Public Health
Worries about the amount of salt you consume may be misplaced.
A new study documents in humans what neuroscientists have reported for some time: animals’ sodium (salt) intake is controlled by networks in the brain and not by the salt in one’s food. The findings have important implications for future U.S. nutrition policy directed at sodium intake.
For decades, U.S. health policies have emphasized the importance of limiting salt consumption in order to lower the risks of cardiovascular disease related to high blood pressure. This new scientific review, however, found that people have a very…
Researchers have developed a reliable method for detecting silver nanoparticles in fresh produce and other food products.
Is there a need for that? Perhaps. Over the last few years, the use of nanomaterials for water treatment, food packaging, pesticides, cosmetics and other industries has increased. Farmers have used silver nanoparticles as a pesticide because of their capability to suppress the growth of harmful organisms - but it is unknown if these particles pose a potential health risk to humans and the environment.
The researchers studied the residue and penetration of…
In the United States, 34 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight or obese. That has led policy makers and advocates to focus on controlling foods
Unhealthy lifestyle factors that begin in childhood, such as physical inactivity, lack of exercise and diet contribute to both the development of obesity and other chronic diseases, but it is unclear whether obesity itself or the associated lifestyle factors are underlying causes of cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction and the related development of chronic disease.
A new study found that healthy-weight…
That
question is particularly relevant this week in light of numerous media articles
reporting that exposure to a common chemical is linked to obesity in children
and adolescents. Underlying the articles
is a new study on bisphenol A (BPA) published this week in Pediatrics. The key question is that of causation versus
statistical association.The
new study is a cross-sectional epidemiology study in which the data analyzed is
all collected at the same time. The data
are from the NHANES
(National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) database, which collects
extensive…
Hank |
Chipotle, the burrito restaurant chain, served more than 120 million pounds of beef, pork and chicken last year. It now has a problem - sales continue to go up. Its "never ever" policy regarding the use of beef that has never been ill and must never have gotten antibiotics means it can't find enough meat. At least find enough and remain competitive.
So the company has floated the idea of buying beef that got antibiotics due to an illness. That means its "never ever" policy which, let's face it, was never evidence-based and solely a feel-good gimmick anyway, may be going away.
It's that…
While cultural pundits are worried about the health impact of obesity and which foods need to be more regulated to prevent chronic disease, a new analysis has found that incidents of ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke caused by a clot in the blood vessels of the brain, has declined among most during the past decade.
Whites and Hispanics/Latinos, the largest minority group in the U.S. with 17 percent of the population, saw similar declines. However, since Mexican-Americans are projected to be 30 percent of the US population by 2050, their higher rate of stroke is…
Though it makes microbiologists gasp in horror, sous vide ("under vacuum") cooking - which uses lower temperatures with claims it improves food quality - is all the rage in food circles now.
But it's unclear what the risks are. Advocates of it have history on their side; preserving and cooking food in leaves, fat, salt and animal bladders before being cooked is as ancient as cooking. And isolating food from air, such as vacuum sealing, can arrest the decay of food.
To help figure it out, the Institute of Food Research (IFR) has been undertaking research for the Food Standards Agency to…
Women are given a 'due date' for their baby that is calculated as 280 days after the onset of their last menstrual period.
Yet it's unlikely to be anything more than a guide. Only 4 percent of women deliver at 280 days and only 70% deliver within 10 days of their estimated due date, even when that date is calculated with the help of ultrasound. In the real world, the length of pregnancy can vary naturally by as much as five weeks
Researchers have been able to pinpoint the precise point at which a woman ovulates and a fertilised embryo implants in the womb during a naturally…
Up to 20 percent of infertile couples in America have unknown reasons for their infertility but researchers led by Catherine Racowsky, PhD, director of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, wants to fill in that blank, and hints that it could be exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA).
A randomized trial examined 352 eggs from 121 consenting patients at a fertility clinic. The eggs, which would have otherwise been discarded, were exposed to varying levels (20 ng/ml, 200 ng/ml and 20 µg/ml) of BPA in a laboratory setting. This is far higher than…
Like with cigarettes and alcohol, no amount of awareness campaigns about health risks are needed. People know by now and some choose to do it anyway.
Among Swiss men, average age 20, 91 percent drink alcohol, almost half of whom drink six beverages or more in a row and would be categorized as at-risk drinkers. 44 percent smoke tobacco, and are categorized as at-risk smokers (because they smoke at least once a day) and 36 percent smoke cannabis, where over half are at-risk consumers, using the drug at least twice a week.
Investigators from the University of Zurich's Institute of Social and…