White House staff lose weight, credit first lady (AP)

WASHINGTON � Surrounded all day and most nights by delicious cakes, cookies, pies and more, Susie Morrison gave in to temptation too often during long hours at work in the White House pastry kitchen.

But no more.

Never a runner, the assistant pastry chef has finished her first 5K run. When the weather cooperates, she pedals her bicycle 26 miles roundtrip to work. She's eating more vegetables, limiting coffee and drinking up to a gallon of water every day � dietary changes that Morrison says helped her drop 30 pounds from her 5-foot-5 frame in about 18 months.

One person gets most of the credit for Morrison's lifestyle makeover: Michelle Obama.

While the first lady's campaign to lower childhood obesity rates will need time to produce results, if ever, the White House is one place where her message about eating balanced meals and getting more exercise is not only resonating, but showing results, too.

"She is a great inspiration for me to focus every day to try harder, and I have," Morrison said.

Some of Morrison's colleagues are also taking the message to heart � and the proof is in their waistlines. Four members of the White House residence staff � Morrison, two chef colleagues and an assistant curator � have lost more than 110 pounds since July 2010. They have kept the weight off so far.

Executive chef Cristeta Comerford, now 15 pounds lighter, said Mrs. Obama's campaign helped the group recognize their poor eating habits.

Instead of the cookie she reached for daily, Morrison, 44, said she now snacks on an apple or a handful of grapes.

Comerford often lined up a cup of coffee, a can of soda and a can of Red Bull and sipped from all three during the day.

Assistant chef Adam Collick cut out hundreds of calories by eliminating a daily coffee fix � three 20-ounce cups topped with whipped cream drizzled with chocolate syrup. He and Comerford have replaced their caffeinated drinks mostly with calorie-free water. They still drink coffee, but stop at two cups a day.

Collick also has cut down on mindless eating and is limiting dessert to a few times a week, instead of with every meal. Those changes and about an hour of exercise most days have helped the 46-year-old lose 30 pounds. He said consistency is important for good results.

"Once you see the changes in your body and the way you feel, it's going to make you want to keep doing it," said Collick, who became a de facto coach to colleagues battling the bulge. The 25-year veteran of the White House kitchen helped motivate them to stick with their programs or get back on track after they'd overdone it a little.

Overdoing it is easy as a chef in a place where there are few food-free functions � ranging from receptions and dinners for hundreds of visitors to lunch for President Barack Obama and a guest in his private dining room off the Oval Office. One occupational hazard for the chefs is having to taste the food during all stages of preparation to check the flavorings, a seemingly simple task that when performed again and again every day can jeopardize anyone's well-intentioned efforts to eat right.

If not careful, Collick said, the chefs could easily eat an entire meal just by tasting their way through the work day.

"We're preparing really good food so it's really very easy to just snack all the time," added Comerford.

Comerford, 47, said she wanted more stamina to keep up with her 10-year-old daughter, a competitive gymnast, and to set an example with her smart food choices. The family sticks to a balanced diet of whole grains, low-fat proteins and plenty of vegetables but will loosen up enough on weekends to enjoy a hamburger or equally indulgent meal.

That's the basic advice Mrs. Obama dispenses � that losing weight doesn't have to mean deprivation. The first lady has said french fries are her favorite food and she also has been taken to task from time to time after being spotted at burger joints around town.

Assistant curator Lydia Tederick said she lost more than 35 pounds after signing up for Weight Watchers and joining a gym with her husband. They work out at least three times a week, and Tederick said she spends most Saturday mornings at the farmer's market stocking up on fresh fruit and vegetables.

Her initial goal was just to lose weight so she could fit into her clothing better.

"But now my goal is to maintain my weight, to tone up, be more fit, and I would love to have arms that look as fabulous as Mrs. Obama's," Tederick said.

Jim White, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, applauded the employees. He said studies have shown that having a partner in weight loss aids the process.

"Losing weight is not the easiest thing to do or we wouldn't have overweight in this country," said White, a registered dietitian and personal trainer in Virginia Beach, Va.

Morrison, who has worked in the pastry kitchen since 1995, said she gained weight after giving up exercise because of injuries and not paying attention to her diet. After deciding it was time to refocus on her fitness, Morrison said she would envision herself working out and getting healthier and stronger.

"I persevered and it's nice to come to this point and have happy results," she said.

Perseverance will be important for Morrison in the days ahead. White House chefs will soon begin preparing for a holiday season that, despite Mrs. Obama's focus on eating healthier, still serves up traditional, calorie-laden fare at dozens of parties and receptions that jam the calendar between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Darlene Superville can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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FDA backs Vytorin for kidney disease patients (AP)

WASHINGTON � The Food and Drug Administration says Merck's cholesterol drug Vytorin helps reduce heart attack, stroke and related problems in patients with kidney disease, a potential new use for the blockbuster drug.

The agency's online review also found no new safety concerns with Vytorin, which came under scrutiny for potential cancer risks in 2008.

Merck has asked the FDA to approve the drug for a new use in reducing heart-related problems chronic kidney disease patients. The combination pill is already cleared to reduce bad cholesterol.

FDA says that Vytorin lowered kidney disease patients' heart-related problems by 16 percent compared with placebo. However results varied depending on whether patients were receiving dialysis, standard treatment for patients with late-stage kidney disease who can no longer remove waste from their blood. Patients on dialysis only saw a six percent drop in heart problems, compared with a 22 percent reduction for healthier patients not on dialysis.

On Wednesday, the FDA will ask non-government advisers to comment on the disparity and to vote on the overall safety and efficacy of the drug for kidney disease patients.

Vytorin, a $2 billion-a-year drug for Merck, combines two brand-name cholesterol pills Zocor and Zetia.

In July 2008, preliminary results from a four-year study indicated a possible increased risk of cancer in patients getting Vytorin. But FDA's latest review found no evidence of a link between Vytorin and cancer.

"We believe these data should help lay to rest investor concerns about Vytorin and Zetia's safety," Leerink Swann analyst Seamus Fernandez wrote in a research note Monday.

Shares of Merck & Co. Inc. fell 23 cents to $34.88 in morning trading Monday.

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Violence more common among kids of combat veterans (AP)

ATLANTA � A new study suggests that when parents are deployed in the military, their children are more than twice as likely to carry a weapon, join a gang or be involved in fights.

And that includes the daughters.

"This study raises serious concerns about an under-recognized consequence of war," said Sarah Reed, who led the research of military families in Washington state.

Last year, nearly 2 million U.S. children had at least one parent serving in the military. Deployment can hurt a family in a variety of ways. There's stress while that parent is overseas and in danger, as the remaining parent has to shoulder all responsibilities and family roles shift. There can also be challenges after deployed parents' return, especially if they were physically or psychologically damaged.

The effect of military deployment on kids is an emerging field of research. The new study is considered the first of its kind to focus on those affected by deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. It's unique in that it looked at a statewide swath of the population in comparing the behavior of kids in military families to children in non-military families.

The study, to be presented Monday at a public health conference in Washington, D.C., was based on a 2008 questionnaire survey of about 10,000 students in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades in Washington. That state has the sixth largest active duty population in the country.

About 550 of surveyed children said they had a parent deployed to a combat zone in the previous six years.

The study tried to account for potential differences in educational background and other issues between military families and the general population that might skew the results.

Even after taking steps to account for such differences, the researchers found that high school-age daughters of deployed parents were nearly three times more likely than civilian girls to be in a gang or get into a fight. They were more than twice as likely to carry a weapon to school. There were similar increases among boys of deployed families when compared to civilians.

To be sure, such behavior in boys is more common � the rate of boys from deployed families involved in such violent behaviors was twice as high as for girls in deployed families. For example, 14 percent of girls from these military families said they had been in fights, compared to 28 percent of boys.

Nevertheless, experts say the findings contradict the traditional view that girls under stress exhibit "internalizing" behaviors, like becoming depressed or thinking about suicide, while boys are the ones who "externalize" through violent behavior

The new research may be something of a wake-up call for health professionals who deal with military families, one expert suggested.

"Maybe if we make assumptions about children, we may overlook other ways they may be suffering," said Dr. Gregory Gorman, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

Additional research is needed to confirm the findings, said Reed, who has since left the University of Washington and is now a social worker with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. For example, the survey found that 10 to 20 percent of the adolescents in deployed families said they were in gangs. That's surprisingly high � more like something seen in New York City in the 1950s. Perhaps a larger, more national study would produce a lower number.

But it's not surprising that kids in deployed families would seek out other kids to help them deal with stress, said Gregory Leskin, a UCLA psychologist who is director of a military family program at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

"Adolescents may be able to get lost in social networks," he said.

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Online:

American Public Health Association meeting:

http://www.apha.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting/

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Cain defends ad with smoking campaign manager (AP)

WASHINGTON � Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain said Sunday that an Internet ad featuring his campaign manager smoking conveyed a message about letting "people be people" and was not intended to suggest that smoking is cool.

The video went viral this month with some 1 million clicks on Cain's campaign website. The ad shows Cain's top adviser, Mark Block, taking a deep drag from a cigarette and slowly exhaling into the camera.

"I'm not a smoker. But I don't have a problem if that's his choice," Cain said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"So let Herman be Herman. Let Mark be Mark. Let people be people. This wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal whatsoever," the candidate said.

Cain, who was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer in 2006 and has said he's been cancer-free since 2007, was chided about the ad by his interviewer, Bob Schieffer, a bladder cancer survivor.

"Mark Block smokes. That's all that ad says," Cain said. "We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke. You have a lot of people in this country that smoke. But what I respect about Mark as a smoker ... he never smokes around me or smokes around anyone else. He goes outside."

Cain said the video was meant "to be informative. If they listen to the message where he said America has never seen a candidate like Herman Cain, that was the main point of it. And the bit on the end, we didn't know whether it was going to be funny to some people or whether they were going to ignore it or whatever the case may be."

Cain said he understood the objection and that about 30 percent of the feedback the campaign had received to the video was similar to Schieffer's.

Schieffer pressed Cain to send an anti-smoking message on the show. Cain complied.

"Young people of America, all people, do not smoke. It is hazardous and it's dangerous to your health. Don't smoke. I've never smoked and I have encouraged people not to smoke," he said.

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Commonwealth leaders raise polio vaccine spending (AP)

PERTH, Australia � Commonwealth government leaders meeting in Australia have agreed to step up efforts to eradicate polio worldwide despite the Afghanistan war setting back vaccination efforts there and in neighboring Pakistan.

Leaders of Britain, Canada, Australia and Nigeria, as well as billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, on Saturday committed tens of millions of dollars in additional funding toward eradication of the disabling disease from the four countries where it remains endemic � India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.

All the polio-endemic countries except for Afghanistan are represented at the three-day summit in the western Australian city of Perth. The summit comprises the leaders of 53 countries, most of them former British colonies.

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Halloween doesn't have to be gorge-fest to be fun (AP)

CHICAGO � Offer apples to trick-or-treaters and risk having your house get egged � maybe even by your own kids.

But dentists and dietitians say you can still make Halloween reasonably healthy for little devils and witches without resorting to dracul-onian tactics, like no candy.

"This is such a big adventure for them � let them have it, obviously with some caveats," said Dr. Rhea Haugseth, a dentist in Marietta, Ga., who's president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry

There are tricks for keeping Halloween fun without risking cavities and extra pounds, like handing out dark chocolate instead of chewy candies or even bribing kids with a toy in exchange for the Halloween loot. Some studies have suggested dark chocolate is good for the heart, and chewy candies stick to the teeth.

Just don't go overboard on restrictions, says Cole Robbins, a Chicago 12-year-old and Halloween veteran.

"Halloween is the one day of the year where we kids just kind of break out and overload on candy," he said.

To help prevent that kind of gorging, try to give children a healthy, filling meal before trick-or-treating, says Bethany Thayer, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association who works at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Procrastinators, take heart. Thayer also recommends waiting until Halloween day before buying candy, so no one is tempted to indulge beforehand.

"I know people who have to go back to the store because they've completely gone through their candy" before Halloween, she said.

Haugseth suggests avoiding cavity-promoting treats like caramels that stick to the teeth, or lollipops that bathe teeth in a long sugary bath.

Also, having kids brush their teeth before trick-or-treating helps reduce plaque and bacteria, which interact with sugar to produce tooth-decaying acid, Haugseth said. Kids should also brush right after eating candy, she said.

Ronni Litz Julien, a Miami nutritionist whose patients include overweight and obese kids, says another trick for parents is to ask kids not to dip into their loot bags until they bring it all home. That's for safety, so parents can toss any suspicious-looking candy, but it also can prevent an "eating frenzy."

She suggests parents help sort through the loot, have kids select their 10 favorite pieces, and give the rest away. Offer the choice of eating all 10 pieces at once, or over 10 days. That gives them a sense of control, without feeling shortchanged, she said.

"You can't deprive them. It's Halloween, for God's sake," she said.

President Barack Obama joked this week on "The Tonight Show" that he'd warned his health-promoting wife that the White House would get egged if she gave trick-or-treaters fresh fruit and raisins instead of candy. During festivities on Saturday, the Obamas will hand out White House M&Ms, cookies and dried fruit as they did the past two years.

Dr. Janet Silverstein, a Gainesville, Fla. pediatrician and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee, says she doesn't give out candy, offering fruit or pencils instead; so far her house is unscathed.

When her own children were young, Silverstein would buy their candy for a nickel a piece. She recommends that to her patients' parents, too � though not necessarily her other solution � she used to eat her kids' candy.

In some places, kids willing to give up their candy can make more than a nickel. About 1,500 dentists across the country have agreed this year to participate in a Halloween candy buyback organized by Operation Gratitude. The California-based group periodically sends care packages to U.S. troops overseas. Some dentists pay kids $1 per pound of Halloween candy; last year, the program brought in 250,000 pounds of candy, said Carolyn Blashek, founder of the Van Nuys, Calif.-based group.

Blashek said troops overseas appreciate it as a token of gratitude, and Halloween candy brings back lots of fond childhood memories. Some have given their candy to Afghan children, she noted. Entering your ZIP code on the group's website, http://bit.ly/F1iSy will identify participating dentists.

Parents who plan to encourage giving up candy should be sure not to take it right away, says Brian Wansink, a Cornell University food behavior scientist and author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

That's because of a psychology principle called "the endowment effect." It refers to kids feeling a sense of ownership and putting a high value on candy they haul in.

If you let them eat several pieces first, that feeling can fade and they won't even feel hungry anymore. That's the time to offer a trade, Wansink said.

He's tried that trick with his own three daughters, aged 2, 4, and 6, and says "it works like a charm." His girls eagerly give up the rest of their Halloween candy in exchange for a new trinket or other toy that won't rot their teeth, he said.

Young kids aren't really aware of how much they brought home, and when "they sort of count their booty, that's probably the age where kids shouldn't be trick or treating anymore," he said.

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American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry: http://www.aapd.org

American Dietetic Association: http://www.eatright.org___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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