An excerpt from the Johns Hopkins Medical Letter: Health After 50 Especially for Women
	Fight off fractures with new bone! Until now, all medications for osteoporosis—Fosamax, Actonel, Evista, and hormone replacement therapy—worked by slowing down bone loss. Now a new drug, Forteo (teriparatide), stimulates the growth of new bone, giving both bone mass and bone strength a welcome boost. In clinical trials, women who took Forteo for 19 months had a 65% lower risk of new vertebral fractures and a 53% lower risk of new nonvertebral fractures. It also increases bone mineral density in men, although the effect on fracture risk in men has not been studied. Given once a day by self-administered injection, this promising new drug is recommended for people with osteoporosis who are high risk for fractures.
	Different Strokes Men and women experience stroke symptoms differently. While men report changes in sensation, balance problems, and motor skill impairment, women more commonly report headaches, disorientation, and pain the face or limbs.
	Women and Smoking Women smokers are twice as likely to develop lung cancer as men who smoke, based on data collected from nearly 3,000 men and women aged 40 and older who were current or former smokers for 10 years. While the reason is unknown, it's yet another good reason to stop.
	The Pap Gap The Pap test for cervical cancer has become a routine part of most women's annual checkups. But new guidelines issued by the American Cancer Society suggest that certain groups of women can safely forego it. The test is not perfect. Each year, at least 2 million women have an abnormal finding. Large numbers of women are subjected to the cost, inconvenience and emotional stress of follow-up testing, which turns out to have been unnecessary. According to new guidelines, healthy women 30 or over who have had negative results on three consecutive annual Pap tests can safely switch to 2- or 3-year intervals. At age 70, women can stop the Pap tests altogether if they've had at least 3 normal Pap smears and no abnormal Pap test results for the previous 10 years. Of course, high-risk women (such as those with HIV or a history of high-grade cervical lesions) should be screened annually. And any woman who has had a hysterectomy because of cervical cancer, or whose cervix was left intact, should continue screening to at least 70.
	Soy and Cholesterol Women who take a soy supplement may be rewarded with reduced cholesterol, according to a recent study. After three months, the women who got the soy supplements, which contain chemicals with estrogen-like effects, had significantly reduced LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and triglycerides. Their HDL (the "good" cholesterol) was unchanged. For more healthy living advice for men and women over 50, subscribe today to Johns Hopkins Medical Letter: Health After 50.