Catching a cold is almost a rite of passage for the chilly winter months when people and viruses are often in close quarters. And that’s especially true among children, who aren’t stingy about what they share among friends …
Obesity
Why White Girls Are Getting More Weight Loss Surgery
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that the rate of weight loss surgery in the U.S., including lap band and gastric bypass, went up by 700% between 2005 and 2007. But we already knew that the …
Study: Imbalanced Metabolism Linked to Childhood Asthma
Doctors have long suspected a link between obesity and asthma, but it may be an underlying cause of obesity — poor metabolism due to inactivity or an unhealthy diet — that is actually related to the respiratory condition. New …
Study: Can We Tell Our Genes to Make Us Fat?
The fight against obesity has engaged many fields of medicine: genetics to predict it; nutrition to prevent it; surgery to manage it; and endocrinology to deal with one of its biggest side effects, diabetes.
New Fat Fighting Machines: Real, FDA Approved
Two new machines that either freeze or deflate fat cells, helping to assist weight loss and even change a person’s overall shape, may be on the market soon. According to the FDA, they are not a gimmick.
High Fructose Corn Syrup Wants A New Name
High fructose corn syrup — an ingredient in everything from soda to ketchup to pickles — has such a bad reputation that the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) wants to change the name of the popular sweetener to “corn sugar.”
Study: Cancer Deaths Decline in Europe, but New Cases Rise
As cancer treatment gets more sophisticated, a diagnosis no longer means a death sentence. But while dying of cancer is less likely, a European study finds that the rate of developing cancer is higher than ever.
Why Can’t Americans Eat Their Fruits and Veggies?
A large and undisputed body of evidence suggests that eating fruits and vegetables is a preventive measure against cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently found that only 32.5% of American adults ate two daily servings of fruit in 2009, a slight decline from …
MorningRx: Upholding the French Paradox, a Clue to Type 1 Diabetes, and Bans on Chocolate Milk
Immune System Genes May Contribute to Type 1 Diabetes: Researchers may be one step closer to understanding what causes Type 1 diabetes, which causes an inability to produce insulin and prevents the body from breaking down sugars …
The BPA Debate: Bad Reputation and Still No Answers
Bisphenol-A (BPA), the endocrine-disrupting chemical in plastics — and the go-to environmental health villain — has vexed public-health experts for at least a decade. Reams of inconclusive and conflicting studies on the …
The Daily Dose: Weight Loss Can Be Toxic, But Obesity Is Expensive
FDA Takes On Green Tea: Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s Canada Dry and Unilever’s Lipton are in hot water for overextended health claims on labels and promotional websites for their green tea products, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Family MattersChildhood
Does Lack of Sleep for Children Mean Obesity?
As if parental sleep deprivation weren’t bad enough, now there’s something else to fret about when your tyke doesn’t get enough Z’s.
A new study in September’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reports …
Can Your Neck Tell You If You’re Overweight?
As helpful as the body mass index is for telling you if you’re overweight or obese, doctors agree that it’s not perfect. Because it measures height and weight, researchers have noted that doesn’t take into account muscle, which can push the BMI of a fit but built individual into the above normal range.