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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> August
> August 14, 1998:
Hour One: Global Warming News / Diet and High Blood Pressure
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Finding ways to beat the heat is becoming harder
than ever. On Monday, Vice President Al Gore
announced new data from the National Climate Data
Center showing that this July was the hottest July
ever recorded. 1998 has been a record breaking year
for high temperatures--every month in the year has
topped its previous record. But July 1998 has the
dubious honor of being not only the hottest July
ever, but also the hottest month recorded, since
the advent of climate record keeping over 118 years
ago.
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The temperatures in the lower
troposphere on the afternoon of August 12th. Image
NASA/GHCC.
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In other global warming news, a trend that has
puzzled many climate scientists may be nothing but hot air.
For almost two decades, satellite temperature readings from
the lower troposphere have shown a slight cooling trend, a
phenomenon that seemed to confound other evidence that the
planet was undergoing an overall warming. Researchers
announced Wednesday in the journal Nature that atmospheric
drag on the satellite caused a slight decay in its orbit,
skewing the temperature data. Yes Virginia, the troposphere
is getting warmer.
Then...
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For decades, patients with high blood pressure have been advised
by doctors to cut down on salt. But new insights over the last
several years into the validity of the original salt studies suggest
that merely sticking to a low salt diet, although it probably
won't hurt you, might not be the best way to lower blood pressure.
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A study released Tuesday that examined over 450 adults with hypertension
concluded that eating more fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products
is more beneficial than a low-salt diet. The study, published in the American
Heart Association's Journal Circulation , suggests that controlling high
blood pressure may depend on a balance of nutrients such as magnesium,
potassium and calcium, rather than just limiting levels of sodium.
We're taking another look at one of the nation's greatest health problems--with
a grain of salt, on this hour of Science Friday.
Guests:
James Hansen
Director
NASA's Goddard Institute
for Space Studies
New York, New York.
Ross Gelbspan
Author, "The
Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened Climate".
Brookline, Massachusetts
David McCarron
Professor of Medicine
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, Oregon
Theodore Kotchen
Chairman, Department of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Books/Articles Discussed:
"The
Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened
Climate", by Ross Gelbspan, 1997, Addison Wesley.
"Effects of orbital decay on satellite-derived lower-tropospheric temperature
trends," by Frank J. Wentz and Matthias Schabel. Nature, August 13,
1998, pp 661-664.
"Diet and Blood Pressure: The Paradigm Shift" by David A. McCarron.
Science
, August 14, 1998, pp 933-934.
Related Links:
A
response from NASA's "Space Science News" commentary section
The
NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory
NOAA's
Air Resources Laboratory
NASA
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Remote
Sensing Systems Home Page
Cardiovascular
information from the NIH
How
to have a Healthy
Heart
(NIH)
High
Blood Pressure - American Heart Association
Blood
Pressure - American Medical Association
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