It’s been a long three weeks for the American Cancer Society. The public relations nightmare that started with an admission to the New York Times that they’d overstated the benefits of detecting many cancers is continuing with new evidence that two of the most reliable screenings—Pap smears for cervical cancer and colonoscopies for …
Newborns cry in native tongue
Though she is nestled safely in the womb, your baby is already listening to you by the last trimester of pregnancy. At birth, according to new research, infants have already picked up their parents’ “accents,” – and these can be distinguished by listening to the way their cries rise and fall in pitch.
The research examined 60 …
More pint-sized patients getting grown-up surgeries
Childhood obesity rates are through the roof. In the past 30 years, the percentage of overweight kids has nearly tripled in every age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Obesity in children is defined as a body mass index, BMI, at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex.) The …
Internet Net Plus for Social Life, Doesn’t Increase Isolation
The internet and cell phones are bringing people together, not tearing us apart—at least, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Internet and American Life project. The research followed up a shocking 2006 study, which found that American social networks were rapidly contracting and that 25% of Americans reported that …
Green tea’s promise of cancer prevention grows
Green tea may be considered a little woo-woo by some mainstream cancer experts but the popular beverage continues to creep toward credibility as a weapon against many forms of the disease. The best studies to date hint that green tea may help ward off cancers of the breast and prostate. And this week oral cancer came one step closer to …
FDA Announces New Effort to Fight Drug Errors, Surgical Fires
Around 1.5 million preventable medication errors occur in the American health system each year at a cost of over $4 billion annually, according to a new report released yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The report’s release marks the start of a new effort to reduce those numbers.
The FDA’s “Safe Use” …
Dude, Where’s my Trauma? Marijuana Could Treat PTSD
Many millions have been made in Hollywood by lampooning the acute effects of marijuana on memory—but Israeli researchers suggest that they might one day be harnessed to prevent or treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And today’s election results bringing medical marijuana dispensaries to yet another state suggest that day …
Downward Dog Fights Eating Disorders
Yoga for teens could be more than a spiritual and physical boost—a new randomized controlled trial suggests that it may help those with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.
The study included 50 adolescents aged 11-16, the vast majority of whom were girls. They were seriously ill. Nearly half had previously been …
Slow food: Good for the planet and the waistline
The slow food movement may have started as a means to support sustainable food practices but a slew of recent studies show eating slowly and mindfully has plenty of physical perks as well.
For instance, a study slated for upcoming publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that those who snarf their food …
Breast cancer survivors: Time to pump it up
Breast cancer surgeons have long wagged their fingers at patients warning them never to lift anything over 15 pounds, especially if lymph nodes were taken during surgery. Well, for any woman with a child (or groceries for that matter) the limitation is annoying at best, disempowering at worst.
That advice was rooted in the fear that …
Healthy Sleep: New Research on Memory, Fat, Golf
With this week’s “fall back,”—giving us a blissful extra hour—sleep and its role in health is on a lot of minds. New research is showing how varied sleep’s influence is on virtually every aspect of life—from memory to obesity to improving your golf game.
One study, just published in the Proceedings of the National …
Chronically ill may be happier if they give up hope
People who suffer with a chronic disability or illness may be happier if they give up hope that things will ever improve, suggests a small but intriguing study published in this month’s issue of Health Psychology, the journal of the American Psychological Association.
Why? Because people don’t adapt well to situations they think are …
Lozenge/Patch Combo Best for Kicking Butts
Smokers are more than twice as likely to quit if they use the nicotine patch along with nicotine lozenges—compared to lozenges or patches alone, buproprion (Xyban), buproprion plus the lozenges or placebo. The trial was the largest study ever to compare these approaches head to head, and included 1,504 smokers.
All of the treatment …