TOKYO, Oct. 31 (UPI) —

Japanese officials are advocating century-old advice to chew your food at least 30 times before swallowing as a key to good health.

The country’s Ministry of health, Labor and Welfare is proposing to make the 30 chews idea the centerpiece of a public relations campaign meant to convey the benefits of thoroughly chewed food promoted in both children and adults, the Kyodo news service reported Saturday.

A ministry group led by Yoshiharu Mukai, professor in the dentistry department at Showa University in Tokyo, wants to use the Japlish catch-phrase Ka-min-gu 30 to promote the idea, the news service said.

Mukai told Kyodo scientific studies prove that infants who chew a variety of foodstuffs 20 to 30 times swallow safely, and that it accelerates child tooth growth. In adults, thorough chewing can help fight obesity, enables people to enjoy delicate flavors and makes digestion easier.

If you chew your food 30 times, you can savor a meal and ensure safety, Mukai said.

Horace Fletcher, a U.S diet reformer, said in 1903 that chewing food 32 times would help cut down on overeating, reasoning that the longer you chew, the less you eat.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) —

Some ground beef sold by Trader Joes, Shaws and Wild Harvest may be contaminated with E. coli and is being recalled by its processor, authorities said.

Fairbank Farms, Ashville, N.Y., is recalling 545,699 pounds of ground beef shipped for sale last month to retail stores in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Saturday.

USDA inspectors working with state and federal health authorities became aware of the problem while investigating outbreaks of E. coli in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, agency officials said in a release.

The suspect beef products were shipped to Trader Joes, Shaws, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Price Chopper, BJ’s, Ford Brothers and Giant. Each package had EST. 492 inside the USDA mark of inspection or on the nutrition label. The packages had a sell-by date of Sept. 19 through Sept. 28.

A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension.

The study was published online Oct. 8 and will appear in a future print edition of the journal obesity. Unlike subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin and is noticeable, visceral fat lies in the abdominal cavity under the abdominal muscle. Visceral fat is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because it often surrounds vital organs. The more visceral fat one has, the greater is the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

A Monash University physiologist, whose research into weight management, obesity and diabetes has led to significant medical breakthroughs and drug design, has been awarded one of the nation’s top research honours. Michael Cowley received the prestigious Commonwealth Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.

diet pills. diet meals. Online diets. Low carb diet plans. Appetite suppressants. Like Oprah, lots of us have tried every kind of diet and failed.

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 (UPI) —

Pregnant women, children 10 or older and other adults should be given single doses of vaccine against H1N1, the World health Organization said Friday.

An expert panel on immunization recommends additional study of the effect of the vaccine on children between the ages of 6 months and 10, WHO said.

The expert group advised that studies in animals have shown the vaccine does not have adverse effects on pregnancy and said any licensed vaccine appears safe for use on pregnant women.

The H1N1 flu, commonly known as swine flu, has been most common in children and young adults, WHO said. Pregnant women are far more likely to require hospitalization and intensive care than the population at large.

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 30 (UPI) —

The Louisiana Restaurant Association has begun lobbying against a proposed federal regulation that would ban the sale of raw oysters in the summer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says requiring oysters harvested between April and October to be sterilized would curb a rare but lethal bacterium. The regulation would take effect in 2011.

The restaurant group’s campaign encourages people from the fishing and restaurant industries and the public at large to put pressure on the Obama administration and Congress, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Friday. Jim Funk, the president of the group, called the proposed change too extreme.

Many traditional Louisiana dishes involve cooked oysters, stewed or served in po boy sandwiches. Funk said requiring those oysters to be sterilized is particularly offensive to our restaurant establishments.

Louisiana is the largest oyster producer in the country with the majority of its catch shipped out of state.

ATLANTA, Oct. 30 (UPI) —

H1N1 is a younger people’s flu with 90 percent of the deaths under the age of 65, with 114 confirmed deaths among children, a U.S. health official said.

More than two-thirds of the deaths have been children with underlying conditions, Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a briefing Friday in Atlanta.

There’s a certain rhythm of flu spread in a community where we see first an increase on the number of cases generally first in children. Then in older people. Then an increase in hospitalizations, then tragically, deaths.The peak in deaths, occurs two to three weeks after the peak in cases. So we are expecting to see, sadly, increasing numbers of deaths.

There are 26.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine available for shipment. The overwhelming majority of the 89 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine have already been given, but vaccine manufacturers report that they’ll be providing additional seasonal vaccines in November/December. So far, almost all of the influenza has been H1N1, Frieden said.

We released 300,000 courses of the anti-viral Tamiflu from the strategic national stockpile. We are releasing an additional 234,000 courses of liquid Tamiflu from the strategic national stockpile. That is the entire supply, Frieden said.

We have worked with many of the national (drug store) chains, which are willing to compound — to make the syrup from the adult Tamiflu from capsules — something safe for a pharmacist to do. Please don’t try this at home.

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 30 (UPI) —

U.S. researchers propose a new explanation for the evolutionary forces that drive antigenic drift, a process that changes the characteristics of a virus.

researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of health, said influenza viruses evade infection-fighting antibodies by constantly changing the shape of their major surface protein.

This shape-shifting — called antigenic drift — is why influenza vaccines, which are designed to elicit antibodies matched to each year’s circulating virus strains, must be reformulated annually.

Dr. Jonathan Yewdell said the prevailing theory is that the drift occurs as the virus is passed from person to person and is exposed to differing antibody attacks at each stop.

The researchers’ study, using gene sequencing, revealed that unvaccinated mice, which lacked vaccine-induced antibodies, had no mutated influenza viruses in their lungs. In contrast, the hemagglutinin gene — responsible for binding the virus to the cell that is being infected — in a virus isolated from vaccinated mice had mutated in a way that increased the ability of the virus to adhere to the receptors it uses to enter lung cells.

The study, published in Science, found that decreasing the number of people not exposed to influenza — by increasing the number of children vaccinated against influenza — could slow the rate of antigenic drift and extend the duration of effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccines.