detect Lyme disease as early as one week after a tick bite. That's a lot better than the current four to six weeks. The new test (not yet widely available, alas) detects antibodies to Lyme bacteria before they build up in the blood. That means patients can get on antibiotics sooner. Another benefit: the test can distinguish between past infections, which may not require medication, and new ones, which do.

GO NUTS Peanut butter as health food? Well, yeah. A study (financed by the Peanut Institute) shows that the oil in peanuts is just as good as olive oil at lowering cholesterol, including "bad" LDL cholesterol. The study's subjects went nuts on the stuff. They ate 2 tablespoonfuls of peanut butter and 1 1/2 oz. of nuts a day and kept meat and dairy fat to a minimum. The idea that a peanut diet cuts cholesterol is not a total surprise to nutritionists. Peanut oil, like olive, is a monounsaturated fat--a known cholesterol fighter. The news should be welcome to peanut-butter-and-jelly fans.

BAD NEWS

WARTS AND ALL Human papillomavirus, the sexually transmitted disease that causes genital warts, usually goes away on its own. But if it doesn't? A Swedish study now confirms what many doctors have suspected. A persistent HPV infection--one that hangs on for at least a year--raises the odds of developing cervical cancer 200-fold. And there's not too much you can do to prevent HPV. Condoms help somewhat, but monogamy or abstention is the only surefire way to be safe.

JAVA MAMA, BEWARE Put down that mug! A huge study of 42,000 pregnant women concludes that consuming lots of caffeine--the amount in five or more cups of coffee a day--doubles the odds of a miscarriage. Unlike previous studies, researchers didn't rely on what women said they drank. Instead they measured a byproduct of caffeine found in blood, called paraxanthine. Going cold turkey may not be necessary though: one or two cups daily seems fine. --By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: Good News--Journal of the American Medical Association (11/24/99); American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (12/99). Bad News (both)-- New England Journal of Medicine (11/25/99)