Musick: Local Sox fans savor Hall of Fame moment
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014
WWW.NWHERALD.COM
The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.
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AFTER ‘IDOL’
ALSO IN PLANIT PLAY:
Local ‘American Idol’ hopefuls move on from TV appearances Planit Play, 10
n Local square dance clubs n Review of ‘Lone Survivor’
Are vitamins useful?
Study says county has water issue Warns supply could be running short by 2050 By KEVIN P. CRAVER
On the Net
kcraver@shawmedia.com
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Dave Childress, manager of the Crystal Lake Health Food Store, looks Dec. 31 for a specific vitamin for John Jonelis of Crystal Lake. “My doctor prescribes them,” Jonelis said. “I noticed a difference in two weeks. It was incredible.” A recently released analysis is claiming that multivitamins may offer no substantial benefits. BELOW: A bottle of vitamins sits on the shelf at the Crystal Lake Health Food Store.
Recent studies cast doubt, but local experts see value By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com
I
nside the Crystal Lake Health Food Store, manager Dave Childress helps customers find multivitamin supplements. Doctors can prescribe the supplements for people who may have nutritional gaps in their diets. But recent studies published by the Annals of Internal Medicine journal said multivitamins don’t provide as much protection for aging brains in men or help heart attack survivors. Millions of Americans spend billions of dollars on vitamin combinations, presumably to boost their health and bolster their diets. But while people who don’t eat enough of certain nutrients may be urged to get them in pill form, the government doesn’t recommend routine vitamin supplementation as a way to prevent chronic diseases. The recent studies showed people who took vitamins fared no better on memory
or other cognitive tests, and vitamins had no effect on the risk for heart disease. Childress, a certified nutritionist, said a few studies should not be the final word when it comes to multivitamins. He said there needs to be hundreds of studies done before saying multivitamins are not useful. “To take one study out as the be all, end all is just disingenuous,” Childress said. He said there were flaws in one study in who was included in the final numbers and the benchmarks people who used multivitamins had to meet. Childress added the amount of nutrients people get from their diets is low, and people are mineral deficient. Childress agreed that people need to eat well. “I think a person has to look at their diets and eat nutrient-dense food,” Childress said. “We eat a lot of processed carbohydrates ... that are nutrient-poor food.”
“To take one study out as the be all, end all is just disingenuous. ... I think a person has to look at their diets and eat nutrient-dense food. We eat a lot of processed carbohydrates ... that are nutrientpoor food.” Dave Childress manager of Crystal Lake Health Food Store and certified nutritionist
A new Illinois State Water Survey study says what a multitude of studies before it have concluded – McHenry County’s groundwater supply could become a big problem over the next decades. In a 242-page report released Tuesday, the survey team led by hydrogeologist Scott Meyer concluded that, if left unchecked, groundwater resources by 2050 could be strained to the point of water shortages and adverse effects on rivers, streams and wetlands. “How much groundwater is available to users in McHenry County long-term – that is, the sustainable pumping rate – depends on how groundwater withdrawals affect the environment and what the public considers to be acceptable environmental impacts,” the report states. McHenry County is entirely dependent on groundwater
An Illinois State Water Survey report says the amount of water used in McHenry County could increase in the next 36 years by 6.8 percent in the bestcase scenario to 175 percent in the worst. You can read the full text of the report at http:// shawurl.com/ xuu.
See WATER, page A4
State tallying freeze’s costs Chill strains some budgets By JASON KEYSER
Inside
The Associated Press
Temperatures in the county climbed above freezing Wednesday after two days of bitter cold. McHenry had the lowest temperature in the area, with an air temperature of minus 20 degrees on Monday. PAGE B1
CHICAGO – Empty road salt reserves, blown overtime budgets for snowplow drivers and costly repairs to water mains blown apart by ice were just some of the expenses straining municipalities around Illinois during the deep freeze. It’s not a financial calamity, but on Wednesday local authorities already were counting the costs – expecting to have to pinch from other areas of their budgets and put off projects ranging from new road work to the purchase of shiny new manhole covers. Businesses that had to close
See VITAMINS, page A4 See FREEZE, page A4
LOCALLY SPEAKING
CARY
McHENRY
FIRM TO HELP OUT WITH PUBLIC WORKS
INTERSECTION FIXES MOVING FORWARD
Cary officials are outsourcing the village’s day-to-day engineering work as they look for the municipality’s next Public Works director. For the next 4 to 6 months, Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers of Crystal Lake will work 20 hours a week for the village to help with capital project coordination. For
Plans to improve the intersection at Bull Valley and Curran roads are moving ahead. The McHenry City Council hired HR Green for just under $68,000 to do the engineering for phase one of the project in a 6-1 vote Monday. The proposed improvements are to address traffic backups that occur during peak times. For more, see page B1.
more, see page B1. Jacobs’ Chrishawn Orange (left), McHenry’s Cody Freund Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
ALGONQUIN: Golden Eagles hold off Warriors, 53-50, in FVC Valley Division play. Sports, C1
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