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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Study to test whether nutrients in dark chocolate can prevent heart attack, stroke

It won't be nearly as much fun as eating candy bars, but a big study is being launched to see if pills containing the nutrients in dark chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
The pills are so packed with nutrients that you'd have to eat a gazillion candy bars to get the amount being tested in this study, which will enroll 18,000 men and women nationwide.
"People eat chocolate because they enjoy it," not because they think it's good for them, and the idea of the study is to see whether there are health benefits from chocolate's ingredients minus the sugar and fat, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, preventive medicine chief at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
The study will be the first large test of cocoa flavanols, which in previous smaller studies improved blood pressure, cholesterol, the body's use of insulin, artery health and other heart-related factors.
A second part of the study will test multivitamins to help prevent cancer. Earlier research suggested this benefit but involved just older, unusually healthy men. Researchers want to see if multivitamins lower cancer risk in a broader population.  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/17/study-to-test-whether-nutrients-in-dark-chocolate-can-prevent-heart-attack/

Friday, March 28, 2014

Wider Waistline May Mean Shorter Lifespan: Study

 Having a big belly means big trouble when it comes to your health, researchers warn.
They analyzed data from 11 studies that included more than 600,000 people worldwide and found that people with large waist circumferences were at increased risk of dying younger and dying from conditions such as heart disease, lung problems and cancer.
Men with waists of 43 inches or more had a 50 percent higher risk of death than those with waists less than 35 inches. This equated to a three-year lower life expectancy after age 40, according to the study.
Women with waists of 37 inches or more had an 80 percent higher risk of death than those with waists of 27 inches or less, which equated to a five-year lower life expectancy after age 40.
The larger the waist, the greater the risk, the researchers said. For every 2 inches of increased waist circumference, the risk of death increased 7 percent in men and 9 percent in women, according to the study, which was published in the March issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Although the review found an association between larger waist size and risk of death at a younger age, it didn't prove a cause-and-effect relationship.  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145119.html

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Cholesterol test now recommended for kids 9 to 11

The face of cholesterol testing just got a lot younger.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently revised guidelines for annual well-child visits, adding a recommendation that all children between the ages of 9 and 11 get a dyslipidemiascreen, which calculates total cholesterol, including high-density lipoprotein ("good" cholesterol, aka HDL), low-density lipoprotein ("bad" cholesterol, aka LDL or non-HDL) and triglycerides in the blood.
It's the result of a 2012 report from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which urged the universal childhood test based on evidence that elevated triglycerides and LDL raise the risk of later cardiovascular disease, which afflicts at least 40 percent of the U.S. population. It cited evidence that early intervention can substantially reduce that risk.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sc-health-0312-cholesterol-kids-20140312,0,7375649.story

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Health conspiracy theories are widely believed

Nearly half of American adults believe the federal government, corporations or both are involved in at least one conspiracy to cover up health information, a new survey finds.
Conspiracy theories on everything from cancer cures to cellphones to vaccines are well known and accepted by sizable segments of the population, according to a research letter published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The findings reflect "a very low level of trust" in government and business, especially in pharmaceutical companies, says study co-author Eric Oliver, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. They also reflect a human tendency to explain the unknown as the work of "malevolent forces," he says.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/19/health-conspiracy-theories/6602775/

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Water Myths Revisited, From Weight Loss to Hydration

Dieters are often told to drink plenty of water, but doing so won't help them shed excess pounds, an expert says.
"There is very little evidence that drinking water promotes weight loss. It is one of those self-perpetuating myths," Beth Kitchin, an assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a university news release.
"I'm not saying drinking water isn't good," she said, adding that she's aware of only one study that showed people who drank more water burned a few extra calories. "And it was only a couple of extra calories a day," she said.
Another popular misconception is that the temperature of drinking water affects weight loss.
"You will hear that ice-cold water helps burn extra calories," Kitchin said. "While there may be a few extra calories lost, it won't be nearly enough to make a dent in your weight-loss endeavors."  http://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/food-and-nutrition-news-316/water-myths-revisited-from-weight-loss-to-hydration-685817.html

Monday, March 24, 2014

Fried Food More Dangerous If You Have the Wrong Genes

Fried food is bad for everyone, but it might be especially bad for people with the “wrong” genes, researchers reported Tuesday.
They found people with the worst combination of obesity-linked genes were twice as likely to be overweight or obese if they also ate fried foods frequently than people dealt a better genetic hand.
It’s the latest study to show that we are not all created equal when it comes to the risk of weight gain. Some people may have to watch their diets even more carefully than others, the researchers report in the British Medical Journal.
Lu Qi of the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and colleagues examined data from more than 37,000 people taking part in three big studies looking at health.  http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fried-food-more-dangerous-if-you-have-wrong-genes-n55881

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Exercise data reveal a couch potato nation

Americans are stuck in chairs and on the couch, spending eight hours a day with their metabolic engines barely idling, according to data from sensors that scientists put on nearly 2,600 people to see what they actually did all day.
The results were not encouraging: Obese women averaged about 11 seconds a day at vigorous exercise, while men and women of normal weight exercised vigorously (on the level of a jog or brisk uphill hike) for less than two minutes a day, according to the study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
If you included moderate exercise, such as yoga or golf, folks of normal weight logged about 2.5 to 4 hours weekly, according to the data. In part, that’s good news: federal recommendations for adults include 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activity coupled with muscle-strengthening exercise.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-exercise-sedentary-20140221,0,2080046.story

Friday, March 21, 2014

Does This Mean I Can Eat More? New Food Label Questions, Answered

e FDA is proposing the first changes to those little black-and-white food labels in more than 20 years, and they aim to take a more realistic look at what people eat.
A 20-ounce soft drink would now be a single serving under the proposed rules, and so would a whole cup of ice cream. It's sure to be controversial. Here are some of the questions people are already asking:
Doesn’t this new approach encourage people to eat and drink more?
The FDA doesn’t think so — instead they say the new serving sizes will more accurately reflect what people eat anyway, helping people make informed decisions. They cite studies showing that at least some people do look at food labels. Other research disputes this. “People aren’t doing a lot of complicated math when they are making decisions about what to eat,” says Julie Downs of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She’s done research showing most people really don’t change their behavior much even when they do read labels.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/does-mean-i-can-eat-more-new-food-label-questions-n40081

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Nutrition labels getting a makeover

Choosing healthier foods at the grocery store may soon be a little easier.
The Food and Drug Administration is proposing several changes to the nutrition labels you see on packaged foods and beverages. If approved, the new labels would place a bigger emphasis on total calories, added sugars and certain nutrients, such as Vitamin D and potassium.
The FDA is also proposing changes to serving size requirements in an effort to more accurately reflect what people usually eat or drink. For example, if you buy a 20-ounce soda, you're probably not going to stop drinking at the 8-ounce mark. The new rules would require that entire soda bottle to be one serving size -- making calorie counting simpler.
This is the first overhaul for nutrition labels since the FDA began requiring them more than 20 years ago. There has been a shift in shoppers' priorities as nutrition is better understood and people learn what they should watch for on a label, administration officials said.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/health/nutrition-labels-changes/

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

U.S. expands healthy food assistance to women, infants and children

 Some 9 million poor women and young children who receive federal food assistance under the U.S. government's so-called WIC program will have greater access to fruits, vegetables and whole grains under an overhaul of the program unveiled on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture hailed the revamping of its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children as the first comprehensive revisions to WIC food voucher allowances since 1980.
The list of foods that recipients could pay for with WIC vouchers was long limited to such basics as milk, infant formula, cheese, eggs, cereals, bread and tuna fish.
But many of the changes finalized by the USDA on Friday were instituted on an interim basis in 2007, including the introduction of fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables to the list of WIC-covered foods.
In its final form, the overhaul will boost by 30 percent, or $2 per month, the allowance for each child's fruit and vegetable purchases, and permit fresh produce in lieu of jarred infant food for babies, if their parents prefer.   
http://news.yahoo.com/u-expands-healthy-food-assistance-women-infants-children-074424454--finance.html

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Hundreds of Foods in U.S. Contain Hazardous Chemical: Report

Nearly 500 foods found on grocery store shelves in the United States, including many foods labeled as "healthy," contain a potentially hazardous industrial plastics chemical, according to a report issued Thursday by a health research and advocacy group.
Azodicarbonamide, also known as ADA, was found as an ingredient in breads, bagels, tortillas, hamburger and hot dog buns, pizza, pastries, and other food products, according to a report by the Environmental Working Group, based in Washington.
Some consumer groups have called for the removal of azodicarbonamide from use in foods. Fast food chain Subway said earlier this month that it was removing the chemical from its products, but stated that ADA is a safe and widely used ingredient for many foods.
Azodicarbonamide is fully approved for use in food by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. But ADA is banned as an additive in Australia and some European countries.  
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hundreds-foods-u-s-contain-hazardous-chemical-report-n39846