Geez, don't you hate it when researchers present studies that contradict what other researchers have found? One minute, a glass of red wine is good for your heart. The next minute, a glass of wine or a pint of beer is giving you bowel cancer. From today's story from Agence France Press:

Drinking wine or beer every day increases the risk of bowel cancer, according to a new study reported Tuesday.

The report, published by the International Journal of Cancer, says that drinking two large glasses of wine or two pints a day increases the risk of this disease by around quarter compared with non-drinkers.

One glass of wine or a pint of beer a day raises the risk by 10 percent.

The study was based on questioning of 478,000 people in 10 European countries over six years, of whom over 1,800 developed bowel cancer, which is the third most common form of the disease after lung and breast cancer.

Each year 35,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer and it kills 16,100 a year, the British newspaper reported.

The findings will raise question marks for those following widespread scientific advice that regular but modest consumption of red wine can help protect against heart attacks.

Posted by Susan Abram at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services provides a quarterly report of which restaurants, mini marts, food shops, and even movie theaters that sell food in the County were temperorarily shut down, due to vermin (roaches, silver fish, etc), sewage problems and other health risks. An updated list on the site found here, names the restaurants, the citation and how long they were shut down. Most opened within two days of citations.

Of the 341 restaurants given citations: 49 were in the San Fernando Valley and of those:

13 of those in North Hollywood.

4 were in Woodland Hills

9 places were cited in the Santa Clarita/Antelope valleys

13 restaurants and movie theaters shut down in Santa Monica

1 restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Posted by Susan Abram at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from New Zealand say those who smoke pot complain of wheezing, coughing and a tightening of the chest as a result of damaging the small, fine airways in the lungs.

The story from Reuters says:

The study found only those who smoked tobacco suffered from the crippling lung disease emphysema, but cannabis use stopped the lungs working properly.

"The extent of this damage was directly related to the number of joints smoked, with higher consumption linked to greater incapacity," said the authors of the report published in the medical journal Thorax.

"The effect on the lungs of each joint was equivalent to smoking between 2.5 and five cigarettes in one go."

Posted by Susan Abram at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the "Resistance is Futile: You will be Assimilated," files of Star Trek, this story from USA Today has readers intrigued. Seems like some companies already are injecting their employees with microchips, to watch their every move. Captain Picard, save us!!!

From the story:

VeriChip Corp. has sold 7,000 microchips worldwide, of which about 2,000 have been implanted in humans. More than one-tenth of those have been in the United States, generating "nominal revenues," the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in February.

Posted by Susan Abram at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anorexia affects older women too, and there seems to be an increase according to an Associated Press story today.

Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have long been considered diseases of the young, but experts say in recent years more women have been seeking help in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and older. Some treatment centers are creating special programs for these more mature patients.

The reasons seem to be more public awareness, continuous pressure to be thin, and the swelling baby boomer generation.

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When you start reading health news regularly, you begin to notice contradictions. Sometimes on the same day. Here are two headlines for stories from Reuters:

"High-intensity walking beneficial for elderly"

And:

"Cycling, walking among most dangerous travel modes"

Posted by Susan Abram at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Las Vegas mom has won the right to keep the placenta after her daughter's birth. Why did she want it? Well, she wanted to eat it to thwart off postpartem depression. There's no recipe that comes with the story folks. It just says if you let placenta get dry, grind it up to a powder form, and insert it into capsules, it's supposed to help. In the words of Rachael Ray: Yummo.

From the Associated Press:

The hospital had refused to give the uterine lining to Swanson following the April 12 Caesarean birth of her daughter, with officials calling it contaminated biohazardous waste. The judge ordered the hospital not to destroy the placenta, which was frozen, and ordered that it be turned over to (Anne) Swanson within two weeks.

Swanson, who was 30 when she gave birth, originally wanted to give her placenta to a friend to be dried, ground into a powder and packed into capsules. She said she now plans to dry, store and eventually bury the organ instead of eating it.

"I hope this brings about a better awareness about the benefits of placenta," she said, citing a theory that placental hormones can help control postpartum blues.

Posted by Susan Abram at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center's proposed 101-bed patient care building is being studied by the Pacoima Neighborhood Council's Land Use Committee.

The committee has 30 days to study the environmental impact report before the Pacoima Neighborhood Council votes to support the project.

From the hospital's press release:

The action is a major change in position for the Pacoima Neighborhood Council, which voted last year to support the medical center’s project only if a full environmental impact report (EIR) was prepared. Since that time, the medical center has completed more exhaustive environmental studies, with mitigation measures put in place to assure the project will cause less-than-significant impacts to the traffic, parking, air quality and other environmental aspects of the construction.

Posted by Susan Abram at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All those stories about how a low fat diet, and fruits and vegetables can help prevent the return of breast cancer were found to be inconclusive. Researchers conducted a seven year experiment on more than 3,000 women, and there were mixed results. From the Associated Press story:

During the next seven years, the cancer returned in about the same proportion of women in both groups: 256 women (16.7 percent) of the women on the special diet and 262 women (16.9 percent) in the comparison group. About 10 percent of both groups died during that time, most of them from breast cancer.

While the United States has helped many countries watch and prepare for a bird flu pandemic, our country lacks the rapid tests and hospital capacity to cope with one at home, the White House said on Tuesday. The Reuters story:

Some of the most difficult tasks remain, including the ability to quickly detect the spread of disease, capacity to make vaccines quickly and in large-enough amounts, and detailed plans on who gets drugs and vaccines if a pandemic hits.

Demand for calorie labels on restaurant food is sweeping the country but the real question is whether diners with more information will make wiser decisions. The New York Times asks readers, and they respond.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is finally legitimate, the New York Times reports.

For decades, people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome have struggled to convince doctors, employers, friends and even family members that they were not imagining their debilitating symptoms. Skeptics called the illness “yuppie flu” and “shirker syndrome.”

Are there any particular health stories you'd like to see? Leave a comment at Body Talk.

Posted by Susan Abram at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A study released from USC, UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania reports that Latinos born and raised in the US may be unhealthier than recent immigrants, with higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholestrol. The culprits include fast food, smoking, and lack of excercise , researchers found.

"One possible explanation is that people who immigrate are healthy to begin with and they may also have come here with better health habits," said Eileen Crimmins, a professor of gerontology at USC who led the study. "The generation born here has adopted American traits such as smoking and eating at fast food restaurants that were not as accessible in more traditional parts of Mexico."

Reuters reports that a popular Asian fruit that is chewed for a quick buzz is receiving more scrutiny in Taiwan, which is launching a campaign to warn users that the betel nut can cause cancer. A World Health Organization study four years ago found that chewing the nuts can cause oral cancer and that the rate of these malignant mouth tumors was highest in Asia where the betel nut is a widely used stimulant.

Nearly 90 percent of U.S. born newborns are getting tested for 29 rare genetic disorders.
As of June 1, 40 states, including California, required testing for more than 20 of those disorders, including sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis to lesser known diseases such as the metabolic disorder LCHAD.
The March of Dimes provides a nifty map here.

Germophobes take heart: There's an automatic tissue paper dispenser being marketed by Kimberly-Clark Professional, that will encourage 20 percent less toilet paper use in public places. Americans typically use twice as much toilet paper as Europeans — as much as an arm's length each pull, according to Reuters. The new technology lets you place your hand under the dispenser, and viola...you get five sheets of paper, according to Kimberly-Clark. The question is, is that enough for us Americans?
For a sneak peak of the product, go to http://www.kimberly-clark.com

Posted by Susan Abram at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems British officials are seeing an increase in female circumcision, the practice in some countries where a young girl's clitoris is snipped for religious reasons. British officials are even offering rewards for information leading to the practice. Alice Walker wrote about it. Tori Amos sang about it. It's back in the news, from Agence France Press.

Researchers have found that Asian-Americans, both those born here and new immigrants, have distinctive patterns of cancer incidence that doctors should consider when treating them. The study was conducted in California and included people of Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean descent. In the New York Times.

Also in the New York Times, former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona loosens his tongue from President Bush's grip and reveals that he was told to hush up on key public health issues. This was in Tuesday's edition, but the photo of Carmona is pretty groovy and it's the kind of story that has legs.

And lastly, the lowly tomato has been toppled off its pedestal, according to Reuters. The FDA tells the American Cancer Society to soften the claims that lypocene helps prevent cancer.

Posted by Susan Abram at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A story today in the Daily News follows how a Sun Valley family is struggling to understand Batten disease, a rare, genetic disease that is undetectible in newborns, but can emerge as a child gets older. Daniel Bothuel's mother became frustrated by doctors at the embattled Martin Luther King, Dr-Harbor Hospital, who couldn't give her a diagnosis as to what her son had. She learned about it only this May, from a heroic nurse at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar, who pieced together all the symptoms from Daniel's medical files.

From the story:

Daniel was born with Batten disease, an inherited and fatal neurological disorder that affects just two to four out of every 100,000 births. The initial symptoms are subtle, appearing during early childhood as vision, behavioral, personality or learning problems.

For Daniel, the signs surfaced after he was old enough to run in the snow in his family's native Detroit, to play ball with his siblings and to chatter to his mother.

"When I look at these old pictures, I think, `That's Daniel,"' Bothuel said. "It hits me hard to see him like this."

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times today pens a story about how efforts to expand a health insurance program for children is being stymied by President Bush.

It's about to turn into a big debate at the end of this month, officials say. Congressional Democrats say the effort created 10 years ago with bipartisan support, had improved access to care for millions of children and sharply reduced the number who were uninsured.

From the New York Times:

The seemingly uncontroversial goal of insuring more children has become the focus of an ideological battle between the White House and Congress. The fight epitomizes fundamental disagreements over the future of the nation’s health care system and the role of government.

Democrats have proposed a major expansion of the program, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to cover more youngsters with a substantial increase in federal spending.

Administration officials have denounced the Democratic proposal as a step toward government-run health care for all. They said it would speed the erosion of private insurance coverage. And they oppose two of the main ideas contemplated by Democrats to finance expanded coverage for children: an increase in the federal tobacco tax and cuts in Medicare payments to private insurance companies caring for the elderly.

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hopefully, this is good news and there won't be some recall a year from now that has found some horrid side effect, but the FDA has approved a new skin patch to treat dementia associated with Alzheimer's patients.

The patch is called Exelon. There is a capsule form of the drug, but the patch will provide a continuous dose throughout the day, according to drug makers Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. The patch will help those with mild to moderate symptoms.

From the Associated Press story:

Rivastigmine isn't a cure. It inhibits the breakdown of a chemical in the brain called acetylcholine, thought important for both learning and memory.

Novartis said the prescription patch would be available soon.

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Health officials are expected to announce in a news conference today that Andrew Speaker, the American lawyer infected with a dangerous form of tuberculosis who then traveled by plane to Europe, has a less severe form of the disease.

Speaker has undergone a series of tests since the story first broke, when he was diagnosed in May with a dangerous, drug resistant form of TB.

Turns out, the form he has can be treated.

Posted by Susan Abram at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA gets a write up today in the New York Times. The story examines the frustration felt by family and friends on how to obtain information, and the reporter questions whether the law is functional.

From the story:

Government studies released in the last few months show the frustration is widespread, an unintended consequence of the 1996 law.

Hipaa was designed to allow Americans to take their health insurance coverage with them when they changed jobs, with provisions to keep medical information confidential. But new studies have found that some health care providers apply Hipaa regulations overzealously, leaving family members, caretakers, public health and law enforcement authorities stymied in their efforts to get information.

Posted by Susan Abram at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A story today on the Wall Street Journal says that Vioxx makers Merck & Co knew of the heart risks for the pain killer much sooner than the company claimed.

Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after a study showed the one-time $2.5 billion-a-year drug doubled the risk of heart problems after 18 months of use. The company has since argued in trials that there is no evidence that short-term use increased heart risks.

Read the story at wsj.com

Posted by Susan Abram at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scientists are turning to noses when it comes to Alzheimer's disease. Research suggests that difficulty identifying common smells such as lemon, banana, and cinnamon may be the first sign of the disease.

From the Associated Press story:

In the study, 600 people between the ages of 54 and 100 were asked to identify a dozen familiar smells: onion, lemon, cinnamon, black pepper, chocolate, rose, banana, pineapple, soap, paint thinner, gasoline and smoke.

A quarter of the people correctly identified all the odors or missed only one. Half of them knew at least nine of the 12. The lowest-scoring quarter of the people correctly identified eight or fewer of the odors.

The subjects took 21 cognitive tests annually over the next five years. About one-third of the people developed at least mild trouble with memory and thinking.

The researchers took into account age, gender, education and a history of strokes or smoking, and still found lower scores predicted higher risk of cognitive decline.

Lead author Robert Wilson of Chicago's Rush University Medical Center said a diminishing sense of smell isn't cause for panic.

Posted by Susan Abram at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers are revisiting old ucler operations as a possible alternative to obesity surgery.

It's called the vagus nerve, and some patients who have had it cut, have shown weight loss. There are critics, of course, but so far 30 patients had a vagus snip at the University of Rochester, and while the study isn't complete, out of the 11 who are a year past surgery, all but one are shedding pounds.

From the Associated Press story:

Enter the vagus nerve, which snakes from the brain to the abdomen, with fibers reaching into multiple organs with different effects. Among them: The nerve spurs gastric acid production, and in the 1970s, surgery to cut where it attaches to the front and back of the stomach brought ulcer sufferers great relief — after they recovered from open-abdominal surgery. Once better acid-reducing medications came along, this arduous operation was abandoned.

Yet surgeons at the time noticed, and subsequent animal studies confirmed, that these vagotomies could trigger weight loss. In addition to a less acidic stomach's slower digestion, the vagus helps control appetite-stimulating brain hormones and signals our bodies to store more fat.

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A study from the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has found that hospital and doctor visits have surged 20 percent in the last five years, due to factors that include and aging population and an increased demand for antidepressents.

According to the Reuters story, there were 1.2 billion visits to hospitals, emergency rooms, and physicians' offices in 2005, up from 1 billion in the last survey taken. The problem, is that the number of hospitals and physicians has decreased.

From the story:

Of 2.4 billion drugs mentioned in patients' medical records in 2005, 118 million were antidepressants. High blood pressure drugs followed, with 113 million and arthritis or headache drugs were mentioned in 110 million.

The report also shed light on the controversial issue of emergency room visits. Many health care experts are worried that the 43 million people who lack health insurance in the United States must rely on emergency rooms for care -- not the best way to prevent serious conditions.

The report found that 46 million of the visits made to ERs in 2005 were by people with insurance, compared to 19 million by people without insurance.

"With 315,000 people visiting emergency departments every day, the alarm bells are sounding and policymakers should heed the alert and respond," said Dr. Brian Keaton, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, which is pressing for a national commission on access to emergency medical services.

Posted by Susan Abram at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)