The document provides information on building a Zika prevention kit for those living in areas with Zika virus. It recommends including the following items in the kit to reduce risk of Zika infection: a bed net, insect repellent, permethrin spray, standing water treatment tabs, and condoms. The kit is particularly important for pregnant women to protect against the Zika virus.

1. Build your own
prevention kit
If you live in a state or area with the mosquito
that spreads the Zika virus and you are concerned
about Zika, learn how to build your own Zika
prevention kit.
Your kit should include items that will reduce
your risk of getting Zika. Reducing the risk for Zika
is particularly important for pregnant women.
Your kit should include:
• A bed net
• Insect repellent
• Permethrin spray
• Standing water treatment tabs
• Condoms
Source: Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
F
inally, it’s finalized.
For the first time in
more than 20 years,
the Nutrition Facts
label on packaged
foods has been revised. Why?
To reflect new scientific infor-
mation, says the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) —
the agency responsible for the
safety and proper labeling of
foods sold in the United States.
More specifically, says the
FDA, the new label addresses
what we now know about nutri-
tion’s effect on chronic diseases
such as heart disease and obe-
sity. (Yes, obesity is considered
a chronic disease — a persistent
condition that can be controlled
but usually not cured).
One sad statistic: About
half the adults in America are
plagued by at least one chronic
disease related to poor food
choices and lack of physical
activity. The FDA hopes the new
food label will help us make bet-
ter decisions:
Short of yelling out, “Pay
attention to this!” the new
label highlights “Calories” and
“Serving Size” in bold letters.
And serving sizes are now based
on what we actually eat, not on
what we should eat.
For example, a serving of ice
cream is now 2
⁄3 cup instead of 1
⁄2
cup, which is still probably less
than what most of us actually
eat but who asked me?
“Calories from fat” will no
longer be on the label. Why?
Because we now know the type
of fat we eat is more important
to our health than the total
amount.
“Added sugars” — sugars
added during the production
of food — will be added to the
label both in grams and by the
“Percent Daily Value” which will
be defined on the label: “The
percent Daily Value tells you
how much a nutrient in a serv-
ing of food contributes to a daily
diet. 2,000 calories a day is used
for general nutrition advice.”
Sugar is not necessarily bad
for us; it’s the main source of
energy in fruit, vegetables and
milk.
But too much added sugar,
especially in sweetened foods
and beverages, packs on extra
calories with no nutritional
benefit. And this can be a health
detriment, say experts.
A can of regular soda, for ex-
ample, contains 39 grams (about
10 teaspoons) of added sugar or
about 150 calories. That’s about
8 percent of a person’s total calo-
ries for a day (Daily Value) in the
form of added sugars. Our goal
is not to exceed 10 percent.
Since most of us still don’t
understand Percent Daily Value,
important nutrients such as
vitamin D, calcium, iron and po-
tassium will be listed in actual
amounts.
For example, instead of show-
ing that 1 cup of milk provides
30 percent of my Daily Value
for calcium, the label will now
indicated that 1 cup of milk
contains 300 milligrams of
calcium (30 percent of what I
need in a day).
Expect to see the new food la-
bel in full force by July 26, 2018,
says the FDA.
Will it help us make better
choices?
Time will tell.
Nutrition labels
add some
needed weight
FYI HEALTH | 8A
| MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2016
BARBARA QUINN
Tribune Media Services
Travel
safely
TheCDChasis-
suedtravelwarnings
forabout50countries
regardingtheZikavirus,
includingMexicoandinthe
Caribbean,CentralandSouth
AmericaandthePacificIslands.
Specificsaboutadvisoriesforeach
countryareavailableatnc.cdc.gov/travel/
page/zika-travel-information.
If you travel to these countries, try to stay in-
doors behind screens, or closed doors or windows
as much as possible, especially during the day when
the mosquitoes are most active. At night, sleep under a
mosquito net.
Choose the right clothes
The right clothes can go a long way toward reducing bites.
It might seem counterintuitive to don long pants and sleeves in
tropical climates, but try to cover as much skin as possible. Clothing with
a close weave works best to prevent bites, but layered loose-weave clothing
works almost as well, says Joe Conlon, medical entomologist and techni-
cal adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association.
And because bugs are attracted to dark colors, go for clothes in
white, beige or light khaki colors, he says.
Use the right spray
Whenitcomestosprays,notallbrandsarecreatedequal.
ConsumerReportsfoundthatthemosteffectiverepellents
forwardingoffAedesmosquitoeswereSawyerPicaridin
andNatrapel8Hour,eachofwhichcontainsa20percent
concentrationofthechemicalpicaridin.Anothergood
oneisOff!DeepwoodsVIII,whichcontains25percent
ofthechemicalDEET.
Notonlydidtheseproductskeepmosquitoesfrom
bitingforabouteighthours,theyareregisteredwith
theEnvironmentalProtectionAgency,whichmeans
theyareevaluatedforsafetyandeffectiveness.
Stop mosquitoes at home
To steer clear of the West Nile-carrying Culex
mosquitoes, it’s best to stay indoors at dawn and
dusk when they are most active.
To eliminate mosquito breeding grounds from
your yard, dump or drain water that’s been stand-
ing for several days in flower planters, pet dishes,
birdbaths, swimming pools and remove old tires,
tin cans or buckets.
Safe sex
Men can spread Zika to a female partner through
sexual transmission, as has been demonstrated
with 11 U.S. Zika cases. However, it’s still uncertain if
women can pass the virus onto male partners, or which
modes of sexual transmission are most risky.
Until more is known, the World Health Organization
says men and women returning from Zika-affected
areas — especially pregnant women and
their partners — should practice safe
sex, including using condoms or
abstaining from sex, for at
least eight weeks.
1
2
3
4
5
By MARTHA ROSS
The Mercury News | TNS
M
osquitoes have
always been an
annoying part of
summer, but sud-
denly they seem to
loom larger and buzz louder.
With the world facing its
latest health threat from
the mosquito-borne Zika
virus, you might be
tempted to cancel
your summer trip
to Mexico or
points south,
including
Brazil —
e v e n
if you were lucky enough to
snag tickets to the Summer
Olympics.
Or, in the U.S., you might
worry about getting bitten
by a Culex mosquito. That’s
the species that carries the
West Nile virus, which now
is endemic in California.
While the global village
we live in means we can
no longer wave off certain
diseases as distant epidem-
ics, health officials also say
there’s no cause for panic.
Certainly, with the risks
of Zika-related birth de-
fects, pregnant women
should carefully consider
visiting countries dealing
with outbreaks.
Still, the rest of us can re-
duce our risk by using sim-
ple precautions.
MOSQUITOES BEWARE
Mosquito range
Thenewestimatedrangemaphasbeenupdatedfromavarietyofsources.ItshowsCDC’s
bestestimateofthepotentialrangeofAedesalbopictusintheUnitedStates.Itincludesareas
wheremosquitoesareorhavebeenpreviouslyfound.Themapisnotmeanttorepresentriskfor
spreadofdisease.Becausethesemosquitoesfeedonanimalsaswellaspeople,theyareless
likelytospreadviruseslikeZika,dengue,chikungunyaandotherviruses.
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Five steps to take to prevent West Nile, Zika diseases