Could omega-3 fats, the kind most often found in fish oil, help reduce stress?

A new study from Ohio State University sought to answer that question, by looking at how omega-3 fats could help decrease anxiety among university students.

Inflammation and Anxiety Reduced by Omega-3 Fats

Consuming more fish oil showed a marked reduction both in inflammation and, surprisingly, in anxiety among the healthy young people in the study.

The findings suggest that if young participants can get such improvements from specific dietary supplements, then the elderly and people at high risk for certain diseases might benefit even more.

For many people, old-fashioned tools like maps, cameras, books, and even iPods have been replaced and integrated into one small device, the smartphone.

But now, there's concern among psychologists that the growing number of people who favor smartphones over face-to-face interaction, might be suffering from a form of addiction, CBS News correspondent Betty Nguyen reports.


New York City public relations executive, Matthew Berritt, 32, admits he's hooked.

"To be honest, I'm never without it. I know I'm addicted, because I know without it, I do have withdrawal," he said.

Study shows building muscle can lower person's risk of insulin resistance.

A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that the greater an individual's total muscle mass, the lower the person's risk of having insulin resistance, the major precursor of type 2 diabetes.

With recent dramatic increases in obesity worldwide, the prevalence of diabetes, a major source of cardiovascular morbidity, is expected to accelerate. Insulin resistance, which can raise blood glucose levels above the normal range, is a major factor that contributes to the development of diabetes. Previous studies have shown that very low muscle mass is a risk factor for insulin resistance, but until now, no study has examined whether increasing muscle mass to average and above average levels, independent of obesity levels, would lead to improved blood glucose regulation.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has published its draft changes for the fifth edition of its internationally influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5), due for final release in May 2013. Along with other worrying changes the APA seems determined to further loosen its already absurdly broad diagnostic criteria for ADHD.

Four more ways to display ADHD

The most obvious of the changes is the inclusion of four extra ways of exhibiting ADHD. For a diagnosis of the primarily hyperactive subtype instead of children having to display 6 of 9 (67%) impulsive/hyperactive diagnostic criteria, 6 of 13 (47%) would be sufficient. The four additional criteria are;

1- Tends to act without thinking, such as starting tasks without adequate preparation or avoiding reading or listening to instructions. May speak out without considering consequences or make important decisions on the spur of the moment, such as impulsively buying items, suddenly quitting a job, or breaking up with a friend.

2- Is often impatient, as shown by feeling restless when waiting for others and wanting to move faster than others, wanting people to get to the point, speeding while driving, and cutting into traffic to go faster than others.

3- Is uncomfortable doing things slowly and systematically and often rushes through activities or tasks.

4- Finds it difficult to resist temptations or opportunities, even if it means taking risks (A child may grab toys off a store shelf or play with dangerous objects; adults may commit to a relationship after only a brief acquaintance or take a job or enter into a business arrangement without doing due diligence).1

(The full list of the proposed DSM5 behavioural criteria are listed at the end of this blog or from dsm5.org)

All of the new DSM5 criteria are normal human behaviours. I for one never read instructions, am often impatient, frequently give into temptation, sometimes speed (and occasionally get angry with those who don't and sit in the passing lane). I do these things because like the other 7 billion odd people on the planet I am far from perfect.

An active question on the blogosphere and elsewhere is whether Dreamfields pasta is truly low-carb. Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt of Diet Doctor detailed his high blood glucose experience with it. Jimmy Moore of Livin' La Vida Low Carb had a similar experience, observing virtually no difference when compared to conventional pasta.

The Dreamfields people make the claim that "Dreamfields' patent-pending recipe and manufacturing process protects all but 5 grams of the carbohydrates per serving from being digested and therefore lessens post-meal blood glucose rise as compared to traditional pasta." They call the modified carbohydrates "protected" carbs.

In other words, they are making the claim that they've somehow modified the amylopectin A and amylose molecules in durum wheat flour to inhibit conversion to glucose.

I'd like to add something to the conversation: Dreamfields pasta is wheat. It is a graphic demonstration that, no matter how you cut it, press it, sauce it up, "protect" it, it's all the same thing: wheat. (It reminds me of a bad girlfriend I had in my 20s: She'd put on makeup, a pretty dress, I'd take her out someplace nice . . . She was still an annoying person who whined about everything.)

The global obesity/diabetes epidemic is receiving wide-spread attention like the June 26 article in The Washington Post by David Brown. One-fourth of our national health care bill of $2.3 trillion is linked to the treatment of diabetes and its complications. Average American life expectancy is now dropping because of this disease complex. Even children are being recommended for gastric bypass.

Fingers everywhere are pointing at the usual suspects: too much junk food and lack of exercise. But there is much more to the story than a recent, contagious lack of discipline among the masses.

A growing body of evidence in animals and humans suggests that many man-made chemicals contaminating our environment mimic some of the body's own hormones like testosterone and estrogen. Researchers have called these chemicals endocrine disruptors because they wreak havoc with endocrine organs like the thyroid, pancreas, testes and ovaries that depend on hormones to develop and function properly. But a new, more relevant term for these chemicals has emerged. They are now also called obesogens.

Exposure to tiny amounts of obesogens during embryonic development has startling effects on animals, resulting in obesity, infertility, feminization of male species, ambiguous sexual characteristics and high death rates.

Using zinc lozenges may reduce the duration of a common cold episode, according to a new study recently published in The Open Respiratory Medicine Journal.

The study shows taking a dose of greater than 75 mg of zinc in the form of zinc lozenges per day cut the duration of the common cold by 20 to 42 percent.

Zinc lozenges were found capable of fighting cold for the first time in a young girl with leukemia, the University of Helsinki says in a press release. The common cold disappeared quickly after the girl dissolved a therapeutic zinc tablet in her mouth.

With NASA's space shuttle program officially at an end, the agency is making preparations to benefit the future of spaceflight, which includes ambitious plans for long-duration human missions to Mars or an asteroid.

But to make these big missions happen, researchers are thinking small. So small, in fact, that they're focusing on the microscopic bacteria in our guts.

A universal flu vaccine that protects against all strains may be within reach in the next five years, replacing annual shots developed for specifics flu viruses, the chief of the National Institutes of Health predicts.

Francis Collins told USA Today's Editorial Board on Tuesday that he is "guardedly optimistic" about development of a long-term shot to replace the one "you'd have to renew every year."

About 200,000 people are hospitalized with the flu every year, and an estimated 3,000 to 49,000 die, making the flu one of the chief causes of preventable death in the USA.

Researchers Say the Appendix May Be a Place Where Good Bacteria Can Live Safely

The lowly appendix may have a purpose after all.

New research suggests that the seemingly useless organ provides a safe haven for good bacteria to hang out in the gut.

Although the study stops short of providing direct proof of this proposed purpose for the appendix, researchers say there's a strong case to be made for the appendix based on new information about the role of bacteria in intestinal health.

"While there is no smoking gun, the abundance of circumstantial evidence makes a strong case for the role of the appendix as a place where the good bacteria can live safe and undisturbed until they are needed," researcher William Parker, PhD, assistant professor of experimental surgery at Duke University Medical Center, says in a news release.

The appendix is a small, 2- to 4-inch pouch located near where the large and small intestines meet. Doctors have debated the exact function of the organ for years, as removal causes no noticeable symptoms.

Not much is known about the human appendix because studies on the appendix are difficult to conduct. There are only a few animals that have the organ; an animal's appendix is very different than the human appendix.