Everyone knows about vaccines for children. But grown-ups need vaccines, too. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Carolyn Bridges says vaccinating grown-ups can help adults stay healthy and keep them from infecting others.
Category Archives: Health
Sugar-sweetened teens
Researchers say teenagers who eat or drink a lot of fructose – which is common as a sweetener in sodas and other processed foods – show signs of problems in their blood that could make things worse for them as grown-ups.
The host drinks the most
College parties often involve heavy drinking, and one study finds that sometimes the host drinks the most. Ohio State University researcher Cynthia Buettner saw this in an online survey of close to 3,800 students who had hosted or attended parties over two academic years.
Staying afloat
Drowning is the second leading cause of injury death among teens and children in the United States. Sixteen years of hospitalization data on children related to drowning shows U.S. rates have been cut in half.
On the binge
Researchers say about 1 in 6 adults binge drinks. For a man, this means five or more drinks in a session; for a woman, four or more. If you think that’s a lot for one time, the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would agree.
Down and eating
Teenage girls may think that eating can help their problems go away. A new study shows girls who feel depressed are twice as likely to start binge eating. But do a 180, and the same is true.
Kids on salt
A study indicates eating patterns favoring salt may arise as early as babyhood. At the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Leslie Stein examined taste preferences of babies introduced to starchy table foods, which often have added salt.
Pets, people and illness
Having a pet can help someone who has an illness, and researcher Allison Webel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has ideas about how it works. Webel held 12 focus groups with 48 women, with an average age of 42, who had HIV.
Slow carbs, fast carbs
All carbs are not the same, and a study indicates the difference could affect a blood chemical associated with chronic conditions such as heart disease.
At Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Marian Neuhouser examined carbohydrate foods that digest more slowly, or slow carbs, and those that turn quickly into simple sugars, or fast carbs. She was looking at C-reactive protein, which is a marker of inflammation. It was lower among about 40 overweight or obese people when they were on a slow carb eating pattern.
Screening, early and often
If you screen regularly for certain cancers, doctors will be able to better detect and treat cancer. But many people don’t get the screenings, according to new data from the National Health Interview Survey.
Mary White is at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Oversalted America
Researchers say 9 in 10 Americans eat too much sodium – notably in salt, and mostly from processed or restaurant food. Sodium raises blood pressure, which can contribute to heart disease and other illnesses.
Sleeping and shift work
Crime never sleeps, so police can’t, either. And with night and overnight shifts, officers can have sleep disorders.
Dr. Charles Czeisler of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital looked at data on about 5,000 officers over two years. About 40 percent had signs of sleep disorders. The most common was obstructive sleep apnea, in which there can be abnormal pauses in breathing while sleeping.
Working off the soda
How much exercise do you need to burn off the calories in a typical soda? Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health wanted to see what inner-city teenagers would do when they found the answer to that question. The researchers had posters put in convenience stores, which told teens the amount of jogging they would have to do. The study found teens then bought fewer sugar-sweetened sodas, and more water.
Fighting stressful eating
Eating as a way to deal with stress can make people put on weight. But a small study indicates a way to reduce stress-eating.
At the University of California, San Francisco, obese women learned meditation for stress-reduction. And they learned the practice of mindful eating – how to tell the body’s real need for food from other cues to eat, such as stress.