my physical (blog)

The soft drink link

Study links sugary soft drinks to pancreas cancer

“People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.



People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.



Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.”

Hard hitting sport with consequences

Brain Damage Found in Hockey Player

“A deceased professional hockey player has been found to have had brain damage associated with repeated head trauma, connecting hockey for the first time to health risks linked to boxers and, most recently, football players.

Reggie Fleming, a defenseman and left wing known for fighting as much as scoring in a long career from 1959 to 1974, was found by Boston University researchers to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease known to cause cognitive decline, behavioral abnormalities and ultimately dementia. Fleming died in July at age 73 and was the first hockey player known to have been tested for the disease, known as C.T.E.”

Smart car

Volvo Safety, 2011 Style: It Brakes for Walkers

“So I floor the gas pedal, fighting the instinct to hit the brakes, and aim straight at Bob, who is standing directly in front of me here in a North Jersey parking lot. Before the front bumper of the Volvo I’m driving kneecaps the poor guy, there’s a warning beep, a flash of red lights above the dashboard — and in an instant, a lurch, as the car comes to a stop. I never touched the brakes.”

Weight gain and bacteria

Bacteria in intestines play role in weight gain, study finds

"A high-fat, high-sugar diet does more than pump calories into your body. It also alters the composition of bacteria in your intestines, making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it, research in mice suggests. And the changeover can happen in as little as 24 hours, according to a report Wednesday in the new journal Science Translational Medicine."

Computerized medical records

E-Records Get a Big Endorsement

"The nation’s drive toward computerized medical records is getting a push from big hospitals, which hope not only to improve patient care but to gain an edge on competitors.
And an effort to be announced on Monday by a big New York regional hospital group may be the most ambitious effort of this type yet — a sizable investment intended as a linchpin in the group’s $400 million commitment to digitize patient records throughout its system, including 13 hospitals."

Aspirin breakthrough

Aspirin Seen Aiding Colorectal Cancer Patients

“It has long been known that people who took aspirin regularly were less likely to develop tumors of the colon, and now a study has found that even after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, patients who took aspirin had a much better chance of surviving than non-users.

The improvements in outcomes were striking. Patients with colorectal cancer who regularly used aspirin before and after a diagnosis were almost one-third less likely to die of the disease than non-users. Patients who initiated aspirin use only after a diagnosis did even better and had half the risk of dying from the cancer, possibly because of differences in their tumors. The patients were all being treated for nonmetastatic, or localized, cancers, and were followed for almost 12 years on average.”

A salad for every taste

101 Simple Salads for the Season

"SUMMER may not be the best time to cook, but it’s certainly among the best times to eat. Toss watermelon and peaches with some ingredients you have lying around already, and you can produce a salad that’s delicious, unusual, fast and perfectly seasonal.

That’s the idea behind the 101 ideas found in this section. In theory, each salad takes 20 minutes or less. Honestly, some may take you a little longer. But most minimize work at the stove and capitalize on the season, when tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, fruit, greens and more are plentiful and excellent."

Healthcare screening policies

In Push for Cancer Screening, Limited Benefits

“’Don’t forget to check your neck,’ says an advertising campaign encouraging people to visit doctors for exams to detect thyroid cancer.

In another cancer awareness effort, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, has more than 350 House co-sponsors for her bill to promote the early detection of breast cancer in young women, teaching them about screening methods like self-exams and genetic testing.”

Hooked on prescriptions

Anti-Anxiety Drugs Raise New Fears

"Stan Starr, a 54-year-old financial consultant, sat in the back of the room filled with blue chairs, quietly tapping his Converse sneakers on the carpet. The 12 steps to recovery, enshrined by Alcoholics Anonymous, were printed in large black letters on a wall. But Starr was there because of a different drug -- a class of prescription medication called benzodiazepines."

Signs from your body

What Your Body Is Telling You

"The body speaks volumes about what ails it -- from obvious warnings like a fever that accompanies an infection to subtle clues like losing hair on the toes, which can be an early sign of vascular disease.

Some signs that seem alarming may actually be harmless: Bright-red stools are more likely to come from eating beets than from intestinal bleeding. But some that seem minor can warn of a serious disorder. Small yellow bumps on the eyelid, for instance, may be fatty deposits that signal high cholesterol, which in turn raises the risk of heart disease."