http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Many people in the U.S. do not walk, bike or engage in other forms of active transportation, missing an important opportunity to improve their cardiovascular health, concludes a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-percent-americans-ten-minutes-week.html Health Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:09:08 EST news271411683 A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity – scientifically categorized as "frail" – are five times more likely to report that they often don't have enough to eat, defined as "food insufficiency," than older adults who were not frail. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-older-adults-frail-food-insufficient.html Health Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:31:34 EST news271355486 Nearly half of U.S. adults with high blood pressure had their blood pressure under control by the end of 2010—a significant increase from the start of the decade, researchers reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-adults-high-blood-pressure.html Cardiology Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:00:01 EST news270136622 (Medical Xpress)—Although primary care physicians take care of many aspects of health and disease, little is known about how they can change sedentary behavior through counseling, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Results from a new study suggest encouraging patients to decrease the time they spend sitting each day may be feasible in the primary care setting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-sedentary-behavior-primary.html Health Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:39:21 EST news270139152 Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have revealed a significant association between obesity and children and adolescents with higher concentrations of urinary bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical recently banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from sippy cups and baby bottles. Still, the chemical continues to be used in aluminum cans, such as those containing soda. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-higher-bpa-children-teens-significantly.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:57:22 EST news267184626 Exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a manmade chemical used in the manufacture of some common household products, appears to be associated with cardiovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease in a study of 1,216 individuals, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-association-cardiovascular-disease-chemical-exposure.html Cardiology Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:00:16 EST news265890355 In a study titled "Prevalence of Periodontis in Adults in the United States: 2009 and 2010," lead author Paul Eke, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates the prevalence, severity and extent of periodontitis in the adult U.S population using data from the 2009 and 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycle. The study is published in the Journal of Dental Research, the official publication of the International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-iadraadr-published-high-prevalence-periodontis.html Dentistry Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:28:24 EST news265552096 People who are of normal weight but have fat concentrated in their bellies have a higher death risk than those who are obese, according to Mayo Clinic research presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich. Those studied who had a normal body mass index but central obesity—a high waist-to-hip ratio—had the highest cardiovascular death risk and the highest death risk from all causes, the analysis found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-people-weight-belly-fat-highest.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:59:15 EST news265287545 In a study involving more than 16,000 U.S. children and adolescents, there has been a decrease in average total cholesterol levels over the past 2 decades, although almost 1 in 10 had elevated total cholesterol in 2007-2010, according to a study in the August 8 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-cholesterol-youths.html Health Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:00:01 EST news263567997 (HealthDay) -- About 47 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to a new report released Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-heart-factors-americans-cdc.html Health Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:50:04 EST news263212160 Roughly 1.8 million Americans have celiac disease, but around 1.4 million of them are unaware that they have it, a Mayo Clinic-led analysis of the condition's prevalence has found. Meanwhile, 1.6 million people in the United States are on a gluten-free diet even though they haven't been diagnosed with celiac disease, according to the study published Tuesday in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-celiac-disease-unaware-gluten-free-diagnosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:26:03 EST news262941952 Researchers have developed a new metric to measure obesity, called A Body Shape Index, or ABSI, that combines the existing metrics of Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference and shows a better correlation with death rate than do either of these individual measures. The full results are reported July 18 in the open access journal PLoS ONE, and the work was led by Nir Krakauer of City College of New York. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-metric-obesity-strongly-premature-death.html Health Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:00:04 EST news261848808 The combination of obesity and vitamin D deficiency may put people at even greater risk of insulin resistance than either factor alone, according to new research from the Drexel University School of Public Health recently published early online in the journal Diabetes Care. Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, a condition that affects 25.6 million adults and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-obesity-vitamin-d-greater-diabetes.html Diabetes Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:07:22 EST news261756419 A study lead by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) shows an association between increased concentrations of phthalates in the body and an increased risk of diabetes in women. Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are commonly found in personal care products such as moisturizers, nail polishes, soaps, hair sprays and perfumes. They are also used in adhesives, electronics, toys and a variety of other products. This finding is published in the July 13, 2012 online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-chemicals-personal-products-diabetes-women.html Diabetes Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:20:02 EST news261316664 Restricting the amount of time spent seated every day to less than 3 hours might boost the life expectancy of US adults by an extra 2 years, indicates an analysis of published research in the online journal BMJ Open. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-daily-hours-life-years.html Health Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:30:01 EST news261073327 In an examination of the effect on energy expenditure and components of the metabolic syndrome of 3 types of commonly consumed diets following weight loss, decreases in resting energy expenditure and total energy expenditure were greatest with a low-fat diet, intermediate with a low-glycemic index diet, and least with a very low-carbohydrate diet, suggesting that a low-fat diet may increase the risk for weight regain compared to the other diets, according to preliminary research published in the June 27 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-effect-common-diets-energy-expenditure.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:00:01 EST news259940995 Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that the incidence of gout and hyperuricemia (high uric acid levels) in the U.S. has risen significantly over the last 20 years and is associated with major medical disorders like hypertension and chronic kidney disease. The study, which is published in the American Journal of Medicine, was led by Hyon Choi, MD, DrPH, professor of medicine in the section of rheumatology and the clinical epidemiology unit at BUSM and rheumatologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-gout-hyperuricemia.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:56:02 EST news259941355 (HealthDay) -- More effective than body mass index (BMI) alone, the Tool for Assessing Glucose Impairment (TAG-IT) for adolescents (TAG-IT-A) is a simple screening tool that identifies adolescents who may have impaired fasting glucose, according to a study published in the June issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-tool-teens-impaired-fasting-glucose.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:30:01 EST news258983849 The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled since 1994, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and RAND. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-prevalence-kidney-stones-obesity-epidemic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 23 May 2012 12:15:24 EST news256993984 (HealthDay) -- From 1999 to 2008 the prevalence of several cardiovascular disease risk factors remained stable among U.S. adolescents, but the burden of risk factors is still considerable, according to a study published online May 21 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-cardiac-disease-factors-prevalent-teens.html Pediatrics Mon, 21 May 2012 15:10:12 EST news256824378 (HealthDay) -- Children born in the fall have an increased risk of food allergy, with a significantly increased risk seen only for Caucasians and those with eczema, according to a study published online April 19 in Allergy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-food-allergy-children-born-fall.html Health Tue, 01 May 2012 16:10:01 EST news255102805 Despite longstanding recommendations for children with asthma to avoid tobacco smoke, many youths are still exposed to secondhand smoke and their health suffers because of it, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-secondhand-children-asthma.html Health Tue, 01 May 2012 04:20:01 EST news255060915 Calorie intake from white potatoes is surprisingly modest for adults and school-aged children, according to a new study released today at the Experimental Biology 2012 Annual Meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-potato-consumption.html Other Sat, 21 Apr 2012 02:59:08 EST news254195905 (HealthDay) -- Many individuals with diabetes do not know their last hemoglobin A1C (A1C), blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (ABC levels), although the correlation between such knowledge and meeting targets for ABC control is unclear, according to a study published online April 12 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-room-knowledge-abc-goals.html Diabetes Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:00:01 EST news254065205 Contrary to popular perception, a large proportion of obese Americans can and do lose weight, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. What's more, they say, the old tried and true methods of eating less fat and exercising are some of the most effective paths to weight loss success. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-fat-weight-loss-popular-diets.html Health Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:20:01 EST news253209598 (HealthDay) -- The obesity rate among Mexican-American adults aged 20 to 74 increased from about 21 percent to nearly 35 percent between 1982 and 2006, a new federal report reveals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-obesity-mexican-americans.html Health Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:10:01 EST news252158965 Getting too little sleep – or even too much – appears to spell trouble for the heart. New data reveal that adults who get less than six hours of sleep a night are at significantly greater risk of stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Even those who reportedly sleep more than eight hours a night have a higher prevalence of heart problems, namely chest pain (angina) and coronary artery disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session. The Scientific Session, the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, brings cardiovascular professionals together to further advances in the field. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-linked-heart-woes.html Sleep apnea Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:30:02 EST news251956983 In a study that included a nationally representative sample of nearly 45,000 adults, participants who met more of seven recommended cardiovascular health behaviors or factors (such as not smoking, having normal cholesterol levels, eating a healthy diet), had a lower risk of death compared to participants who met fewer factors, although only a low percentage of adults met all seven factors, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at a specialty meeting of the American Heart Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-greater-cardiovascular-health-factors-linked.html Cardiology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:11:26 EST news251183480 Delivering a full-term baby of small birth weight has been shown to be an independent indicator of later heart disease for the mother, and as equivalent in risk as high blood pressure and diabetes. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston further report that the odds of ischemic heart disease (IHD) among women whose full-term babies are small for their gestational age (SGA) are twice that of other women. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-delivery-small-full-term-infant-mothers.html Cardiology Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:00:01 EST news250955216 Hearing loss has been linked with a variety of medical, social and cognitive ills, including dementia. However, a new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher suggests that hearing loss may also be a risk factor for another huge public health problem: falls. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-loss-linked-fold-falling.html Health Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:00:12 EST news249573605