http://www.health.am/ Health.am provides the latest RSS feeds for Breaking Health News. 2012-02-03T13:31:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/should-sugar-be-regulated/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/should-sugar-be-regulated/ Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled substance just like alcohol and tobacco, contend a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In an opinion piece called “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” that was published Feb. 1 in the journal Nature, Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis argue that it’s a misnomer to consider sugar just “empty calories.” They write: “There is nothing empty about these calories. A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills - slowly.” Almost everyone’s heard of - or personally experienced - the proverbial sugar high, so perhaps the comparison between sugar and alcohol or tobacco shouldn’t come as a surprise. But it’s doubtful that Americans will look favorably upon regulating their favorite vice. We’re a nation that’s sweet on sugar: the average U.S. adult downs 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the American Heart Association, and surveys have found that teens swallow 34 teaspoons. Dieting, Food & Nutrition 2012-02-03T14:31:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/bossy-mom-at-snack-time/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/bossy-mom-at-snack-time/ Mothers who push their toddlers to eat more at snack time may end up with slightly chubbier children by the age of three, according to a U.S. study. Researchers whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said that such parents might end up overriding their child’s ability to listen to their body’s natural “satiety signals”—the brain’s way of saying it’s time to stop eating. It wasn’t clear if parental pushiness actually led to excess weight gain, and the weight differences in the study were small. But a number of previous studies have pointed to links between “controlling” mealtime behavior by parents and their children’s risk of being overweight. Children's Health, Dieting, Obesity 2012-02-03T14:27:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/smoking-tied-to-higher-psoriasis/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/smoking-tied-to-higher-psoriasis/ Adding to the list of possible health consequences from smoking, a large study suggests that smokers have an increased risk of developing the chronic skin condition psoriasis. People with psoriasis develop thick, red, scaly patches on the skin, which are often itchy or sore. Experts believe the disease is caused by an abnormal immune system attack on the body’s own cells. Some studies have suggested that smokers are more vulnerable to psoriasis, possibly because the habit can affect immune activity. But most have studied people at only one time-point, which makes it hard to be sure the smoking came before the psoriasis. Tobacco & Marijuana, Skin Care 2012-02-03T08:10:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/stroke-risk-in-postmenopausal-women/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/stroke-risk-in-postmenopausal-women/ Postmenopausal women may be at higher risk of having a stroke than they think. A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues found that traditional risk factors for stroke – such as high cholesterol – are not as accurate at predicting risk in postmenopausal women as previously thought. Instead, researchers say doctors should refocus their attention on triglyceride levels to determine which women are at highest risk of suffering a devastating and potentially fatal cardiovascular event. The study appears online today in the journal Stroke. “Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are affected by stroke and there is a tremendous emphasis on identifying people at increased risk,” said lead author Jeffrey S. Berger, MD, assistant professor of medicine and director of Cardiovascular Thrombosis at NYU School of Medicine, part of NYU Langone Medical Center. “This study revealed that what we’ve been using to evaluate risk all these years actually has little to no predictive value in older women. Triglyceride levels, however, take on a new significance. “ According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year. Ischemic strokes, the type assessed in this study, account for more than eight out of every ten strokes. They occur when blood clots, developing from high levels of a waxy substance in the blood called cholesterol, obstruct blood vessels to the brain. Cholesterol is made up of several lipids, or lipoproteins. Triglycerides are one type of such a lipoprotein, while others include low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL).” Gender: Female, Stroke 2012-02-03T08:05:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/does-maternal-asthma-modify-the-effect/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/does-maternal-asthma-modify-the-effect/ Breastfeeding is associated with improved lung function at school age, particularly in children of asthmatic mothers, according to a new study from researchers in Switzerland and the UK. “In our cohort of school age children, breastfeeding was associated with modest improvement in forced mid-expiratory flow (FEF50) in our whole group and with improvements in forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV1) only in the children of asthmatic mothers,” said Claudia E. Kuehni, MD, MSc, professor at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern. “In contrast, some earlier studies have suggested that breastfeeding might be harmful in the offspring of mothers with asthma.” The findings were published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The researchers analyzed data from a nested sample of 1458 children from the Leicestershire cohort studies, born between 1993 and 1997 in the UK. Children's Health, Asthma 2012-02-03T08:03:02-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/risk-of-dying-after-a-stroke/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/risk-of-dying-after-a-stroke/ Being anemic could more than triple your risk of dying within a year after having a stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012. “Among stroke patients, severe anemia is a potent predictor of dying throughout the first year after a stroke,” said Jason Sico, M.D., lead researcher and an assistant professor of neurology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. Anemia is a common condition in which the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Without red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body, fatigue, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat and other symptoms can occur.  Stroke 2012-02-02T21:37:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/erratic-heart-rhythm-may-account/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/erratic-heart-rhythm-may-account/ Occasional erratic heart rhythms appear to cause about one-fifth of strokes for which a cause is not readily established, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012. About one-third of survivors leave the hospital with the cause of their stroke still undetermined. “Identifying and treating these patients for irregular rhythm could reduce the recurrence of stroke by 40 percent compared to reducing the risk by treating them with aspirin,” said Daniel J. Miller, M.D., the study’s first author and a senior staff neurologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Mich. “The cause doesn’t make a difference if there isn’t a treatment, and recently two new medications – dabigatran and rivaroxaban – have been approved by the FDA to treat this problem.” The study confirmed a 2008 report that found 13 of 56 patients (23 percent) whose heart rhythms were measured by automated monitors for 21 days had intermittent, or paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). Such episodes can last for a few seconds up to several days.  Heart, Stroke 2012-02-02T21:36:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/male-and-female-behavior-deconstructed/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/male-and-female-behavior-deconstructed/ Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how? Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice. The UCSF team selectively turned many of these genes off one by one and found they could manipulate individual behaviors in the mice, like their sex drive, desire to pick fights, or willingness to spend extra time caring for their young. Gender: Female, Gender: Male 2012-02-02T21:14:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/sleep-apnea-linked-to-silent-strokes/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/sleep-apnea-linked-to-silent-strokes/ People with severe sleep apnea may have an increased risk of silent strokes and small lesions in the brain, according to a small study presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012. “We found a surprisingly high frequency of sleep apnea in patients with stroke that underlines its clinical relevance as a stroke risk factor,” said Jessica Kepplinger, M.D., the study’s lead researcher and stroke fellow in the Dresden University Stroke Center’s Department of Neurology at the University of Technology in Dresden, Germany. “Sleep apnea is widely unrecognized and still neglected. Patients who had severe sleep apnea were more likely to have silent strokes and the severity of sleep apnea increased the risk of being disabled at hospital discharge.” Stroke 2012-02-02T18:18:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/high-risk-of-ischemic-stroke/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/high-risk-of-ischemic-stroke/ Common infections in children pose a high risk of ischemic stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012. In a review of 2.5 million children, the researchers identified 126 childhood ischemic stroke cases and then randomly selected 378 age-matched controls from the remaining children without stroke. They discovered that 29 percent of those who suffered a stroke had a medical encounter for infection in the two days preceding the stroke versus one percent of controls during the same dates. In the three- to seven-day window, 13 percent of children had an infection compared to 2 percent of controls. The elevated risk of stroke didn’t persist after the first month of infection, researchers said. Infections, Stroke 2012-02-02T18:15:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/education-key-factors-in-student-weight/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/education-key-factors-in-student-weight/ Attending a financially poor school may have more of an effect on unhealthy adolescent weight than family poverty, according to Penn State sociologists. Poor schools even influence how parental education protects kids from becoming overweight. “It was once thought that family income was the main factor when we talk about the research on adolescent weight,” said Molly Martin, assistant professor of sociology and demography. “That’s not true. The environments the children live in play a key role in weight problems among adolescents.” Martin said that the level of a school’s financial resources significantly predicted adolescent weight problems, but the average education level of the parents for students in those schools did not.  Obesity, Weight Loss 2012-02-02T08:56:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/for-stroke-prevention/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/for-stroke-prevention/ Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of unruptured brain aneurysms, outcomes have remained stagnant over the last 10 years. This can be explained by the dramatic proliferation of minimally invasive endoscopic coiling procedures at lower-volume community hospitals, where outcomes are inferior. These findings are reported in a study by neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuro-anesthesiologists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and published in the journal Stroke. “This isn’t a problem with technology but rather the way it has been delivered,” says study co-author Dr. Robert A. Solomon, neurosurgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical and the Byron Stookey Professor of Neurological Surgery and chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Endoscopic coiling has been hugely helpful for the vast majority of patients, and it has actually been shown to have the potential for better outcomes relative to open surgery. It just hasn’t improved the overall picture, at least in New York state, where we focused our study.” Stroke 2012-02-02T08:45:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/best-superfoods-for-weight-loss/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/best-superfoods-for-weight-loss/ Superfoods build bones, prevent chronic diseases, improve your eyesight, and even keep your mind sharp. But did you know new evidence suggests these foods can also help you get - and stay - slim? If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably counting calories, reducing your fat intake and watching your portion sizes. What you eat however, is as important as how much you eat. Filling up on low-calorie processed snacks and other prepared foods might keep you within your calorie guidelines for the day, but your body and your metabolism struggle to function properly fueled by nutrient-poor foods. These 10 super weight loss foods can help you reach your goals and give your body the quality fuel it needs. Grapefruit The chemical properties of grapefruit are believed to help reduce insulin levels in the body. The smaller the spike in your blood sugar after eating, the more efficiently your body uses the food you’ve eaten for energy, thus reducing the unused amount that’s then stored in the body as fat. Dieting To Lose Weight, Food & Nutrition, Weight Loss 2012-02-01T11:18:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/what-is-aphasia/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/what-is-aphasia/ Aphasia is a language disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are parts of the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor. The disorder impairs both the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage. Who has aphasia? Anyone can acquire aphasia, but most people who have aphasia are in their middle to late years. Men and women are equally affected. It is estimated that approximately 80,000 individuals acquire aphasia each year. About one million persons in the United States currently have aphasia. Neurology, Stroke 2012-02-01T11:09:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/ab/more/music-training-has-biological-impact-on-aging-process/ http://www.health.am/ab/more/music-training-has-biological-impact-on-aging-process/ Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The study is the first to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience has an impact on the aging process. Measuring the automatic brain responses of younger and older musicians and non-musicians to speech sounds, researchers in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory discovered that older musicians had a distinct neural timing advantage. “The older musicians not only outperformed their older non-musician counterparts, they encoded the sound stimuli as quickly and accurately as the younger non-musicians,” said Northwestern neuroscientist Nina Kraus. “This reinforces the idea that how we actively experience sound over the course of our lives has a profound effect on how our nervous system functions.” Gerontology, Public Health 2012-01-31T11:26:00-08:00