Nearly 10 Million Americans Still Use Tanning Beds

Photo: Getty Images

It looks like tanning beds are finally becoming less popular, a new report reveals.

The number of U.S. adults who use indoor tanning beds—which are strongly linked to skin cancer—declined to 4.2% in 2013 from 5.5% in 2010, according to new research published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

Even young adults are using tanning beds less than in the past. The researchers noted a drop from 11.3% of 18 to 29 year-olds using them in 2010 to a 8.6% in 2013.

Still, the researchers estimate that 7.8 million women and 1.9 million men still use tanning beds, and for some age groups, there appears to be more interest. For instance, the number of female tanners dropped in all age groups and among college graduates. However, the researchers noted a 177% increase in tanning among men between ages 40 to 49 and 71% higher among men 50 and up.

Though the study authors can’t say for certain, it’s likely the wider acknowledgement that indoor tanning beds can lead to cancer that has more Americans opting out. The hope among public health experts is that the trend will continue to lose popularity.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

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The New Superfruit You’ve Never Heard of But Need to Try

Photo: Getty Images

Move over, açai—there’s a new superfood in town.

Well, it’s new to us, anyway. Pitaya, aka dragon fruit, is a staple in Central American diets, and now the bright magenta-hued fruit has made its way north.

Aside from its good looks (that color!), pitaya is loaded with nutrients. While the whole fruit isn’t always easy to find in stores, it’s readily available frozen, and just as beneficial for you that way: One 100g packet is a good source of fiber and magnesium, and also lends vitamin C, iron, and B vitamins, all for 60 calories. (You already know that brightly-colored fruit and vegetables are loaded with health-boosting antioxidants.) It’s a perfect base for smoothies and smoothie bowls, like this one:

RELATED: Try This Superfruit Breakfast Recipe

I particularly love the Pitaya Plus brand, since it’s certified organic by the USDA, and founder Chuck Casano is also on a social mission in Nicaragua, where he sources much of the fruit, scoops it out and freezes it in a solar-powered factory, then uses the discarded skins for compost. All that, and he employs local single mothers, too.

You can also find pitaya in many juice bars, or, if you prefer dried fruit, Navitas Naturals sells it that way ($7.30 for 3 oz., amazon.com), so you can snack on it or cut it up and sprinkle it on oatmeal or a salad. And if you do find it at a market near you, don’t be afraid to slice in and give it a try—despite pitava’s wild looks, its taste is mild and lightly sweet and tart.

RELATED: 23 Superfruits You Need Now!

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Regular Mamograms Might Lead to ‘Overdiagnosis’ of Breast Cancer

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Regular mammogram screening for breast cancer might be causing “widespread overdiagnosis,” with some women treated for tumors that would not have caused sickness or death, a new study contends.

Doctors tend to find more small tumors and precancerous lesions in areas where more mammograms take place, researchers found after analyzing county-level data collected by U.S. health officials.

However, the death rate from breast cancer did not appear to drop in the face of increased mammogram rates in those areas, wrote the researchers from Harvard University and Dartmouth.

“The simplest explanation is widespread overdiagnosis, which increases the incidence of small cancers without changing mortality,” the authors argue in the July 6 issue of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

But cancer experts said these findings should not lead women to think that mammograms are either unnecessary or potentially harmful.

“My biggest concern with this article is the hint or suggestion that mammography screening does not reduce mortality,” said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society. “That question has been decided. There’s no longer any debate about whether mammography saves lives.”

Previous studies have shown that mammography results in at least a 20 percent reduction in breast cancer death rates for women aged 40 and older, said Wender, who was not involved in the study.

However, the new findings show that some women may be able to have less frequent mammograms, said Dr. Harold Burstein, a senior physician with the breast oncology program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“Mammograms are still important, but we still need to figure out which women really need mammograms and on which schedule,” said Burstein, who also serves as an expert for the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

“This study reminds doctors and women that it’s probably worth having a longer discussion about what mammograms can and can’t accomplish, before reflexively deciding that every woman needs a mammogram every year,” added Burstein, who was not part of the study team.

It also highlights the need for research that will help doctors better sort out dangerous breast cancers from other breast tumors that may not need immediate treatment, said Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine and adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“I want to be able to tell my patients, you do not have the kind of breast cancer that will ever hurt you. You don’t need a mastectomy,” said Elmore, who wrote a commentary on the new study.

The researchers examined medical data for 16 million women aged 40 and older who lived in 547 counties reporting to Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registries in 2000. The SEER registries are maintained by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Of these women, 53,207 were diagnosed with breast cancer that year and followed for the next 10 years.

The study authors then performed a county-by-county comparison of mammogram rates against both the incidence of breast cancer in 2000 and deaths from breast cancer during the follow-up period. They specifically looked at the percentage of women aged 40 or older who’d had a mammogram in the past two years.

They found that when breast cancer screening increased by 10 percent, doctors diagnosed breast cancer 16 percent more often overall. There also was a 25 percent increase in the diagnosis of small tumors, which measured 2 centimeters or smaller.

But increased screening did not lead to a significant difference in the number of women who died from breast cancer.

Burstein noted that the results may have been affected by focusing solely on women who had a mammogram within the past two years.

“That doesn’t include getting a mammogram every three or four years, or not getting a mammogram at all,” said Burstein. “This is not a study of no mammograms versus mammograms. This is comparing women who get frequent mammograms to everyone else.”

Also, the follow-up may not have been long enough to show the long-term benefits of mammography, Wender said.

“For small tumors, the mortality benefit often doesn’t emerge until you’re 15 or even 20 years out,” he explained. “These small tumors were not destined to cause death until after 15 or 20 years.”

Finally, Burstein said the study relied on large data sets that don’t provide much information about individual patients.

“The study doesn’t have enough granularity to say if this particular woman did not get a mammogram, would she have done as well,” he said.

More information

For more on breast cancer screening, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

---

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Regular Mamograms Might Lead to ‘Overdiagnosis’ of Breast Cancer

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Regular mammogram screening for breast cancer might be causing “widespread overdiagnosis,” with some women treated for tumors that would not have caused sickness or death, a new study contends.

Doctors tend to find more small tumors and precancerous lesions in areas where more mammograms take place, researchers found after analyzing county-level data collected by U.S. health officials.

However, the death rate from breast cancer did not appear to drop in the face of increased mammogram rates in those areas, wrote the researchers from Harvard University and Dartmouth.

“The simplest explanation is widespread overdiagnosis, which increases the incidence of small cancers without changing mortality,” the authors argue in the July 6 issue of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

But cancer experts said these findings should not lead women to think that mammograms are either unnecessary or potentially harmful.

“My biggest concern with this article is the hint or suggestion that mammography screening does not reduce mortality,” said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society. “That question has been decided. There’s no longer any debate about whether mammography saves lives.”

Previous studies have shown that mammography results in at least a 20 percent reduction in breast cancer death rates for women aged 40 and older, said Wender, who was not involved in the study.

However, the new findings show that some women may be able to have less frequent mammograms, said Dr. Harold Burstein, a senior physician with the breast oncology program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“Mammograms are still important, but we still need to figure out which women really need mammograms and on which schedule,” said Burstein, who also serves as an expert for the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

“This study reminds doctors and women that it’s probably worth having a longer discussion about what mammograms can and can’t accomplish, before reflexively deciding that every woman needs a mammogram every year,” added Burstein, who was not part of the study team.

It also highlights the need for research that will help doctors better sort out dangerous breast cancers from other breast tumors that may not need immediate treatment, said Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine and adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“I want to be able to tell my patients, you do not have the kind of breast cancer that will ever hurt you. You don’t need a mastectomy,” said Elmore, who wrote a commentary on the new study.

The researchers examined medical data for 16 million women aged 40 and older who lived in 547 counties reporting to Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer registries in 2000. The SEER registries are maintained by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Of these women, 53,207 were diagnosed with breast cancer that year and followed for the next 10 years.

The study authors then performed a county-by-county comparison of mammogram rates against both the incidence of breast cancer in 2000 and deaths from breast cancer during the follow-up period. They specifically looked at the percentage of women aged 40 or older who’d had a mammogram in the past two years.

They found that when breast cancer screening increased by 10 percent, doctors diagnosed breast cancer 16 percent more often overall. There also was a 25 percent increase in the diagnosis of small tumors, which measured 2 centimeters or smaller.

But increased screening did not lead to a significant difference in the number of women who died from breast cancer.

Burstein noted that the results may have been affected by focusing solely on women who had a mammogram within the past two years.

“That doesn’t include getting a mammogram every three or four years, or not getting a mammogram at all,” said Burstein. “This is not a study of no mammograms versus mammograms. This is comparing women who get frequent mammograms to everyone else.”

Also, the follow-up may not have been long enough to show the long-term benefits of mammography, Wender said.

“For small tumors, the mortality benefit often doesn’t emerge until you’re 15 or even 20 years out,” he explained. “These small tumors were not destined to cause death until after 15 or 20 years.”

Finally, Burstein said the study relied on large data sets that don’t provide much information about individual patients.

“The study doesn’t have enough granularity to say if this particular woman did not get a mammogram, would she have done as well,” he said.

More information

For more on breast cancer screening, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

---

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The New Live-Longer Food, and 5 Ways to Eat It

Photo: Getty Images

There are lots of healthy nuts out there—just don’t forget the humble peanut! Not only do peanuts cram a ton of protein into a little package (about 7 grams per 1-ounce serving), they may also offer the promise of a longer, healthier life, according to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers tracked data on nearly 72,000 people in the U.S. and found that those who ate more than 18 grams of peanuts a day had a 21 percent lower risk of death from any cause. “Peanuts, like tree nuts, are rich in nutrients such as unsaturated fatty acids, fiber and vitamins, which are all beneficial for health,” says senior author Xiao-Ou Shu, MD. You can get the perks by working in either a small handful of whole nuts or 1 to 2 tablespoons of peanut butter daily.

Want more ways to use peanuts? Check out the recipes below.

RELATED: Best and Worst Nuts for Your Health

Warm Peanut and Sesame Noodles

Turn regular spaghetti into a flavor-packed dish with this peanut butter sauce. You’ll get protein, healthy fats, and minimal sodium. Get the recipe: Warm Peanut and Sesame Noodles

Photo: Quentin Bacon

Carrot Salad and Nut Butter-Ginger Dressing

Ditch calorie-packed creamy dressings and dress up your lunch salad with this nutty, spicy topping instead.  Get the recipe: Carrot Salad and Nut Butter-Ginger Dressing

Photo: Travis Rathbone

RELATED: 18 Ways to Cook with Peanut Butter

Dark Chocolate and Oat Clusters

Dark chocolate is rich in heart-healthy antioxidants, oats are filled with fiber, and peanut butter gives you a delicious dose of protein. Get the recipe: Dark Chocolate and Oat Clusters

Photo: Jim Bathie

Peanut-Butter-Cup Smoothie

If you love peanut butter candy but don’t want to derail your diet, try making this much healthier smoothie version. You only need five simple ingredients to kick-start your morning with 8.5 grams of belly-flattening protein. Get the recipe: Peanut-Butter-Cup Smoothie

Photo: William Dickey

RELATED: 9 Peanut Butter Dessert Recipes

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5 Kinds of Food-Shamers You Will Encounter (and How to Deal)

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If you’ve ever had anyone walk in to your cubicle as you were inhaling a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and say, “I didn’t know anyone ate fast food anymore,” congrats: You’ve been food shamed. You should know you’re in excellent company, as it’s happened to Health staffers at previous jobs (see No. 2 and No. 4), Olympic athletes, even celebs like Heidi Klum and Demi Lovato.

“Once foods are called ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ then the people who are doing the eating are judged good and bad as well,” Pamela Peeke, MD, author of The Hunger Fix, told Health. But don’t let food bullies get under your skin: People who are made to feel embarrassed about their guilty pleasures are less likely to make future healthy choices, according to a 2015 study in the journal Appetite. Instead, fight back with this field guide to the biggest Judgy Jennies out there and how to hang on to your dignity and your more-evolved-than-theirs approach to healthy eating.

RELATED: 4 Ways to Cure an Unhealthy Relationship With Food

The passive-aggressive metabolism praiser

“You’re so lucky you can eat ALL that.”
On the surface, this person is praising your superhuman metabolism and digestive tract, so why do their words make you feel all queasy inside? Because she is getting her jab in, implying that you suck down food like you’re going for gold at the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. Just remember, though, it’s not about you, it’s about them. “People tend to declare more negative comments and judgements when they themselves feel less grounded in their own eating behavior,” explained Dr. Peeke, who is also an expert in food addiction and senior science advisor at Elements addiction treatment centers. “There are mixed emotions involved—envy that perhaps a more slender person can ‘get away with it'; terror and fear that the judging person will fall to temptation if overeating is going on around them.” Your best bet? Don’t engage. “Simply smile with grace and change the subject,” she advises.

The food fascist

“You can’t eat a tuna melt in this office.”
That’s what a Health senior editor was told at a fashion industry job she once had (it was orders of the boss lady). No faux flattery here; these people are straight-up with their efforts to control what everyone else consumes. Take the family member who says, “I don’t permit sweets in my house” when you come bearing a bakery box, or the diet-trend-hopping friend who announces, “I can’t have any gluten at the table,” evidently suffering from the only known case of Sudden Sight-Induced Penne Intolerance. “Women especially tend to veer toward perfectionism in their eating,” Dr. Peeke explained. This kind of rigidity, though, “sets people up for disordered eating.” And it can be contagious. So why not be conveniently busy the next time a dinner-out invite comes from your super-obsessive friend?

RELATED: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Cleanse Made Me a Monster

The snack obituary writer

“Whoa, I didn’t know they still make double-stuff oreos.”
In a golly-gee tone, this trickster feigns shock that your occasional treats are actually on store shelves in America in 2015. Really—if they find you eating a donut, it’s like you were caught smoking opium and must have some overseas connection to secure your illicit goods. Hold your head high and enjoy your occasional Ring Ding, Dr. Peeke advised. In fact, she recommends following a reasonable 80/20 rule: “Nourish yourself with delicious whole foods 80 percent of the time and leave room for treats 20 percent of the time. This way you have breathing room to just be human.”

The mean minimalist

“You’re eating…Chipotle.”
They present, as fact, your lunch choice. It’s as if there’s no need for commentary; the simple statement about what is on your plate is damning enough. One Health.com editor was subjected to this understated put-down at a previous job. “I felt ashamed of my choices and I never got it again for lunch,” she recalls. “But how is it their business? They don’t know what I eat at home.” If you’re always having to defend your Taco Tuesday, Dr. Peeke added, “limit your time together because it’s just plain too toxic to hang out with people like that.”

RELATED: Ditch Dieting (And Lose Big Time!)

The salad slammer

“Look at you with your teeny kale salad again.”
This is the reverse food diss, in which you feel criticized for happening to like green juice, salmon over greens, and a teeming quinoa bowl. The implication is that you’re showing off, or trying to make friends and colleagues feel bad about their lunches (you aren’t, right?). Nobody should feel self-conscious breaking out their lentil-tofu bake. So why the snide comments? “When someone is the outlier and practicing a healthier lifestyle choice, it will make people who are not uncomfortable,” Dr. Peeke said. “My advice is to smile and say say, ‘I’m feeling great and enjoying my meal. I hope the same for you.'”

Just try not to say it through a snarl.

RELATED: What You Eat When Nobody is Watching

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Why Do Kids Stick Out Their Tongues When They’re Concentrating?

Photo: Stock4B/Corbis

When little kids are concentrating hard on some complicated task, you’ve likely noticed that they tend to stick their tongues out. (And some adults do this, too, though it’s markedly less endearing.) But why? A newstudy published in an August issue of the journal Cognition offers one theory. “This isn’t just a cute quirk of childhood, the findings suggest,” writes Christian Jarrett in a recent post for BPS Research Digest, “rather the behaviour fits the theory that spoken language originally evolved from gestures.”

A team of researchers from the U.K. and Sweden observed and videotaped 14 Swedish children, all 4 years old, completing a series of tasks that required concentration: one required fine motor control, such as playing on their own with a lock and key; another required communication, like playing with an experimenter a game they called “knock and tap.” (Basically, when the researcher knocked on a table, the kid was supposed to tap it with an open palm, and vice versa.) A third task tested story comprehension, and the children’s ability to recall details from a short tale the experimenter told them.
During each of these tasks, the kids stuck out their tongues now and then during the think-ier parts. This is in line with earlier research, which found that kids tend to do the tongue thing until about age 6. But the children stuck their tongues out most often during the knock-and-tap game. The finding was a surprise to the researchers, who expected the behavior would pop up most often when the kids were doing the fine-motor-control tasks. (Anyone who’s ever seen a little kid work on a puzzle would likely agree.) But, as Jarrett explains, what they actually found “makes sense in terms of the evolutionary history of language,” he writes. “[T]he knock and tap game involves rapid turn-taking, hand gesturing and structure rules – what you could think of as ‘the foundational components of a communication system’ or the rudiments of language.” What an adorable insight into the evolution of spoken communication.

More from Science of Us:

How Your Feet Can Help You Sleep

Scientists Make a Case for the Angry Nap

The Way Couples Tell Their ‘How We Met’ Stories Speaks Volumes

Kids Who Are Good Liars Have Better Memories

Scientists Try to Figure Out Picky Eating in Kids

What’s Happening in Your Brain When You Can’t Stay Awake

 

Science of Us is a smart but playful window into the latest science on human behavior, with the goal of enlightening, entertaining, and providing useful information that can be applied to everyday life.

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Anti-Vaccine Trend Has Parents Shunning Newborns’ Vitamin Shot

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 6, 2015 (HealthDay News) — With the recent U.S. measles outbreak, the issue of vaccine refusal has received growing scrutiny. Now doctors are calling attention to a similar problem: Some parents are shunning the vitamin K shot routinely given to newborns to prevent internal bleeding.

The consequences of that choice can be severe, pediatric specialists say. Infants can quickly become deficient in vitamin K, which can lead to dangerous bleeding in the intestines or the brain.

“If you refuse the shot, you’re rolling the dice with your child’s health,” said Dr. Robert Sidonio Jr., a hematologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta.

Vitamin K is necessary for normal blood clotting. In older children and adults, bacteria in the gut produce much of the vitamin K the body needs. But that’s not the case for infants.

And breast milk does not supply enough vitamin K — no matter how careful a mother is about her diet, Sidonio said.

“All the kale in the world won’t do it,” Sidonio added.

That’s why, since 1961, U.S. newborns have routinely received a vitamin K shot before they leave the hospital.

But some parents have started saying no to the shot. In 2013, while working at Vanderbilt University’s children’s hospital, in Tennessee, Sidonio saw several cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding in succession.

It turned out that none of the infants had received their vitamin K shot. Ultimately, Sidonio and his colleagues encountered seven cases of vitamin K deficiency over an 8-month period — with five of those infants suffering gastrointestinal or brain bleeding.

An investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found an “alarming” trend, Sidonio said. Among parents whose babies were born at private birthing centers near Vanderbilt, 28 percent had refused the vitamin K shot.

It’s not clear how common such refusals are nationwide, because there are no tracking systems for them, Sidonio said.

But the trend is not confined to Tennessee. In the latest issue of the Journal of Emergency Medicine, doctors in Ohio describe their own encounter with vitamin K deficiency.

Parents brought their 10-week-old to the emergency room, saying he had become increasingly “fussy” over the previous two weeks. That morning, the mother had noticed flecks of blood in the baby’s stool.

Blood tests revealed severe anemia — a shortage of healthy red blood cells — and a CT scan showed patches of blood collecting outside the brain. Eventually, the baby was diagnosed with vitamin K deficiency, after doctors learned the family had refused both the vitamin K shot and the hepatitis B vaccine, which is normally given to newborns.

Dr. Karyn Kassis is one of the emergency physicians who treated the baby at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in Columbus.

Luckily, she said, they stopped the bleeding around the brain — with an infusion of vitamin K — before it became severe. Such brain bleeds can lead to permanent damage or even death.

So why are parents opting out of the vitamin K shot?

Sometimes parents who don’t want their baby vaccinated may say “no shots,” and the providers may think that includes vitamin K, Kassis said.

There are also parents who want childbirth to be completely “natural,” and refuse vitamin K on those grounds.

But many parents shun the vitamin K shot because they mistakenly believe it’s dangerous, Sidonio said.

“There are many stories on the Internet about vitamin K,” he noted. “I think these parents are just getting bad information.”

The main myth is that the shot causes leukemia, according to Sidonio. He said the myth grew out of a single, “old” study that reported a correlation between the two — a link that was refuted in follow-up studies.

The situation is almost identical to the one surrounding the MMR vaccine and autism, Sidonio noted. A study from the 1990s, later found to be fraudulent, raised the possibility that the MMR caused autism. And despite years of research showing no such connection, some parents still believe the risk is real.

Health officials say the consequences of that distrust manifested in the recent measles outbreaks.

Similarly, Sidonio said, ER doctors are now seeing the consequences of vitamin K refusal.

Kassis suggested that if parents have questions about the vitamin K shot, they talk to a doctor they trust.

Sidonio stressed three points: The vitamin K shot is safe, cheap, and effective. “There’s no reason for parents to take the risk of refusing it,” he said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on vitamin K deficiency.

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Barbell Curls against an incline bench

This awesome exercise will tone your biceps, add it to your workout!

How to

Lie against an incline bench with your arms holding a barbell and hanging down. While keeping the upper arms stationary, curl the weight up as high as you can while squeezing the biceps (only the forearms should move; do not swing the arms).

Slowly return to the starting position.

Repeat for desired amount of repetitions.

NEXT: Step-up with bicep curl

Words and workout by Nichelle Laus, images by David Laus 

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Watch Out for Disease-Carrying Insects This Summer

SUNDAY, July 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) —
People who spend lots of time outdoors in the summer need to be careful about insect bites, an expert says.

Certain insects, such as ticks and mosquitoes, may be carriers of disease, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, said Dr. George Ruggiero, chief of family medicine and director of medical education at Peconic Bay Medical Center in New York.

Anyone who develops headache, fever, chills and aches after flu season ends should consider the possibility that they’ve been bitten, he said. People who develop a rash should also be seen by a doctor, he added.

“A combination of education and taking the right precautions are the best ways to prevent mosquito- and tick-borne diseases,” Ruggiero said in a medical center news release. “Always be cognizant of your surroundings and diligent in your self-examination in order to prevent any serious reactions.”

There are other steps people can take to protect themselves from insect bites in the summer, such as:

• Cover up. Wearing long sleeves and pants makes it more difficult for insects to bite. Pants can also be tucked into socks for added protection. Once back inside, do a “tick check.”
• Apply bug spray. DEET effectively repels both mosquitoes and ticks. Permethrin works, too, but may only be applied to clothes. Picaridin is another bug repellent, but only protects against mosquitoes.
• Consider the yard. Fences can prevent insect-carrying deer and rodents from running through your yard, where they can drop ticks and mosquitoes. In some cases, spraying yards to control ticks and mosquitoes can help.
• Protect pets. Talk to a vet about the best way to prevent bites from ticks and other insects. Protecting pets will also help ensure they don’t bring insects into the home.
• Check the environment. While participating in any outdoor activity, it’s important to consider the likelihood that deer or other rodents live in the area. Ticks will be lurking anywhere these animals roam.

Anyone who does find a tick on them should take it off. The best way to remove the insect is with a good pair of tweezers, Ruggiero said. Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible and lift it slowly and steadily, he advised.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more summer safety tips.

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