By Scott Hensley

If you're taking Plavix to prevent a heart attack or stroke, lay off the Prilosec, the Food and Drug Administration says.

Taking Prilosec with Plavix can reduct the effectiveness of the clot-fighter. (Al Behrman/AP)

It turns out that the popular heartburn pill Prilosec cuts the effectiveness of Plavix, an anticlotting medicine that's been taken by more than 90 million people. That can raise the risk for heart attacks and strokes in patients taking Plavix. Prilosec is also sold without a prescription as Prilosec OTC.

How? Prilosec, or omepazole, inhibits an enzyme called CYP2C19 that transforms the main ingredient in Plavix to make it work inside the body. Same goes for Nexium, the son of Prilosec, which has the same effect.

Continue reading "FDA Says Don't Mix Plavix And Prilosec" >

By Scott Hensley

Though we're not convinced cataloging the contents of our genes is the greatest way to spend our money, it's sort of nice to know the price is dropping for a complete genome sequence.

For just a few thousand bucks you can get the lowdown on your own DNA. (DNA image/Wikimedia Commons)

A California company called Complete Genomics now says it can do a decent job of decoding a person's DNA for around $4,400, based on the cost of chemical supplies. Rougher versions cost less and better quality, as you might expect, ran a few thousand dollars more.

The results were published online by the journal Science.

Continue reading "Step Right Up And Get Your Genome Here" >

By Deborah Franklin

Want to build muscle, not fat? Forget bellying up to a man-sized sirloin or salmon steak at dinner. New research from physiologists in Texas suggests you'll build more brawn with daintier portions of protein scattered across different meals.

(iStockphoto.com)

In their study, Douglas Paddon-Jones and his colleagues at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston asked healthy adults, old and young, to eat different amounts of lean beef.

They found that there seems to be a cap in the amount of protein that the typical body can use in a single sitting to make muscle. Only the first 30 grams of pure protein in a meal -- or about the amount in four ounces of lean beef, chicken, soy, or dairy -- gets turned into muscle.

"There's so much of this 'more-is-better' mentality in this country," says Douglas Paddon-Jones of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "But the message of our research is one of moderation."

Continue reading "Big Protein Portions Don't Mean More Muscle" >

By Maggie Mertens

Depending on where you work, your weight could be an important preexisting condition that determines how much you'll have to kick in for health coverage.

(iStockphoto.com)

More and more bosses are tying employees' share of insurance costs to their BMIs. That's Body Mass Index, a number calculated by comparing your height to your weight. Experts consider a BMI of 30 or greater to qualify a person as obese. Around 19-25 is considered normal, and less than 18.5 is underweight.

NPR's Morning Edition reported Tuesday about grocery chain Safeway charging employees about $318 more a year for health coverage if their BMI scores are above 30. Alabama has already adopted a similar approach for state employees, where workers with BMIs of 35 or more face surcharges of $25 per month. North Carolina is headed down the same road.

Continue reading "As BMI Goes, So Goes Your Insurance Tab" >

By Scott Hensley

Swine flu is back, and the first vaccines against the H1N1 virus will soon be on their way.

What do you want to know about swine flu? (CDC)

But how's the flu pandemic shaping up as fall returns to the Northern Hemisphere? What's the difference between the sprayed and injected vaccines? Who should get immunized first and who can wait?

We'll tackle questions like those in an online chat at noon eastern time on Monday, Oct. 5. Bookmark this post and come back here then with the questions you want answered.

NPR's swine flu czar Richard Knox will be on hand after a morning segment on Morning Edition that will feature a few questions and answers.

We'll be joined by Dr. Richard Wenzel, professor and chair of internal medicine at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond.

Continue reading "We Answer Your Questions About Swine Flu" >

By Scott Hensley

Quick. How many calories are in a can of Coke?

Coming soon: calorie counts on the front of the cans. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Answer: the classic version packs 140 calories into 12 ounces.

But soon you won't even have to turn the can around to find out. Coca-Cola says it's going to put "energy" information on the front of almost all its product packaging around the world by the end of 2011. The company is making the changes in the US now, after doing so already in Australia, Europe and Mexico.

How come? "Now more than ever, people expect facts about the products they consumers to be both readily available and visible," Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola's CEO said in a statement. There's also more and more chatter about taxing sugary beverages to fight obesity.

Continue reading "Coca-Cola Goes Better With Calorie Counts" >

By Maggie Mertens

Most parents have heard that spanking your kids probably isn't the greatest use of a teachable moment, but can it actually lead to a lower IQ?

Professor Murray Straus says spanking hurts kids' IQs. (University of New Hampshire)

Murray Straus, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, says yes, citing two studies he conducted.

In a study of American kids, Straus and a colleague asked parents of about 1,500 young children participating in an IQ research project how often they spanked their children.

The findings? The 2- to 4-year-old kids who weren't spanked at all, according to their parents, had IQs that were, on average, about five points higher after four years than the kids who were spanked. The same trend held for 5- to 9-year-olds, though the differences were less pronounced.

Continue reading "Does Spanking Make Kids Dumber?" >

by Deborah Franklin

When it takes two health professionals 30 minutes and a bunch of algebra to puzzle out the proper dose of the flu drug Tamiflu to give their sick six-year-old, how's the average parent supposed to make sense of medication labels?

Kara Jacobson, a health literacy researcher at Emory University in Atlanta -- and mom of the sick kid in question -- would sure like to know.

Jacobson says she was "sick as a dog and flat on my back," with swine flu two weeks ago when her two daughters came down with flu symptoms. Their pediatrician prescribed liquid Tamiflu for the six-year-old.

And that's when the trouble began.

Continue reading "Careful With Tamiflu Dosing In Kids" >

By Maggie Mertens

In most states, kids aren't supposed to be able to be visit the local tanning salon without a parent's permission.

Tanning salons could do a better job on rules limiting teenagers' use of tanning beds. (iStockphoto.com)

And a creative study that used college students who sounded like 15-year-old girls to call salons for appointments found most of them--87 percent--wouldn't go ahead without a parental OK.

But, the sting, which targeted tanning salons in all 50 states, found they didn't do as good a job in following Food and Drug Administration recommendations that newcomers shouldn't go for tanning sessions more than three times in their first week. Only 11 percent of salons met that standard.

Continue reading "Tanning Salons Lax On Some Rules For Teens" >

By Scott Hensley

We'll admit it. We tried clove cigarettes. Once. In college.

There better not be any cloves in there. (iStockphoto.com)

It was a terrible experience, and sitting near somebody smoking them was even worse than the half-dozen numbing puffs we took ourselves.

So we imagine most kids, other than a few wannabe bohemians, are celebrating the federal ban of clove cigarettes, along with all other flavored cigarettes--except menthol

Continue reading "FDA Banishes Cloves From Cigarettes" >

By Scott Hensley

Aches, pains or the sniffles got you down? Chances are they will pass.

Don't be alarmed by mundane aches and pains. (Michel Filion/Flickr)

The Wall Street Journal's Melinda Beck writes about an often overlooked wonder drug: time. Washington rheumatologist Raymond Scalettar lets her in on his little secret, "You can do more for yourself than I can do for you."

But we Americans are an impatient bunch and want whatever is ailing us to go away--now. We happily spend billions of dollars each year on ultimately unnecessary doctor visits, tests and remedies. A third to a half of the $2.2 trillion spent annually on health care may be wasted, Beck writes.

Continue reading "Feeling Sick? Give It Time" >

By Scott Hensley

The president's promise of expanding coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans would come at a heavy personal price for some.

Who needs health insurance? Not me. (iStockphoto.com)

Health coverage under the overhaul plan would be mandatory, with a few exemptions, and those who don't get coverage through their jobs or a government plan like Medicaid would face a penalty if they don't buy insurance themselves.

That's where subsidies are supposed to make a difference, but healthy young people who've long gambled they can get by without coverage and working folks who are just eking out a living may balk anyway. Subsidies may not help them much, if at all, so an insurance mandate could cost these people a pretty penny.

Continue reading "Who Gets Pinched By Health Overhaul?" >

By Scott Hensley

With Senator Tom Harkin replacing the late Senator Edward Kennedy as lead dog on the key health committee in the Senate, you might be more interested than before in what the Iowa Democrat has on his agenda. High on the list: radiation hazards from cellphones.

Hello, cellphone? Don't hurt me. (iStockphoto.com)

Harkin, long chairman of an appropriations subcommittee, kicked off a hearing Monday to lay out what's known about cellphone risks--and what we should know. His remarks, according to a written statement, were a little contradictory.

The senator said he'd use his cellphone right after the testimony but made an ominous comparison between the state of knowledge about cellphone safety today and the first alarms about tobacco hazards:

If more people had heeded those early warnings, or if we could have established the link between tobacco and cancer more quickly, many lives would have been saved.

Continue reading "Sen. Harkin Leaves Mixed Message On Cellphone Safety" >

By Scott Hensley

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the shower, we learn there are plenty of dangerous bacteria living inside.

Hot-and-cold-running bacteria, too. (AMagill/Flickr)

Some Colorado researchers report they've found high levels of pathogenic bacteria growing inside showerheads around the country. The particular group of microbes to pay attention to is the non-tuberculosis mycobacteria, cousins of the TB bug.

The chlorine in your water doesn't seem to faze these bad boys, which grew happily in mats called biofilms inside the showerheads tested. But are a lot of people getting sick from the stuff?

Continue reading "Nasty Bacteria Lurk In Showerheads" >

By Allison Aubrey

There's nothing pleasant about itchy, flaking skin.

An emotional crisis can trigger a psoriasis flare-up, here, under the fishnet. (iStockphoto.com)

But for some patients the worst thing about psoriasis is the sense that they're revealing their emotions on their skin.

"You you feel like everybody can see how you're feeling," says Kristen Palcisco, who has battled psoriasis for years.

But researchers are learning a lot about the mind-body connections of skin disease. There's even a burgeoning field called psychodermatology.

Continue reading "Psoriasis Puts Emotions On Display" >

By Scott Hensley

Deep-fried butter. Just writing those words gives us a warm feeling in our stomach and more viscous blood in our arteries.

Deep-fried buttery deliciousness. (Sue Gooding/State Fair of Texas)

Crazy as it sounds, the stuff's for real. If you're brave enough, you can can sample some in a couple of weeks at the State Fair of Texas. The Dallas fair lays claim to being the birthplace of the corn dog and is also known as the "Fried Food Capital of Texas."

Those butter bombs, which we can't get out of mind, are finalists in a contest held over Labor Day weekend each year to pick foods that will be featured at the fair, starting Sept. 25.

Creator Abel Gonzales concedes the idea of deep-fried butter disgusts most people when they first hear about it. "But I'm not actually taking a hunk of butter and just putting in a fryer," he told NBC News. "That would be kind of gross."

Continue reading "New Frontier In Fatty Food: Deep-Fried Butter" >

By Scott Hensley

It has come to this: you'll probably have to run a genetic test on the seafood special to make sure the fish you ordered is the fish you got.

They sure look like red snapper. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Restaurants all over the country are substituting cheaper fish, like catfish, for more expensive species like grouper and red snapper. But the sneaky chefs are no match for Mahmood Shivji, a conservation biologist at the Guy Harvey Research Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He's used DNA tests to identify the fish in 150 samples from across the country and discovered bait-and-switch menus are common. Only one of 15 samples of fish billed as red snapper at Kansas City restaurants was legit, he tells NPR's Robert Siegel on Friday's All Things Considered.

Continue reading "Fish Detective Busts Restaurant Switcharoos" >

By Julie Rovner

The deaths of Senator Edward Kennedy this week and his sister Eunice Shriver two weeks earlier have brought floods of stories about their work helping people in all walks of life. But less attention has been paid to their devotion to animals.

Sen. Edward Kennedy walking to a press briefing with Splash in 2001. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

I can attest to the latter personally. I, like many Capitol Hill reporters, was the target of quite a few saliva-laden tennis balls courtesy of Splash, the senator's Portuguese Water Dog and a fixture at news conferences and briefings in Kennedy's hideaway office.

As a child I remember visiting Timberlawn, then the Shriver estate in Montgomery Country Maryland. It was crawling with dogs and horses--right in the middle of North Bethesda. I couldn't have been more jealous of Maria, about a year my senior, because she had her own pony basically in her backyard.

Continue reading "Kennedy Legacy Extends To Animals, Too" >

By Scott Hensley

Make room, salt and cholesterol, sugar is now an official bad guy for your heart.

Skip soda to help your heart.(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The American Heart Association says it's time to say no to your sweet tooth and cut your sugar intake. For most women, no more than 100 calories a day should come from sugar added to food and drink, about six teaspoons. For men, the heart experts recommend no more than 150 calories a day, about nine teaspoons. Right now, the average American consumes a little over 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day.

The thinking behind the recommendations, published online Monday, boils down to simple arithmetic. Americans are taking in 150 to 300 more calories a day than they did 30 years ago. We're not doing more to burn those calories, so it's pretty likely that extra sugar is at least part of the reason Americans are so much fatter today, the AHA concludes.

Continue reading "Sugar Elbows On To Heart Health Hit List" >

By Scott Hensley

These days just about everyone says data should drive decisions in health care. Results would be better and costs might just be lower.

What to do for an aching back? (iStockphoto.com )

Take, for instance, Joshua Hirsch, an interventional radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who tells the Boston Globe, "I bow at the altar of evidence-based medicine."

Yet, he still recommends vertebroplasty, an injection of glue to relieve pain from cracked backbones, despite recent studies that showed the minimally invasive procedure was no better than a shot of Novocain.

Continue reading "Who Says How Much Evidence Is Enough?" >

By Allison Aubrey

Stop jogging and start sprinting--for a few seconds. ( John Poole/NPR)

I was getting bored with my tired old morning jog. My pace was slow and steady. And, perhaps most boring of all, I didn't seem to be getting any fitter, despite sticking to my running routine.

Now I've figured out why. I needed to add a little sprinting to the mix. On Monday's Morning Edition, I look at the science behind interval training.

Interval training has been the buzz for a while now, but I'd always pooh-poohed it. After all, I'm not looking to make the track team. Why bother with the fast stuff?

Continue reading "Running Hard, But For Just A Few Seconds" >

A little dab of painkilling ibuprofen will not do you.

That better not have any ibuprofen in it. (iStockphoto.com)

We've didn't even know you could rub the medicine on a sore spot, but evidently a bunch of companies have been making mixtures of ibuprofen and other ingredients for use on the skin.

Only problem is the Food and Drug Administration never said that was OK. So the agency warned eight companies they're out of line for selling the topical ibuprofen and told them to stop.

Continue reading "FDA Nixes Ibuprofen Creams" >

By Scott Hensley

Forget car exhaust, power plant smokestacks and factory fumes. You may be polluting your own home by burning candles.

Hazardous to your health? (iStockphoto.com)

The neighborhood around NPR HQ in Washington is crawling with chemists attending a big meeting of the American Chemical Society this week, and we lured two of them over to our cubicle to talk about their fascination with burning candles in the lab.

Ruhullah Massoudi, a chemistry professor at South Carolina State University, and undergrad Amid Hamidi found that candles made with paraffin, a waxy ingredient derived from petroleum, gave off a variety of nasty chemicals, including toluene, alkanes (think propane, methane and stuff like that), and alkenes (like the alkanes but with at least a double bond thrown in).

Sorry for the walk down organic chemistry lane but being around all these chemists rubbed off on us.

Continue reading "Candlelight, Toluene And You" >

By Deborah Franklin

Sure, they're cute and clever. But, as if the risk of rabies weren't bad enough, some masked critters are loaded with raccoon roundworms that can find their way into humans -- most notably toddlers -- where the parasites can burrow into the eyes or brain, causing blindness, convulsions and even death.

So young. So cute. So chock-full of parasites. (iStockphoto.com)

A recent survey of 119 backyards in suburban Chicago turned up "raccoon latrines" in roughly half. Raccoons tend to choose elevated spots for doing their business -- decks, patios, woodpiles, flat roofs and playhouses.

Wheaton College ecologist Kristen Page and her students found that scat from 21 such spots was heavily contaminated with the worrisome roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis.

Continue reading "Don't Mess With Raccoons" >

By Scott Hensley

Change insurance plans, move or learn that you have a tough health challenge that requires a specialist, and you'll be hunting for a doctor.

Who's better?

iStockphoto.com

But how to decide which one to see? It's one of the hardest choices a person has to make because there's so little information to go on.

Most people we know ask their friends and colleagues for advice. In a pinch, you may end up singing "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" as you leaf through your insurer's directory of approved doctors.

Continue reading "New Online Help For Finding A Doctor" >

By Deborah Franklin

All you grown-ups who tsk-tsk heedless teens and others for texting or gabbing on a cellphone while driving should know this:

Even blood pressure meds can impair driving. (iStockphoto.com)

A new survey of drivers 55 and older finds that nearly 70 percent are on a prescription drug that can interfere with driving. And ten percent are on five or more such drugs.

The problem meds aren't restricted to sleeping aids and tranquilizers. Common heart and blood pressure meds like beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors can cause drowsiness and dizziness, as can some allergy drugs, some antidepressants, and medicines that treat swollen prostates or restless leg syndrome. That's just a few.

Continue reading "Older Drivers On Drugs " >

by Deborah Franklin

It's long been known that some teenagers raid the family medicine cabinet or a friend's locker for legal drugs that will get them high. But a new survey suggests that's not their only prescription drug problem.

What does this coyote know that teen drug users don't? (iStockphoto.com)

Twenty percent of a diverse sampling of teens surveyed in a report in this month's Journal of Adolescent Health say they also bum antibiotics, antidepressants, serious acne meds, and ADHD drugs off each other, as a way of treating their own ailments.

Most don't see warning labels or any instructions that come with the shared pills. And about a third of the kids suffer side effects, says Chris Mayhorn, a North Carolina State University psychologist involved in the research.

Other researchers have studied people selling prescription drugs, but we looked at people with good intentions, trying for instance, to help a friend who lacked money or transportation for a doctor's visit.

Continue reading "Friends Don't Give Friends Prescription Drugs" >

By Deborah Franklin

U.S. exercise docs were in a huff over the weekend, though it took a little digging to figure out why. Their opening salvo, in a Friday press release from the American College of Sports Medicine, began:

Are they dropping pounds or just revving their appetites? (iStockphoto.com)

"Leading experts in exercise and weight management have taken strong exception to assertions that exercise can inhibit weight loss by over-stimulating the appetite."

Huh? What assertions?

Though the press release never mentions any publication by name, apparently what had the fitness buffs hopping mad (stair-stepping mad?) was this week's Time cover story and ensuing blog buzz on the limits of exercise in curbing obesity.

Continue reading "The Big Fat Lies Of Exercise" >

by Deborah Franklin

Let's say you're sick and tired after weeks of traveling and find yourself with a worsening kidney infection, wandering the hospital halls looking for the nephrology clinic....in rural Uzbekistan. Or any place else where you don't speak the language, and can't puzzle out the words.

Hospital signs could be clearer. (Courtesy University of Cincinnati)

Or, let's just say that, like about half of all American adults -- 90 million -- you can't read well enough to navigate an American hospital with written signs.

Pictures could help in both cases, say health literacy experts. But which pictures?

Design students at the University of Cincinnati this week announced they have a few ideas. They've been noodling over how to best represent abstractions like "In-Patient Clinic." How do you best distinguish between the mental health clinic and neurology? (And is that a tube of acne medicine aimed at my eye, or are you just glad to see me?)

(More experimental signs after the jump)

Continue reading "Signs For When Words Fail" >

by Deborah Franklin

News stories have a way of firing up old debates. So maybe it was predictable that scarcely had the feds broken open the money-laundering-kidney-smuggling corruption ring in New Jersey last month, when some economists started clamoring once again to legalize the regulated sale of human organs for transplant. Their basic argument: Banning the legitimate sale of organs merely forces willing sellers and buyers into a dirty and dangerous black market.

The Freakonomics guys weighed in early, with their observation in a New York Times column that "it is hard to find an economist who agrees with this policy" of banning kidney sales. (This follows a previous column last fall, where they noted that many organ donors in the U.S. don't have health insurance).

Dr. Sally Satel, a psychiatrist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has been widely quoted, too, based on her experience of having to ask a friend for a kidney when her own failed several years ago. Satel wrote a book about it, and the woman who donated the kidney, writer Virginia Postrel, explains her own support of financial reimbursement for traded organs in this month's Atlantic.

Meanwhile, the New Yorker and Mother Jones are weighing in with their own stories about the downside of organ sales. And the Jewish Daily Forward quotes ethicist Art Caplan's central argument against legalization:

The people who sell are almost always incredibly poor. They're usually up to their eyeballs in debt....past the point of desperation. They're not making a calculated decision.

Continue reading "Why Not Buy A Kidney?" >

By Allison Aubrey

Have you ever heard that cigarettes are good for asthma? I know. It's a ridiculous notion -- particularly to people like me who grew up wheezing -- but that's what the Victorians believed. When I was kid, even campfire smoke could be a terrible trigger, and in those days before asthmatics carried inhalers around, my parents and I had to make lots of visits to the ER. My mom still reminds me about those late night ordeals.

How times change. Today I can control my son's asthma attacks with medicines that I give at home -- such as Xopenex and Pulmicort, an inhaled corticosteroid.

In this week's Your Health podcast, check out my interview with Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. She gives us a tour of the botanical garden at Georgetown University, and explains to us how, a century ago, a common plant that grows there -- Jimson Weed -- was rolled into cigarettes and used to treat asthma.

(Read past the jump to hear why smoking this weed is a particularly bad idea)

Continue reading "Jimson Weed for Asthma? Don't Do it" >

by Deborah Franklin
There's headline news for both sides of the gender gap this morning: Pregnant women are four times more likely to need hospitalization for swine flu and aren't getting anti-virals fast enough, according to the CDC. A CDC group is meeting today to recommend whether women who are pregnant should be among the first in line to get the pandemic vaccine. Meanwhile, the FDA warns that many men taking "nutritional supplements" to build muscle are actually gulping down unregulated amounts of hidden steroids that can severely injure the liver and kidneys.

When a pregnant woman develops flu symptoms, many obstetricians are hesitant to prescribe antiviral drugs out of fear of harming the fetus.

But they're making a big mistake, according to the CDC's Denise Jamieson, who studied the cases of 34 pregnant women who got very sick with swine flu between April and mid-June. Six of the previously healthy women died. In her Lancet study making headlines this morning, Jamieson said the world's 3.3 million pregnant women seem to be extra vulnerable to serious complications when infected with the new H1N1 flu, and should get anti-viral drugs within 48 hours of their first symptoms. She told the AP,

"The message is don't delay appropriate treatment because she's pregnant."

A CDC panel meeting today is expected to recommend that pregnant women get top priority in access to a new swine flu vaccine when it becomes available this fall. But the decision is likely to be controversial among some factions clamoring for vaccine, and others who don't want to be immunized.

(More on flu vaccine priorities and body-building supplements after the jump.)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Pregnant Women Need Swine Flu Vaccine And Anti-Virals Fast" >

by Deborah Franklin

( / istockphoto.com © 2009)

Don't stop flossing now, but the FDA today has good news for those of us who happen to have a filled cavity or two...or 15.

After years of review, the Agency has at last issued a final regulation on the use of dental fillings that contain mercury. The bottom line on these old-school, silver-colored fillings: Don't worry. As the FDA says:

While elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients.

(Read past the jump for more on why dentists should nonetheless keep the exam room door open)

Continue reading "Dental Fillings With Mercury A-OK Says FDA" >

By Deborah Franklin

Sure, blueberries are loaded with anti-oxidants, but cauliflower? ( / istockphoto.com © 2009)

Maybe it's really an apple peel a day that keeps the doctor away.

Reporting for "Your Health" podcast this week took NPR's Allison Aubrey to the labs of federal chemists who spend their days grinding up fruits and veggies and then chemically analyzing which parts of which foods provide the most nutrients to keep us healthy. (You can check the type and amount of nutrients in your lunch -- even if it's McDONALD'S, Apple Dippers with Low Fat Caramel Sauce -- at the USDA's online database.)

Aubrey delves into the questions of whether it's better to eat most foods raw or cooked, and why microwaving is better than boiling. (Hint: Raw cauliflower ranks higher than you might think.)

The podcast also catches up with NPR's Joanne Silberner to hear what the FDA is doing at ports to make sure the U.S. food supply is safe. And Aubrey sits down with NPR's health care correspondent Julie Rovner for an inside look at whether the bills under consideration are likely to increase or decrease what you pay for your insurance -- and the sort of coverage changes you're likely to see.

Listen to the podcast here

or subscribe to have "Your Health" delivered to you mailbox each week.

by Deborah Franklin

Put down the muffin now.

You can eat too much of a good thing, and new research confirms that not only are many Americans doing just that, but the nation is running up a big health bill because of it. Medical complications from obesity added $147 billion to the nation's health care bill last year, a new study in Health Affairs shows.

That's compared to $78.5 million a decade ago -- primarily because so many more people (37 percent more) are now considered obese, the researchers say. "Normal weight individuals" incur about $700 in annual prescription drug costs, the Wall Street Journal points out, compared to an average of $1,300 by those who are obese.

WebMD notes that if America slimmed down, the nation would spend 9 percent less on health care. Easier said than done.

...more than a third of us are obese -- and another third of us are overweight. That's a scary statistic. Here's a scarier one: Seventeen percent of U.S. children and teens are so overweight they're in the top five percent of body size for their age on growth charts. A less nice way to put it: These kids are already obese.

Okay, enough numbers. Kids and their parents can't reverse this problem on their own, everybody agrees. On Friday the CDC published data on two dozen community-based strategies many experts think could help, from luring farmers markets to high-rise lobbies and poor neighborhoods, to pushing physical education and club sports in the schools and limiting screen time in childcare centers.

Safeway's CEO Steve Burd has been lobbying Capitol Hill with another idea: Guarantee steep discounts in insurance premiums to employees who lose weight, lower their cholesterol, or otherwise demonstrate they're getting healthier.

(Read past the jump to learn why some health groups are aghast)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Should Employers Pay People To Slim Down?" >

by Deborah Franklin

Pro Teams are requiring genetic testing of hot prospects. Slippery slope? /istockphoto.com

Let's talk baseball and genes.

It's not every day that a sportswriter quotes a bioethicist, but worried ethicists have been sounding off in the New York Times sports section all week. The problem: Major League Baseball has been forcing some top young Latin American prospects and their families to verify their identities with a DNA test.

And even if you and your kids don't have a million-dollar signing bonus pending with the Yankees, this story has implications for you, too, so take note.

First a little background: Pro baseball scouts say they've been forced to turn to genetic testing by cases like the Nationals' Esmailyn Gonzalez.

The Nationals were chagrined in February to learn that a star "19-year-old" they'd signed for $1.4 million in 2006 was actually 23. That means he was probably close to his peak ability at signing, rather than still developing.

Now, legal experts are divided over whether a potential employer who subjects prospects from outside the U.S. to DNA tests violates GINA -- the tough genetic privacy law that Congress passed last year. (The part of the law restricting employers officially goes into effect on November 21.)

But ethicists are very clear that what the teams are doing violates the law's spirit. A ball club that asks for a test to verify identity today may be strongly tempted to check tomorrow for genes that predispose a player to future illness or injury.

As Kathy Hudson, director of Johns Hopkins' Genetics and Public Policy Center told the Times,

The point of GINA was to remove the temptation and prohibit employers from asking for or receiving genetic information.

The risk to players -- and to you -- isn't just hypothetical.

(Read past the jump to learn how gene tests can still affect your ability to get life insurance)

Continue reading "DNA Testing in Major League Baseball Could Affect You, Too" >

by Deborah Franklin

Hang up, already, and drive! /istockphotos.com

Late last night, the New York Times posted on its website a 2002 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation that reviews the risks of using a hands-free phone while driving.

The review document, only now coming to light after a FOIA request by advocacy groups, reaches the same conclusion that the series on multi-tasking by NPR's Jon Hamilton hammered home last fall: Driving while on the phone -- even a hands-free phone -- can be as distracting as driving drunk, and probably causes a significant number of crashes. Don't do it.

According to the Times, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says he was pressured by higher ups in 2002 to

...withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.

Um, okay. Suppressing scientific data -- even preliminary data -- is a very bad thing, we agree.

But to go on to suggest, as one California state senator quoted by the Times does, that the delay in publishing this particular report "cost thousands of lives," seems far-fetched.

(Read past the jump to for more on why)

Continue reading "Cell-Phone Driving -- And Denial" >

by Allison Aubrey

Umbrellas, hats, and sunscreen block Vitamin D as well as harmful rays iStockphoto

The sunshine vitamin is under review. The American Academy of Dermatology has issued a new statement acknowledging that people who regularly cover-up and wear sunscreen to protect their skin from wrinkles and cancer may be at risk for vitamin D insufficiency. What's a health-savvy person to do?

David M. Pariser, MD, FAAD, president of the American Academy of Dermatology says,

The vitamin D position statement supports the Academy's long-held conviction on safe ways to get this important vitamin -- through a healthy diet which incorporates foods naturally rich in vitamin D, vitamin D-fortified foods and beverages, and vitamin D supplements.

But not all experts are on the same page. Listen to this week's "Your Health" podcast from NPR for my interview with Vitamin D researcher Michael Holick, who directs the Bone Health Care Clinic at the Boston University Medical Center. Holik makes the case that a little exposure to UV rays is the best way to ensure adequate Vitamin D.

(To listen to the podcast, read past the jump)

Continue reading "Who Needs More Sun? Maybe You" >

by Deborah Franklin

There's always a catch. This morning's news brings two tales of unintended consequences: A "miracle surgery" with long-term complications, and "miracle drugs" fed to animals that may be making people sick.

First the surgery: Doctors and media around the world this morning are hailing the good luck of a 16-year-old Welsh schoolgirl who lived 10 years with a "piggyback" heart, and then was eventually able to have it removed after her own failing heart, surprisingly, healed completely.

Hannah Clark was a gravely ill 2-year-old with few options in 1995 when London doctors decided that grafting an extra heart (from an infant who had died) onto her own was Hannah's best chance for survival.

The radical surgery worked, and much to the surprise of her doctors, Hannah's own heart healed over time -- enough so that when surgeons finally removed the "piggyback" heart, 10 years later, Hannah was able to thrive on her own.

But listen to Hannah describe how thrilled she is to be able now to live and work and play like any other teen after the extra heart was removed and you'll get a glimpse of how tough it can be to live as a transplant patient. Take too little immune suppressive medicine and you hurt the transplanted organ. Take too much and you risk serious infection or cancer (which Ms. Clark did get). Not to mention the expense.

The miracle remedy was worth it, the teen told reporters. Still, "I'm really glad I don't have to rely on life-saving drugs anymore."

Meanwhile, there are hints from a hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill that the new FDA hopes to add a measure to health overhaul legislation that would severely limit farmers' use of antibiotics in animal feed, in hopes of preserving the drugs' usefulness for people.

(Read past the jump to hear which uses of antibiotics the FDA hopes to ban and why)

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Piggyback Transplants And Antibiotics in Animals" >

by Deborah Franklin

You get coconut water -- not the milk --from immature fruit like these /istockphoto.com

Why yes, say the folks at Consumer Reports who went to the trouble of contrasting and comparing.

Turns out the "water" -- a clear juice you can get in bottles, or served with a straw straight from the "nut" in the tropics -- comes from young coconuts. It's tasty, low in calories, and has a few minerals. It's even been shown in very preliminary research to tug down bad cholesterol levels -- in rats.

Coconut milk, on the other hand, comes from the mashed up innards of mature coconuts. It has a whopping 552 calories per cup (compared to coconut water's 46), and 50 grams of its fat is saturated. Ouch.

Still, don't get overeager and sub in the "water" for the "milk" in recipes, say the CR chefs. It'll throw off the taste and texture of your dish. Better to go ahead and occasionally enjoy that tasty Thai soup for lunch, and then cut calories elsewhere, or pump up your exercise to burn the fat.

Got any other health questions of your own?

It's time. You all did wonderfully well on yesterday's science quiz, but surely you, too, have a few coconut-like queries you've been wondering about.

Let us know, and we'll start publishing answers (and, maybe, the further questions they raise) -- at least once a week -- in the blog. Consider it a sort of Science-Out-of-the-Box spin-off, or Science Question Friday.

You can ask your questions on any health- or science-related topic in comments below, or send them more quietly to us here.

Please do. The lines are very open.

by Sue Goodwin

Non-malignant tumors are scary, too /istockphoto.com

Until recently, I haven't been a big user of social media.

Like many fifty somethings, I've been astounded by the amount of time some of my younger colleagues spend on their Facebook accounts. For me, just keeping up with email can be overwhelming, much less a phone call to the parents and the BFFs at least once a week.

And then, about a year ago, I started smelling burnt rubber. It's called an olfactory hallucination, and is an indicator that something's not right in your brain. After a biopsy and a surgery, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor two months ago.

Continue reading "What Do You Do When It's 'Just' Benign?" >

by April Fulton

I'm talking to you Pink Sherbet Photography/Flickr

I'll admit it. When I walk by the board room after a meeting, I snarf up a leftover muffin. And I hunch over my computer desk to eat a quick sandwich rather than walk out of the building to get a salad and some fresh air. I don't micro exercise, because I just found out what it is.

But I know I am not alone.

Not only is this behavior undermining our diet and exercise plans, it may end up costing big health care bucks. Medical costs for obese workers are between 29 and 117 percent greater than those for workers with normal weight, CDC says. We're talking about greater risks for diabetes, stroke, heart disease and more.

Today the CDC announced LEAN Works!, a website designed to help your company set up a fitness and nutrition program from start to finish. They also offer this handy but slightly terrifying obesity cost calculator so you can compute your specific risks.

As Congress looks for ways to save money on health care, we call all save a little money ourselves, starting by taking the stairs and putting down the donuts.

by Deborah Franklin

Don't forget the patient /istockphoto.com

Now, I ask this with love, truly I do: Why must some budding doctors -- any doctors -- be trained to be human?

A commentary in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that med students be offered this handy mnemonic (CAPTURES*) to jog their memories on how to interact with patients:

C = Curiosity/interest
Adopt a warm, sincere, friendly Curiosity or interest about your Patient's personal aspects

A = Appreciate/Admire
Find something to warmly Appreciate or Admire in your patient

P = Point of view
Always try to see things from the Patient's Perspective/Point of View

TU = Touch and Use
Touch the patient and Use other body language (proximity, attention, smile) to show caring

RE = React
React to what the patient says or does and how

S = Support and Stress
Support the patient by Stressing any positive aspects, providing reassurance and hope as much as possible

* = Continue
Continue with this approach in future encounters: When there is more to be accomplished than time allows, postponement and organizing a further appointment will relieve stress and facilitate the relationship.

Oh, dear.

It's one thing to need this sort of memory crutch to recall all the branches of the carotid artery or the tributaries of the internal jugular vein. "To Zanzibar By Motor Car" is a heck of a lot easier to remember than the facial nerve's branches (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, masseteric, and cervical, btw).

Dr. Ami Schattner of Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical School promises in the Archives commentary:

These simple, easily mastered, and time-frugal techniques, all in the realm of human interaction, can be regularly used to add a sincere humane touch to the beleaguered medical encounter.

Translation: Act like a human and patients will think you are one.

There's a better way.

(Look after the jump for insights from the late poet/psychiatrist Kenneth Gorelick)

Continue reading "Helping Doctors Be More Human" >

by Jon Hamilton

Genetically challenged /istockphoto.com

If a sleepless night makes it hard to think, blame your brain -- and your genes.

Scientists from Belgium and the UK say people with a gene that lets them stay out all night and still ace the final have brains that become more active as they get tired.
In contrast, people who are genetically vulnerable to the effects of sleeplessness have brains that become less active with fatigue.

The finding, published in this week's issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, comes from a study that compared the brains of people with two different forms of a gene called PER3. The "short" version of PER3 makes you resilient to sleep deprivation. The "long" one leaves you vulnerable.

Researchers had a couple of dozen people with long and short versions of the gene stay up all night. Then they slid the sleepy volunteers into a brain scanner and asked them to do some simple memory tests.

Genetically resilient people did a lot better than the vulnerable people. In fact, one person with the vulnerable version of PER3 got booted from the study because he nodded off inside the scanner.

Continue reading "Night Owls Have Different Brains" >

by Richard Knox

You're not alone. /istockphoto.com

Judging from the many comments on my story this week on patient advocates, we could all use more help navigating the health system.

Tim Grizzard writes that every time he's dealt with a severe illness,

it is like no one has ownership of the problem. In the hospital, treatment is so disjointed from one shift to the next and from one doctor to the next.

Dr. Samuel J. Williams, a semi-retired surgeon in Virginia, says he's "learned the hard way" that patients and families need advocates to help them understand what's happening and make informed decisions.

"I believe that such professionals will become more necessary, not less," Williams writes. He's interested in starting such a service in southwest Virginia, and suggests churches might test the idea of a "parish doctor" or "parish nurse."

A number of others around the nation (I've posted their links at the bottom) tell us they're already doing patient advocacy -- either on a volunteer or paid basis.

Continue reading "Patient Advocates: Tips From You" >

by Deborah Franklin

If the doc forgets to relay your test results, who's to blame? /istockphoto.com

If you haven't heard back about the results of a mammogram, PSA, or cholesterol check, don't assume you're fine.

A new study from Weill Cornell Medical College suggests there's a good chance, instead, that your test results got lost in a swamp of paperwork.

Dr. Lawrence Casalino and several colleagues at Cornell reviewed the medical records of a random sampling of more than 5,000 patients at 23 primary care clinics across the U.S. The researchers were distressed, but not surprised, to find that one of every 14 abnormal test results was never reported to the patient. And in some practices, the reporting rate was significantly worse.

Failure rates were highest in offices that use a combination of electronic and paper records.

Casalino urges patients to take charge.
"If you don't get the result you're waiting for," he tells HealthDay, "you really should call the doctor's office and ask for it."

He tells Science News that he decided to do the study after a close family member's doctor failed to relay results that could have been life-threatening.

It's one thing to ask somebody who's healthy to "take charge" of their medical care. Quite another for someone old or sick.

Have any of you had a similar experience --- some time when important medical info about you or a loved one fell through the cracks? What happened? And what would have helped?

by Deborah Franklin

Don't eat the raw dough /istockphotos.com

Spread the word: Nestle is recalling its pre-packaged Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough because some packages may have been contaminated with a nasty form of E.coli.

The FDA and CDC strongly urge anyone who already has the stuff in the fridge not to eat it. Their investigations show that the pre-packaged dough seems the likely culprit behind the illnesses of 66 people in 28 states who've become sick over the last couple of months with cramping, vomiting and bloody diarrhea traced to the bacteria E.coli 0157:H7.

Continue reading "Recall Of Pre-packaged Cookie Dough" >

by April Fulton

Some singers may mourn loss of cold remedies that zap sense of smell /istockphoto.com

FDA's announcement today that it is recalling Zicam nasal gels and swabs containing zinc because they may lead to permanent loss of smell is leaving some folks sniffling, especially singers.

Professional vocalists know better than anyone that getting a cold could mean losing a gig, so they are often "willing to resort to anything" to minimize the impact of a stuffy nose, says Kyle Burke, 46, a Washington, D.C. tenor who performs solos and in ensembles around town.

Burke and others like him perform up to four times a week during peak music season, September through May, often while holding down day jobs. So, many swear by nasal products like Zicam to stave off symptoms that could turn that sweet Irish tenor into a bellowing bullfrog.

Continue reading "The Nose Knows Sound And Smell" >

by April Fulton

Good morning.

Break it up, boys, break it up /istockphoto.com

Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee overseeing the health care overhaul this year, seems to have gone a little bit mob boss this week in his quest to control the debate.

Roll Call reports that his top aides met with prominent Democratic lobbyists, warning them not to meet with Republicans on health care matters or it would be viewed as a "hostile act."

Yikes. Wonder if they were packing.

Baucus told reporters he was unaware of the threats.

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Senate Dem Goes Godfather, Calories Are Counted But Who's Counting? " >

By Deborah Franklin

First Mother-in-Law Marian Robinson /M.Spencer Green/AP

By all acounts, Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, is enjoying living in the White House. But she'd better take care: A new study of family living arrangements suggests that moving in with grown-up kids may not be best for the older person's health.

Doctors at Northwestern University looked into the medical records of about 13,000 patients over age 65, to see if they were getting routine preventive care. The recommended list of treatments included routine flu shots, physicals, checks of cholesterol and blood pressure, regular dental check-ups, and screenings for diabetes and colon cancer.

Now, it's no surprise they found that people living alone were more likely to neglect their health than couples who had a spouse to nudge them to the doctor. It's long been known that men especially benefit from marriage.

But anyone--whether single or coupled--who added adult kids to the household got no more preventive care than if they lived alone.

Continue reading "Home, But Not Alone" >

by Deborah Franklin

Ouch! Computers don't bounce. /istockphoto.com

Increase in computer ownership in the U.S. from 1994 to 2006: 309 percent

Increase in injuries in that same period from tripping over the computer, cracking your head on the screen, or pulling the monitor over onto a child's head: 732 percent.

According to stat-keepers at the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, hospital E.R.s treated more than 78,000 cases of acute computer-related injuries in that period. And you thought Blackberry thumb was bad.

Continue reading "Another Reason To Switch To A Laptop" >

by Deborah Franklin

Too much skin for some flu-scared high schools /istockphoto.com

Grads at two high schools in Bloomington, MN will sit side by side at commencement ceremonies this week to hear speeches, toss mortarboards, and walk away with diplomas. But forget the photo-op handshake afterward from the principal or anybody else.

With two confirmed cases of swine flu in the district, school officials are taking a new approach to commencement, the district's Rick Kaufman told the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "We're just going to do sort of a head nod and a verbal 'congratulations' to students."

Most StarTrib readers weren't impressed. One scoffed in comments to the online story:

Just what kids these days need, less interaction. Are we going to "Tweet" them a congrats or Txt them "OMG Gr8 job!" Toughen up...

Continue reading "No Handshakes For Bloomington Grads" >

by April Fulton

Health care moves to a tweet, tweet beat wonderferret/Flickr

Good Morning. The business of overhauling health care, or at least talking about it, moves up to warp speed. A European-touring President Obama gets an earful of tweets from the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

Sunday morning, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) let it be known, from his Blackberry in shorthand to the world via Twitter, that he was none too pleased with the President's tone in his weekly radio address:

Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL

Continue reading "Morning Rounds: Grassley Tweets, Tobacco and Food Safety Coming Up" >

by Allison Aubrey

Pick me! Pick me! specialkrb/flickr

It's a growing trend: Ditch High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) for something consumers THINK is healthier. From Pepperidge Farm breads to Keebler Sandies Cookies, major food companies are falling for the food fad.

Starbucks is the latest adopter. According to Reuters, the ubiquitous coffee chain will offer HFCS-free bakery goods as part of its "Real Food. Simply Delicious Campaign" starting June 30.

But here's the real skinny: Experts have found there's little nutritional difference between table sugar and HFCS.

And what about all those calories?

"An apple fritter is an apple fritter." says the Center for Consumer Freedom. And even if the HFCS is replaced with another sweetener -- it still has 420 calories and 20 grams of fat.

And that may make it too tough to swallow.

by April Fulton

Best post-sports sip? Randy Son Of Robert/Flickr

Faster recovery, reduced pain and more nutrient replacement. There seems to be no end to the dramatic claims of newfangled sports drinks. But how do the old ones measure up?

Two new studies presented at the American College of Sports Medicine conference in Seattle last week indicate that some old-fashioned drinks might work better than those star-endorsed, high-priced glucose and food coloring delivery systems all over TV.

Drinking unsweetened cherry juice after a run may help ease pain due to the berry's high anti-inflammatory properties,according to a small study conducted by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University.

Continue reading "Sweat It Out, Then Drink It In" >

by Deborah Franklin

Consumer Reports health editor Jamie Hirsch says she "really, really likes" actor Sally Field, but doesn't like Field's ad for a bone-building drug. /consumerreports.org

It's one thing to critique a TV drug ad in print, but how much sexier to jump into the ad and challenge a celebrity endorsement line by line? Consumer Reports is doing just that with its three-minute video commentaries called CR AdWatch.

CR's most recent ad-busting video takes on Boniva, the bone-building drug (a bisphosphonate)from Roche that only has to be swallowed once a month. Appearing onscreen, alongside a smiling Sally Field, Consumer Reports' equally smiley video critic Jamie Hirsch questions whether the convenience is worth the expense.

Continue reading "AdBusters: Consumer Reports vs. Sally Field" >

by April Fulton

We've heard a lot this week from doctors suggesting that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's Type 1 diabetes is no big deal.

But for patients, Type 1 diabetes requires constant blood sugar monitoring and frequent insulin shots -- a major life adjustment by any standard.

Noah Kernis, 17, of New York City, was diagnosed just a month ago and spoke with NPR's Rebecca Davis for a segment in the Health Podcast this week about the puzzling symptoms he experienced prior to his diagnosis:

Continue reading "What A Diabetes Diagnosis Feels Like" >

by Deborah Franklin

Too big a buzz is bad for kids petesimon/flickr

Just because caffeinated gum looks like candy, doesn't mean it's harmless, especially for kids and pint-sized teens.

A 13-year-old from Naples, Italy recently had to be hospitalized with rapid breathing and heart rate, high blood pressure, a stomach ache, and high anxiety, after chomping a couple of packs of caffeinated gum over the course of about four hours at school. The doctors who related his case in the current issue of The Lancet, say the gum contained 320 mg of caffeine-- slightly more than is in three cups of strong coffee, or four Red Bulls. Next day the boy was discharged with a slow heart beat and sluggishness that kept him from school for several days.

A quick check of caffeinated gums sold in the U.S. shows that at least one brand--Jolt--boasts that just one pack (12 pieces) of its gum is the equivalent of six cups of coffee.

Continue reading "Do You Know What's In Your Gum?" >

by Richard Knox

Will we all be lining up for swine shots soon?/Toby Talbot/AP

The big push to make a swine flu vaccine is on.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is starting to ship vials of "seed" viruses to drug companies so they can begin making vaccine against swine flu.

Important decisions loom. Many are technical and complex. How much vaccine needs to be in each dose? Should a booster substance be added to make the vaccine go further? How many people should get vaccinated? Who?

Then there's the really big decision: Should hundreds of millions of people get vaccinated next fall against swine flu?

To make the best decision, policymakers need a good sense of how severe a disease this swine flu is. But that may be almost impossible to know, experts warn.

Continue reading "Swine Flu Forecast: More Uncertainty Ahead" >

by Deborah Franklin

House calls on flu live today from NYC's Dr.Susan Kansagra /NYC Health Department

Come on, 'fess up: Even if you feel swamped by all the media coverage of the H1N1 flu, don't you wish you could sit down with a doctor and ask a few nagging questions of your own? Here's your chance.

The New York City health department this morning deployed one its docs, internist Susan Kansagra, M.D., to take your questions and answer as many as possible today and tomorrow in their blog. The service is aimed at New Yorkers, but health department says everybody's welcome. So log on already, and let us know what you learn.

by Deborah Franklin

Genes from the Crystal Jelly (Aequorea aequoera) were used to create glow-in-dark monkeys and that could eventually help people with Parkinson disease. Gabriel Bouys, AFP

 

You'll hear about glow-in-the dark monkeys tonight on NPR's All Things Considered, and it's a medical story. Really, it is.

NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports on the success of Japanese researchers who have managed to take a glow-in-the-ultra-violet-light gene from jellyfish and insert it into marmoset embryos. And that's not even the impressive part. The real trick was successfully getting those little embryos to grow up into adult monkeys that passed along the "glowing" gene to their offspring and descendents.

It's not just a party trick. (Scientists who figured out how to use the glow-in-the-dark substance as a label got a Nobel prize last fall.) The goal is to create a good animal model of human disease, a target that's been elusive for many devastating illnesses.

Continue reading "Monkey's Uncle Gets A Human Gene" >

by Deborah Franklin

Tobacco's the big health risk, toxicologists say. Plastics not so much. iStockphoto.com

You say health hazard, I say overblown hysteria...at least in many cases. That's the word from the Society of Toxicology, the leading professional association for the folks who study chemical health risks for a living.

In a Harris poll conducted this spring, the scientists came down hard on environmental activists and media for muddying the message--overplaying relatively small health risks like certain chemical additives in food and baby bottles, while underplaying the relative risks of some pesticides and tobacco. Industry got plenty of blame, too, for generally underplaying the risk of their products.

Continue reading "Toxicologists Weigh In On Chemical Risks" >

By Deborah Franklin

Daniel Carasso, son of the founder of the yogurt company Danone (known as Dannon in the US), at the company's 90th anniversary celebration in April 2009, in Barcelona. JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

Pause a minute over your afternoon smoothie or tube of GoGurt to remember Daniel Carasso, the man the Washington Post today calls "the father of modern yogurt." Carasso died this month in Paris at 103.

It was Carasso and pals at Dannon who, in 1947, shoveled some strawberry jam to the bottom of the traditionally sour snack, and advertised it as a "healthy dessert." (That sounds a lot better than soured milk pumped up with "good-for-you" bacteria.) Sales took off and kept climbing.

Continue reading "Even Yogurt Has Its Limits" >

by April Fulton

Appeals Court Judge Sonya Sotomayor shares a laugh with President Obama as he announces her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court today. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

 

Are questions about President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's health fair game during her vetting process?

That question is being posed in blogospheric circles at the moment because the appeals court judge has Type 1 diabetes, often referred to as juvenile diabetes. She was diagnosed with the disease when she was 8.

Type 1 diabetes, occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas that produce insulin -- a hormone that helps the body process glucose. Diabetics need to monitor their blood glucose levels frequently and make sure they are getting enough insulin, usually through injections.

Continue reading "A Matter Of Health For SCOTUS Nominee" >

by April Fulton

Access to gorgeous veggies like these can lead to better health. Kaiser hopes so. NatalieMaynor/Flickr

 

Kaiser Permanente is making it easier for some of us to get our veggies and eat them, too.

Over the last six years, the health insurance giant has attracted 30 farmers markets to its medical facilities in four states, according to the L.A. Times.

The link between better nutrition and better health has been well documented, but physicians are often more focused on disease than this kind of prevention, says Dr. Preston Maring, an OB-GYN from Oakland who has been with Kaiser for nearly 40 years.

For the farmers and for Kaiser, that means a whole lot of new people checking out cabbage and corn on their way to a colonoscopy who might not otherwise have access to the fresh fruits and vegetables.

by Allison Aubrey

Do the Swedes have a secret? istockphoto.com

Swedish women are steroptypically taller and blonder than we are, but many of them are healthier, too, because they eat better.

If you need evidence, look no further than a new study including 36,000 Swedish women in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine.

Those who followed a diet rich in fruits and veggies, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, and protein; plus one that's low in saturated fats and added sugars cut their risk of heart failure by 37 percent, according to the Swedish study.

By the way, the Swedes aren't the only ones measuring the effects of this kind of diet. Here in the U.S.,several clinical trials have shown that following the DASH DIET (as outlined above) can lower blood pressure and lower LDL--the "bad" cholesterol.

Continue reading "Swedes Eat Their Veggies, Stave Off Heart Failure" >