Health & Medicine
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Health & Medicine
Calcium supplements for chocolate
Using soap chemistry, scientists prevented some of chocolate's saturated fat--and calories--from being absorbed.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
Can childhood diets lead to diabetes?
Prolonged consumption of foods that break down quickly into simple sugars appears to foster obesity and vulnerability to diabetes, an animal study shows.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
Common additive thwarts malaria parasite
Triclosan--a drug used as an antimicrobial agent in toothpaste, deodorant, and other products--kills rodent malaria parasites in mice and human malaria parasites in test-tube studies.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Path to heart health is one with a peel
Citrus fruits may deserve a more prominent role in the diet. A research team in Canada has just shown that drinking several glasses of orange juice daily can pump up blood concentrations of the so-called good cholesterol. Boosting this high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol can slow the buildup of artery-clogging plaque (SN: 9/9/89, p. 171). In their […]
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
Teeth grinding linked to sleep apnea
Rhythmic grinding of teeth during sleep occurs at least once a week in as many as 8.2 percent of people.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Lyme vaccine works in a curious way
Antibodies formed in response to the vaccine against Lyme disease kill the bacteria that cause it while they are still in the deer tick that spreads it.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
It pays to keep those islet cells
A patient who has inflammation of the pancreas and needs to have the organ removed can avoid getting diabetes if islet cells are salvaged from the pancreas and reimplanted into the liver.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
Statins Take On the Brain
Cholesterol-lowering drugs may also treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease.
By John Travis -
Health & Medicine
HIV-related viruses still cross species line
Various potentially dangerous strains of simian immunodeficiency virus exist in wild primates in Africa and are still being spread among people who hunt the animals for meat.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & Medicine
One-Two Drug Punch Trips Up Leukemia
A leukemia cell seals its own fate when researchers trap cancer-causing proteins in its nucleus.
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Health & Medicine
‘Bug’ spray cuts risk of ear infection
Spraying “good” bacteria into the nose reduced the incidence of ear infections in children especially prone to such infections.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & Medicine
Medicinal Mimicry
While researchers tease out the mechanisms behind the ability of inert pills and sham procedures to trigger health benefits, the ethics of using such placebos in medical research trials is coming under increasing scrutiny.