Amazon starts selling groceries

Internet retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN - news) has started selling groceries on its Web site, a cautious step into a business that was one of the biggest casualties of the dot-com collapse.


The service is limited to non-perishable goods such as cereal, pasta and canned soup, but Amazon can ship those items to any customer, unlike online grocers that only deliver to limited areas.

"Because we only carry products when we can offer great prices and free shipping, we don't carry everything (yet!)," the company said in a notice on its Web site

AMA wants warning labels on high-salt foods

Too much salt is bad for you, says the American Medical Association, which wants the U.S. food industry to help reverse the trend by reducing sodium in processed and restaurant foods by at least 50 percent.

In a new policy adopted Tuesday, the nation's largest association of doctors also pledged to encourage the Food and Drug Administration to develop warning labels for foods high in salt.

Labels featuring pictures of salt shakers bearing the word "high" and red exclamation marks might help consumers think twice about eating high-sodium foods that contribute to health problems including high blood pressure and heart disease, according to an AMA council report that prompted the new policy...more

There's too much salt in food

Restaurants and food processors need to radically reduce the amount of salt they use, the American Medical Association said.


Most Americans consume two to three times the amount of sodium that is healthy and the bulk of that comes from the hidden salt in processed and restaurant foods, the association said.

That excess sodium greatly increases the chance of developing heart disease, hypertension and stroke.

"As a cardiologist, I deal with problems with hypertension . . . sodium is the number one cause of elevated blood pressure," said AMA board member James Rohack...more

Examining yourself for skin cancer

One of the best protections again skin cancer is to examine your skin regularly. Here are some tips on what to look for, courtesy of the Skin Cancer Foundation:

Look for any darkened patches of skin, irregular or new moles, or any other new growths.
Conduct your examination in a well-lit room.
Examine your head and scalp using a mirror. Use a hair dryer to move hair out of the way for a better view of your scalp.
Check hands, fingers and fingernails. Using a full-length mirror, examine your forearms, elbows, underarms and biceps.
Women should check on and around their breasts; everyone should check their chest, neck, shoulders, back and abdomen.
Sit down to examine the tops and bottoms of the feet, and your toes.

Heavy Wrinkles could be sign of lung disease

Smokers' heavily wrinkled faces could be an early warning sign of a serious lung disease, researchers said on Wednesday.


They found that smokers with pronounced wrinkles are five times more likely than those without marked facial lines to suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes bronchitis and emphysema.

COPD, a leading cause of death worldwide, is caused by smoking, which also prematurely ages the skin. So researchers at the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation in southwest England studied whether there was a link between the two...more