Reuters reports that a study of 60,000 people in Singapore found that people who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a significantly higher risk of pancreatic cancer.
People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.
Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.
"The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth," Pereira said in a statement.
CTV News reports that the study found an 87% higher risk of developing cancer for those who drank two or more soft drinks per week. No higher risk was found for those drinking fruit juice. Pancreatic cancer kills about 34,290 in the U.S. each year on average.
Jennie Garth is a spokesperson for the American Heart Association: her father died of heart disease. Jennie visits with Kathie Lee and Hoda to talk about National Wear Red Day, which helps promote awareness of the disease. The Go Red for Women campaign teaches how to reduce your risk of heart disease. Take a look:
A new study has found no link between the ingestion of fatty foods and developing either heart disease or having a stroke. The findings directly contradict the current recommendations of the American Heart Association, which state that reducing animal fat in the diet will help avoid heart disease and stroke.
The saturated fat found mainly in meat and dairy products has a bad reputation, but a new analysis of published studies finds no clear link between people's intake of saturated fat and their risk of developing heart disease.
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For the current study, researchers led by Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, of the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Center in California, pooled data from 21 studies that included a total of nearly 348,000 adults.
Participants, who were generally healthy to start, were surveyed about their diet habits and then followed for anywhere from five to 23 years. Over that time, 11,000 developed heart disease or suffered a stroke.
Overall, Krauss and his colleagues found, there was no difference in the risks of heart disease and stroke between people with the lowest and highest intakes of saturated fat.
The study's authors are quick to say that they don't think people should go overboard on saturated fats. There are other studies which show a link between saturated fat intake and high cholesterol.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and are sure to 1) ignite more debate over food and health, and 2) generally confuse the heck out of everyone who is trying to eat healthily.
Scientists say they were able to communication with a patient with a vegetative brain injury using a scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). CNN reports that this particular patient had been in car accident before slipping into a coma for five years.
Dr. Adrian Owen, co-author of the research from the Medical Research Council, said: "We were astonished when we saw the results of the patient's scan and that he was able to correctly answer the questions that were asked by simply changing his thoughts.
"Not only did these scans tell us that the patient was not in a vegetative state but, more importantly, for the first time in five years, it provided the patient with a way of communicating his thoughts to the outside world."
Colleague Dr. Steven Laureys, from the University of Liege, said the scans had given the patient his only means of communication since the accident.
The scientists were also able to communicate with four other vegetative but were unable to "talk" to several others. Take a look:
Diet Coke is partnering with Heidi Klum and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in a national heart health awareness campaign called The Heart Truth. To bring heart health into the spotlight during February, American Heart Month, Diet Coke will distribute special limited-edition packaging (pictured above) in support of the campaign. The artwork shows a little man holding up a large heart. It is meant to depict one person's journey from heart health awareness to empowerment to advocacy. Heidi Klum will return to the runway for the Diet Coke sponsored Red Dress Collection Fashion Show on February 11th. The show will kick-off Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.
"The Heart Truth movement is near and dear to my heart, and I'm honored once again to join Diet Coke as their ambassador for the program," said Heidi. "This year I want to inspire even more women and their families to make choices that promote stronger, happier and healthier hearts."
Germaphobes will be pleased with this new product. Lysol has launched its No-Touch Hand Soap System. The antibacterial soap dispenser automatically senses your hands. The dispenser uses four AA batteries and can be refilled by purchasing new hand soap refills.
"One of the most useful lessons parents can teach their children from an early age is to practice proper and frequent hand washing," says Dr. Laura Jana, pediatrician and mother of three. "Moms are so busy juggling schedules every day that the last thing they want to worry about is whether their children are spreading and collecting germs via their hands, especially during cold and flu season. Products such as Lysol's new hand washing system can help make teaching and reinforcing hand hygiene easier for everyone and rewarding for mom."
The CDC also provides these hand washing suggestions:
Wet hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available
Rub hands together to make lather and scrub all surfaces, including underneath the nails and back of the hands
Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds, long enough to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice
Rinse hands well under running water
Dry hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet
A recent Consumer Reports study found that 39% of samples of pre-washed greens in plastic bags and boxes contained bacteria. Packages with spinach contained the worst contamination. The study was relatively small - only 200 samples were tested - but the findings do indicate that pre-washed greens in bags need to be washed again before being eaten. The good news is that the testing did not find e.coli or salmonella bacteria. Take a look:
Robin Dunbar, professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, came up with the Dunbar number in the 1990s. Dunbar's research indicated the brain can only handle about 150 close friends, which is less than the number of friends a lot of people have on Facebook. The Telegraphsays Dunbar came up with the number by studying groupings in everything from neolithic villages to modern office environments.
Dunbar developed a theory known as "Dunbar's number" in the 1990s which claimed that the size of our neocortex - the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language - limits us to managing social circles of around 150 friends, no matter how sociable we are.
These are relationships in which a person knows how each friend relates to every other friend. They are people you care about and contact at least once a year.
These are relationships in which a person knows how each friend relates to every other friend. They are people you care about and contact at least once a year.
If the Dunbar number is accurate then a lot of people have more Facebook friends than their brains can handle. CNN says Robin Dunbar is currently conducting research on social networks and will be publishing his final research later this year. CNN reports that Dunbar's preliminary research suggests that the number of friends/followers most people have on services like Twitter and Facebook is around 150. Twitter may be a little more difficult to measure because people also follow services and news outlets. Dunbar also says most people's Christmas lists are around 150. Take a look:
Martha Stewart recently held a special exercise-themed show. She invited S Factor founder Sheila Kelley to demonstrate moves from a sensual and intense pole-dancing workout. Martha Stewart also tried out the exercises, include the pole-dancing. Take a look:
You can find more clips from Martha Stewart's exercise show here.
The Center for Environmental Health recently tested handbags from 100 of the nation's top retailers and found many of the handbags contain high levels of lead. Gretchen Carlson from Fox News did a segment on the lead in handbags, purses and wallets. Gretchen says unlike children's products there is no law requiring low levels of lead in handbags. She invited Jennifer Taggert, author of Smart Mama's Green Guide, on the show to talk about the risk from handbags. Jennifer Taggart says the vinyl bags are the most likely to contain high levels of lead. Take a look:
Several celebrity moms Constance Marie, Nancy O'Dell, Holly Robinson Peete and Ali Landry came out to play the Wii Fit at the Wii Fit Celebrity Launch Party. Take a look:
Tiger Woods is currently staying at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, a sex addiction clinic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Tiger Woods was recently photographed at the facility by the National Enquirer. Sexologist Yvonne K. Fulbright explains what happens inside these clinics. Yvonne says the programs run about 30 days to 90 days. She says you are banned from sexual activity and you have to take a 90 day vow of abstinence. However, she says they don't bust into people's rooms to check on them so there really is nothing to stop people from having sex. Patients are also told to avoid triggers like alcohol. Take a look:
The USDA reports that the Huntington Meat Packing Inc. is recalling 864,000 pounds of beef. The meat was possibly contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The company appears to primarily distribute meat to restaurants and hotels.
USA Todayreports that the meat was sold to "distribution centers, restaurants and hotels in California between Feb. 19 and May 15, 2008, and between Jan 5. and Jan. 15, 2010."
Hopefully, the older meat from 2008 was thrown out a long time ago and the newer meat at these restaurants and hotels will also be disposed of so no one gets sick.
Nestle has purchased DiGiorno and Tombstone pizza brands from Kraft, which will give Kraft more cash to go after Cadbury. Nestle is under fire for buying the pizza brands which feature fat-laden products, while at the same time
refocusing on its nutrition business, which sells diet plans, nutrition drinks and other healthy items.
Nestle SA will begin selling drinks to fight malnutrition among the elderly in an effort to revive its nutrition business, which has trailed sales and profit forecasts every year since they were set in 2006.
Resource SeniorActiv supplements will go on sale in Switzerland this year, the company's nutrition unit said in an e-mailed statement today. The product includes protein, calcium and vitamin D to promote muscle strength and prevent bone fractures, the world's largest food company said.
The Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of Kit Kat bars and Nescafe coffee is struggling to keep pace with smaller rival Danone SA in health and medical nutrition, a market that Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. says is growing at 9 percent a year. Nestle's nutrition sales rose 2 percent in the first nine months of 2009, short of the 11 percent growth in Danone's medical nutrition unit and a fifth of the Swiss company’s long-term goal.
Nutrition is "clearly undershooting targets and they cannot carry on like that," said Stephen Pope, chief global equity strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London, who has covered Nestle for about six years. "Overall to the company, nutrition is a very important division and it's an area where they're trying to push."
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Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke, who in 2008 pledged to make Nestle into the world's biggest healthy eating company, is under fire after indicating the Swiss company would probably miss its sales growth target in 2009. This month, he decided to buy Tombstone and DiGiorno frozen pizza from Kraft Foods Inc. for $3.7 billion in a move that will accelerate revenue growth yet adds pizzas with as much as 70 percent of the daily recommended amount of saturated fat.
Nestle Nutrition also owns the Jenny Craig weight-loss program, which is not doing so great because of the recession.
The FDA is now investigating health risks from BPA, or bisphenol-A, a commonly used component used to make plastic bottles and food packaging. The FDA declared the substance safe in 2008, but it may now reverse that decision.
BPA is the chemical that has been banned from baby bottles. But it may be dangerous for adults, too.
The New York Times reports:
The agency said Friday that it had "some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children," and would join other federal health agencies in studying the chemical in both animals and humans.
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Concerns about BPA are based on studies that have found harmful effects in animals, and on the recognition that the chemical seeps into food and baby formula, and that nearly everyone is exposed to it, starting in the womb.
But health officials said there was no proof that BPA was dangerous to humans.
"If we thought it was unsafe, we would be taking strong regulatory action," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the principal deputy commissioner of the drug agency, at a news briefing.
Nonetheless, health officials suggested a number of things people could do to limit their exposure to BPA, like throwing away scratched or worn bottles or cups made with BPA (it can leak from the scratches), not putting very hot liquids into cups or bottles with BPA and checking the labels on containers to make sure they are microwave safe. The drug agency also recommended that mothers breastfeed their infants for at least 12 months; liquid formula contains traces of BPA.
BPA has been used since the 1960s to make hard plastic bottles, sippy cups for toddlers and the linings of food and beverage cans, including the cans used to hold infant formula and soda. Until recently, it was used in baby bottles, but major manufacturers are now making bottles without it. Plastic items containing BPA are generally marked with a 7 on the bottom for recycling purposes.
The chemical can leach into food, and a study of more than 2,000 people found that more than 90 percent of them had BPA in their urine. Traces have also been found in breast milk, the blood of pregnant women and umbilical cord blood.
The FDA is going to spend $30 million in the next two years to do extensive testing on BPA, according to health officials. BPA is banned in Canada, Chicago and parts of New York, but only for products meant for children. Depending on the outcome of the FDA's testing, the substance could end up being banned entirely.
