Health News

Healthy Food Choices And Taste Rules For Kids

Date: Jul-19-2013
Sweet and salty flavors, repeat exposure, serving size and parental behavior are the key drivers in children's food choices, according to a recent panel discussion at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo® held at McCormick Place. A standing-room only crowd of more than 200 conference attendees heard new insights into how children choose the foods they eat, what their eating behaviors are and how the industry and parents can give children access to healthy food environments that shape those food choices...

Rapid Progress In Understanding And Treating Skin Cancer

Date: Jul-19-2013
A decade ago there was little doctors could do to help a patient with advanced-stage melanoma. Now it seems each week yields important new discoveries about the deadly skin cancer. "I've been doing this for 30 years, and now is by any measure the most exciting time for melanoma research," said Brian Nickoloff, director of the Nicholas V. Perricone, M.D., Division of Dermatology and Cutaneous Sciences at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine...

Study Looks At Patients' Experience Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing

Date: Jul-19-2013
Several companies sell genetic testing directly to consumers, but little research has been done on how consumers experience such tests. The tests have raised questions about the validity and accuracy of the information provided to consumers - especially without the involvement of a qualified health-care professional. Now a study led by a researcher at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine is providing insight into how a diverse group of primary care patients experience genetic testing...

Missed Diagnoses And Drug Errors Make Up Bulk Of Primary Care Malpractice Claims - Similar Trends Found In UK, Australia, And US

Date: Jul-19-2013
Missed diagnoses - particularly of cancer, heart attack, and meningitis - and drug errors make up the bulk of malpractice claims brought against doctors in primary care, finds an analysis of published data in the online journal BMJ Open. The risk of litigation has not been given a great deal of attention in primary care, say the authors. But with most healthcare contacts taking place in primary care, it is important to characterise the causes and types of claims arising from these encounters, they add...

Fructooliogosaccharides Provide Digestive, Immunity And Bone Health Benefits

Date: Jul-19-2013
A new presentation at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Expo in Chicago® focused on the health benefits of short-chain fructooliogosaccharides (scFOS), which are low-calorie, non-digestible carbohydrates that can improve food taste and texture while aiding immunity, bone health and the growth and balance of important bacteria in the digestive track. Fructooliogosaccharides are naturally found in chicory, onions, asparagus, wheat, tomatoes and other fruits, vegetables and grains...

Adding Herbs And Spices To Food Can Make Up For Missing Fat

Date: Jul-19-2013
Adding just a small amount of everyday herbs and spices to vegetables and reduced-calorie meals may make those foods more appetizing to consumers, which could ultimately help Americans cut down on dietary fat and choose more foods in line with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, according to research presented at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo® John Peters, Ph.D...

"Worrying" Rise In Alcohol Deaths Among Young Women In England And Scotland

Date: Jul-19-2013
There has been a "worrying" increase in alcohol related deaths among young women in England and Scotland, since the middle of the last decade, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. This is despite an overall fall in such deaths in both countries since the mid 2000s, say the authors, who describe the trends as a warning signal that must be heeded...

Cancer Metastasis Likely Driven By Self-Perpetuating Signals

Date: Jul-19-2013
A team of international researchers from Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (USA) has identified a self-perpetuating signaling circuit inside connective tissue cells that allows these cells to form a front and a back and propel themselves in a particular direction over a long period of time. This propulsion is the same movement that tumor cells use to invade healthy tissue during cancer metastasis so cracking the code to this signaling network may lead to new therapeutic strategies against cancer and other devastating diseases...

Bigger, Fatter Babies Born As A Result Of Excess Weight Gain In Early In Pregnancy

Date: Jul-19-2013
Moms-to-be who gain too much weight early into their pregnancy are nearly three times as likely to give birth to bigger and fatter babies, warns a University of Alberta researcher. A study of 172 expectant mothers found that women who gained excessive weight during the first half of pregnancy gave birth to heavier and longer babies with more body fat than babies of women who either did not gain as much weight or put it on later in their pregnancy...

Drug Approved For MS Shows Promise For Preventing Heart Failure

Date: Jul-19-2013
A drug already approved to treat multiple sclerosis may also hold promise for treating cardiac hypertrophy, or thickening of the cardiac muscle - a disorder that often leads to heart failure, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report. The findings are published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. Cardiac hypertrophy is a slow thickening of the heart muscle that shrinks the interior volume of the heart, forcing the organ to work harder to pump a diminishing volume of blood...