Nutrition News

Older people who are leading active, healthy lifestyles often have silent vascular disease that can be seen on brain scans that affect their ability to think, according to a new study led by UC Davis researchers and published online in the Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA Archives journals.

United States and Japanese researchers have identified a key step in metabolic pathways linked to diabetes and cancer. The study on activation...

In the largest study to date of the Arthritis Foundation's Tai Chi program, participants showed improvement in pain, fatigue, stiffness and sense of well-being. Their ability to reach while maintaining balance also improved, said Leigh Callahan, PhD, the study's lead author, associate professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and a member of UNC's Thurston Arthritis Research Center.

In a study examining the factors that play a role in an older adult's transition to disability, intervening illnesses and injuries that led to hospitalization or activity restriction were associated with worsening functional ability, especially among those who were physically frail, according to a report in the November 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on aging.

Dealing with extended family, increased commitments and even celebratory occasions can cause a compulsive overeater to gain too much weight during the holiday season. "Many of us deal with depression, disappointment, loneliness and unfulfilled expectations during the holiday season," said Stefanie C. Barthmare, a psychotherapist with the Methodist Weight Management Center in Houston.

Researchers at Harvard University say America's obesity epidemic won't plateau until at least 42 percent of adults are obese, an estimate derived by applying mathematical modeling to 40 years of Framingham Heart Study data.

According to a new study from the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), patients with acute plantar fasciitis who perform manual plantar fasciitis stretching exercises, as opposed to shockwave therapy, had superior results and higher patient satisfaction.

Researchers for the first time have shown that drinking beet juice can increase blood flow to the brain in older adults -- a finding that could hold great potential for combating the progression of dementia. The research findings are available online in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide Society and will be available in print soon.

Researchers have identified a hormone produced and secreted by the liver as a previously unknown cause of insulin resistance. The findings, in the November issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, suggest a new target for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, the researchers say.

Black raspberries are highly effective in preventing colorectal tumors in two mouse models of the disease, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study. The findings are published in the November issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rank mortality related to chronic liver disease and cirrhosis as the 12th most common cause of death in adults in the U.S. Using a modified definition that includes diseases such as viral hepatitis, liver cancer and obesity-related fatty liver disease (liver diseases), Mayo Clinic-led researchers have found that liver-related mortality is as high as fourth for some age groups, and eighth overall.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that they may be able to monitor the aging process in the brain, by using MRI technique to measure the brain lactic acid levels. Their findings suggest that the lactate levels increase in advance of other aging symptoms, and therefore could be used as an indicator of aging and age-related diseases of the central nervous system.