Health News

Potential for better-tasting reduced-fat desserts, dressings, sauces

Date: Mar-19-2014
Adjusting the calcium level and acidity could be the key to developing new better-tasting, more eye-appealing and creamier reduced-fat sauces, desserts and salad dressings that could be on the market soon, researchers report..To date, a major problem with removing fat from these accompaniments is that in addition to reducing calories, it can negatively affect the flavor, appearance and texture, they said. But based on recent research it may not be too long before new, improved, lower-fat foods appear in grocery stores, the researchers predicted.

New method enables water to be purified by sunlight

Date: Mar-19-2014
Sunlight plus a common titanium pigment might be the secret recipe for ridding pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other potentially harmful pollutants from drinking water. Scientists combined several high-tech components to make an easy-to-use water purifier that could work with the world's most basic form of energy, sunlight, in a boon for water purification in rural areas or developing countries.

Hope for safer, greener alternative to BPA

Date: Mar-19-2014
A waste product from making paper could yield a safer, greener alternative to the potentially harmful chemical BPA, now banned from baby bottles but still used in many plastics. Scientists made the BPA alternative from lignin, the compound that gives wood its strength, and they say it could be ready for the market within five years.They described the research here in one of the more than 10,000 presentations at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, taking place here through Thursday."Approximately 3.

Sweetener from tequila plant may be ideal for diabetics - helps reduce blood sugar, weight

Date: Mar-19-2014
A sweetener created from the plant used to make tequila could lower blood glucose levels for the 26 million Americans and others worldwide who have type 2 diabetes and help them and the obese lose weight, researchers said here today.The main reason it could be valuable, they explained, is that agavins, a natural form of sugar found in the agave plant, are non-digestible and can act as a dietary fiber, so they would not raise blood glucose. Their report was part of the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.

Diabetes detection based on the science of deer hunting

Date: Mar-19-2014
Body odor is a deer hunter's worst enemy, an alert to animals that an ominous presence is lurking, but the science behind suppressing it to give hunters an edge oddly enough could help researchers develop a life-saving device for diabetes patients. Scientists presented the latest advances that tie together these two seemingly unrelated fronts at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.The meeting, attended by thousands of scientists, features more than 10,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics.

Early brain development implicated in Restless Legs Syndrome

Date: Mar-18-2014
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), a neurological disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs and the urge move them, affects up to 10% of Americans, although little is known about its cause. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have demonstrated a common genetic variant associated with RLS alters expression in a critical brain gene during fetal development. RLS is not caused by a single genetic defect, but rather is a complex disorder influenced by many genetic and environmental components, with age being the strongest risk factor.

Early brain development implicated in Restless Legs Syndrome

Date: Mar-18-2014
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), a neurological disorder characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs and the urge move them, affects up to 10% of Americans, although little is known about its cause. In a study published online in Genome Research, researchers have demonstrated a common genetic variant associated with RLS alters expression in a critical brain gene during fetal development. RLS is not caused by a single genetic defect, but rather is a complex disorder influenced by many genetic and environmental components, with age being the strongest risk factor.

Trends in food supplements differ from country to country, new study finds

Date: Mar-18-2014
A new study, published in the journal in PLOS ONE, shows which plant food supplements are most popular across Europe, with consumers using them to complement their diets or to maintain health. The team of researchers from the Fundación para la Investigación Nutricional and the University of Surrey found that these products are taken in many different forms, including in tea, juice or by tablet. They analysed data from six European countries, collecting information from 2359 adult consumers of plant food supplements in Finland, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old skeleton with metastatic cancer

Date: Mar-18-2014
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Factors involved in modern day living, such as smoking and exposure to certain chemicals, are thought to be major causes of the disease. Now, there is evidence that cancer was present in humans more than 3,000 years ago; archaeologists have discovered the world's first complete human skeleton with metastatic cancer that dates back to 1200 BC.The research team, led by Michaela Binder, a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University in the UK, recently published the details of their discovery in the journal PLOS ONE.

$1 billion a year is spent on brain scans for headache sufferers

Date: Mar-18-2014
Guidelines warn doctors against using brain scans for routine headache and migraine cases. Despite this, 12% of patients presenting with headache to a doctor are given scans, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School.Since the guidelines discouraging the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans for headache were published, scans have become more - rather than less - common for headache sufferers.