Based on Los Alamos opacities including molecular absorption at low temperatures, and updated solar model constraints including an age of 4.6 x 10 to the 9th yr, an initial helium content of Y = 0.279 is found which is higher than the previously accepted value. The location of the red giant branch of NGC 188 is well reproduced with the required mixing-length ratio alpha value of 1.9. The model implies a neutrino flux 74 percent higher than the accepted value and a solar neutrino discrepancy with experimental values on the order of a factor of six. The value of the period spacing of low-degree gravity modes in the solar oscillations is, however, found to be closer to the observed one, and the present Y value implies a relative helium to galactic enrichment ratio of 1.8, which is more consistent with stellar nucleosynthesis and galactic evolution models.