Binge drinking

 Large quantities of alcohol area unit noted to extend stroke risk in older individuals
New study found at even young adults weren\'t shielded from the consequences
Binge drinking caused changes within the muscles that management blood flow
Changes were identical as older individuals with hardened arteries

Binge drinking, at the same time as a young student, will cause cardiopathy, a study has warned.
Research has found that often drinking massive quantities of alcohol caused immediate changes in circulation that increase Associate in Nursing otherwise healthy young adult\'s risk of developing upset later in life.
‘Regular binge drinking is one among the foremost serious public health issues grappling faculty campuses, and [thanks to them] drinking has become a lot of pervasive and harmful,’ aforementioned prof Shane Phillips, senior author and associate head of therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Binge drinking is toxin and our information support that there is also serious vas consequences in young adults.’
Surveys have shown that university students aged between eighteen and twenty five years recent have the very best rates of binge drinking, with quite 0.5 binge drinking on a daily basis.
A recent study by University faculty London found that around half all adults within the Britain area unit binge drinkers.

Prior studies have found that binge drinking among adults age forty to sixty years recent is related to a rise in risk of stroke, abrupt viscus death and heart failure, however the result on younger adults had not been studied as yet.
Researchers at the University of Illinois checked out 2 teams of healthy non-smoking students: UN agency|those that|people who} had a history of binge drinking and people who abstained from alcohol.

Warning over child 'screen time'

How continued should accouchement absorb in foreground of the television? Parents charge to do added to stop accouchement spending too abundant time watching television or arena computer games, according to a psychologist.

Dr Aric Sigman said "screen time" bare to accept a circadian absolute in a agnate attitude to alkali or booze intake.

He alleged for parents to "regain control" or they were risking a "form of amiable neglect".

He will allege at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's anniversary appointment in Glasgow later.

Dr Sigman will altercate that the bulk of time spent in foreground of screens is at an best top - with accouchement accepting admission to an boilerplate of 5 screens in the home and generally application added than one at once, such as a smartphone and the television.

This is affiliated to a desk lifestyle, Type 2 diabetes and affection disease, he will say.

He will aswell accession apropos that it ability be alteration children's accuracy as they develop.

Brain scans accept apparent differences amid the accuracy of gamers and non-gamers. However, it is not accepted if arena amateur change the academician or if humans with assertive academician structures are apprenticed to play games.

Dr Sigman told the BBC that "there are apropos that it alters the accolade chip in the brain" which may advance to "dependence".

"Whether accouchement or adults are formally 'addicted' to awning technology or not, abounding of them overuse technology and accept developed an ailing annex on it."

He continued: "It is consistently the assumption of attention in children, except for awning time."

He is arguing that accouchement up to the age of three should accept little or no awning time. Then a best of an hour-and-a-half up to the age of seven, and a best of two hours up to the age of 18.

The adumbration accessible bloom minister, Diane Abbott, has aswell alleged for parents to cut the bulk of time families absorb in foreground of the television or arena on a computer.

She said: "By 2025, about bisected of men and over a third of women will be obese, so we've got to alpha allowance and allotment parents to do the appropriate thing."

Growth archive

The Department of Bloom said: "Physical action offers huge allowances - all accouchement should be encouraged to be active."

It said under-fives should absorb as little time sitting still as possible.

Meanwhile, doctors at the appointment accept adapted the way they analysis that accouchement are growing properly.

New advance charts, which are acclimated by doctors and academy nurses to analyze a child's height, weight and age, accept been developed to accomplish it easier to atom adipose accouchement and those not traveling through adolescence properly.

Dr Charlotte Wright, who was active in the design, said the new archive were "simpler to use" and would accord a "more authentic picture" of the bloom of children.

Why we should talk more about death

 Doctors need to ensure relatives 'are fully-informed' In this week's Scrubbing Up opinion column, Prof Mayur Lakhani chair of the Dying Matters Coalition, urges doctors to be more open and frank about preparing patients and their families for the end of life.
Imagine a situation where most people with a common condition are undiagnosed and where opportunities are repeatedly missed to identify the problem and to offer good care.
What is this condition? It's dying.
Each year, an estimated 92,000 people in England are believed to need end of life care but not receive it.
As a practising GP I have seen distressed relatives after a patient has died in hospital.
Often they have not had a chance to see their relative before they died and were unaware of the seriousness of the condition, despite repeated admissions with deteriorating conditions.
Many such patients are never formally identified as at risk of dying and not assessed for end of life care.
One relative said something that haunts me to this day: "I wish the doctors had told me that my mother was dying."
As a result too many people still die in distress with uncontrolled symptoms, or have futile interventions when this will not make any difference.
All of us, including doctors, must do more to talk about dying.
'Too late'
A new ComRes research for the Dying Matters Coalition confirms there is a widespread reluctance to talk about dying and death.
That is why we want to encourage people to talk more openly about dying and bereavement and to make plans around end-of-life care.
Most people have not made a plan of their choices and wishes in the event of a serious illness.
People often think there is plenty of time when the situation arises but often this is not the case and it can be too late.
Doctors are trained to cure, but as people live with long-term conditions, the medical profession needs to change how it works with dying patients.
We need to bring dying back into people's homes, rather than in hospital, care homes or hospices.
As increasing numbers of people develop and live with dementia, it is vital that doctors talk about the kind of end-of-life care people would choose, while people are healthy.
There's a huge change required in our culture, starting with the medical profession.
Having learnt a lot from the Canadian communications expert Prof Stephen Workman, I would urge doctors to do three things.
First, be compassionate but direct when talking about dying.
Doctors speaking to relatives about an ill patient who is giving cause for concern, should not just say "your husband is seriously ill", but should add "It is possible that he could die". This allows all involved to prepare.
Secondly, be honest and don't offer false hope.
Think twice about offering a false choice of procedures like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when someone is actually dying and chances of recovery are miniscule.
Instead offer supportive care to keep the patient comfortable and allow them to die a natural dignified death.
And, thirdly, when doctors diagnose a serious illness they should ask the patient whether they would like to talk about what they can expect and what is likely to happen.
Most people die from frailty in old age, and will be well known to health and social care services.
Importantly, this gives opportunities for talking about end of life wishes and advance care planning.
My ambition is to reduce the fear of dying and increase knowledge and awareness of palliative care.
It is vitally important that every person who is coming to the end of their life is spotted early enough and supported to make a good advance care plan.
I know just how hard it is to address issues like this in the frenzy of busy surgeries and wards.
But we as doctors need to up our game.
All of us, especially doctors can play a part in ensuring everyone is able to have a good death.

Are Fears That Deodorant Causes Breast Cancer Unfounded?

Have you ever gotten one of those scary chain emails telling you that your deodorant may cause breast cancer? If so, you are not alone. These show up in many people's in-boxes from time to time.
It has to do with certain underarm products that contain preservatives called parabens. These chemicals can act like the hormone estrogen in the body. Estrogen is known to fuel certain breast cancers. Many breast cancers develop in the part of the breast closest to the armpit, where antiperspirants and other underarm products are used.
Now a new study shows that yes, there is evidence of parabens in 99% of breast tissue samples taken from women with breast cancer, but many of these women did not use any underarm products. Most major brands of deodorants and antiperspirants no longer contain parabens.
So where are all the parabens coming from? Parabens such as methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isopropylparaben, and isobutylparaben are also found in makeup, moisturizers, and hair care and shaving products.
The new study included 40 women with breast cancer who chose to have a mastectomy. Researchers looked at four samples of breast tissue from each woman. The tissue samples came from several locations within the breast, including the armpit region.
Fully 99% of the tissue samples had evidence of at least one paraben, and 60% showed evidence of five. Paraben levels did not seem to play a role in the cancer’s location or whether or not the cancer was fueled by estrogen.

Acupuncture May Be Effective for Migraines

 Acupuncture helps reduce days with migraines and may have lasting effects, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
In the study, almost 500 adults were treated with either traditional Chinese acupuncture or a sham treatment in which acupuncture needles were inserted in nonspecific points. The acupuncture treatment points were previously used to study migraine. Participants did not know which type of acupuncture treatment they were receiving during the four-week study.
After completing the study, all of the participants -- including those in the sham group -- reported fewer days with migraines than before the study began. Prior to the study, most suffered monthly migraines, on average six days of migraines a month. After the completing the study, they reported migraines on an average of three days in the month.
In the month following the treatment, all of the participants also reported improvements in the frequency and intensity of migraines.
However, lasting effects were seen only in study participants who received traditional acupuncture. Three months after treatment, people who received traditional Chinese acupuncture continued to report a reduction in migraine days, frequency, and intensity. People who received the sham treatment did not.
Although the study only showed a marginal benefit of real acupuncture over sham acupuncture, researcher Claudia Witt, MD, of University Medical Center Charité in Berlin, says previous research suggests that people who respond best to acupuncture treatments are those who have not been helped by other treatments and those who had past positive experiences with acupuncture.
Albrecht Molsberger, MD, a medical acupuncture specialist who wrote an editorial on the study, says that even in sham acupuncture, the simple insertion of needles into the skin, regardless of the exact points of insertion, can lead to fewer migraines and reduced pain.
“Putting needles in the patient twice weekly over six weeks does have a [physical] effect, but if we did it the Chinese way, we might be better off,” he says.
A previous study of 300 people showed that acupuncture is more effective than no acupuncture in the treatment of migraine. Another study of nearly 800 people showed that 11 acupuncture treatments over six weeks were at least as effective as the blood pressure drugs called beta-blockers -- often used for migraine prevention -- taken daily for six months, Molsberger tells WebMD.
“Acupuncture should be an option for the first-line treatment of migraine to supplement other non-[drug] treatment options,” he writes in his editorial.
Seymour Diamond, MD, who is executive chair of the National Headache Foundation, disagrees.
“That would be a serious mistake. Only after a patient has had a fair trial on both [preventive] -- if necessary -- and [rescue] medicine should they try acupuncture,” he says.
Is the benefit to acupuncture for migraine mostly a placebo effect, as a number of previous studies suggest?
“In any type of treatment, there is the expectation of results. And doctor’s interest alone should help a patient,” Diamond tells WebMD.
Ultimately, results will vary by the individual. “I don’t think acupuncture is really effective, but I never discourage a patient who wants to try it,” he says.

Aspirin Therapy for Heart Disease, Stroke Prevention Not for Everyone

Many people who have never had a heart attack or stroke take an aspirin every day to lower their risk for these events.

While some may benefit, for many others the benefits appear to be outweighed by an increased risk for potentially serious and even life-threatening bleeding, a new study shows.

Researchers analyzed data from nine large studies, including three published since 2007, which followed participants for an average of six years.

Aspirin therapy was not associated with a reduction in deaths due to heart attack and stroke, but it was associated with a significant increase in risk for bleeding, says researcher Kausik K. Ray, MD.

“The benefits of aspirin therapy are clear for patients who have a history of heart attack or stroke,” Ray says. “This is not the case, however, for patients who may have risk factors for [heart disease and stroke] but have no such history.”

The analysis included more than 100,000 people who had never had a heart attack or stroke and participated in trials in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

About half the participants took either low-dose (75-100 milligrams) or full-strength (300-500 milligrams) aspirin daily or every other day. Everyone else took placebos.

Over an average follow-up of six years, about 1,500 nonfatal and 500 fatal heart attacks and about 1,500 fatal and nonfatal strokes were recorded.

Aspirin therapy was associated with a 10% decrease in heart attacks and strokes, which was largely explained by a reduction in nonfatal heart attacks, Ray says.

But patients on the aspirin regimens were also 31% more likely to experience significant bleeding.

Aspirin therapy has been shown in several previous studies to be associated with a reduced risk of death from cancer, but the association was not seen in the new analysis, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Ray and colleagues from the Cardiac and Vascular Sciences Research Center at St. George’s University of London conclude that for many patients with no history of heart attack or stroke, aspirin adds little to strategies proven to reduce heart disease and stroke risk.

These strategies include drug treatments that regulate blood pressure and cholesterol, and lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation, weight loss, and regular exercise.

The researchers add that more study is needed to identify patients who have not had heart attacks or strokes for whom the benefits of aspirin therapy outweigh the risks.

“In the absence of such information, a reappraisal of current guidelines appears to be warranted, particularly in countries where a large number of otherwise healthy adults are prescribed aspirin,” the researchers write.

Cardiologist Samia Mora, MD, of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, says patients need to discuss their individual risk for heart attack and stroke with their doctor before embarking on an aspirin therapy regimen.

In an editorial published with the paper, Mora writes that for low-risk patients the data “argue against the routine use of aspirin for primary prevention of [heart disease and stroke].”

“Right now, we really need to assess risk on a case-by-case basis,” she says. “For someone with a strong family history of heart attack or stroke, for example, a daily aspirin may be warranted even in the absence of other risk factors.”

New York University cardiologist Nieca Goldberg agrees that patients should always discuss their individual risks with their doctor before starting aspirin therapy.

Cardiac Arrest Risk Low in Marathons, Study Finds

 When a runner dies during a marathon because their heart stops, it's big news -- and can be scary to the 2 million runners who participate in U.S. long-distance events each year.

However, the risk of cardiac arrest during long-distance races is relatively low, according to new research. A cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating, and it's generally more serious than a heart attack.

Over a 10-year period, 59 runners, or 1 in 184,000 participants in half or full marathons, suffered cardiac arrest, says researcher Aaron Baggish, MD, associate director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also the cardiologist for the Boston Marathon. There were nearly 11 million participants during the decade studied.

Those who run a full marathon, 26.2 miles, are at higher risk of heart problems than those who run the half, he found. Men are at higher risk than women.

"It appears the half marathon is safer and better tolerated than the marathon," says Baggish. "Most of the problems we saw were marathon-related."

The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The new research, believed to be the first comprehensive study of marathon and half-marathon participants, may change the stereotypes. "The public perception is that marathons and half marathons are dangerous endeavors," Baggish says.

Veteran runners, on the other hand, may feel overly protected because of their healthy lifestyle, he says.

While the number of race-related deaths due to cardiac arrest has risen, "the increase in the number of cardiac deaths only parallels the increased number of participants," Baggish tells WebMD.

In 2000, fewer than 1 million participated in U.S. long-distance races. In 2010, 2 million did.

Baggish and his team tracked cases of cardiac arrest in half marathons and marathons in the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2000, through May 31, 2010.

They interviewed survivors or the family members of those who died. They reviewed medical records. They looked at post-death data.

Forty of the cardiac arrests occurred during marathons; 19 during half marathons.

Eighty-six percent of those who suffered cardiac arrest, or 51 of the 59, were men. The average age of those who had cardiac arrest was 42. Cardiac arrest was most likely to occur during the last quarter of the event.

Of those 59 cardiac arrests, 42 were fatal. Baggish says that death rate -- 71% -- is better than the 92% rate generally found when cardiac arrest occurs, when people are at home or in other isolated areas.

He credits the medical services at races and bystanders who performed CPR with this higher survival rate.

Next, Baggish looked at the causes. He had enough medical information to evaluate the cause for 31 of the 59 runners. An abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, was often the confirmed or probable cause of death.

Among those who survived, underlying heart disease was the most common problem. Baggish found the risk of cardiac-related death over the 10-year period was 1 per 259,000 long-distance runners. Other research suggests that this risk is equal to or lower than that for other physical activity such as triathlons, college athletics, and jogging, he says.

Catching Germs at School And In Sports

Moms know it’s hard enough to keep kids away from germs when they’re at home. But during school hours, your little ones come across all different kinds of germ-filled situations. So how do you go about teaching your kids to avoid germs during the school day, or while they’re playing sports afterward?

“We live in a world of germs and you’re going to be exposed to them; it’s just a matter of trying to protect yourself as much as you can,” says Sandi Delack, RN, BSN, M ED, NCSN, a practicing school nurse in Rhode Island and president-elect for the National Association of School Nurses. “There are things you can do to minimize your risk,” says Delack, like washing your hands, and keeping your hands out of your mouth, eyes, and nose.

However, it takes a lot of repeating to get that message into kids’ heads, Delack says. “They have to hear it over and over, and they need to hear it at school, they need to hear it at home.” The earlier kids get the message the easier it’ll be on parents. “I’ll see kids walking down the hall all the time with the tie to their sweat shirt or their chain in their mouth and I’ll say, ‘Do you know how many germs are on that? Take that out of your mouth!’”

The bus ride to and from school is fraught with opportunities for close encounters of the germ kind. Delack says parents should be sure to tell kids that this is one time sharing isn’t a good thing -- so don’t share drinks or snacks; older kids should even be wary of talking on friend’s cell phone (or using it to text) if that friend has a cold.

Kids should also try to keep book bags off the floor, Delack says. And, parents need to set up a space far away from the kitchen counter or kitchen table -- anywhere food is prepared -- to stash school bags when kids get home.

So many classroom activities involve hand-to-hand contact: things like passing papers back down the row, or sharing pencils, pens, scissors and other tools. But it’s not touching things that belong to other kids that’s the problem, it’s what kids do after they touch an item. “The important part is they’re not putting their hands in their mouth and in their nose,” Delack says. That’s how germs have a chance to enter the body and that’s really how you get sick.

To counteract bacteria, many teachers purchase bulk supplies of hand sanitizer and tissues, then make them available to students throughout the year. Some schools ask each student to bring a box of tissues and a bottle of hand sanitizer and create the year’s supply that way. The key for parents is to remind kids to go get a tissue from the box or use the hand sanitizer when they need to.

CDC: Americans Living Longer as Death Rate Drops

We are living longer these days.

Our average life expectancy increased by about one month from 2009 to 2010. In 2010, the average life expectancy rose to 78.7 years, up from 78.6 years in 2009. These are some of the findings from a new report by the CDC on death rates in the U.S. in 2010.

The death rate hit its lowest rate ever in 2010, at 746.2 deaths per 100,000 people. Overall 2,465,936 people died in the U.S. in 2010.

Heart disease and cancer still top the list of causes of death. Together, they accounted for 47% of all deaths in 2010, the new report shows.

For the first time since 1965, homicide fell from the top 15 causes of death. Homicide was replaced by pneumonitis, an inflammation of lung tissue, as the 15th leading cause of death.

Of the top 15 causes of death in the U.S., there were drops in seven of them, including:

CancerHeart diseaseStrokeAccidentsChronic lung diseaseFlu/pneumoniaSepticemia, or blood infection

There was also a decrease in infant mortality rates in 2010.

But there were increases in other causes of death, such as Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, liver disease, Parkinson's disease, and pneumonitis, the new report showed.

The new data are based on 98% of death certificates from 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Certain Antidepressants May Raise Lung Risk in Newborns

 Pregnant women who use certain popular antidepressants may have a twofold increased risk for delivering babies with a rare but serious lung disorder, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed national registry data from 1.6 million births in five Nordic countries in an effort to determine if using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy raises the risk for neonatal pulmonary hypertension, a life-threatening condition in newborns that normally occurs in one to two births in 1,000.

SSRIs such as Celexa, Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft are the most widely prescribed class of antidepressants, and millions of women in the U.S. have used them during pregnancy.

Persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns (PPHN) is a respiratory disorder in which the arteries leading to the lungs remain constricted after birth, limiting blood flow and oxygen.

Risk factors for PPHN include maternal obesity, diabetes, and smoking, and between 5% and 10% babies with the disorder do not survive.

A 2006 study first linked SSRI use during pregnancy to the disorder, finding a sixfold increase in the incidence of neonatal pulmonary hypertension in babies exposed to the antidepressants in the last months before birth.

Studies conducted since then have been mixed, with some supporting the association and others finding no increase in risk associated with SSRI use.

In the newly published study, researchers from Stockholm, Sweden’s, Karolinska Institute examined birth registry data from all babies born between 1996 and 2007 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

About 30,000 women used SSRIs during pregnancy, and about 11,000 filled prescriptions for them in their fifth month of pregnancy or later.

There were 33 cases of persistent pulmonary hypertension among babies whose mothers took SSRIs late in pregnancy, or about three cases per 1,000 births.

This was about double the number of cases that would have been expected in the general population of newborns, but babies born to mothers with a history of a previous hospitalization for a psychiatric disorder who were not taking SSRIs during pregnancy also had a slightly increased risk for the disorder.

Gideon Koren, MD, of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, says the study raises more questions than it answers.

“This is by far the largest study to examine SSRI use and PPHN, but the fact that women with untreated depression had a higher risk for the disorder raises new doubts about this link,” Koren says. “Many doubts remain, and they should be shared with patients.”

Koren directs the Toronto hospital’s “Motherisk” program, which advises women about drug safety during pregnancy.

“We talk to about 200 women a day from all over North America and other parts of the world,” he says, adding that questions about SSRI safety are common.

Climate Tied to Inflammatory Bowel Disease Risk

 Living in a sunny climate appears to reduce women’s risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease, a large new study shows.

An estimated 1.4 million people in the U.S. live with an inflammatory bowel disease, either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

Both cause persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, fever, and sometimes rectal bleeding. Symptoms can become very severe and sometimes require surgery.

Yet little is known about the causes of these diseases, which are thought to involve a dysfunction of the immune system.

For the new study, researchers combed through data on more than 238,000 women taking part in the long-running Nurses’ Health Study, which began in 1976.

The study collected information on where the women were living at birth, age 15, and age 30. It also recorded any diagnosis of an inflammatory bowel disease up to 2003.

Researchers also followed up with women who reported having inflammatory bowel disease and verified their diagnoses through medical records.

They found that women who lived in Southern regions that got a lot of sunlight had a 52% lower risk of being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease by age 30 and a 38% lower risk of getting ulcerative colitis than those who lived in Northern regions.

That result held up even when researchers tried to rule out other things that might increase a person’s risk for an inflammatory bowel disease, like having a family history.

“The differences are pretty drastic. That’s what surprised us the most. Especially when it comes to Crohn’s disease. We’re seeing a 40% to 50% reduction in risk,” says researcher Hamed Khalili, MD, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The study is published in the journal Gut.

This study confirms previous research from Europe, and it suggests that the amount of UV light exposure from sunlight may play an important role in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, though researchers aren’t sure why.

One theory is that people in sunnier states may have higher exposure to UV light, leading to higher vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is known to help regulate immunity and inflammation.

Regional differences in environmental pollution or infections could offer other explanations.

“The study was well done,” says Amnon Sonnenberg, MD, MSc, a gastroenterologist at Oregon Health & Science University, in Portland. “The authors are to be commended,” says Sonnenberg, an expert on inflammatory bowel disease who was not involved in the study.

“We know quite well that there is a north-south gradient, and this north-south gradient applies to the American continent as well as to Europe,” he says.

But he says the reasons behind the regional differences are far from clear cut.

For example, he says, studies have shown that miners -- who spend their working hours underground and out of the sunlight -- have less inflammatory bowel disease.

For that reason, he cautions patients against thinking that taking more vitamin D might help their symptoms or lessen their risk if they have a family member who’s affected.

People tend to think “vitamin D is going to protect me,” Sonnenberg says, “And there is absolutely no evidence for this.”

Colorful Meals May Appeal to Picky Eaters

 Is your child a picky eater? A new study may help you expand his or her palate.

Children prefer much more color and variety in food presentation, compared to adults, according to the study. For example, children preferred twice as many colors and different items on their plates.

Children also responded well to figurative designs on their plate, like bacon “smiles” and peas arranged into a heart shape.

Researchers say the results suggest that parents can encourage picky eaters to eat healthier by introducing more color and creativity to their plates.

“What kids find visually appealing is very different than what appeals to their parents,” Brian Wansink, PhD, professor of marketing at Cornell University, says in a news release. “Our study shows how to make the changes so the broccoli and fish look tastier than they otherwise would to little Casey or little Audrey.”

In the study, published in Acta Paediatrica, researchers showed 23 pre-teen children and 46 adults full-size photos of different combinations of food on plates and asked them to choose which food presentations they liked the most.

The results showed children preferred plates with seven different items and six different colors, while adults favored plates with only three items and three colors.

“Compared with adults, children not only prefer plates with more elements and colors, but also their entrees placed in the front of the plate and with figurative designs,” researcher Kevin Kniffin, PhD, of Cornell University, says in the release.

Researchers found simple steps, like shaping a bacon strip into a smile at the bottom of the plate or arranging vegetables into fun shapes, made the food presentation much more appealing to children.

They say the next step is to test whether picky eaters actually eat what they say looks good enough to eat.

If so, giving children a wide array of foods on their plates may widen their palates and help them eat healthier.

Diabetes Medications May Double as Weight Loss Drugs

Two drugs approved to treat type 2 diabetes may also aid weight loss in overweight people with or without diabetes, a new study shows.

The drugs Byetta and Victoza mimic gut hormones that decrease appetite.

They are typically prescribed when patients need medication to help control their blood sugar. A new research review, published in BMJ, reanalyzed data from 25 separate studies.

The review reveals that the drugs helped overweight people without diabetes shed an average of 7 pounds and those with diabetes lose an average of 6 pounds when injected daily or weekly for at least five months.

That makes these agents promising treatments for obesity, study authors say.

“It’s not a cure, but it’s a good treatment. And you still need to combine it with lifestyle changes,” says researcher Tina Vilsboll, MD, DMSc, an endocrinologist and associate professor at Gentofte Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark.

Vilsboll says the modest weight loss many of her diabetic patients see on the drugs helps encourage them to kick up their diet and exercise programs to lose even more weight.

“They use it as a tool for changing their lifestyle,” she says.

The medications also appear to lower blood pressure and cholesterol slightly, which may help heart disease risks.

But the drugs, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, also come with side effects. They work, in part, by slowing the movement of food through the stomach. That can sometimes cause a good deal of nausea or even vomiting, especially after a large meal.

But Vilsboll says that side effect generally fades over time and doesn’t usually cause people to stop taking the medication.

Experts who were not involved in the review say they are cautiously optimistic about the drugs’ prospects for weight loss.

“We do have an obesity epidemic. Weight loss by traditional means -- diet and exercise -- is extremely hard, and for people who are successful initially, it’s also very hard to maintain,” says Susan Spratt, MD, an endocrinologist and the director of diabetes services at Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C.

“If we could use these drugs just in people with obesity and know that it’s safe, I think it would be a fantastic addition to our ability to treat obesity,” Spratt says.

“I’ve had [diabetic] patients lose 60 pounds with these medications. Now, those folks were 400 pounds, so they lost 10% to 15% of their body weight,” she says. “Somebody who’s 200 pounds isn’t going to lose that much.”

Because the drugs are already on the market, doctors have the ability to prescribe them solely for weight loss.

But experts say such “off-label” use of the drugs can be risky.

Exercise, Talk Therapy by Phone May Help Relieve Fibromyalgia Pain

 Exercise and/or talking with a therapist on the phone once a week may significantly reduce chronic pain, a new study shows.

About 20% to 40% of adults report experiencing chronic pain, Seth Berkowitz, MD, and Mitchell Katz, MD, of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services write in an accompanying editorial. Up to 20% of visits to a primary health care provider generate a prescription for a narcotic painkiller, or opioid, they say.

While three non-opioid drugs -- Cymbalta, Lyrica, and Savella -- have been approved by the FDA to treat fibromyalgia pain, none adequately controls the disorder’s multiple symptoms, the authors of the new study write.

The scientists assigned almost 450 patients with chronic widespread pain, some of whom had fibromyalgia, to get either “talk therapy” by phone, exercise, both talk therapy and excerise, or their usual treatment.

Four therapists underwent three days of training to learn how to provide psychological help to study participants receiving talk therapy. Patients chose goals, such as identifying and evaluating unhelpful thinking styles or making lifestyle changes.

After an initial assessment that lasted an hour, those participants receiving talk therapy spoke on the phone with a therapist for 30 to 45 minutes once a week for seven weeks. That was followed by a phone session three months and six months after the study began.

Evidence suggests that this talk therapy delivered by phone is as effective as face-to-face therapy, researcher John McBeth, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Manchester, tells WebMD in an email.

Those in the exercise group were invited to meet with a fitness instructor once a month for six months. The goal was to improve their fitness by exercising 20 minutes to an hour at least twice a week.

Three months after the study ended, the phone therapy and/or exercise patients showed more improvement than those who’d stayed with their usual care.

The people who engaged in both talk therapy and exercise did only slightly better than those who received one or the other. Perhaps the therapists included messages about exercise, the authors speculate. Or, they write, perhaps each treatment was so effective that there wasn’t much room for improvement by combining them.

The new study is the latest addition to an “extensive” body of clinical trials demonstrating talk therapy’s effectiveness in treating chronic pain and headache, says Russell Portenoy, MD, chair of the department of pain medicine and palliative care at New York’s Beth Israel Medical Center.

“Cognitive behavioral therapy [talk therapy] should be offered to a far larger proportion of patients with chronic pain than currently is done,” Portenoy, who was not involved in the study, tells WebMD.

He cited several obstacles: Too few therapists trained to provide it, inadequate insurance coverage, a tendency among doctors to focus on medical strategies due to a lack of knowledge about talk therapy, and a lack of reimbursement incentives to offer other treatments.

FDA Panel Backs New Device for Chronic Heartburn

An implantable device to treat chronic, severe acid reflux disease has moved one step closer to approval. An FDA advisory committee unanimously voted that the LINX device was safe and effective for treating chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, that does not respond to medication.

The panel also unanimously voted that the benefits of LINX for those patients outweigh the risks. The FDA usually, but not always, follows its advisory committees’ guidance.

The LINX device is a titanium ring of magnetic beads. It’s placed around the lower end of the esophagus to strengthen the sphincter, or ring of muscle, that’s supposed to prevent acid and other stomach contents from rising. At the same time, it is said to be pliant enough to allow food and liquids to enter the stomach.

Manufactured by Torax Medical of Shoreview, Minn., LINX has been on the market in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy for about two years, according to Todd Berg, the company’s president and CEO.

About 19 million U.S. adults suffer from GERD, FDA medical officer Priya Venkataraman-Rao, MD, told the panel. Doctors recommend treating it first with nonsurgical methods, such as raising the head of the bed, losing weight, eating smaller meals, or taking antacids or other medications called H2 blockers or proton-pump inhibitors.  

If none of those work, the main alternative is a surgical procedure in which the top part of the stomach is cut and wrapped around the esophagus.

Torax implanted 100 patients with LINX in its pivotal clinical trial. On average, they’d suffered from GERD for 13 years and experienced about 80 episodes of heartburn a week. People with a BMI greater than 35, a large hiatal hernia (when the stomach bulges into the chest through an opening in the diaphragm), a history of trouble swallowing (more than once a week for the previous three months), a severely inflamed esophagus, or Barrett’s esophagus -- in which the lining of the esophagus, damaged by acid, becomes more like the lining of the intestine -- were excluded from the study.

The acid level in the patients’ esophagus was assessed before and 12 months after LINX was implanted via minimally invasive “keyhole” surgery. Just over half of the patients saw their acid level fall by at least one-half. 

Improvement on a subjective quality-of-life assessment -- which asked such questions as when and how often heartburn occurred and whether it kept them up at night -- was even greater, both at 12 months and 24 months after surgery, Venkataraman-Rao said.

But because the study did not have a comparison group that did not get the device, there’s “no way of knowing whether subjects would have improved on their own,” Venkataraman-Rao said.

How to Wreck Your Heart

What not to do for your heart's health.

When it comes to the heart’s health, there are some things you can’t control -- like getting older, or having a parent with heart disease. But there are many more things you can do to lower the chances of sabotaging your ticker.

“An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure in this instance,” says Gregg Fonarow, MD, an American Heart Association spokesman and associate chief of UCLA's division of cardiology.

To help your heart keep on keeping on, here are 10 things not to do.

A major cause of heart disease, smoking raises blood pressure, causes blood clots, and makes it harder to exercise. And it’s the number one preventable cause of premature death in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association.

Even though it may be one of the most difficult habits to quit, the rewards of stopping smoking are perhaps the greatest and most immediate.

When you toss the smokes, your heart risk goes down within just a few days of quitting. Within a year, your risk is cut by half. After 10 years of living smoke-free, it’s as if you never smoked at all, says Nieca Goldberg, MD, cardiologist and medical director of the New York University Women’s Heart Program.

When your heart literally aches and you don’t know why, it’s time to get checked out.

If you have chest pains while exercising, that’s a red flag. But if it happens after a heavy meal, it’s more likely to be your stomach causing trouble, says Goldberg, who is an American Heart Association spokeswoman and author of Dr. Nieca Goldberg’s Complete Guide to Women’s Health.

Heart pain can feel more like a pressure rather than actual pain. People tend to feel it in the front of their chest, with the sensation sometimes extending into the shoulders, up into the jaw, or down the left arm. If you feel like an elephant is sitting on your chest and you’re breaking out in a sweat, that’s an urgent matter. Call 911.

Regardless of what you’re feeling or when, even a doctor can’t tell if you’re in real trouble over the phone. So you have to seek medical attention in person to get a definitive answer for chest pain.

Having a family history of heart disease is a strong risk factor for predicting your own chances of heart trouble.

Having a parent who has had an early heart attack doubles the risk for men having one; in women the risk goes up by about 70%, according to an American Heart Association report from December 2010.

Is Your Teen's Bedroom a Health Hazard?

Unless your kid is using his room to harbor wild animals or make explosives, it's probably not a true health hazard. But it might get plenty yucky in there.

Could your teen's bedroom be a health hazard? With the piles of crusty socks, the old cereal bowls of curdled milk, and the mildewed towels, it certainly might look -- and smell -- that way.

Happily, as disgusting as your teen's messy room might be, it's unlikely to pose any serious health risks. "I've never seen any teenager who actually got sick because her room was unsanitary," says Tanya Remer Altmann, MD,a pediatrician and author of Mommy Calls and The Wonder Years.

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Of course, whether or not your teen's messy room meets the Department of Health's legal definition of a health hazard isn't really the issue. If your teen's bedroom is disgusting, and it bothers you, you need to do something about it.

"Teenagers need to learn how to look after themselves, and cleaning their rooms is part of that," says Charles Wibbelsman, MD, chairman of the Chiefs of Adolescent Medicine for Kaiser Permanente of Northern California and co-author of The Teenage Body Book. It's a basic responsibility and a skill they'll need as adults, he says.

So how can you get your teen to keep his or her room clean, or at least somewhat less disgusting? Here's some advice from the experts.

Unless your kid is using his room to harbor wild animals or make explosives, he's probably not created a genuine health hazard. But it still might get plenty yucky.

"If you can smell your teen's room down the hall -- because of old food or old laundry -- that's not sanitary," Altmann tells WebMD. "And it could even conceivably pose some health problems." Like what?

Mold. Depending on the weather, it won't take long for mold to start growing on a half-eaten sandwich. Large amounts of mold could actually affect the air quality and aggravate a person's allergies or asthma.Insects and other pests. As you've no doubt already said to your teen a thousand times, dirty dishes attract insects -- like ants and cockroaches -- as well as other pests like mice and rats. Dust mites can thrive in clutter. Finding any of these creatures in your house is disgusting. But some can carry disease as well as trigger allergies and asthma, Altmann says.Bacteria and other fungi. Some nasty things can grow on unwashed, damp clothing in a messy room. And if your teen keeps wearing the clothes pulled off the floor rather than out of the bureau, he could develop rashes and other problems -- like jock itch, which is caused by a fungus.

While you may be horrified by the revolting things that you discover in your teen's bedroom, you may still feel powerless to do anything about them. Asking, pleading, and screaming don't seem to work. So how should a parent handle it?

IVF: Are 3 Embryos Too Many to Transfer?

Transferring more than two embryos during an IVF cycle is a dangerous practice that does not improve a woman’s chances of delivering a baby, a European study finds.

Researchers analyzed close to 125,000 in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles performed in the U.K. over a five-year period in one of the largest studies ever to compare outcomes in women younger than 40 to those of older women.

The conclusion that there is no medical justification for transferring three or more embryos, even in women over the age of 40, has major implications in the U.S., where 1 in 3 IVF procedures involves the transfer of more than two embryos.

While that represents a decline from a decade ago, when closer to 2 out of 3 IVF procedures in the U.S. involved three or more embryos, there is still plenty of room for improvement, a study co-author says.

“The practice of transferring multiple embryos is very much market-driven in the United States,” says Scott M. Nelson, MD, PhD, of the University of Glasgow Centre for Population and Health Sciences. “There is an economic incentive for transferring more embryos in the U.S., but no sound medical reason for doing so.”

New York infertility specialist Glenn L. Schattman, MD, disagrees. Schattman is president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART).

SART guidelines call for the transfer of one or two embryos per IVF cycle in younger patients with the best prognosis, and as many as four embryos per cycle in patients in their late 30s and 40s with a poor chance of achieving a pregnancy.

He says it is clear from SART’s own statistics that the poorest-prognosis patients have a much better chance of having a baby when more than two embryos are transferred.

“There is a continuous and constant decline in fertility with increasing age, so it makes no sense to treat a 39- or 40-year-old the same way we would a 26-year-old,” he says.

The 124,148 IVF cycles analyzed by Nelson and colleague Debbie A. Lawlor, PhD, of the University of Bristol, resulted in 33,514 live births.

The live birth rate was greater with the transfer of two embryos, compared to one, in women under the age of 40 and in women who were older. Transferring three embryos resulted in a lower birth rate than transferring two in the younger women and made no difference in outcomes in older women.

Compared to single-embryo transfer, transferring two or three embryos was associated with a higher risk for all adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight and preterm delivery.

Not surprisingly, the overall live birth rate was lower in older women compared to younger ones, no matter how many embryos were transferred.

“A clear implication of our study is that [the] transfer of three embryos should no longer be supported in women of any age,” Nelson and Lawlor write.

Juicing: How Healthy Is it?

What to know before adding fresh juice to your diet.

Juicing is popular. But before you give it a whirl, you might want to know what it may -- and may not -- do for your health.

What are the nutritional benefits and drawbacks? Can you juice for weight loss? What about food safety and claims about cleansing your system? Here's what you need to know.

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Jennifer Barr, a Wilmington, Del., dietitian, often makes fresh juice as a snack for her kids. Her favorite juice combines kale, carrots, ginger, parsley, and apples. She then adds the leftover pulp from her juicing machine into muffins.

“If you’re not big into fruits and vegetables, it’s a good way to get them in. It can help you meet daily recommendations in one drink” and be part of a healthy diet, says Barr, MPH, RD, LDN, who works at Wilmington's Center for Community Health at Christiana Care Health System.

But you shouldn't count on juicing as your sole source of fruits and vegetables.

"Don’t think because you’re juicing that you’re off the hook with eating fruits and vegetables,” says Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD, CSSD, an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesman and founder of Eating Free, a weight management program.

Aim to eat two whole fruits, and three to four vegetables a day. They should come in different colors, as the colors have different vitamins and minerals, Barr says.

A juicing machine extracts the juice from whole fruits or vegetables. The processing results in fewer vitamins and minerals, because the nutrient-rich skin is left behind. Juicing also removes the pulp, which contains fiber.

You can add some of the leftover pulp back into the juice or use it in cooking.

Besides muffins, Barr uses other combinations -- such as spinach, pears, flaxseed, celery, and kale -- to make broth for cooking soup, rice, and pasta. She calls it "going the extra step to fortify your meals."

Juicers can be expensive, ranging from $50 to $400. Some more expensive juicers will break down a lot of the fruit by grinding the core, rind, and seeds, Barr says.

You may not need a juicing machine to make juice. You can use a blender for most whole fruits or vegetables to keep the fiber -- add water if it becomes too thick, Villacorta says.

You’ll also want to remove seeds and rinds, and some skins.

Psoriatic Arthritis: Caring for Skin and Joints

If you've been diagnosed with psoriasis, it's important to be on the lookout for painful or swollen joints in your body that could indicate the development of psoriatic arthritis.

About 30% of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis symptoms, usually when they are between 30 and 50 years of age. Psoriatic skin lesions usually occur before the onset of arthritis. Early detection and receiving prompt psoriatic arthritis treatment are essential. Untreated psoriatic arthritis can result in permanent, crippling joint damage.

Since most people with psoriatic arthritis also have psoriatic skin lesions, it's important to balance treatment for your skin and joints. The good news is there are a variety of psoriatic arthritis treatments, including lifestyle habits and medications. Many are effective against psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, meaning the same therapies can benefit your joints and your skin.

"At the moment, the key thing is awareness among patients with psoriasis and dermatologists who treat psoriasis to help prevent the progressive damage that can occur with psoriatic arthritis," says Seattle-based rheumatologist Philip Mease, MD.

Researchers don't know what causes some people with psoriasis to develop psoriatic arthritis. Evidence suggests that a combination of genetics and the environment can trigger an autoimmune response in which the body attacks its own tissues. That autoimmune response causes psoriatic arthritis symptoms, such as inflammation in the joints.

If you have psoriasis, you could be at risk of developing a variety of different forms of psoriatic arthritis, each of which can vary in severity among individuals and within a given person over a period of time. Psoriatic arthritis can be symmetric, meaning it occurs in the same joints on both sides of the body. But it is more often asymmetric, meaning it may affect the fingers of your left hand and toes of your right foot, for example.

For many people, the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include swelling of the fingers and toes. They may take on a characteristic sausage shape, which is called dactylitis. If psoriatic arthritis affects the joints of your toes and fingers, it is most likely to strike the ones closest to the nail. Psoriatic arthritis can cause your nails to develop pits or peel away from the nail bed. In contrast, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) -- another autoimmune disease -- is more likely to affect the toe and finger joints closest to the hand or foot.

At times, psoriatic arthritis symptoms can cause your joints to be painful and stiff even when there is no swelling. In some instances, psoriatic arthritis leads to arthritis of the spine, known as spondylitis. In rare cases, it can lead to a disfiguring condition in the hands and feet called arthritis mutilans.

Regardless of which joints are affected by psoriatic arthritis, you may find you have morning stiffness and fatigue.