Also On Wellness
Health and Wellness News
The nation's rising level of diabetes is driving another health problem: a significant jump in adults with vision problems from a related condition called diabetic retinopathy. From 2000 and 2010, there was an 89% increase in the number of people with diabetic retinopathy, which affects the tiny blood vessels of the retina. The most severe forms can impair vision if not treated. About 7.7 million people...
June 20, 2012
More than 3.1 million Americans ages 19 through 25 are covered by their parents' medical insurance policies because of a provision in the 2010 health care law, the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to announce today. That's up from 2.5 million in December. About 75% of people in that age group now have insurance, up from 64% in 2010, records show. "This policy doesn't just give young...
June 19, 2012
Sometimes the pain from her fibromyalgia gets so bad that Kimberly Smalling can't lift her arms. She peels open a painkilling patch, puts half on each shoulder, and then crawls into bed. The next morning she can get back to work cutting men's hair. "It's kind of like a Band-Aid, I guess, but it works," says Smalling, 59, a stylist in Dallas. She says her prescription lidocaine patch supplements her...
June 18, 2012
The number of antibiotic prescriptions for kids declined 14% from 2002 to 2010, but antibiotics remain the most frequently prescribed drugs for pediatric patients, a federal analysis finds. Antibiotics accounted for about a quarter of all pediatric prescriptions; amoxicillin leads the list. Overall, 263.6 million prescriptions were written for patients 17 and under in 2010, down 7% from 2002, finds...
June 18, 2012
There's no cure for growing old, but your attitude about what's important and how you feel about aging can depend in part on how old you are, a new survey finds. The survey of 1,017 people over 18 finds, for instance, that 24% admit they have lied about their age. But of those 50-64, it's just 21%, and for those over 65, it's 18%. The survey, out today, was commissioned by the drug company Pfizer in...
June 18, 2012
The South has emerged as ground zero in the HIV/AIDS crisis in the USA. Roughly half of all new AIDS diagnoses are occurring in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, according to federal estimates. Overlying that dismal reality is another: There's a severe shortage of HIV specialists in the South, which exacerbates access to treatment...
June 18, 2012
You may have felt it, but now a scientific analysis of stress over time offers some proof that there's more stress in people's lives today than 25 years ago. Stress increased 18% for women and 24% for men from 1983 to 2009, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who analyzed data from more than 6,300 people. It's considered the first-ever historical comparison of stress...
June 14, 2012
So should you or shouldn't you take calcium and vitamin D supplements? Some recent developments may have left consumers confused. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Tuesday that healthy postmenopausal women should not take daily low doses of vitamin D and calcium to prevent bone fractures because they slightly increase risk for kidney stones. In its draft recommendation, the panel also said...
June 13, 2012
A government advisory panel's recommendation Tuesday that healthy postmenopausal women should not take daily low doses of vitamin D and calcium to prevent bone fractures is a wakeup call to millions of Baby Boomer women that more is not always better. The panel said there is insufficient evidence to evaluate larger doses, easy to overdo with chewy chocolate supplements that can seem like candy. In...
June 13, 2012
Back in 2009, Jane McGonigal achieved what she calls an "epic win": She spent a whole day out of bed. In January, she had another epic win, but this time it was running a half marathon. The game developer and author credits SuperBetter, an online game she invented after she was laid low by a concussion. An additional 35,000 people have played the game in attempts to build resilience and reach health...
June 12, 2012
There's nothing sweet about the battles underway to control the nation's appetite for sugar. Last week, the Walt Disney Co. announced that it's eliminating ads for sugar-laden fruit drinks, candy and snack cakes on its TV channels, radio station and website by 2015. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently outlined a plan to ban large-size sugary beverages at some places. Several states and cities...
June 12, 2012
Much of the fuss about sugar comes because of questions about its role in a nation that has become way too heavy. Overall, calorie intake has gone up since 1970, and about 16% to 17% of people's total daily calories come from added sugars, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. Sugar is just one reason for obesity, but for many people, it's the big reason, says...
June 12, 2012
The 30% of working adults who routinely sleep less than six hours a night are four times more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study says. The findings are the first to link insufficient sleep to stroke; they're also the first to apply even to adults who keep off extra pounds and have no other risk factors for stroke, says Megan Ruiter, lead author of the report. It will be presented today at the 26th...
June 11, 2012
Since President Obama's health care law passed in 2010, the federal government, states, insurers, doctors and hospitals have been building a complex scaffolding to extend insurance to 30 million more Americans. The question is: Will the structure be completed, or dismantled? A Supreme Court decision expected as early as Monday could eliminate a key plank of the law: the mandate that nearly everyone...
June 8, 2012
Sorry, Mayor Bloomberg, but the folks at Coca-Cola say you've got your facts fizzy. Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft-drink maker, is pushing back against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's provocative proposal a week ago to limit to 16 ounces the size of sugary drinks that are sold at city restaurants, theaters and street carts. "There is no scientific evidence that connects sugary beverages...
June 8, 2012
A phone-center program funded by grants from the 2010 health care law has helped 200,000 people in 22 states gain access to health insurance in its first year of existence, administration officials plan to report today. "We've been really pleased about the data," said Mike Hash, the director of the Office of Health Reform at the Department of Health and Human Services. The program, he said, provides...
June 7, 2012
London (dpa) - One man has died from an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in Scotland, and a further 21 cases of infection with the deadly bacteria have been confirmed, the authorities in the capital Edinburgh said Wednesday. Scottish Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there were a further 19 suspected cases. Of the 21 patients infected with the disease, 12 are in intensive care. The authorities...
June 6, 2012
The American breast is bigger than ever before. And breasts are developing in girls earlier than at any time in recorded history. But do breasts have a future? The biology of the breast is changing - and not for the better, says journalist Florence Williams, author of the new book Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (W.W. Norton & Co., $25.95). She details a number of alarming trends that may...
June 6, 2012
The Army says it will pore through - in less than 90 days - about 190,000 medical files of current and former soldiers dating to 2001 to see whether any were shortchanged on retirement compensation for mental health problems. Army Secretary John McHugh had announced the unprecedented review three weeks ago, but details about the scope of the effort surfaced this week. The estimated 190,000 cases represent...
June 6, 2012
Mickey Mouse wants to help kids kick the junk food habit. The Walt Disney Co. is announcing today that it plans to advertise only healthier foods to kids on its TV channels, radio station and website. Disney says it's the first major media company to set a standard for food advertising on kid-focused TV programming. By 2015, all food and beverage products that are advertised, promoted or sponsored...
June 5, 2012
June 05 - PULLMAN - Women with ovarian disease may have inherited it from great grandmothers who were exposed to toxic chemicals decades ago, according to a study by Washington State University researchers. A series of papers being rolled out this year by WSU's Michael Skinner and researchers from other universities is strengthening findings that toxic exposures and other events have the ability to...
June 5, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa - An Iowa State University scientist found evidence that sick hens at farms owned by an Iowa egg producer were "almost certainly" laying eggs contaminated with salmonella months before one of the nation's largest outbreaks of food-borne illness came to light, newly released records show. ISU's Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory found salmonella in manure at several Iowa egg-laying plants...
June 4, 2012
Winter haters in some parts of Canada got a major break this year, with one of the mildest seasons in memory. But as we head towards summer, there may be a price to pay for the lack of the frigid temperatures a few months back. While it's not a given, the mild winter may lead to an increase in cases of diseases spread to people by insects this summer, experts concede. West Nile virus, Lyme disease,...
June 4, 2012
Nurse practitioner Christie Chaudry knows something about comforting children with cancer. Twenty-one years ago, she was a patient herself. Chaudry was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, when she was 12 years old. She underwent three years of intensive treatment, including multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Like about 80% of children with cancer today, she was cured. "That was the inspiration...
June 4, 2012
Children diagnosed with cancer remain at risk from a variety of serious, long-term complications, even years after doctors pronounce them cured. Now, new research shows that girls treated with radiation for pediatric tumors face a later risk of breast cancer six to seven times as high as that of other women. The findings affect not only women who were treated with therapeutic radiation as children...
June 4, 2012
Featured Posts
©2025 Wellness®.com is a registered trademark of Wellness.com, Inc. 