Additives used to give meats, cheeses and other foods a “smokey flavor” may pose a health risk, according to initial results of an investigation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Officials researched the effect of 11 different smoke flavorings—which are added to food products, as opposed to flavor incorporated through
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The idea that power can promote hypocrisy is not new, or lacking for anecdotal evidence. From the infamous example of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer‘s public persona as an enforcer of ethics contradicted by his private appetite for prostitutes, to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford‘s messages of family values undermined by his
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Whether or not a mother can successfully breast-feed her infant may have to do with her concentrations of testosterone, according to a new study from researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The study, published in the journal Acta Obstetricia and Gynecologica Scandinavica, followed 180 women from pregnancy
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Girls who begin menstruating at a younger age may have a greater risk for developing heart disease later in life, according to new findings published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The study included 15,807 middle-aged and senior women, whose cardiovascular health and mortality were tracked from 1993 to 1997,
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For patients battling severe depression, antidepressant medications are still the best option for treatment, but these drugs may offer little benefit to patients suffering from milder forms of depression, according to a new analysis published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The review, which analyzed data
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More than three quarters of patients who underwent sinus surgery to combat chronic sinusitis—or persistent sinus infection—reported a significant reduction in pain and improvement in quality of life, according to a new study published in this month’s issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. Researchers
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It may seem obvious that spending less time lounging on the couch may help burn more calories, but a team of researchers from the University of Vermont recently confirmed that cutting back daily TV time increases the amount of calories you burn. The study, published last month in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, included 36
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Clarification added January 6, 2010.
A wealth of research has shown that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are effective at reducing the symptoms of depression—though new research suggests that study populations limited to those with severe depression may skew these findings, and that antidepressants only show truly
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Video games are a controversial topic these days. Do popular games cater enough to a female audience? Can interactive games introduce a new forum for sexual predators? Is there such a thing as video game addiction? Yet, for all of the negative perceptions and criticisms of video games, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting their
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It’s New Year’s Eve, and for many people that means some confetti, bubbly and even a midnight kiss. But if you hope that for that kiss to turn into something more, safe sex advocates emphasize the importance of curbing your cocktail intake, and remembering contraception. Research sponsored by the sexual health non-profit group Marie
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Raising children in an über-hygienic atmosphere may inhibit immune system development key to fighting infection and disease later in life, according to a new study from researchers at Northwestern University. Researchers followed a group of more than 3,000 Filipino children from their mother’s third trimester of pregnancy through 22
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The growing number of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in hospitals may in part be driven by physicians’ tendency to over-prescribe antibiotics to avoid being sued by disgruntled patients, according to a study published this past fall in the American Journal of Therapeutics. Researchers from New York Medical
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Informally, it’s a measure medical professionals have been using for centuries—if an adult patient looks “old for his age,” that’s generally considered a sign of poor health. A new study published in the British Medical Journal put that folk wisdom to the test, in a study of more than 1,800 twins ages 70 and older. As part of the
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