Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995                   TAG: 9507070076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN HEALTH

ATLANTA - All pregnant women should be voluntarily tested for AIDS because dramatic evidence shows that mothers who are infected can protect their unborn children by taking the drug AZT, the government said Thursday.

Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended testing only for those pregnant women at high risk of infection, such as intravenous drug users, bisexuals and prostitutes.

This is the first time the agency has suggested voluntary testing for an entire group of people.

The CDC wants to make AIDS testing standard prenatal care for the 4 million women a year who become pregnant, even if they are at very low risk of infection.

- Associated Press

Green vegetables' benefit disputed

LONDON - Contrary to popular belief, eating lots of green, leafy vegetables does not boost vitamin A levels, a new study says.

The findings could have profound implications on health promotion campaigns.

``Our findings do not support the long-standing assumption that vitamin A deficiency can be combated by increasing the intake of dark-green, leafy vegetables,'' concluded Saskia de Pee, the leading investigator at Wageningen Agricultural University in The Netherlands.

``Other food approaches to overcoming vitamin A deficiency, such as eggs, whole fish and liver, should be developed further,'' wrote de Pee.

- Associated Press