Health & Disease
Sugary Drinks Linked to Cancer..
Nicholas Bakalar
The study is observational and does not claim that drinking sugary drinks causes cancer. But after controlling for known variables, French researchers did find an association. The study, in BMJ, involved 101,257 people, average age 42, who had filled out repeated 24-hour food-intake questionnaires. The form listed 97 sugary drinks and 12 artificially sweetened beverages. Over nine years, there were 2,193 first cases of cancer, including 693 cases of breast cancer, 291 of prostate cancer and 166 of colorectal cancer.
The Doctor Will See You Now
Is it smart to skip your annual physical? Should you put your trust in medical research? Is "low T" an actual disease? This book examines these questions and more you've always wondered about in more than fifty essays on the practice of medicine. The Doctor Will See You Now is a quirky and eclectic collection of short pieces that explore the evolving patient-physician relationship; famous doctors and notorious patients; surprising hospital practices and the future of health care; medical reporting, research, ethics, drugs, and money; and the brave new world of neurology.
Need Healthy Eating Tips? Try Shopping with a Doctor at Local Grocery Stores
Mari A. Schaefer
It wasn’t what you might expect to see in a grocery store: a doctor in a white coat leading a group of shoppers through the aisles, talking about diet, food choices, and supplements. But there was Adam B. Kaufman, a gastroenterologist at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, at a Whole Foods fielding questions on how to get kids to eat more vegetables, which fats are healthy fats, and whether there are advantages to using dietary supplements. He’s part of a growing trend in the last five years to help patients develop healthier lifestyles by going out to where they food shop.
How Weight Training Changes the Brain
Gretchen Reynolds
The study finds that weight training, accomplished in rodents with ladders and tiny, taped-on weights, can reduce or even reverse aspects of age-related memory loss. The finding may have important brain-health implications for those of us who are not literal gym rats. Most of us discover in middle age, to our chagrin, that brains change with age and thinking skills dip. Familiar names, words and the current location of our house keys begin to elude us. But a wealth of helpful past research indicates that regular aerobic exercise, such as walking or jogging, can prop up memory and cognition.
When 'Bad'Cholesterol Gets too Low...
The scientists studied 96,043 people for an average of nine years, recording their LDL level biennially and tracking cases of hemorrhagic stroke, caused by the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. About 13 percent of strokes are of the hemorrhagic type. They found that compared with people in the normal range for LDL — 70 to 99 milligrams per deciliter of blood — people who had an LDL of 50 to 69 had a 65 percent higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke. For people with an LDL below 50, the risk nearly tripled. LDL concentrations above 100, on the other hand, were not significantly associated with hemorrhagic stroke, even at levels higher than 160.
Could Humans Live to 500 Years
Sarah Griffiths
Californian scientists tweaked two genetic pathways in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans to amplify its lifespan * They said the worms lived to the human equivalent of 400 to 500 years * Research raises the prospect of anti-ageing treatments based on genetic interactions, and the next step is to investigate if the effects occur in mice By SARAH GRIFFITHS's Living to the ripe old age of 500 might be a possibility if the science shown to extend worms' lives can be applied to humans, scientists have said. U.S. researchers tweaked two genetic pathways in the tiny lab worm Caenorhabditis elegans and boosted the creature's lifespan by a factor of five.
Dementia May Never Improve
Paula Span
He was a retired factory worker, living with his wife outside a small town in Wales, in the United Kingdom. Once outgoing and sociable, engaged in local activities including a community choir, he’d been jolted by a diagnosis of early dementia. A few months later, at 70, he wouldn’t leave the house alone, fearful that if he needed help, he couldn’t manage to use a cellphone to call his wife. He avoided household chores he’d previously undertaken, such as doing laundry. When his frustrated wife tried to show him how to use the washer, he couldn’t remember her instructions. “He’d lost a lot of confidence,” said Linda Clare, a clinical psychologist at the University of Exeter. “He was actually capable, but he was frightened of making a mistake, getting it wrong.”
What Are the Effects of Vitamin B12 Deficiency?
The scientists studied 96,043 people for an average of nine years, recording their LDL level biennially and tracking cases of hemorrhagic stroke, caused by the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain. About 13 percent of strokes are of the hemorrhagic type. They found that compared with people in the normal range for LDL — 70 to 99 milligrams per deciliter of blood — people who had an LDL of 50 to 69 had a 65 percent higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke. For people with an LDL below 50, the risk nearly tripled. LDL concentrations above 100, on the other hand, were not significantly associated with hemorrhagic stroke, even at levels higher than 160.
For Chest Pain Not Caused by a Heart Attack
Tom Avril
If you feel chest pain, get to a doctor fast. Nothing you’re about to read below should dissuade you from that common-sense advice. That said, this worrisome symptom often does not mean a heart attack. Chest pain can be the result of other problems in the heart or lungs, a muscular ailment, or even indigestion. In a new study, Jefferson University cardiologists described an unusual condition in which the patient feels pressure or tightness in the chest — the classic sign that coronary arteries are blocked by a clot or restricted by the severe buildup of plaque — yet those key blood vessels appear normal.
Tips for a Healthier You
Whatever your style when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, there’s one thing science can say for certain: Small changes can have a big impact. Whether the topic was weight loss or brain science, the power of going slow is a theme that popped up repeatedly in our health reporting throughout 2018. University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist Amber Alhadeff put it well in a recent interview: “There are billions of neurons in the brain, and we can change behavior with only a few hundred neurons.
Doctors’ Doubts Knock Down Coconut Oil Prices
Lucy Craymer
HONG KONG—Prices of coconut oil have dropped by more than half over the past year as the commodity, which is high in saturated fat, has fallen out of favor in kitchens and factories. The health benefits of coconut oil have been challenged in recent years by the American Heart Association and other organizations and that has hurt demand.
Eat Your Veggies: Study Finds Poor Diets Linked to One in Five Deaths
The global health study covered data from 1990 to 2017 across 195 countries.
Home Cooking to Reverse Obesity
Anahad O’Connor
Many nutrition experts blame processed foods for the obesity epidemic, suggesting that a return to home cooking would turn it around. But now some researchers are pushing back against that idea, arguing that it oversimplifies the obstacles that poor and middle-class families face
My Afterlife on the Body Farm
After I die, my body will help solve crimes as part of a world-renowned criminal justice program
Trauma and Poverty are Linked to Mental Illness
Rita Giordano
Among Philly kids, trauma and poverty are linked to mental illness, learning problems and more, Penn study finds
America Needs More Mental Health Providers
Aneri Pattani
Nurses want to help, if states let them
Epidemic of deaths due to heart failure underway in US
Kaiser Permanente
Deaths due to heart failure are increasing in the United States, particularly among the over-age-65 population, according to Kaiser Permanente research published today in JAMA Cardiology.