Harvard Gazette, Alvin Powell, August 2, 2010
Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.
The research, conducted in the labs of Joshua Sanes and Jeff Lichtman, both members of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard and professors of molecular and cellular biology, begins to explain prior findings that exercise and restricted-calorie diets help to stave off the mental and physical degeneration of aging.
Sanes said their research, conducted through laboratory …

Newsweek, Claudia Kalb, August 10, 2010
The Sesame Street set is swirling with action one warm summer day in Queens, N.Y., and NEWSWEEK gets a special sneak peek. The lights are bright, the cameras are on, and the puppeteers are crouched on the floor ready to go live with their Muppets. Opening scene: Elmo peering down at a roundish little object on a plate. “Hmm, what could this be?” he asks. Seconds later, Super Grover, decked in a blue cape, soars over the table and crash-lands next to Elmo. “It is …

MailOnline, Daniel Martin, July 29, 2010
Doctors should stop mincing their words and tell the overweight they are fat, the public health minister has said.
Anne Milton called on the NHS to ban terms such as ‘obese’, because they do not have the same emotional impact.
The former nurse said larger people were less likely to bother to try to lose weight if they were told they were obese or overweight than if the doctor was blunt and said they were ‘fat’. But health experts argued against such plain speaking because they fear …

Time, Laura Blue, July 28, 2010

A healthy social life may be as good for your long-term health as avoiding cigarettes, according to a massive research review released Tuesday by the journal PLoS Medicine.

Researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pooled data from 148 studies on health outcomes and social relationships — every research paper on the topic they could find, involving more than 300,000 men and women across the developed world — and found that those with poor social connections had on average …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 21, 2010
Every five years the American public gets a newly tweaked directive on what we’re supposed to be eating.
And every five years the American public largely ignores it.
For example, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit a day. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 14 percent of adults are even coming close.
Special interest groups, however, watch the guidelines closely and are speaking out. Just last week, nearly …

Los Angeles Times, Stanton Peele, July 21, 2010
As California contemplates legalizing the sale of marijuana, the real war over intoxicants in this country is, as always, over alcohol.
Since Prohibition ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution — which repealed the 18th Amendment authorizing the ban on alcohol — states, counties and municipalities have see-sawed back and forth over alcohol sales. States are still passing laws on the sale of alcohol on Sundays, and municipalities and counties are still voting on whether to permit local alcohol purchases.
But as …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 20, 2010
The evening’s menu featured grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef over pasta, fresh seasonal vegetables and fresh organic peaches — items right at home in the city’s finest restaurants.
Instead, the dishes were prepared for visitors, staff and bed-bound patients at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
The Northwest Side hospital is one of 300 across the nation that have pledged to improve the quality and sustainability of the food they serve, not just for the health of their patients but, they say, the health of the environment and the U.S. population.
For …

BBC, 20 July, 2010
The government says it will retain the Food Standards Agency, following concerns the independent watchdog would be scrapped under reforms.
But it will hand over some responsibilities to government, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley confirmed.
The Department of Health will oversee nutrition policy and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will handle food labelling.
This, says the government, will leave the FSA to focus on food safety.
Related stories
Q&A: The Food Standards Agency
Charities said government must follow through with this reorganisation and “should not let the good things the FSA …

The New York Times, Jane E. Brody, July 26, 2010
Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.
If the findings of existing clinical trials hold up in future research, the potential consequences of this deficiency are likely to go far beyond inadequate bone …

Associated Press, Lauren Neergaard, July 13, 2010
What if my blood sugar’s too high today? Is it time for my blood pressure pill? With nagging text messages or more customized two-way interactions, researchers are trying to harness the power of cell phones to help fight chronic diseases.
“I call it medical minutes,” says Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hospital in the nation’s capital.
He’s testing whether inner-city diabetics, an especially hard-to-treat population, might better control their blood sugar — and thus save Medicaid dollars — by tracking their disease using Internet-connected …