Archive for August 7th, 2012
Vitamin D deficiency tied to worse outcomes in very ill children
August 7th, 2012 | 
Author: Critically ill children with low levels of vitamin D in their systems had worse outcomes and lengthier hospital and ICU stays compared with those with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to two studies in the journal Pediatrics. Both studies suggest that vitamin D deficiency was more common in children and teens with severe illness than their healthy peers.
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FDA considers an “added sugar” label for foods
Food trade groups are lining up in opposition to a proposal that dairy products and other foods be labeled with information showing how much sugar is natural to the food and how much is added. The FDA wants to study how consumers would react to such labels.
Transplant Centers Struggle With Donors’ Obesity
Add one more unexpected consequence of Americans' expanding waistlines: A growing number of potential organ donors are ineligible to donate because of their weight.
Survey: Age, ethnicity affect Americans’ weight
Data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index revealed that middle-aged, black and male respondents were more likely to have a higher body mass index compared with their younger or older, Asian and female counterparts. Being a nonsmoker and having lower education and physical-activity levels were also strongly associated with excess weight, researchers said.
Red Meat Tied to Stroke Risk
Eating red meat — including beef, pork, lamb, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and bacon — may increase the risk of stroke, a meta-analysis showed.
BP Meds May Raise Risk for Lip Cancer
Several widely used antihypertensive drugs seemed to confer as much as a four-fold increased risk of lip cancer with long-term use in non-Hispanic whites, investigators reported.
Led by hydrochlorothiazide diuretics, five antihypertensives with photosensitizing properties were associated with a 42% to 322% greater risk of lip cancer compared with a matched control group with no history of lip cancer, as reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Hormone Shots Aid Cognition in Older Adults
Treatment with growth hormone-releasing hormone appears to be associated with favorable cognitive effects among both adults with mild cognitive impairment and healthy older adults, according to a randomized clinical trial published Online First by Archives of Neurology, a JAMA Network publication.