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TweetJune 22, 2011, BBC  News, Dominic Hughes
Recommended safe limits for drinking alcohol by older people should be drastically cut, according to a report.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists says people over 65 should drink a maximum of only 1.5 units of alcohol a day.
That is the equivalent of just over about half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.
The report says older drinkers are less able to process alcohol and the drink might also interact with medication they may be taking for other ailments.
It warns current advice – …

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The Guardian, Felicity Lawrence, November 12, 2010
It was on a Friday afternoon in May 2009 when Andrew Lansley‘s Public Health Commission met, as usual, in the newly restored 1930s splendour of Unilever House on Victoria Embankment in London. It was gathering for its final plenary session, having been tasked by Lansley, now health secretary but then in opposition, to come up with new policies for theConservatives to tackle the big public health crises of obesity, diet-related disease, and alcohol abuse.
Obesity has trebled in the last 20 years, diet-related disease is estimated …

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The Huffington Post, November 18, 2010
Research is medicine’s field of dreams from which we harvest new findings about the causes, treatment and prevention of disease. During the 20th century, the triumph of public health and medical interventions as a result of investments in research significantly improved the health and well being of people living in our country. In 1900, the average life expectancy for Americans was just 48 years and the major causes of death then were infectious diseases and, for women, also complications of childbirth. Since then, food …

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TweetBBC News, November 1, 2010
Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack when the overall dangers to the individual and society are considered, according to a study in the Lancet.
The report is co-authored by Professor David Nutt, the former government chief drugs adviser who was sacked in 2009.
It ranked 20 drugs on 16 measures of harm to users and to wider society.
Heroin, crack and crystal meth were deemed worst for individuals, with alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine worst for society, and alcohol worst overall.
The study by the Independent Scientific Committee …

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TweetThe New York Times, Nicholas Bakalar, October 25, 2010
People who are overweight are often counseled by their physicians to lose the extra pounds. But does such advice do any good? A new study suggests that it depends on the way it is offered.
Cajoling and coaxing, scolding and reproach are all ineffective, the researchers found. But collaborative discussion may actually work.
The researchers recorded conversations between 40 primary-care doctors and 461 of their overweight or obese patients over an 18-month period ending in June 2008. They noted whether any of three weight-related …

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TweetUSA Today, Liz Szabo, October 6, 2010
Although the link between alcohol and breast cancer has become increasingly clear in recent years, that research hasn’t simplified women’s choices, says cancer surgeon Susan Love, author of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book.
Even very light drinking increases the risk of breast cancer, but it also appears to help the heart, says Walter Willett, author of Eat, Drink and Be Healthy and a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
For Brenda Coffee’s friends, choosing a drink at a Mexican restaurant on a recent night …

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TweetChicago Tribune, September 27, 2010
Exercise can help people being treated for cancer cope with the side effects of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, including fatigue and the loss of muscle mass. “It helps them get through treatment in better form,” said David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Lab at Appalachian State University and the author of several textbooks on exercise as medicine.
On a recent Wednesday night, Cindy Gerstner, 42, strapped her feet into a rowing machine and began gliding back and forth with all the energy she could muster. This wasn’t just a workout …

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TweetHealth.com, Amanda Gardner, August 16, 2010
Eating too much red meat has long been a no-no for people with high cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease. But it hasn’t always been clear how much is too much.
Now, a new study suggests that you don’t have to cut out red meat altogether to improve your heart health. If you eat red meat more than once a day, cutting back to one serving every other day can substantially reduce your risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease, …

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TweetLos 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 …

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CSPI, July 15, 2010
Scientists Question Whether Federal Nutrition Assistance Funds Should Be Used to Buy Obesity-Promoting Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

WASHINGTON—The soft drink industry receives a $4 billion subsidy from taxpayers each year, according to aneditorial published today in the American Journal of Public Health.
According to the paper, that’s about how much carbonated soda is purchased with money from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), the program formerly known as Food Stamps. And that total doesn’t include non-carbonated soft drinks. Considering that the overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is helping fuel an epidemic of obesity that …