A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine claims that multivitamins are useless at preventing cancer and cardiovascular disease in women. The mainstream media has predictably picked up on this story, gleefully running it as "proof" that nutrition is worthless and only pharmaceuticals can enhance your health.
What they're not telling you, though, might shock you. Here's the truth about this so-called "scientific" study on multivitamins:
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (AP) - The first U.S. case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in Colorado, and authorities say the patient - who contracted the rare illness while traveling in Uganda - has since recovered.
The disease, caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, spreads through contact with infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Dave Daigle said no previous cases have been reported in the United States.
The patient had traveled to Uganda, visited a python cave in Maramagambo Forest in Queen Elizabeth Park and encountered fruit bats, which can carry the Marburg virus. The Ugandan government closed the cave after a tourist from the Netherlands died from Marburg in July.
The visitor in Barry Willer's office at the University at Buffalo was frustrated and deeply depressed. The man's wife had sustained a relatively mild traumatic brain injury, and he was doing all he could to support her. But despite his best efforts, the man's wife described him to friends as being "indifferent." He was at his wits end.
Willer, UB professor of psychiatry and a specialist in traumatic brain injury (TBI), listened to this scenario with great interest. He was pilot testing a computer-based diagnostic and treatment program he and a graduate student had developed for brain-injured adults to help them regain their emotional lives.
Willer had the man's wife take the test, which requires participants to view photos of faces expressing a variety of emotions and then name each emotion.
It's a question surely as old as vanity itself: how can you look young forever? A forthcoming study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery offers one surprising idea: as you age, don't be afraid to put on a few pounds. Fat, it turns out, can significantly smooth out wrinkles and give you a younger-looking face.
The authors of the new study, a team led by Dr. Bahman Guyuron of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, are plastic surgeons who study faces for a living. They analyzed photographs of the faces of 186 pairs of identical twins taken at the Twins Days Festival, a sort of twins' pride event held every summer in (naturally) Twinsburg, Ohio. Because the pairs had identical genetic material, differences in how old they looked could be attributed entirely to their behavioral choices and environment. Guyuron's team had the twins fill out extensive questionnaires about their lives - everything from how many times they had married to whether they had regularly used sunscreen. Then a panel of four judges independently estimated the twins' ages by looking at photos taken in Twinsburg.
Vitamin D linked to cognitive impairment
Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School, the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan, have for the first time identified a relationship between Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin", and cognitive impairment in a large-scale study of older people. The importance of these findings lies in the connection between cognitive function and dementia: people who have impaired cognitive function are more likely to develop dementia. The paper will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Geriatric Psychology and Neurology.
Yes, genetics do play a role in triggering heart attacks, says a new study piloted by an Indian American researcher.
The study has found nine spots in human DNA which play a role in elevating risk of a heart attack among young people.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have made this revelation after studying the DNA of 26,000 people - half of whom suffered a heart attack at a young age.
The study also showed that those with more genetic variants were at higher risk of a heart attack than others.
Researchers at Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital have developed a technique that uses infrared light brain imaging to decode preference - with the goal of ultimately opening the world of choice to children who can't speak or move.
In a
study published this month in
The Journal of Neural Engineering, Bloorview scientists demonstrate the ability to decode a person's preference for one of two drinks with 80 per cent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue.
Tan Ee Lyn
ReutersTue, 10 Feb 2009 01:19 UTC
Hong Kong - Scientists in Japan have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world.
At issue is the enzyme CHIP, which experts say can stunt cancer growth by degrading a number of cancer-causing proteins. The enzyme occurs naturally in human breast tissue.
In an article published in Nature Cell Biology, the scientists said they injected two kinds of human breast cancer cells into mice. One set carried the CHIP enzyme and the other was without the chemical.
Tumors in the first group of mice with the CHIP enzyme were far smaller than the one without the enzyme, Junn Yanagisawa at the University of Tsukuba's Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences in Japan told Reuters.
Very few people are aware of how vital magnesium is for overall health. After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies, activating over 300 different biochemical reactions necessary for your body to function properly. The U.S. minimum RDA for magnesium is about 320 mg per day for women and more than 400 mg per day for men, while optimum daily amounts are closer to 500 to 700 mg per day - yet studies show that most people regularly take in about half of that and that over 8 out of 10 people do not take enough daily magnesium for even the minimum daily amounts recommended. Recent research has revealed that this lack of magnesium may put your heart - and your health - at significant risk.
Magnesium protects against heart disease and heart attacks, high blood pressure and stroke, type II diabetes and much, much more. It is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. Contrary to popular misconceptions, it is magnesium that is actually most important in building strong bones and preventing bone loss.
Sharon Mullen wears a T-shirt that reads "1 in 150 American children" on the front.
The back of the shirt says, "If 1 in 150 American children were being kidnapped, we would have a national emergency. WE DO. It's autism." Mullen, who lives in the Carver area, wants to increase awareness about the neurological disorder that affects her 5-year-old daughter, Emily. Her T-shirt reflects the growing number of children diagnosed with autism.
