Recent research has shown that countries whose people bike, walk or take public transport more are less obese. Not exactly rocket science, is it?
The study had covered 17 industrialized nations in Europe, North America and Australia, and it used each nation’s own health and travel data. (more…)
Artificial or synthetic playing turfs are increasingly being installed and used in place of grass fields. But how safe exactly are they?
Philip J Landrigan, MD, MSc, Professor of Pediatrics, the Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, had quite recently written to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and raised some concerns. Prof Landrigan is also Chairman of the Department of Community & Preventive Medicine. (more…)
Want to reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes? The findings of a recent study have given us two suggestions – watch less television, and spend more time exercising, either via vigorous physical activity, or simply through brisk walking.
This particular study had focused on African-American women, which is a high-risk population for this disease. (more…)
Religion – there is possibly no other topic which can evoke as much discussion and debate as it. And a recent study, termed the “The relationship between religion and cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality in the women’s health initiative observational study”, has found that people who attend religious services regularly for a sustained period were one-fifth less likely to die from any reason, as compared to those who did not.
The study, published in Psychology and Health, looked at the health status of over 90,000 women for a mean period of over 7 years. Data from the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-term study which followed women aged 50 to 79 years from 40 different locations in the United States, was used. (more…)
A Brazilian study has found that doing aquarobics during pregnancy helped reduced the amount of pain-killing drugs requested by the women during labor.
The study, which was published in the journal Reproductive Health, looked at 71 pregnant women. Half of the group went through three sessions of aquarobics each week during their pregnancy, with each session lasting 50 minutes. The other half was the control group. (more…)
Pregnant woman who smoke are increasing the risk of their children getting serious cancer later in life.
This was revealed in a study commissioned by the newspaper “The Australian” and carried out by the Cancer Institute in New South Wales. (more…)
The role of food, diet and nutrition in the development of chronic and degenerative diseases, including cancer, cannot be overstated. As the saying goes, you are what you eat.
With specific regard to lung cancer, do you know someone, or heard of people, who got the disease despite not having smoked at all? (more…)
Getting sufficient sleep is important for optimal immune function and good health in general. Having at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night has been linked to lower risks of certain serious diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Risk of death is lowered, too.
Now, a study has found that sleeping less than 7 hours each night increases one’s risk of getting a cold by almost 3 times. On top of insufficient sleep, poor quality sleep raises risk about 5 times, too. (more…)
A study carried out in Italy has revealed that smoking increases the risk of getting colorectal cancer by about 18%, as well as of dying from the disease by about 25%.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (more…)
Breast cancer patients who use moisturizers, please take note – you may be putting oestrogen into your bodies without even realizing it. In fact, ladies who do not have the disease should take note too.
Dr Adrienne Olson of Breastlink in Hawthorne, California, had analyzed 16 widely available moisturizers and found that, although none of the creams actually stated the presence of any oestrogen content in their ingredients list, 6 of them in fact contained estriol or estrone. (more…)
According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a long-term study has revealed that workers in the trucking industry who have been regularly exposed to diesel as well as other kinds of vehicle exhaust had heightened risk of getting lung cancer with more years of work.
The study was led by E. Garshick and published in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. It is titled “Lung Cancer and Vehicle Exhaust in Trucking Industry Workers” and examined lung cancer deaths from 1985 to 2000, according to job type in 31,135 Teamsters Union members. (more…)
A recent study has suggested that psychological counseling may boost breast cancer patients’ likelihood of survival.
By undergoing sessions which focused on improving mood, effective coping and altering health behaviors, it seemed the patients’ stress levels were reduced and this helped them to live longer. (more…)
A long-term study conducted by Dutch researchers has linked smoking and drinking to three subtypes of esophageal and stomach cancer.
The study was conducted on almost 121,000 people and spanned about 16 years. Its findings were presented at the annual cancer prevention conference of the American Academy of Cancer Research, held in Washington DC. (more…)
A recent study released last year supposedly found that vitamin D does NOT protect against getting breast cancer.
Unfortunately, this is yet another piece of misleading information revealed to the public. A statement from a vitamin D expert which was published on NewsWire.ca explains why. (more…)
In Dec 2008, an issue of the medical journal Nature published an article which gathered 7 scientists (two of them were on the payroll of the pharmaceutical companies). What did it say?
It said that doctors should be able to prescribe psychotropic drugs, for example the drugs given to children for ADHD, to healthy people. The purpose? To “improve brain function”. (more…)
The whole melamine and milk saga in China created quite a big hoo hah. But somehow, we believe that it happened in some faraway place, perhaps in a rather backward country, and we should be well sheltered from the problem.
The thing is, melamine was actually found in infant formulas in the US. That’s not the scariest part - the more frightening issue is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US actually hid the truth from the public. (more…)
As a consumer, if I see a food packaging label which claims that a product is “sugar-free”, “fat-free”, “organic”, “contains no preservatives”, or some other similar sounding phrase, I would assume it to be true.
If I see a label which states that a chicken is “raised without antibiotics”, I would presume, ethically and legally speaking, the food manufacturer is telling me the truth. But, unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case, and food corporations are making use of sneaky and misleading word play. (more…)
On 1 July 2003, Pueblo, Colo banned cigarette smoking in work venues as well as other indoor public places. Three years after the change in legislation, the hospitalization rate from heart attacks fell from a pre-ban figure of 257 per 100,000 people to 153 per 100,000 people.
Could there be other reasons? In the two adjacent communities, no such fall in statistics was noted. (more…)
We have all heard of first-hand smoke and second-hand smoke. But have you heard of third-hand smoke?
Quite honestly, I hadn’t, until now. And a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics has revealed the health dangers of third-hand smoke, which continue to linger long after a cigarette has already been put out. (more…)
Food on the shelves and even food prepared in restaurants today often contain a compound which makes them taste better than they otherwise would – monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as it is more commonly known as.
“It’s a pretty powerful flavor enhancer. You’re eating a lot of MSG and you probably don’t even realize it. It’s just a baseline across a lot of foods,” said Melanie Pearsall, a nutritionist. (more…)
When a friend is ill, we sometimes bring plants or flowers while visiting. People also report feeling better after going for a walk in the park. Indeed, nature gives us an array of health benefits, including fresh air, stress reduction and peace of mind.
A recent study at Kansas State University has strongly suggested that contact with plants directly benefits the health of hospital patients. (more…)
A study conducted by researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City has found that women who have high blood insulin levels seem to have a higher risk of getting breast cancer, as compared to those with lower blood insulin levels.
This, according to them, might be the reason behind the link between obesity and risk of breast cancer. Previously, an association has already been established between obesity and high blood levels of insulin. (more…)
I recently came across this article by a medical doctor (MD) on some tips for better health for the year 2009.
I have to say I disagree with a number of his recommendations. (more…)
Exercise is critical for good health.
A study published in the November issue of Cancer Causes and Control has indicated that exercise and physical activity helps to reduce one’s risk of getting colon cancer and rectal cancer. On the flip side, lack of physical activity increases the risk. (more…)
Intuitively as well as scientifically, we have a feel of how stress and diet both play large roles in cancer development. A study published in August 2008 in the International Journal of Oncology has given us some clues of how these two factors may interact to affect cancer risk.
In gist – stress induces certain hormones which promote growth, and this in turn seems to promote the growth of cancer cells. The good news is that we can inhibit this process by eating cruciferous vegetables. (more…)
The use of mobile phones is getting more prevalent by the year. And recent research conducted at Tel Aviv University in Israel has found that heavy users of mobiles phones have a 50% higher risk of getting cancer of the salivary glands.
The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and compared the cell phone use of 500 Israelis with salivary gland tumors to that of 1300 Israelis who did not suffer from the disease. (more…)
Yet another piece of research has linked one’s level of physical activity to the risk of getting cancer. As expected, there is an inverse correlation. And this particular study is said to be the first conducted on a non-Western population.
The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and was carried out at the National Cancer Center and Public Health Center in Japan. (more…)
Smoking plays a huge part in causing lung cancer and other respiratory problems – this is common knowledge. But it also greatly raises the risk of getting bladder cancer, something which most of us are unaware of.
Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center looked at information from other studies in the MEDLINE database which had been carried out to find the link between smoking and bladder cancer. Those studies were conducted from 1975 to 2007. (more…)
The effects of exercise against cancer are multi-faceted. It can prevent the disease, slow its development, improve recovery from it, as well as prevent it from resurfacing.
How does exercise fight cancer? There are several ways in which the link could be down to. (more…)
A recent study at the University College London has found that stress raises the risk of heart problems, including heart attack, by steering people toward undesirable lifestyle habits.
Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the study had tracked 6,576 participants of the Scottish Health Study for a period of 7 years. (more…)
Air pollution is bad for the lungs, the nose and the throat. That is pretty obvious.
Now, a study earlier this year, conducted by the University of Southern California, has shown that it directly damages blood vessels too. (more…)
A study in Edmonton, Canada has found that those in the lower income group are of generally poorer health.
The study, released by Capital Health found that the low income group smoked more, drank more alcohol, are physically less active and, overall, are of poor health as compared to their richer counterparts. (more…)
Did your parents live past 100 years of age? If so, then you have better odds of being healthy and living longer too, a recent study has revealed.
The study, conducted at Boston University and Boston Medical Center, looked at over 600 older adults in the United States and found that children of those who lived past 100, or “centenarians”, were also likely to live longer and had greatly lower likelihoods of getting diabetes, a heart attack or stroke over a period of 4 years. (more…)
A study conducted at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has revealed that people with HIV have a higher risk of getting cancer.
Presented recently at the American Association for Cancer Research, the study, which looked at 11 previous American and international studies, found that people with HIV were twice as likely as the general population to develop cancer. (more…)
According to recent research in Italy, being exposed to benzene, an industrial solvent, increases the risk of getting multiple myeloma. It also increased the risk of developing chronic lymphoid leukemia.
The risk of chronic lymphoid leukemia was also increased with exposure to two other oil-derived industrial chemicals, namely xylene and toluene. (more…)
Divorce can take its toll on one’s mental and emotional state. Not just that, apparently – it seems our physical health will also be affected.
A study conducted at Rostock University in Germany has found that divorcees, on average, die nine years earlier than those who do not get divorced. (more…)
Emotions, such as laughter, affect heart health.
Now, a study recently presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting has found that listening to music which gives one a sense of joy also positively impacts heart health. And it does so in a very tangible way, too, by improving the function of blood vessels. (more…)
A study published in the October issue of Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences has revealed a certain “formula” for older folks to “thrive”, or enjoy excellent health, in their latter years.
The study, conduced by the Portland State University, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University, and Statistics Canada, had followed 2,432 Canadians for a period of ten years. “Thrivers” were those who enjoyed great health throughout the entire decade. (more…)