Archive for the ‘MedicineNet’ Category
Onion Cream Treats New Stretch Marks
Mar 13, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNet
Latest Skin News
- Vitiligo Treatment
- Recession May Mean Fewer Nips & Tucks
- New Drug Relieves Hand Eczema
- Treating Psoriasis If Enbrel Fails
- Skin Rashes Linked to Chemical in Furniture
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Cream Also Makes New Stretch Marks Softer, Smoother, Study SaysBy
Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By
Laura J. Martin, MD
March 11, 2010 (Miami Beach, Fla.) — A moisturizing cream whose active
ingredient is extract of onion can help take the redness out of new stretch
marks.
New stretch marks were also softer and smoother in 54 women who used the
cream for three months, says Zoe Draelos, MD, a consulting professor of
dermatology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
“The stretch marks did not go away,” she tells WebMD. “But [after several
weeks of treatment], the cream made them look and feel better,” she says.
The study, funded by Merz Pharmaceuticals, which makes the cream, was
presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology. Draelos
has served as a consultant to Merz.
Stretch Marks Affect Men, Too
Draelos estimates that up to 98% of women and 75% of men have stretch marks,
which appear as wavy, linear red scars, typically on the hips, breasts, thighs,
and stomach of women, and the buttocks and pectoralarea of men.
They form when the skin is rapidly stretched, such as …
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Colorado, California Cities Dominate Slimmest Cities List
Mar 9, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNet
Latest Diet & Weight Management News
- Moderate Drinking Linked to Weight Control
- Diet, Exercise Can Improve Thinking
- Slimmest Cities List Colorado and California!
- Gut Bacteria May Spur Obesity, Research Suggests
- Diet Plan Determined by a Cheek Swab?
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Healthy Habits Abound in Top 10 Least Obese CitiesBy
Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By
Laura J. Martin, MD
March 5, 2010 — Finally, a top 10 obese list American cities can be proud
to be a part of.
A new ranking of America’s least obese cities shows that healthy habits make
for thinner residents in several Colorado and California cities, which dominate
the top 10. Obesity rates in the top 10 least obese cities are an average of
15% lower than rates found in the nation’s top 10 obese metropolitan areas and much lower than the
national average of 26.5%.
Here are the top 10 least obese metro areas based on their percentage of
obese residents.
- Fort Collins/Loveland, Colo. (16%)
- Boulder, Colo. (16.6%)
- Barnstable, Mass. (16.9%)
- Colorado Springs, Colo. (17.2%)
- San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles, Calif. (17.6%)
- Reno/Sparks, N.V. (17.7%)
- Santa Cruz/Watsonville, Calif. (17.9%)
- San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, Calif. (19%)
- San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont, Calif. (19.2%)
- Denver/Aurora, Colo.* (19.3%) and Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, Conn.*
(19.3)
*Tied
The list is based on a nationwide Gallup poll conducted in 187 metro areas
in 2009. Researchers calculated the participants’ body mass index (BMI) using
their self-reported height and weight. A BMI of 30 or above is considered
obese.
Healthy Habits the Norm in Skinny Cities
What’s the secret to a skinny city? Healthy eating and exercise habits. The
survey showed that nine out of the 10 least obese cities rank in the top third
of the Gallup-Healthways Healthy Behavior Index. The index measures exercise,
eating, and smoking habits.
Researchers found that most residents of the slimmest cities said they ate
healthy “yesterday,” frequently eat fruits and vegetables, and exercise
regularly.
In fact, half or more of the residents in all of the least obese cities
report exercising for at least 30 minutes three or more days a week. That’s in
sharp contrast to the nation’s 10 most obese cities, where in all but one less
than half of the residents report exercising that much.
Smoking rates were also lower than the national average in all of the least
obese metropolitan areas.
Access Builds Healthier Cities
Although individual habits play a large role in keeping obesity rates low,
the survey shows community conditions also play a part. Researchers found that
residents in nearly all of the nation’s least obese cities report above-average
access to affordable fruits and vegetables, …
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Diet, Exercise Can Improve Thinking
Mar 9, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNetBy Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Diet & Weight Management News
- Moderate Drinking Linked to Weight Control
- Diet, Exercise Can Improve Thinking
- Slimmest Cities List Colorado and California!
- Gut Bacteria May Spur Obesity, Research Suggests
- Diet Plan Determined by a Cheek Swab?
- Want More News? Sign Up for MedicineNet Newsletters!
MONDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) — A good diet and regular exercise may help the mind function better, a new study suggests.”It looks like exercise and diet improve the range of cognitive function,” said Patrick Smith, an intern in clinical neuropsychology and a member of a Duke University team reporting the finding online in the March 8 issue of Hypertension. “It helps executive function, learning and psychomotor speed.”The researchers followed 124 men and women with high blood pressure who were 52 and a minimum of 15 pounds overweight, on average. Led by James Blumenthal, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke, the study was designed primarily to determine the effect of diet and exercise on blood pressure and included people with mild to moderate high blood pressure.The mental studies were included because “some previous data linked exercise and diet to better cognitive function,” Smith said. The new results verified those findings, he noted.A third of the participants …
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Breastfeeding Helps Mom Stay Slimmer Later in Life
Mar 9, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNetBy Serena
Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Pregnancy News
- Breastfeeding Helps Mom Stay Slimmer Later
- Babies Born a Year Apart After Ovary Transplant
- Sex During Pregnancy: Women Tell All
- Pregnancy Weight Gain Ups Diabetes Risk
- Antidepressants in Pregnancy Delays Development?
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FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) — The benefits of breastfeeding for infants are
numerous and well-known, but researchers are finding more and more that
breastfeeding can be a boon to mom’s health as well.
In fact, the latest study on the subject suggests that women who breastfeed
have reduced amounts of abdominal fat, even decades later.
The study, which was scheduled to be presented Friday at an American Heart
Association conference on cardiovascular health in San Francisco, found that
middle-age women who consistently breastfed their children had waist
circumferences that were an average of 2.6 inches smaller than women who had
never breastfed.
“Belly fat is the least healthy place for women to store fat, and
breastfeeding really seems to be targeting this bad fat,” said study author
Candace McClure, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh.
Breastfeeding confers a host of benefits to infants, including a decreased
risk of ear infections, asthma, stomach problems,
respiratory illnesses, skin allergies, diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS), according …
Read the whole story on Medicine Net.
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A Cheek Swab to Choose Your Diet Plan?
Mar 5, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNetBy Jennifer Thomas
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Diet & Weight Management News
- Low-Fat Diet Tops Low-Carb in Long Run
- Diet Plans Can Unclog Arteries
- Obesity, Lack of Exercise Heighten Arthritis Risk
- Weight Loss Aid?
- Weight-Loss Surgery Carries Added Risks
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WEDNESDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) — Wondering if you’d do better to cut carbs or fats to lose weight? A DNA test using a cheek swab may reveal which approach would work best for you, new research suggests.Researchers from Stanford University used data on a study from 2007 in which 138 overweight or obese women were assigned to one of four popular diets for a year. The diets included: the Atkins diet (very low carbohydrate), the Zone diet (low carbohydrate), the Ornish diet (very low fat) or a health professional’s diet (a low-fat diet that generally follows the U.S Agriculture Department’s Food Pyramid). The women also had the inside of their cheeks swabbed to collect a DNA sample. Researchers used the genetic information to assign women to a “genotype-appropriate” diet, an eating plan that would seem to be the most effective for them given their particular genetic makeup.Women assigned to the correct diet based on their genotype lost two to three times more weight at 12 months than those who were assigned to a diet that was inappropriate. When the researchers looked at only the most extreme diets (Atkins versus Ornish), the results were even more stark. Women assigned to their correct diet for their genotype lost five times as much weight as those on the incorrect diet, the study found.The women on the correct diets also showed improvements in their “good” (HDL) cholesterol and decreases in harmful triglycerides.”The weight loss differences between …
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Kids Snacking Too Much
Mar 5, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNet
Latest Healthy Kids News
- Kids Snacking Too Much
- Child Obesity Rates Going Up
- Kids’ Relationships Affected by Screen Time
- Secondhand Smoke Damages Arteries in Kids
- Kids’ Brains Not Helped by Special Videos
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Study Shows 27% of Children’s Daily Calories Come From SnacksBy
Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By
Louise Chang, MD
March 2, 2010 — Kids in the U.S. are gobbling down more unhealthy snacks
daily than ever before, a new study shows.
The study, published in the March issue of the Health Affairs, shows
that children snack almost three times a day on candy, salty chips, and other
junk food.
Moreover, University of North Carolina researchers say American kids are
drinking more sugar-heavy fruit juices and sweetened sports energy beverages
that are packed with calories.
The researchers say the study is one of the first to look at long-term
eating patterns in children, and indicates that snacking now accounts for more
than 27% of kids’ daily calories.
Between 1977 and 2006, the study shows, snacking …
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Workplace Wellness Programs Work
Mar 5, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNet
Latest Exercise & Fitness News
- Workplace Wellness Programs Work
- Fitness May Boost Kids’ Grades
- Exercise Can Quiet Anxiety
- Physical Goals Can Make You a Winner
- Exercise OK in Cold Temperatures
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TUESDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) — Workplace wellness programs help employees lose weight and reduce their risk of heart disease, a new study shows.U.S. researchers followed 757 hospital workers who took part in a voluntary 12-week, team-based wellness program that focused on diet and exercise. Data on the participants’ weight, lifestyle behavior and heart disease risk factors were collected at the start of the study, at the end of the wellness program and a year after the program ended.At the start of the study, 33% of participants were overweight (body mass index, or BMI, of 25 to 29.9) and 30% were obese (BMI of 30 or more).The researchers found that obese participants lost the …
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Hormone Outperforms Insulin in Diabetic Mice
Mar 3, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNetBy Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
Latest Diabetes News
- Hormone Outperforms Insulin in Diabetic Mice
- Gestational Diabetes Underdiagnosed
- Diabetes Drug Avandia to Be Pulled Off the Market?
- Bilberry Seems to Act Against Blood Sugar
- Diabetes Drugs Avandia, Actos Tied to Fractures
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MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) — Researchers are reporting that treatment with a hormone linked to weight loss seems to control type 1 diabetes in mice better than insulin does, raising the prospect of a landmark new treatment for some human diabetics.There’s no guarantee that the hormone, known as leptin, will work against type 1 diabetes. But if leptin has similar effects on humans, it could free type 1 diabetics from their daily regimen of multiple insulin injections and tight blood-sugar monitoring, said the study’s co-author, Dr. Roger Unger, chairman of diabetes research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.In addition, Unger said, leptin could help diabetics do a better job of controlling their blood sugar. “They would have a longer life as well as a less burdensome one,” he said. “That’s the best …
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Obesity and Depression: A Vicious Circle?
Mar 3, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNet
Latest Depression News
- Obesity and Depression: A Vicious Circle?
- Acupuncture Eases Depression in Pregnancy
- Health Tip: Risk Factors for Postpartum Depression
- Depression in Pregnancy Leads to Antisocial Teens?
- Internet Addiction Spins Web of Depression
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MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) — There appears to be a back-and-forth link between depression and obesity, say researchers who reviewed the findings of 15 studies that included nearly 59,000 people.”We found bidirectional associations between depression and obesity: obese persons had a 55% increased risk of developing depression over time, whereas depressed persons had a 58% increased risk of becoming obese,” wrote Dr. Floriana S. Luppino, of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues.Further analyses found that the link between obesity and …
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Risk of Childhood Obesity Higher Among Minorities
Mar 3, 2010 Author: Mary | Filed under: MedicineNetRead the whole story on Medicine Net.
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- Onion Cream Treats New Stretch Marks
- How Imbalanced Digestive Bacteria Cause Obesity & Heart Disease
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- The Air Diet: Why Eat When You Can Pretend!
- Colorado, California Cities Dominate Slimmest Cities List
- Diet, Exercise Can Improve Thinking
- Breastfeeding Helps Mom Stay Slimmer Later in Life