According to a new study, banning sodas and other high-sugar drinks at schools canteens will only provide limited effect in their overall consumptions by the teens.

These sodas and sugar-sweetened drinks are considered one of the biggest causes of childhood obesity in the US and because of it they are being banned in many schools countrywide. To evaluate the impact of these bans, 456 students were followed, at seven different schools in Maine, over the period of two years. The researchers found that four out these seven schools curbed the availability of the beverages while the rest of three didn’t take any action to control their use in schools.

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The U.S. government report says that microwaveable potpies were the real culprit for a salmonella outbreak that victimized several US states during the last year.

The report has been published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 26th Nov. issue.

There were 401 cases of salmonella in 40 states because of that outbreak and almost 32 % of these people had to get hospital treatment. Investigation revealed that Banquet’s frozen microwavable potpies were the source of the outbreak.

The report also shows that almost 77% (who got illness) had cooked these potpies in microwaves and confusion in understanding of microwaving instructions became the cause of potpies’ improper cooking. ConAgra Foods Inc., the maker of these potpies had to recall nine brands of the potpies during October 07.

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Heart patients with depression have a higher risk for recurring cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke and heart failure, but the reason behind this link is not clear yet. Now U.S researchers find that behavior changes in these patients are a basic factor in recurring cardiovascular events.

To know about the symptoms of depression in heart disease patients, researchers, from the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, used a questionnaire and then they utilized different models to assess the link between depression and following cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke and heart failure.

The researchers found that there was a 50% higher risk of cardiovascular events in the patients who had depression. After adjusting cardiac disease severity and other existing conditions, the researchers found a 31% higher risk for cardiovascular events in the patients with depression.

Then, the researchers adjusted some other health behaviors like physical inactivity in these patients and they noticed that there wasn’t a considerable link between cardiovascular events and depression. The researchers accounted physical inactivity for a 44% higher risk of cardiovascular events.

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According to an estimate, almost 5million Americans (over 12 years of age) take part in different self-help groups to get rid of alcohol and drug abuse every year. It also includes 2.3 million those who are abstaining from these substances at present.

These are the results of a report that the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released on Monday.

This report includes data from nationwide surveys conducted during 2006 and 2007 and it also reveals that: for alcohol use 45.3 percent joined a self-help group, while 21.8 percent for illicit drug use and 33 percent for alcohol as well as for illicit drug use.

Similarly, 45.1 percent people who joined self-help group a year back didn’t use illicit drugs or alcohol during the past month and 32.7 percent people, who joined a self-help group for drug or alcohol abuse, also got special treatment for their drug abuse and it includes attending a mental health center or admittance at a rehabilitation facility as an inpatient or outpatient.

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Figures show that number of babies born with Down’s syndrome is on increase though pre-natal screening has become widespread.

In 1989 when tests came in, there were 717 cases, while in 2006 there were 749 Down’s births in the UK.

To discover why the parents pressed ahead with a pregnancy despite a positive test results, the Down’s syndrome Association included 1000 parents in their survey.

A fifth told that they knew someone with Down’s, according to a third religious or anti-abortion beliefs were the cause and 30% seemed to believe that life had improved for people with Down’s.  While one out five said that they just didn’t believe the results of these tests.

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According to the US researchers, the lack of sunshine during winter may cause diminishing vitamin D levels in the body and lead to heart woes.

Sunshine is needed to the body to produce vitamin D, due to less daylight and spending more time indoors in winter can slowdown this process.

Study author Sue Penckofer, who is a professor at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing at Loyola University in Chicago, says in a university news release: “Chronic vitamin D deficiency may become the cause of high blood pressure, heart disease and metabolic syndrome.”

In their study, Sue and team reviewed many such studies that associated heart disease to vitamin D deficiency. According to these studies, severe heart disease or heart death rates are 30 to 50 percent higher in the patients with sun-deprived heart diseases.

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The world’s No. hamburger chain has announced to limit sodium in its “Kids Meals”. The move may work to change Burger King’s reputation as one of the most unhealthy food providers in the industry.

On Wednesday, Burger King announced that there would be limited amount of sodium (600 milligrams or less) in all of its kids Meals advertised to children.

McDonald’s and many other fast-food chains are already preparing children’s meals with less sodium. According to McDonald’s website, its four piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal, which contains caramel dip, Apple Dippers, and one percent low-fat white milk, has 570mg of sodium and 390 calories.

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Glucocorticoid drugs that are used to treat chronic lung damage in preemies proved harmful for brain in mice.  Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say that the drugs seem to cause cognitive and motor control problems even if they are given before birth.

In their study, the researchers observed the effects of the synthetic glucocorticoids dexamethasone and betamethasone that were given to preemies to help lung development. These drugs seemed to cause brain cell death in mice when given four and ten days after birth.

Kevin K. Noguchi, who is one of study authors, says in a university news release: “The drugs seemed to damage neural progenitor cells that are responsible for producing new neurons.  So it’s quite easy to understand that if the cells that produce new neurons are killed, it can cause severe neurodevelopmental effects.”

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Soon after the two studies that discounted the helpfulness of vitamin B, folic acid, vitamin D and calcium supplements for cancer prevention, now U.S researchers report that even vitamin C and E supplements are not helpful to avoid cancer.

The same researchers have recently reported that vitamin C and E supplements are not beneficial to prevent even heart disease.

Dr. Howard Sesso (one of the study’s authors), who is an assistant professor of medicine in the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, says: “We find no compelling evidence to take vitamin E or C at least in the context of two very common outcomes i.e. cardioprotection and chemoprevention.”

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A CDC report shows that around 20 percent adults smoked last year that was far short of government objective of 12 percent.

Experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the US wouldn’t succeed to meet its Healthy People 2010 objective of decreasing the adult smoking rate to 12% or less.

Several CDC studies, released on Thursday, seem to suggest that this failure means high levels of smoking-related health issues, deaths and productivity lost.

In US, smoking is counted for a leading cause of preventable death and disease; however, inclusive tobacco control programs can prevent millions of premature deaths in the country.

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A new study suggests that the high cost of angioplasty doesn’t seem to justify the marginal benefit.

Reporting at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in New Orleans, the researchers told that adding angioplasty to optimal medical therapy could improve angina-related symptoms in some patients, but at a very high cost.

Dr Sidney Smith, chairman of the AHA says: “It’s an important trial, but the cost is important too and we find that the use of stents and additional angina related to that was expensive.”

However, it doesn’t mean that the procedure shouldn’t be performed.

“Cost must not be a barricade, but to do things in a better way, it should be an incentive by targeting the population or by making it a less expensive procedure. Definitely we need to find a way to fix the cost.” Smith added.

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The results of a new study show that six out of ten middle-aged Britons don’t use a condom in a first-time sexual encounter.

Some experts say that these numbers may be the same for Americans, as in the US rates of all STDs (including HIV) are on increase with an estimated 19 million new cases every year. The U.S Centers for Disease and Prevention say that almost of STDs new cases are occurring among people 15 to 24.

However, the older adults are also at risk. Study’s lead author, Catherine Mercer, who is a lecturer at the Centre for Sexual Health & HIV Research at University College London, says: “Usually it is assumed that STDs are only increasing among young people, but data suggests that sexually transmitted infection diagnosis rates are increasing in almost all age groups in the UK.”

The report has been published in online edition of the International Journal of Epidemiology. It shows that most Britons engaging in unsafe sexual relations fall in 30s and 40s age group and have relationships where age difference is of five and more years.

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A study suggests that elderly, who don’t have 7.5 hours sleep a night, are at higher death risk.

Japanese researchers say that those elderly people who get less than 7.5 hours of sleep and have high blood pressure, it may increase their risk of heart disease.

In his study, the researchers tracked the sleep of 1,255 people (With 70.4 year average age) and they also followed their health for 50 months. They found in the follow-up that there were 99 cardiovascular disease events including heart attack, stroke and sudden cardiac death.

The researchers noted that people who took less than 7.5 hours sleep a night had the highest risk of cardiovascular event. The study has been published in the Nov. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Psycnodysostosis is a kind of a genetic disease characterised by short physique and that opens a window into how the joints could be destroyed by arthritis. Such a condition is caused by an enzyme called “Cathepsin K” that hampers the cells that break down the bones into bone modelling and repair; this further leads to bone resorption as well as brittle bones.

Cathepsin K has been studied largely using mouse pointers to study its role in bone metabolism. However, a new study observes its role in bone resorption in humans and concludes that it’s not required for bone break down.

The study took place in the Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland and it involved a 55 year old patient suffering from Psycnodysostosis and also developed psoriatic arthritis(which is similar to psoriasis – a kind of a skin and nail disease).

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A new study says that taking folic acid and other vitamin B supplements do not lower cancer risk; however, the good news is that they don’t increase cancer risk either.

The study has been published in the Nov.5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Study author, Dr. Shumin Zhang, who is an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, says: “We have found that in women at cardiovascular disease risk folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 didn’t have any beneficial or harmful effects on their invasive or breast cancer risk.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the government has mandated to add folic acid to cereals and breads, as their adequate levels in women have proven to prevent serious birth defects.

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All we know neither smoking nor obesity is healthier for us, but now the results of a new study shows that chances of early death are highest among obese smokers.

Lead author of the study, Annemarie Koster, who is an epidemiologist at the U.S National Institute on Aging, says: “Everyone knows that obesity and smoking are two well-known health risk factors and now our study suggests that smoking coupled with obesity increases the death risk.”

The both carry a considerable mortality risk, but especially smoking, Koster said.

“You can lower your death risk by losing weight, but if you lose weight as well as quit smoking, it can increase your health and decrease death risk,” she added.

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The world is getting obsessed with the “size 0” celebrities and is causing women all across the globe to put themselves at the risk of infertility according to the leading fertility experts. Loads of women are shedding off weight in order to mimic the amazingly thin celebrities without being aware of the fact that they such dramatic weight loss can be injurious to their fertility.

Women with the BMI of below 19 are at a greater risk of experiencing irregularities in their menstrual cycle. This can certainly lead to infertility. In addition, if you still lose more weight, you may perhaps stop ovulating. However, the process can be easily reversed with some weight gain. Women need a considerable amount of fat to store the essential oestrogen as well as the other hormones.

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A vitamin that is found in fish, potatoes and meat may prove helpful to protect the brain from Alzheimer as well as to boost memory in healthy people.

US researchers have found that vitamin B3 reduces levels of a protein related to Alzheimer’s damage in mice.

UK Alzheimer’s charities advise people not to start taking the vitamin before results from human studies.

The vitamin is known as nicotinamide and it is sold in pharmacies and health food shops in UK.

The said vitamin has also shown to help people with diabetic complications and has some anti-inflammatory qualities as well.

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According to a new study, women have a greater variety of bugs on their hands than on men.

Professor Rob knight, who co-authored the study, says: “The thing that is quite astonishing is the variability between individuals and hands on the same individuals.

The lead author of the study, Noah Fierer says: “The number of bacteria species found on the study participants hands was a big surprise and similarly the greater diversity of bacteria was found on women hands.”

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A UK government agency advises that pregnant women should reduce caffeine consumption and wouldn’t take more than two cups of coffee or four cups of tea a day.

The previous recommended levels of the stimulant levels were of 300mg a day, but now the Food Standard Agency has lowered them to 200mg which is a reduction of a third.

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