January 4, 2012, Fox News, Chris Kilham
Americans are living longer than ever before. As a result of greatly improved sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, life-saving drugs and medical care, lifespan has increased significantly.
At the time of the American Revolution in 1776, the average life expectancy in the United States was a paltry 30 years of age. Back then, you had to make your mark early, because your stay in this world was likely to be brief.
Today, the average American life expectancy is close to 80, and the fastest growing segment of the …

December 29, 2011, Reuters
Older Icelandic men who remember chugging a lot of milk in their teens are three times as likely to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer as more-moderate milk drinkers, researchers have found.
That makes them wonder whether the years around puberty, during which the prostate matures, could be a time of heightened vulnerability for the gland.
“We believe that our data are indeed solid and provide important evidence for the role of adolescence as a ‘sensitive period’ for prostate cancer development,” Johanna Torfadottir, a nutrition scientist and a graduate …

December 29, 2011, Fox News
Older people with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins B, C, D, and E in their blood do better on cognitive tests than those with lower levels, according to a new study.
On the other hand, trans fats were found to hurt cognition.
Together, the omega-3s, vitamins, and trans fat levels, as measured by a recently developed blood test, accounted for over 70 percent of the variation in the scores of cognitive tests taken by the study subjects, the researchers reported.
“This is a study where we …

 December 25, 2011, The Star Online.
The beneficial effects of functional foods must be scientifically substantiated.
A GREAT deal of attention is now given to the potential health significance of components other than nutrients that are found in foods. These bioactive components have been found to be able to serve physiological roles beyond provisions of simple nutrient requirements, and even reduce risk to chronic diseases.
Foods containing such components have been termed “functional foods”.
Consumers are now more health conscious, especially in view of the increase in diet-related chronic diseases. There would certainly be …

December 21, 2011, Jeremy Laurance, The Independent
The tobacco industry is accused today of misleading smokers over the safety of additives in cigarettes.

Based on a new analysis of data used by the US cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris a decade ago, which found the additives were safe, University of California researchers claim the firm’s research “obscured findings of toxicity”.
The original study by Philip Morris, called Project Mix, resulted in the publication of four papers in a scientific journal that concluded there was “no evidence of substantial toxicity” associated with the additives studied.
More …