Chemicals May Play Role in Rise in Obesity

Too many calories and too little exercise are undeniably the major factors contributing to the obesity epidemic, but several recent animal studies suggest that environmental exposure to widely used chemicals may also help make people fat.
The evidence is preliminary, but a number of researchers are pursuing indications that the chemicals, which have been shown to cause abnormal changes in animals' sexual development, can also trigger fat-cell activity -- a process scientists call adipogenesis.
...more

Study: Quick Walks May Help Smokers Quit

LONDON -- As little as five minutes of exercise could help smokers quit, says a new study. Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
"If we found the same effects in a drug, it would immediately be sold as an aid to help people quit smoking," said Dr. Adrian Taylor, the study's lead author and professor of exercise and health psychology at the University of Exeter.
...more

Beta Carotene Pills May Not Save Eyesight

Carrots, rich in beta carotene, long have been thought to sharpen eyesight, but a new study suggests that beta carotene pills are powerless against a common type of vision loss among older people.
Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in people 65 and older. The condition blurs the center of the field of vision, making it difficult to read, drive, thread a needle and even recognize faces. It affects more than 10 million Americans and there is no cure.
...more

'Driven' Personalities May Encourage Irritable Bowel

Anxiety, restlessness could exacerbate the disease, experts say
-- Robert Preidt

FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- People who are overly anxious or "driven" are more susceptible to tough-to-treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a British study suggests.

The study, published in the current issue of the journal Gut, looked at 620 people who had gastroenteritis triggered by a bacterial infection.

Before their bout of gastroenteritis, none of the participants had IBS or any other serious bowel disorder. When they were checked three and six months after their gastroenteritis, 49 of the participants had experienced IBS at both time points.

...more

Does OJ Cause Heartburn?

A simple way to test which foods trigger your heartburn.
By Amy Gorin, Prevention magazine

Q. Does OJ cause heartburn?

A. Fiction. After reviewing 100 studies, Stanford University scientists concluded that most foods thought to trigger heartburn—orange juice, chocolate cake, and chicken curry—probably don't. ...more

The Bacteria You Want in Food

The buzz is on for foods and supplements with probiotics, “good” bacteria that can eliminate bad breath, heal your gut, clear up patchy skin and maybe even prevent cancer.
By Jean Weiss for MSN Health & Fitness
ANAHEIM, Calif.—“Take your vitamins.” You’ve heard this phrase since you were a kid. Maybe as an adult you’ve added fish oil to the take-it list. But have you considered daily probiotics? These “good” or gut-friendly bacteria—yes, bacteria—might just be the most important supplement of all to boost your immunity, heal disease and even recent research findings suggest, prevent cancer
...more

Are You Overdosing on Caffeine With Energy Drinks?

Are You Overdosing on Caffeine With Energy Drinks?

Based on recent reports, attorneys are warning food manufacturers to think twice before automatically adding caffeine to their mix of health-harming processed foods and drinks. Excessive caffeine consumption may be a growing problem.
A review of records from a regional poison control center in Chicago found 265 cases of caffeine intoxication, including 31 hospitalizations and 20 ICU admissions. Most were sickened by caffeine taken in the form of dietary supplements, medications, or energy drinks.
Caffeine is being added to a growing number of products, including sports drinks, energy drinks and gels, caffeinated waters, and fruit juice. So far, the FDA has had little interest in regulating its use.
Symptoms of caffeine intoxication include insomnia, heart palpitations, tremors, sweating, nausea, diarrhea, chest pain, and neurological symptoms.
...more

Caffeine in Soft Drinks Similar to Nicotine in Cigarettes

Caffeine in Soft Drinks Similar to Nicotine in Cigarettes

Caffeine in soft drinks has been compared to nicotine in cigarettes, which is one reason why researchers have recommended young children shouldn't be allowed to consume caffeinated sodas during school hours.
What's more, the results of one study found that just a few ounces of a caffeinated soft drink can make first-graders rowdy and inhibit their concentration.

Soft Drink Study

Researchers served 20 first-graders (10 boys and 10 girls) either caffeine-free or caffeinated soda over a time span of three weeks. The students' teachers monitored and rated their behavior; neither the teachers nor the students knew which kind of soda was being consumed.
...more

Long Hours at Desk Raise DVT Risk: Study

Office workers who don't take frequent breaks are more likely to be at risk for a blood clot than passengers on long-distance flights, study finds.
People who spend long hours at their desks may be at even greater risk for potentially deadly blood clots called deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than passengers on long flights, concludes a study by researchers at the Medical Research Institute in Wellington, New Zealand.
...more

Are Common Chemicals Feeding Obesity Epidemic?

THURSDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to a class of chemicals commonly found in soap and plastics could be fueling the obesity epidemic by contributing to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in men, a new study suggests.
The chemicals, known as phthalates, have already been implicated in male reproductive problems including low sperm counts and low testosterone levels. However, it's too soon to know whether they are actually causing these health problems, cautioned the researchers and others.
...more

High blood sugar tied to increased cancer risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Results of a study involving nearly 65,000 people point to an association between cancer and abnormally high blood sugar levels.
These results "have obvious implications for lifestyle guidance, as it is well known what factors cause blood glucose increases," Dr. Par Stattin from Umea University Medical Center, Sweden noted in comments to Reuters Health.
By avoiding excessive fat and other dietary risk factors, and by getting regular exercise, "you can decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes -- and cancer," he added.
...more

Social Stress May Kill Off New Brain Cells

WEDNESDAY, March 14 (HealthDay News) -- Research in rats shows that a single, socially stressful situation may contribute to depression by killing new nerve cells in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that processes learning, memory and emotion.
In young rats, the stress of encountering older, aggressive rats didn't stop the creation of new brain nerve cells, the first step in a process called neurogenesis. However, this form of stress did prevent many new nerve cells from surviving, which left the young rats with fewer neurons for processing feelings and emotions.
...more

CDC: Too few eating fruits, vegetables

ATLANTA - Fewer than a third of American adults eat the amount of fruits and vegetables the government recommends, a trend that's remained steady for more than a decade, health officials said Thursday. That's "well below" the government's goal of getting 75 percent of Americans to eat two servings of fruits and having half of the population consume three servings of vegetables each day by 2010, said Dr. Larry Cohen of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The diet survey, part of a huge federal health survey of every state, is based on responses from 305,000 adults in 2005. It indicates the country is only about halfway toward meeting its healthy eating goal three years from now
...more

10 Things Your Butcher Won't Tell You

10 Things Your Butcher Won't Tell You

Smart Money has compiled a list of the top 10 things your butcher won't tell you. Many meats you see at the grocery store are far less safe for your health than you may believe.

Here's a sampling of what Smart Money discovered:

Most meat processors inject their products with salt, and lots of it.

Cleanliness in your grocery store's meat department isn't automatic.

Much of the ground beef used to make hamburgers could come from anywhere, because it's extracted using an unappealing process called advanced meat recovery.

Many butchers you see working at grocery stores don't know much at all about the meats they're selling or how to prepare them properly.

Grocery store meats are often case-ready, meaning they come prepackaged and ready for sale before they arrive.

Health Tip: Symptoms of High Blood Sugar

(HealthDay News) -- When people with type 1 diabetes have high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), they do not have enough insulin in their system to move the sugar from the blood into the cells of the body.
Hyperglycemia also can occur in non-diabetics when a medical condition -- like an inflammation of the pancreas -- makes it difficult for the body to process sugar.
...more

Office workers most at risk from blood clots: study

WELLINGTON (AFP) - Office workers who spend long hours at their desk may be more prone to potentially fatal blood clots than passengers on long-haul flights, according to research cited Monday.
A study by Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in Wellington found that a third of patients admitted to hospital with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were office workers who spent long periods at a computer.
...more

Beta carotene pills may not save vision

CHICAGO - Carrots, rich in beta carotene, long have been thought to sharpen eyesight, but a new study suggests that beta carotene pills are powerless against a common type of vision loss among older people. Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in people 65 and older. The condition blurs the center of the field of vision, making it difficult to read, drive, thread a needle and even recognize faces. It affects more than 10 million Americans and there is no cure.
An earlier large study had shown that beta carotene — when taken with certain vitamins and zinc — could slow or prevent vision loss in people with age-related macular degeneration. Commercial formulations of the eye-protecting combination vitamins are sold over the counter.
...more

Want a better memory? Stop and smell the roses

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who want to learn things might do better by simply stopping to smell the roses, researchers reported on Thursday.
German researchers found they could use odors to re-activate new memories in the brains of people while they slept -- and the volunteers remembered better later.
Writing in the journal Science, they said their study showed that memories are indeed consolidated during sleep, and show that smells and perhaps other stimuli can reinforce brain learning pathways.
...more

Peanut butter recall widens for salmonella link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. food safety authorities extended a recall of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak to include products bought as early as October 2004.
Initially, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said all Peter Pan peanut butter bought since May 2006, and all of Wal-Mart Inc.'s Great Value peanut butter with the batch code 2111 should be discarded.
ConAgra Foods Inc. makes both, and has recalled all potentially contaminated batches.
...more

Diabetes: a growing problem in newly-rich Asia

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A cheese burger one day, lasagna the next and chicken nuggets instead of a bowl of noodles.
Across the continent, a newly-affluent Asian middle class is splurging after centuries of deprivation, shaking off a diet traditionally high in vegetables and rice and low in meat and opting instead for food loaded with saturated fat.
But the new variety of foods available to affluent Asians, coupled with a less active lifestyle, has a price -- diabetes
...more

Girls who are overweight at the age of three risk reaching puberty as early as nine years old, a US study suggests.

The research, published in the journal Pediatrics, adds to mounting evidence suggesting childhood obesity is causing the trend of earlier puberty in girls.

Studies suggest girls who reach puberty earlier than the "normal" age of 10 and above also start drinking alcohol and begin having sexual intercourse sooner. UK experts said early puberty could cause girls significant distress.

They are also at increased risk of certain cancers, including breast cancer.
...more

Snack attack? Don't be tricked by low-fat labels

Using only two words, I bet I could get you to overeat a snack you don’t even really like. Those two words would be “low fat.”We're living in a world of fat-free, carb-free and sugar-free snacks. Most of the time, if we think they are at least low fat, we think “it must be good for us” — even if the snack is loaded with sugar. ...more

Exercise in Youth Keeps Hypertension Risk Low

FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Exercising in your teens and 20s could help keep high blood pressure at bay over the longer term, a new study finds.
"This is reassuring and confirming evidence that physical activity is actually causally related to hypertension," study lead author David Jacobs Jr., an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in a prepared statement. ...more

Exercise slows decline in Alzheimer's patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nursing home residents with
Alzheimer's disease who participate in a moderate exercise program have a significantly slower deterioration than those who receive routine medical care, researchers have shown.
Dr. Yves Rolland, of Hospital La Grave-Casselardit in Toulouse, France, and colleagues examined the effects of a program of exercise for one hour twice weekly on activities of daily living, physical performance, nutritional status, behavioral disturbance and depression among 134 Alzheimer's disease patients in nursing homes ...more

Codex Alimentarius Adopts Vitamin Guidelines

4 July 2005 - The Codex Alimentarius Commission has voted to adopt potentially restrictive guidelines for vitamin and mineral supplements proposed by the Codex Nutrition Committee. In its 28th session here in sun dried, heat plagued Rome, the planet's supreme food regulator has given a nod to industry in approving guidelines for food supplements over the strenuous opposition of consumer representatives. Several associations representing consumers and health practitioners were present under the banners of the National Health Federation: Friends of Freedom from Canada, the Europe-based Alliance for Natural Health, Danish MayDay, La Leva from Italy, the US Health Freedom Coalition as well as the Dr. Rath Health Foundation. ...more

Codex Alimentarius - The Sinister Truth Behind Operation Cure-All

What's really behind Operation Cure-All? Is it just the FDA and FTC taking their power too far? Or is there a deeper, more sinister purpose to this campaign? Who are Codex Alimentarius?
How could a country that prides itself in its freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and freedom of information be facing such severe restrictions in health freedom and dietary supplements? Haven't the people made their will known? Didn't our government pass the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 to insure our right to health supplements?
Indeed, our government did. But the FDA and FTC have found ways to get around that. The laws put in place to protect us are being ignored. And what's worse is that those laws are about to be superseded, if the powers that be have their way. ...more

Codex Alimentarius - The Sinister Truth Behind Operation Cure-All

What's really behind Operation Cure-All? Is it just the FDA and FTC taking their power too far? Or is there a deeper, more sinister purpose to this campaign? Who are Codex Alimentarius?
How could a country that prides itself in its freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and freedom of information be facing such severe restrictions in health freedom and dietary supplements? Haven't the people made their will known? Didn't our government pass the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 to insure our right to health supplements?
Indeed, our government did. But the FDA and FTC have found ways to get around that. The laws put in place to protect us are being ignored. And what's worse is that those laws are about to be superseded, if the powers that be have their way. ...more

Trans fats are not the only villain in American diets

Artery-clogging trans fats are the villain of the moment in the enduring story of America's love affair with food.
New York and Philadelphia have moved to ban trans fats from restaurant foods, forcing chefs to find alternatives to the partially hydrogenated oils that have kept french fries tasty and pastries firm.
Big food companies are squeezing trans fats out of products from Oreos to Cheetos and rushing to find palatable substitute oils. Even Crisco has been reformulated so it's trans-fat free. Fast-food chains such as Wendy's and McDonald's have scrambled to figure out ways to cook fries without trans fats.
Now, some nutrition and health analysts say the preoccupation with trans fats has gone too far. ...more

Women show pre-diabetes heart risk sooner than men

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with "pre-diabetes" may show signs of impending heart trouble long before the same warning signs show up in men, a new study suggests.
As its name implies, pre-diabetes is a precursor to type 2 diabetes; it's recognized when a person's blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to diagnose diabetes.
In the new study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers found that women, but not men, showed certain markers of blood-vessel abnormalities an average of 6 years before developing pre-diabetes. ...more

Fish oil unlikely to relieve depression

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite some evidence linking depression with low levels of omega-3 fatty acids, there is currently no convincing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids alone can relieve depression, according to a report published this week.
And there is limited evidence that omega-3 fatty acids given in combination with antidepressant drugs can relieve depression -- but this needs to be confirmed before the routine use of omega-3 fatty acid supplements can be recommended for depression, the report states. ...more

Antioxidant Supplements Don't Extend Life Span, Study Finds

Supplements that millions of Americans take to stave off disease and slow the aging process do not boost longevity and appear to actually increase the risk of dying, according to the most comprehensive study of whether popular "antioxidants" help users live longer.
The analysis, which pooled data from 68 studies involving more than 232,000 people, found no evidence that taking beta carotene, Vitamin A or Vitamin E extends life span and, in fact, indicated that the supplements increase the likelihood of dying by about 5 percent. Vitamin C and selenium appeared to have no impact -- either way -- on longevity. ...more