Milk destroys health benefits of tea: study

Bad news for Britons: adding milk to tea ruins the health benefits of the drink, according to a Germany study.

Tea has complex compounds called polyphenols which are believed to help the arteries to relax or dilate, thus enabling a smoother flow of blood.

Scientists led at the Charite Hospital in Berlin tested black Darjeeling tea on 16 healthy women volunteers aged more than 50, placing an ultrasound probe on their forearm to measure arterial response. Read more

Alzheimer gene kicks in only in old age

A gene that predisposes its carriers to Alzheimer’s disease appears to kick in only in old age and has nothing to do with mental declines that are sometimes seen early in life, Australian researchers have found.

Writing in the January issue of Neuropsychology, the researchers said the gene, APOE4, does not appear active at all until very late in life. Read more

Good posture is bad.

Good posture is bad.

For generations, schoolteachers and moms have told young people to stop slouching and to sit upright. That advice, it turns out, was wrong.

Using advanced scanning equipment, doctors have concluded that the best way to avoid back pain is not to sit bolt upright but to perfect a more laid-back posture, a sprawl that is halfway between upright and horizontal. Read more

Starbucks wants their customer to get healthier eating more doughnuts

Starbucks Corp. is cutting trans fats from the doughnuts, muffins and other treats in half of its U.S. stores, and plans to eventually drop the artery-clogging fats from company-operated coffeehouses across the country.

The world’s largest specialty coffee retailer has been working to eliminate trans fats from its food menu for about two years, spokesman Brandon Borrman said Tuesday. Read more

14 “Superfoods” that Everyone Needs to Stay Alive and Healthy

‘Superfoods’ Everyone Needs

Experts say more than a dozen easy-to-find ‘superfoods’ can do wonders for your health.

It’s a bird … it’s a plane … it’s … walnuts? Don’t laugh. The humble walnut, along with a dozen other dietary choices — from beans to yogurt — is no less than a “superfood,” say some health experts.

Steven Pratt, MD, is one of them. In his book SuperFoods RX: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life, he goes into detail why he thinks these foods are so potent. Read more

New flu pandemic could kill up to 81 million

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

A flu virus as deadly as the one that caused the 1918 Spanish flu could kill as many as 81 million worldwide if it struck today, a new study estimates. By applying historical death rates to modern population data, the researchers calculated a death toll of 51 million to 81 million, with a median estimate of 62 million.

That’s surprisingly high, said lead researcher Chris Murray of Harvard University. He did the analysis, in part, because he thought prior claims of 50 million deaths were wildly inflated.

“We expected to end up with a number between 15 and 20 million,” Murray said. “It turns out we were wrong.”

The new work is published in Saturday’s issue of the journal The Lancet.

The 1918 flu outbreak killed at least 40 million people worldwide. But flu pandemics have varied widely in their severity. The most recent, in 1957 and 1968, were relatively mild, killing 2 million and 1 million people worldwide respectively. Read more

Circumcising adult men may reduce by half their risk of getting the AIDS virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — Circumcising adult men may reduce by half their risk of getting the AIDS virus through heterosexual intercourse, the U.S. government announced Wednesday, as it shut down two studies in Africa testing the link.
The National Institutes of Health closed the studies in Kenya and Uganda early, when safety monitors took a look at initial results this week and spotted the protection. The studies’ uncircumcised men are being offered the chance to undergo the procedure. Read more

Hormone fears rise with breast cancer news

This week’s news that a big drop in breast cancer cases might be due to millions of women going off menopause hormones may lead even more of them to abandon the pills.

But doctors worry that women with severe menopausal symptoms will overreact to the risks and deny themselves the benefits of hormones.

“There are some women who really require treatment. … I worry that they will be talked out of it,” said Dr. JoAnn Manson, a women’s health expert at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Read more

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Less meat,higher IQ

December 15, 2006 by info · Leave a Comment 

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay ReporterFri Dec 15, 2:01 PM ET

FRIDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) — As a child’s IQ rises, his taste for meat in adulthood declines, a new study suggests.

British researchers have found that children’s IQ predicts their likelihood of becoming vegetarians as young adults — lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in the process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health, the investigators say. Read more

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