Health News

(Candice Choi/ Associated Press) — A hamburger a week, but no more — that’s about as much red meat people should eat to do what’s best for their health and the planet, according to a report seeking to overhaul the world’s diet.

Eggs should be limited to fewer than about four a week, the report says. Dairy foods  …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — An expert panel has released a report outlining the best ways to tackle the growing incidence of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia among Canadians as a basis for the federal government’s long-promised national strategy on the progressive brain diseases.

The report  …

(Chrissy Sexton/ Earth.com) — Researchers at McGill University have discovered that men are more sensitive to pain than women. The study also revealed that men have a stronger memory of previous pain, and suffer more when a painful experience is repeated.

The findings, which were confirmed in both mice and humans, could lead  …

(All4Women) — You don’t have to do endless sit-ups to blast belly fat, but when starting an exercise programme, waist measurements trump the scale…

Research has found that, when you exercise, a signalling molecule called interleukin-6 works to reduce belly fat.

After following a 12-week long cycling exercise programme,  …

(Vybarr Cregan-Reid/ The Guardian) — This is the time of year when trainers are mined from under beds and gym kits are disinterred from the bottom drawer. Google searches relating to physical fitness peak in January. Many people even trawl the web to find out about “desk exercises” and “workouts on the go” in case they are too  …

(Kelly Crowe/ CBC News) — A rainbow of lively food illustrations hanging on the classroom wall — that’s how most Canadians remember Canada’s Food Guide.

But behind that brightly coloured document is a long history of political wrangling and industry lobbying — a tradition that continues today as Health Canada  …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — Cases of influenza are continuing to ramp up across the country, with kids and teens bearing much of the brunt of the dreaded winter bug, say infectious diseases experts, predicting that the peak of the annual sneezing-coughing-feeling-miserable season is likely still several weeks   …

(Jae Berman/ Washington Post) — Fasting is an ancient practice sparking new interest in both pop and scientific culture. Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and a variety of celebrities have extolled its virtues in helping them lose weight, while medical experts are intrigued by the possibility that it may enhance cognitive  …

(Dr. Brian Goldman/ CBC radio) — The Public Health Agency of Canada says a third of all heart attacks and a quarter of strokes happen to Canadians in mid-career. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal tallies the economic fallout. The financial cost of a heart attack or stroke can be huge.

Researchers from  …

(Jamie Ducharme/ Time) — For the second year in a row, the Mediterranean diet was named the best diet in America by U.S. News & World Report.

Following a Mediterranean diet involves eating lots of plants, whole grains, healthy fats (such as olive oil) and lean proteins, and cutting back on processed foods, red meat and refined  …

(Catharine Paddock/ Medical News Today) — Traditional folk medicine could help solve the growing threat that antibiotic resistance poses to public health.

Scientists at Swansea University Medical School in the United Kingdom drew this conclusion after studying samples of Irish soil with a long healing tradition.

They   …

(Tim Newman/ Medical News Today) — Sticking to a strict diet can be challenging, so our eating patterns can fluctuate wildly. A new study looks at how these changes might impact cardiovascular health.

As we roll into 2019, many people will be trying out new diet regimes.

For many of us, sticking to a nut-filled, burger-free, fish-heavy  …

(Nicole Lyn Pesce) — Taking more time off can give you more time.

Longer vacations could extend your life, according to a study from the European Society of Cardiology.

The research, which was conducted by the University of Helsinki, Finland over 40 years, followed 1,222 middle-aged male executives born between 1919 and 1934 who had  …

(CBC News) — Emergency rooms in Quebec hospitals are overflowing this holiday season as the flu spreads across the province.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is reporting a steady rise in influenza cases throughout the country and Quebec is no exception. Earlier this month, the agency described the flu as being “widespread”  …

(Philip Crilly/ The Conversation) — As the population grows older, more and more people are using a combination of drugs to treat multiple conditions. This can lead to interactions and side effects that we all need to be aware of.

Not only can drugs interact with each other, they can also interact with food and drink, as well as   …

(Amanda Gardner/ Health.com) — If anyone has any doubts about whether or not to sleep–or even nap–in contact lenses, consider this cautionary tale: A man who wore his contact   …

(Cathy Kearney/ CBC News) — From Master Chef Julia Child, to the kitchen bible The Joy of Cooking, home cooks have been told for decades to rinse the inside and outside of Christmas turkeys before putting them in the oven.

Proponents of turkey rinsing apparently did so to wash away any imagined germs and bacteria. But it turns out,  …

(Lynne Walls/ Daily Mail) — Juggling a busy job and family life, Mark Horsman relied on a daily combination of eight cups of coffee and three cans of Red Bull to keep him going.

For three years, the construction manager from Brighton thought nothing of it. But one day, after downing two cans in a row, he was suddenly struck by a terrifying  …

(Laurel Ives/ BBC Health) — An overactive immune system may help explain the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, scientists from King’s College London have suggested.

Many sufferers of CFS, or ME, say their condition began with a challenge to their immune system like an infection.

The scientists studied 55 patients   …

(CBC News) — About 19 per cent of Canadian women and 13 per cent of men reported being harassed in the workplace, with the highest level of harassment in health-care jobs, according to Statistics Canada.

Verbal abuse was the most common   …

(Linda Searing/ Washington Post) — Heart attacks are believed to be more common in times of heightened emotions, brought on by things such as sporting events, hurricanes and stock market crashes.

Now, add Christmas Eve to that list.

The risk of having a heart attack is 37 per cent higher on Christmas Eve, peaking at 10 p.m., according  …

(Robert Preidt/ HealthDay) — Men with inflammatory bowel disease have a significantly greater risk of prostate cancer, a new study finds.

About 1 million men in the United States have inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

“These patients may need to be screened more carefully  …

(Reuters Health) — Mental engagement through problem-solving games like crossword puzzles, sudoku and brain teasers may not offset cognitive losses due to age-related dementia, a new study suggests.

Still, practicing these kinds of activities throughout life might boost mental ability and provide a higher starting point before  …

(CTV News) — When Kian Yazdani was in Grade 1, it was clear something was wrong. He was often upset in the morning, and his teachers reported that he had angry outbursts at school.

Doctors suggested ADHD as the culprit, but Melody Yazdani wasn’t so sure. Noting that her son had dark circles under his eyes, she started doing her   …

(The Health Site) — A new study by researchers from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin has shown for the first time in Ireland that a deficiency in vitamin D was associated with a substantial increased risk of depression (+75 percent) over a four-year follow up period.

The study has been published  …

(Jacob Banas/ Futurism.com) — Fighting cancer with the body’s own immune system is no easy task. Sometimes cancer may cause the dendritic cells to behave in unusual ways and not function properly. There’s also the chance your body might reject the treatment all together. By creating immune cells from a patient’s own body, the  …

(NBC News) — For a glimpse into the state of your health and longevity, just head for some stairs.

How people perform on an exercise test that requires them to move very briskly can predict their risk of premature death from heart disease, cancer and other causes, a study presented Thursday at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology  …

(Eric Mack Forbes) — Yes, it absolutely sounds to good to be true, but it could soon be possible to eat all the pizza, ice cream and other fatty foods you can stomach without putting on pounds.

Researchers at Flinders University in Australia say they found that when a single gene called RCAN1 was removed in mice, the rodents were   …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — Consumers should avoid inhaling talcum powder or using the products on the female genital area, as exposure may cause potentially serious respiratory problems and possibly ovarian cancer.

Baby powder should also be kept away from a child’s face to avoid inhalation, Health Canada  …

(Tim Newman/ Medical News Today) — The first international review to compare night owls with early risers outlines the health risks associated with preferring late nights. However, these risks may not be set in stone.

Most individuals fit one of two chronotypes: We are morning people or evening people. Either we prefer  …

(William Wan/ Washington Post) — Do some children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder really have the condition — or are they just young for their grade?

That is the provocative question posed by a new study looking at states with a strict Sept. 1 birth-date cutoff for school enrollment. Researchers  …

(Jason Amatoury/ Lifehacker) — There’s nothing quite like the sound of snoring as the ultimate sleep interrupter. But snoring can be more than just a frustration to those in your vicinity. Sometimes snoring is linked to more serious health problems, such as obstructive sleep apnoea. An emerging line of research suggests  …

(Madeleine Roy/ Radio-Canada) — At age 44 and after two kids, Terri McGregor knew she wanted to give herself a gift.

“I simply wanted to restore my breasts to what they were before having children — that’s it,” said the North Bay, Ont., woman.

McGregor’s surgeon recommended a Biocell textured implant,  …

(Marie Cohut/ Medical News Today) — Endurance training, resistance training, or high-intensity interval training — what type of physical exercise will help your body to stay youthful for longer? A new study aims to answer that question.

One key factor in cellular health is telomeres, the “safety caps” that protect  …

(Cassandra Szklarski/ Canadian Press) — Canadian kids continue to rank low in a global report on physical activity.

The most recent release from the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance finds children in Slovenia and Japan to be the most active among 49 countries studied.

Canada scored D+ in categories that measure overall   …

(Valérie Ouellet, Vik Adhopia, David McKie/ CBC News) — Millions of Canadians rely on surgically implanted medical devices in order to function — to do everything from walk without pain to pump blood through their veins. Yet many of those devices are approved for use in Canada with scant scientific evidence to show they are  …

(Catharine Paddock/ Medical News Today) — Men who follow a healthful diet could be protecting their brains, according to a new study that tracked a large group of men for more than 2 decades.

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, analyzed data from a study that had followed 27,842 men for   …

(Amy Norton/ HealthDay) — When young children have a bout of “stomach flu,” parents often turn to probiotics for help. But two new clinical trials suggest they are wasting their money.

Researchers found that probiotic formulas showed no benefit for babies and preschoolers with acute gastroenteritis —  …

(Avichai Scher/ NBC News) — Peanuts get a lot of attention, but the most common food allergy for kids under 5? Milk.

In a study released on Friday, researchers found that milk allergy affects over half of 1-year-olds who have food allergies, accounts for 40 percent of food allergies for kids 1 to 2, and is the most common overall food allergy  …

(Nicole Ireland/ CBC News)— The Public Health Agency of Canada is warning people in Ontario and Quebec not to eat romaine lettuce as it works with U.S. health officials to determine the source of an outbreak of E. coli infections in the two provinces and in 11 states.

As of Tuesday, there have been 18 confirmed cases of the bacterial infection  …

(Pam Belluck/ New York Times) — It’s a rare person in America who doesn’t know of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. The most common type of dementia, it afflicts about 44 million  …

(Don Rauf/ Everyday Health) — Chronic stress can deliver a damaging blow to a person’s health. It can have a negative impact on the cardiovascular system, breathing, the liver, digestion, the nervous system, and many other aspects of well-being.

A new study, published Oct. 24 in the journal Neurology, shows that the brain  …

(Marie Cohut/ Medical News Today) — Scientists have now proved that drinking certain types of coffee can be beneficial to brain health, but how does this popular brew support cognitive function? A new study identifies some of the mechanisms that allow coffee to keep mental decline at bay.

According to data from the Harvard T.H.  …

(Michele Berger-Penn/ Futurity) — Researchers have discovered a connection between Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram use and decreased well-being.

The link between social-media use, depression, and loneliness has been talked about for years, but a causal connection had never been proven. Few prior studies, however,  …

(Sarah Newey/ The Telegraph) — Nearly 11 million children are on course to die from pneumonia by 2030, with those living in poverty most at risk, researchers have warned.

An analysis from Save the Children and Johns Hopkins University found that around 10.8 million children could die from the disease over the next 12 years.

But  …

(Megan Schmidt/ Discover) — Our weight might not be controlled solely by what we eat. When we eat, and when we get to sleep, may be just as important. A small study published this week in Current Biology found people who had been thrown off their circadian rhythms burn more calories in the late afternoon and evening hours than in   …

(Maya Oppenheim/ The Independent) — Women who give birth to baby boys are much more likely to have postnatal depression, a new study has found.

A study by the University of Kent into postnatal depression (PND) found the odds of developing this condition increased by up to 79 per cent when mothers had boys compared to baby girls.  …

(Steven Reinberg/ HealthDay) — Caffeine-laden energy drinks are popular, but they might make your blood vessels less efficient, a small study suggests.

These drinks — sold as Monster and Red Bull, to name two — have been linked to heart, nerve and stomach problems, researchers say.

“A lot of young kids use energy  …

(Presse Canadienne) — Health Minister Danielle McCann is assuring nurses that mandatory overtime will be abolished and more full-time jobs will be created under the new Coalition Avenir Québec government.

“I intend to very quickly to assess your workload,” McCann said Tuesday in a speech to the 2,700 members of the Ordre  …

(Canadian Press) — Canadian youth can now access mental health support through a free bilingual texting service being rolled out across the country by Kids Help Phone.

The charitable organization is introducing the 24/7 texting support option through a service partnership with U.S. based helpline Crisis Text Line.

A pilot  …

(CNN) — Men are dying at a higher rate than women from melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, a new global analysis said.

Over the last three decades, male deaths from melanoma were higher than female deaths in 33 countries, according to the analysis presented Sunday at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference in Glasgow. Rates among women  …

(Charlsie Agro, Roxanna Woloshyn/ CBC News) — It’s one of the latest celebrity-endorsed crazes sweeping social media: Teatoxing, the idea you can detoxify your body, reduce bloat, boost energy, burn stored fat and ultimately flatten your tummy — in part by drinking tea.

But according to Health Canada, the sale of   …

(Allison Schrager/ Quartz) — Anyone who works with people in Europe probably had a chaotic week. Europeans set their clocks back an hour Sunday (Oct. 28), ending daylight saving; but no one else did, except Mexico, in an act of defiance against its northern neighbors, and a few countries in the middle east.

North Americans (except  …

(Katherine Ellen Foley/ Quartz) — For years, medical scientists have suspected the appendix—a tiny organ tucked away near our large intestines—lacks a real purpose in our bodies. They believed it was a vestigial organ, that might have been a part of the digestive systems of our ancestors, but did nothing for modern humans  …

(CTV Montreal) — The use of anti-depressants among teenagers in Quebec has tripled over the course of the last ten years.

What has yet to be determined, though, is whether this is a result of an increased frequency in mental illness or whether it is merely a reflection of more people seeking treatment.

In an interview with CTV Montreal,  …

GENEVA (Reuters) – Air pollution kills an estimated 600,000 children every year and causing symptoms ranging from loss of intelligence to obesity and ear infections but there is a limited amount parents can do, a World Health Organization report said on Monday.

Parents should try to avoid household air pollution by using less  …

(Montreal Gazette) — Less than a month after the provincial government decided Quebec would no longer provide healthy infants and seniors with free flu shots, Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann on Friday reversed the decision, saying that authorities want to offer “this protection against the consequences of the flu virus  …

(Wayne Drash/ CNN) — We’ve all heard exercise helps you live longer. But a new study goes one step further, finding that a sedentary lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease.

Dr. Wael Jaber, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and senior author of the study, called the results “extremely  …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — At some point in our lives, we may find ourselves in a romantic relationship that makes us unhappy, yet we still choose to stick it out. Why persist in a joyless romance when we could simply break up? A new study has found a surprising answer.

Unfortunately, happy romantic relationships are very  …

(Roni Caryn Rabin/ New York Times) — People who buy organic food are usually convinced it’s better for their health, and they’re willing to pay dearly for it. But until now, evidence of the benefits of eating organic has been lacking.

Now a new French study that followed 70,000 adults, most of them women, for five years  …

(Nicholas Bakalar/ New York Times) — More than a third of adults in the United States patronize fast-food restaurants and pizza parlors on any given day. And the higher their income, the more likely they are to do so.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released data on fast food consumption gathered from 2013 to  …

(Isaac Olson/ CBC News) — Young people who use cannabis and drive are at greater risk of being involved in a vehicular collision even if five hours have elapsed since inhaling it, according to a McGill University study published Monday.

The research, published just two days before cannabis is legalized across the country, found  …

(Natalie Rahhal/ Daily Mail) — Women tend to live longer than men, and the key may be in the protective effects estrogen has on chromosomes, new research suggests.

One of our best gauges of longevity is the length of telomeres, the set of genetic information at the tips of chromosomes.

Women’s telomeres tend to be longer than men’s  …

(CBC News)  — There is no evidence that getting an HPV vaccination encourages teenage girls to engage in riskier sexual behaviour, according to a new study.

The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, used data from the B.C. Adolescent Health Survey, which collects health information every  …

(BBC News) — Teenagers using cannabis are causing long-lasting damage to their developing brains, a Canadian study suggests.

It found the impact on thinking skills, memory and behaviour was worse than that of teenage drinking.

The researchers, from the University of Montreal, urged teenagers to delay their use of cannabis  …

(Canadian Press) — A majority of the country’s doctors report having good mental health overall, but a significant proportion report experiencing burnout, depression and even thoughts of suicide, a survey by the Canadian Medical Association suggests.

Results of the national online survey completed by 2,547 physicians  …

(Brendan Kelly/ Montreal Gazette) — The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts announced Thursday that physicians who are members of Médecins francophones du Canada will be able to send patients on visits to the MMFA, allowing patients, accompanied by caregivers or family members, to enjoy the health benefits of a free trip to see some  …

(BBC News) — France’s health watchdog says the risk of cancer from sunlamps and sunbeds is proven and authorities should act to stop people being exposed to artificial ultraviolet rays.

Brazil and Australia have already banned sunbeds commercially, and France is one of a number of countries that have already limited their   …

(Daniel Ackerman/ Scientific American) — Repeatedly heading a soccer ball exacts a toll on an athlete’s brain. But this cost—measured by the volume of brain cells damaged—is five times greater for women than for men, new research suggests.

The study provides a biological explanation for why women report more severe  …

(Serena Gordon/ HealthDay News) — People with fibromyalgia have widespread inflammation in their brains, new research reveals.

“Finding an objective neurochemical change in the brains of people who are used to being told that their problems are imaginary is pretty important,” explained senior study author  …

(CTV Montreal) — The MUHC has been given a $2 million grant to help fight a rare kidney disease.

Cystinosis causes cysteine, an amino acid, to accumulate in different organs.

Crystals build up and can eventually lead to organ failure.

The disease is usually diagnosed in children under the age of two, and could lead to end stage kidney   …

(Health.com) — For people suffering from a cold, the severity of their symptoms may be linked to the mix of bacteria that inhabit their nose.

New research suggests the amount and type of organisms residing in the nose might explain why some people’s symptoms are worse than others — even if they are infected with the  …

(Sandee LaMotte/ CNN) — High blood pressure. Anxiety. Depression. Insomnia. These are just a few of the possible long-term health consequences facing mid-life women who had experienced sexual assault and harassment, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

With the world’s focus on accusations  …

(Liz Stinson/ Curbed) — Inside a sprawling beige warehouse in Southern California is what some researchers believe could be the next big thing in dementia care. Town Square, a 9,000-square-foot replica of a 1950s-era town in Chula Vista, California, is designed to jog the memories of people with dementia by surrounding them  …

(Sarah Bosely/ The Guardian) —One in two women will develop dementia or Parkinson’s disease, or have a stroke, in their lifetime, new research suggests.

About a third of men aged 45 and half of women of the same age are likely to go on to be diagnosed with one of the conditions, according to a study of more than 12,000 people.

The researchers,  …

(Hattie Gladwell/ Metro) — The “you’re not you when you’re hungry” saying from the Snickers campaign has been scientifically proven.

Psychologist Professor Francesco Leri of Guelph University, and his research team, used rats to study how being hungry can affect mood.

They found that becoming angry when you’re  …

(Amanda Barrel/ Medical News Today) — Crohn’s disease is a chronic health condition that affects the digestive system. It is one of a group of long-term health conditions, which also includes ulcerative colitis, known as inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.

Crohn’s disease occurs when the body’s immune  …

(CNN) — Limiting kids’ recreational screen time to less than two hours a day, along with sufficient sleep and physical activity, is associated with improved cognition, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

The study included about 4,500 US children ages 8 to 11 and measured their habits  …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — Lack of sleep is just as dangerous as excessive drinking when it comes to activities such as driving. The breathalyzer can reliably measure a person’s state of intoxication, but there’s currently no way of assessing someone’s tiredness. New research may soon   …

(Amy Norton/ HealthDay) — It’s well-known that regular exercise can help cut your risk for a stroke. Now, new research shows fitness may have an added bonus, cutting the severity of a stroke should one occur.

So finds a study of more than 900 stroke survivors. It found that fitter people were twice as likely as sedentary folk to   …

(Thomson Reuters) — More than three million people died in 2016 due to drinking too much alcohol, meaning one in 20 deaths worldwide was linked to harmful drinking, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

More than three-quarters of these deaths were among men, the UN health agency said. And despite evidence of the  …

(Sara Chodosh/ Popular Science) — Health halos are powerful. They convince us that granola laden with maple syrup is healthy and that anything gluten-free must be better for us than the gluten-full version.

It’s fairly easy to cut through these halos by looking at the nutrition label—but let’s be honest, most of us don’t.  …

(Thomson Reuters) — People who cut back on carbohydrates may end up increasing their risk of premature death if they load their plates with meat and cheese instead of vegetables and nuts, a U.S. study suggests.

While previous research has linked low-carbohydrate diets to better success with short-term weight loss and improvements  …

(Catharine Paddock PhD/ Medical News Today) — Schizophrenia is a complex mental condition that is still not fully understood in terms of how brain circuitry links up to behavioral symptoms. Now, however, scientists seem to have found a way to make some of the symptoms disappear.

Recent studies have suggested that some  …

(Lucy Bode/ Women’s Health) — We’ve long considered probiotics a miracle cure for a whole range of health probs: bad bloating? Kaching! Sucky skin? Kaching! Anxiety playing up? Kaching, kaching! But when it comes to one ailment in particular, you’d be better off saving your pennies (if new research out of Israel’s  …

(Denise Grady/ New York Times) — Should older people in good health start taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks, strokes, dementia and cancer?

No, according to a study of more than 19,000 people, including whites 70 and older, and blacks and Hispanics 65 and older. They took low-dose aspirin — 100 milligrams — or a placebo  …

(Associated Press) — U.S. health officials are sounding the alarm about rising teenage use of e-cigarettes, calling the problem an “epidemic” and ordering manufacturers to reverse the trend or risk having their flavoured vaping products pulled from the market.

The warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration  …

(Simon Veazey/ Epoch Times) — A 63-year-old woman from Detroit says a selfie saved her life.

Juanita Branch, 63, said she had decided to update her Facebook page with some selfies on the morning of Aug. 13.

But when she looked back over the series of images, she told Fox, each image seemed to get progressively worse.

Checking the  …

(Annemarie McCarthy/ Lonely Planet) — If you’re looking for yet another excuse for your ceaseless wanderlust from friends, loved ones or co-workers who simply don’t understand, feel free to hit them with this latest research; going on holiday will help you live longer.

The findings came from a 40-year study conducted   …

(Tim Newman/ Medical News Today) — In a recently published study, scientists conclude that excessive daytime sleepiness could predict the onset of Alzheimer’s in later life.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. It affects around 5.7 million people in the United States — and this number is predicted  …

(HealthDay News) — People who’ve had a stroke face up to twice the normal risk of dementia, a new review suggests.

In what they say is the largest analysis of its kind, British researchers examined 48 studies that included 3.2 million people worldwide.

“We found that a history of stroke increases dementia  …

(Thomson Reuters) — More than a quarter of the world’s adults — or 1.4 billion people — take too little exercise, putting them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancers, according to a World Health Organization-led study.

In 2016, around one in three women and one in four men worldwide  …

(Aaron Derfel/ Montreal Gazette) — The plight of overworked and burned-out nurses dominated the first debate of the Quebec election campaign on Wednesday, with candidates of the four main political parties offering starkly different prescriptions for what ails the province’s health-care system.

Danielle McCann, of  …

(Ellen Scott/ Metro) — The speed at which you type could be a warning sign of Parkinson’s, suggests new research which found that the time it takes for someone to press different keys can indicate that they have hand tremors, a common sign of the disease.

Researchers from Charles Sturt University in Queensland analysed 76 people,   …

(Nicole Ireland/ CBC News) — The American epinephrine autoinjectors ordered by Health Canada as an emergency measure amid an ongoing EpiPen shortage have been priced at $170 Cdn each by manufacturer Kaléo Pharmaceuticals, CBC News has learned.

That $170 price for the Auvi-Q epinephrine autoinjector is more  …

(David Neild/ Science Alert) — We’ve seen plenty of research on the optimum number of hours’ sleep to get for the good of our bodies, but a massive new study of more than 1 million adults has focussed specifically on cardiovascular health.

Based on the new analysis, the researchers put the magic window at between  …

(Canadian Press) — As Canadian universities and colleges face increasing pressure to provide better mental-health services on campus, students are looking to give schools fresh ideas on how to tackle the issue.

That’s how 24-year-old Ryan Golt became involved with working alongside Montreal’s McGill University  …

(Richard Harris/ NPR) — For the fourth year in a row, federal health officials report that there has been a sharp increase in sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallied nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2017 — an increase of 200,000 cases   …

(Thea Jourdan/ Daily Mail) — When Joanna Birch-Phaure felt the beginnings of a sore throat, she was merely annoyed to have caught a bug just before going on holiday.

‘But I told myself the sunshine would make me feel better,’ says Joanna, 36, who lives in London with her husband Ashley, 34.

It didn’t –  …

(Hannah Devlin/ The Guardian) — Lack of sleep has long been linked to obesity, but a new study suggests late night snacking may not be the primary culprit. The latest findings provide the most compelling evidence to date that disrupted sleep alters the metabolism and boosts the body’s ability to store fat.

The findings add   …

(Mary Kekatos/ Daily Mail) — A routine eye exam may be able to screen people for early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, new research has found.

Patients who’ve been diagnosed with the condition have dangerous levels of two rogue proteins in the brain that lead to dementia.

Scientists say these same patients also have thinning  …

(Leslie Young/ Global News) — Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a way to turn Type A blood into the more in-demand Type O, in what could be a huge advance for blood donation if the technique is proven safe.

With the ability to switch types, hospitals could greatly expand the number of people they   …

(Nicole Ireland, Christine Birak/ CBC News) — Many people flocking to low-carb diets in an effort to shed pounds may be putting their health at risk, a new study suggests.

“Low-carb diets that replace carbohydrates with protein or fat are gaining widespread popularity as a health and weight-loss strategy,”  …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — A new study looks at how eating a common type of mushroom can affect glucose, or blood sugar, regulation. The results may have implications for managing diabetes and other metabolic conditions, such as obesity.

Researchers working in various departments at Pennsylvania State University  …

(Presse Canadienne) — If all Quebecers consumed the five to 10 daily recommended portions of fruits and vegetables, the province would save $70 million dollars on health-care costs every year, according to a study done by the Quebec Association of Fruits and Vegetable Distributors.

The amount saved would allow the hiring   …

(Alex Dimitriu MD/ Third Age) — Suddenly overcome by fear, trembling, sweating, head pounding; heart racing? Don’t panic! Relax – and breathe. A focus on slow, deep breathing can help you get through a panic attack.

My comments follow research reported in the April 2018 edition of Psychophysiology by Trinity College Dublin,  …

(Markham Heid/ Time) — Sustainable weight loss. Protection from diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Improved brain health. Enhanced physical fitness and strength. It seems like every week, researchers turn up some new and profound benefit associated with intermittent fasting: eating schedules that incorporate regular  …

(Maya McDowell/ Delish) — Mice are often tested in scientific studies before humans are, as a precautionary measure. A recent study conducted by Yale researchers yielded some results on mice that humans are definitely going to envy.

The researchers found that (in mice) they could prevent fat absorption in the body by stopping  …

(Sheena Rice-Missouri/ Futurity) — Soy protein in food might be a way to counter the negative effects of menopause on bone health—and may also have benefits for women who haven’t yet reached menopause, a study with rats shows.

Osteoporosis, decreased physical activity, and weight gain are serious health concerns for   …

(Canadian Press) — Several heart and high blood pressure drugs that contain valsartan are being recalled because of a substance that can cause cancer.

Health Canada says the medications were supplied by Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals of China and that the valsartan used in the affected products contains an impurity known as N-nitrosodimethylamine  …

(Kristin Houser/ Futurism) — BAD, BAD BLUE LIGHT. When it comes to our eyesight, the various colors of light our eyes are subjected to are far from equal. Blue rays of light, which have shorter wavelengths and more energy than other colors, can damage our eyes over time – they contribute to macular degeneration, the primary  …

(Sarah Boseley/ The Guardian) — Ritalin and other drugs of the same class are the most effective and safest medications to prescribe for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a major scientific review.

The review of ADHD drugs shows that they work, and work well, in spite of concerns among  …

(BBC News) — Women who have a heart attack are more likely to survive if they are treated by a female doctor in hospital, a major US study suggests.

An analysis of 580,000 heart attack cases over 19 years found 13.3% died after being treated by a man compared with 12% who were cared for by a woman.

Their chances were also improved if   …

(Laura Oliver/ BBC) — Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2015, 75-year-old Brenda Whittle still enjoys jigsaws, sewing and dancing. New activities are less appealing, but participating in Alzheimer’s research and drug trials is an exception. She’s so at ease with loud brain scans, she even falls asleep during them.

Brenda  …

(Alexandru Micu/ ZME Science) — An international team of researchers, with members from Spain, the U.S., and the U.K., plans to fight HIV using only cereal; namely, rice. In a new paper, they describe how they developed a strain of the plant that produces HIV-neutralizing proteins, and how the resulting rice can be used to prevent  …

(Lacy Schley/ Discover) — Ah, to live in a world where we can crank out custom-made organs to meet supply. No need for donors or years-long waiting lists.

We’re still a ways off from that organ utopia, but we’re at least a little closer to bioengineered lungs becoming a reality. On Wednesday, researchers from the University  …

(Alex Matthews-King/ The Independent) — Scientists have sounded an alarm in the fight against superbugs after finding evidence that bacteria are growing resistant to alcohol hand sanitisers integral to controlling infections.

Researchers made the worrying finding while investigating why some species of antibiotic-resistant  …

(Gwilym Mumford/ The Guardian) — Alan Alda, who starred as Hawkeye in the long-running TV comedy M*A*S*H, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease.

The 82-year-old actor told US talk show CBS This Morning that he was diagnosed with the disease more than three years ago, and had lived a “full life” since then. “I’ve acted,   …

(Global News) — Health Canada is warning Canadians the adult dose of the EpiPen is expected to be in limited supply at pharmacies until August 31.

The EpiPen (0.3 mg) is expected to be very limited at pharmacies, and will “likely be depleted in the coming days or weeks,” according to a statement from Health Canada.

Manufacturer Pfizer  …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — Baby powder maker Johnson & Johnson has been the subject of a string of lawsuits, including two pending class-action cases in Canada, over allegations its product caused ovarian cancer in thousands of women who used the sweet-smelling, moisture-reducing agent for feminine hygiene.  …

(Simon Harvey/ Just Food) — Canada is again urging people to cut their intake of salt and plans to revise or come up with a new voluntary reduction initiative after a study found consumers are exceeding the recommended daily amount.

Despite introducing a regulatory proposal in February requiring front-of-package symbols  …

(Alice Park/ Time) — Most people are familiar with the steps they can take to lower their risk of heart disease and cancer. Choosing your diet carefully, exercising and quitting smoking have all been shown to lower the risk of these diseases.

But when it comes to dementia — including dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease  …

(Dr. Brian Goldman/ CBC Radio) — Heart disease is Canada’s leading cause of death, but you can reduce your risk by living a wholesome lifestyle — that is, if you know what things you need to fix.

A new online calculator at Project Big Life helps Canadians measure the health of the old ticker by plugging in information about  …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — Despite being associated with a “health halo,” gluten-free foods marketed to children are often high in sugar and aren’t nutritionally superior to regular products aimed at kids, a study has found.

About one per cent of children must avoid foods made with gluten-containing  …

(Tim Newman/ Medical News Today) — A 16-year study, which dove into the data of almost half a million men and women, concludes that a diet rich in fish predicts a longer life.

Consuming fish has long been recommended as part of a nutritious diet. Rich in high-quality proteins, vitamins, and healthful oils, fish is roundly considered  …

(Richard Van Noorden/ Nature) — Machine-learning software trained on masses of chemical-safety data is so good at predicting some kinds of toxicity that it now rivals — and sometimes outperforms — expensive animal studies, researchers report.

Computer models could replace some standard safety studies conducted on  …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — Too many carbohydrates or too much fat? Opinions as to which parts of our diets are likely to cause obesity are split. A recent study takes a closer look at the effects of diet on weight and health.

Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study that pitted the potential benefits of the  …

(Shuyee Lee/ CJAD) — A Drummondville skin cancer survivor says she can’t find a dermatologist to help immediately in her follow-up recovery, after five months of calls and research and an urgent prescription from her doctor.

Suzanne Roy had a cancerous lesion removed earlier this year. Her doctor told her to get check-ups  …

(CBC News) — Since Quebec ended its free in vitro fertilization program in 2015, the number of applications has decreased by about 60 per cent, according to reproductive health specialists.

According to doctors interviewed by Radio-Canada, scrapping the program has forced many couples to abandon the idea of having a biological   …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — New results could change the face of Alzheimer’s treatment; the herpes simplex virus is found to play a vital role in the condition, and antiherpetic medication is shown to have a dramatic effect on dementia risk.

Last month, Medical News Today reported on a study that found “strong  …

(Marta Subat/ Infosurhoy) – Men working in offices commonly use neckties but findings of a new study suggest that wearing ties may actually hamper work performance and limit creativity.

In a new study published in the journal Neuroradiology on June 30, researchers found evidence suggesting that wearing the popular men’s  …

(Amanda MacMillan/ Health) — British doctors are warning about a sexually transmitted infection that could become the next hard-to-treat superbug, thanks to its increasing resistance to traditional antibiotics. They say that the infection, called Mycoplasma genitalium (also known as M. genitalium or simply MG), can   …

(Rachel Lau/ Global News) — Hema-Quebec is asking people with O- or O+ blood to donate.

“It’s basically the effect of the infamous heat wave last week,” explained Vanessa Jourdain , a spokesperson with Hema-Quebec. “We had less donors than usual and there was a peak in terms of demand.”

Jourdain adds the goal is usually  …

(Canadian Press) — A raised bit of concrete on a sidewalk. An icy patch on the road. A misstep on the stairs at home. All of these can lead to accidental falls — landing a person not only on the ground, but often also in hospital.

Unintentional falls are the most common form of injury across the country: every day last year,  …

(Kristina Sauerwein/ Futurity) — A new study links outdoor air pollution—even at levels deemed safe—to an increased risk of diabetes globally.

The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United  …

(Matt O’Connor/ Health Imaging) — Queen’s University Belfast researchers found the eye may be a critical indicator for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) along with a host of other neurodegenerative diseases.

Published in the Journal of Ophthalmic Research, the study showed peripheral retinal imaging, using ultra-wide  …

(Kashmira Gander/ Newsweek) — Aspirin could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has suggested.

Currently, the cause of Alzheimer’s disease is unknown, and researchers are scrambling to find a way to prevent and treat the most common form of dementia.

The research hones in on how the body deals with amyloid   …

(Rebecca Ochs/ European Scientist) — Seeing the same doctor over time has been linked to a variety of benefits for patients, including improved care, communication and trust, but new research suggests that it could also save lives.

In what is said to be the first systematic review of how continuity of care is related to  …

(Web MD) — You could call fibromyalgia a copycat condition. Its main symptoms — widespread pain and fatigue — are a lot like those of other health problems. And there’s no test or scan that can diagnose fibromyalgia, so it can be hard for your doctor to nail down what’s causing your aches and pains.

If you think you could  …

(Rich Haridy/ New Atlas) — A robust study led by researchers at Linköping University has uncovered a molecular mechanism in the brain that is believed central to the development of alcohol addiction. The research potentially explains why some people are more prone to alcoholism than others and may even lead to a new drug therapy  …

(Sheryl Ubelacker/ Canadian Press) — Rates of Clostridium difficile, an often recurring bacterial infection of the colon that causes debilitating diarrhea, have fallen dramatically in hospitals across Canada since 2009, a study has found.

In a study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers  …

(Rebecca Ochs/ European Scientist) — Scientists have discovered why coffee seems to be good for the heart and said that caffeine intake equivalent to drinking four cups of coffee a day could lead to improved heart health.

Although previous research has linked coffee to lower risks for various diseases, including type 2 diabetes,  …

(Austin Frakt/ New York Times) —One of the lighter moments along my journey to receiving a sleep apnea diagnosis was learning that “heroic snoring” is a clinical term. It sounds more like an oddball super power — snores that can be clearly heard through walls. Many of us have such a snorer in our lives, and some endure the disruption  …

(Hannah Devlin/ The Guardian) — The presence of viruses in the brain has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease in research that challenges conventional theories about the onset of dementia.

The results, based on tests of brain tissue from nearly 1,000 people, found that two strains of herpes virus were far more abundant in the  …

(Thomson Reuters) – Married people may be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease or die from a heart attack or stroke than individuals who aren’t, a research review suggests.

Researchers examined data from 34 previous studies involving more than two million people. Overall, they found that adults who were divorced,  …

(Canadian Press) — Nearly 4,000 Canadians died from apparent opioid overdoses last year, with men the most likely victims and fentanyl the clear culprit, new government figures show.

The numbers released Tuesday came as the federal government announced plans to severely restrict the way drug companies market opioids to   …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — Do sleep-wake preferences influence our risk of depression? A new study confirms that they do, and “morning people” are on the winning side.

People’s chronotypes — that is, their sleep and waking preferences — could affect their well-being, studies have shown.  …

(Denis Thompson/ HealthDay News) — Fast food and processed foods trigger deep-seated instincts in the human brain that likely promote overeating, a new study suggests.

These modern foods, high in both fat and carbohydrates, produce a higher “reward” signal than foods containing either mostly fat or mostly carbs,  …

(Laura Brehaut/ The Province) — They’re high in fibre, full of complex carbohydrates and 25 per cent protein. As a pantry staple, they’re inexpensive and versatile. And new research out of the University of Guelph has found yet another compelling reason to eat lentils: they can significantly lower blood sugar levels.  …

(Aine Fox/ The Independent) — Fifty-year-olds with slightly raised blood pressure are at an increased risk of getting dementia in later life, a new study has suggested.

Study participants had a greater risk even if they did not have other heart-related problems, the research published in the European Heart Journal said.

The  …

(Alice Park/ Time) — By now, most people are familiar with the factors that can increase the risk of having a heart attack: gaining too much weight, having high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels, smoking and not exercising enough.

In a study published Monday in the journal Circulation, researchers say they have documented  …

(Edgar Gärtner/ European Scientist) — If you are middle-aged and overweight, you can still be fit, if you ensure your do four hours of exercise daily and/or exercise regularly. This emerges from research carried out by Dr. Klodian Dhana at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam in a study of 5,300 subjects aged   …

(David Railton/ Medical News Today) — New data suggest that high salt consumption may prove fatal to certain gut bacteria, and that this could contribute to high blood pressure and diseases affecting the immune system.

Scientists are already aware of a link between high blood pressure and a diet high in salt.

High-salt diets  …

(Pamela Kaufman/ Everyday Health) — Recognizing the early signs of melanoma — and getting yourself to a doctor as soon as possible if you see anything suspicious — is vital.

That’s because the earlier the diagnosis, the better the prognosis. For melanoma treated early, before it has time to spread, the five-year survival  …

(CBC News) — In Canada, more women than men are dying as a result of a stroke and they’re living with more challenges as they recover, according to a report from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The 2018 Stroke Report was released Tuesday and shows women suffer from the effects of stroke “disproportionately”  …

(Gina Kolata/ New York Times) — In a small study, doctors used so-called fecal transplants to treat a serious gut infection in patients. The transplants, from healthy donors, were as effective as antibiotics.

The bacteria can take over a person’s intestines and be difficult to eradicate. The infection causes fever,  …

(Canadian Press) — Canadians born between 1945 and 1975 should be tested for the potentially liver-destroying virus hepatitis C, a new set of guidelines recommends.

More than 250,000 Canadians are believed to be infected with hepatitis C, but an estimated 40 to 70 per cent are unaware they harbour the blood-borne virus because  …

(Lindsey Theis/ Fox News) — Missy Elliot. Hanson. Wilson Phillips. This isn’t a Flashback Friday playlist — they’re CPR aides, and a catchy ’90s tune is now being added to the list — “Macarena.”

“Just having music out there to help as a memory aid is really important,”  …

(David Railton/ Medical News Today) — According to new data, a diet rich in plant-based foods and low in meat — without strictly following a vegetarian or vegan diet — may offer protection against obesity in middle-aged and older adults.

Experts already know that diets that emphasize plant-based over animal-based foods — such  …

(Jacqueline Howard, CNN)  — If you’re in your mid-40s and haven’t had your colon checked, it might be time.

The American Cancer Society’s newly updated guidelines for colon and rectal cancer screening recommend that adults at average risk get screened starting at age 45 instead of 50, as previously  …

(Mark Lieber/ CNN) — The Mediterranean diet is well-known for its positive effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health. But according to new data from the World Health Organization, childhood obesity rates in the Mediterranean region are among the highest in the world.

The new WHO report, presented Wednesday at the European  …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — New research suggests that moving one’s legs is crucial for brain health. In fact, exercising leg muscles helps the brain to produce new neurons, the study suggests. The findings help researchers to better understand the progression of neurological and motor neuron diseases.  …

(Kathleen Doheny/ WebMD) — Could an egg a day keep heart disease away, despite warnings in the past that the cholesterol was bad for your heart? Chinese researchers suggest it might, after their study following more than 400,000 adults for about 9 years found an egg a day lowered the chance of heart disease and strokes.

“Among   …

(Amanda MacMillan/ Health.com) — When it comes to determining whether a person is overweight, body mass index (BMI) is the most widely used measure out there. But doctors admit that BMI—a ratio of weight to height—is far from perfect. Now, a new study suggests there may be a better way to estimate the risks of health problems  …

(Julie Revelant/ Everyday Health) — An aneurysm occurs when part of an artery’s wall weakens, causing it to bulge or widen. Aneurysms can occur due to poor diet, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, obesity, smoking, and using drugs that spike blood pressure, like cocaine.

Aneurysms are most commonly  …

(Sarah Boseley/ The Guardian) — One in eight people in the world will have type 2 diabetes by 2045 if obesity continues to climb at the present rate, according to a new study.

Last year, 14% of the global population was obese and 9% had type 2 diabetes. By 2045, 22% will be obese and 14% will be suffering from type 2 diabetes, estimates  …

(CBC News) — An increase in cases of Lyme disease in Canada could be the result of greater awareness and better testing, say experts who remind those heading out in risky areas to take precautions.

In 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada recorded 144 cases of Lyme disease in the country. In 2016, there were 992 cases countrywide.  …

(Charlie Fidelman/ Montreal Gazette) — The provincial digital health portal giving Quebec patients access to their own data is set to launch Tuesday.

Carnet santé Québec will be available on computers, tablets and smartphones, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette announced Friday.

“The online service is a tool for the   …

(Stephanie Watson/ Web MD) — The U.S. FDA has approved the first in a new class of migraine drugs that aim to fight painful migraine headaches before they start.

Erenumab (Aimovig) is the first of four new migraine drugs in the pipeline that target calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a molecule that’s produced in   …

(Catharine Paddock/ Medical News Today) — After analyzing day and night patterns of activity and rest in more than 90,000 United Kingdom residents, researchers have found a strong link between disrupted sleep-wake cycles and higher risk of mood disorders, such as bipolar and depression, and poorer well-being.

The study,  …

(Kaleigh Fasanella/ Allure) — In a perfect world, testing for STIs would be as simple as taking an online quiz. You’d plug in your answers, hit submit, and boom: Seconds later, you’d have your outcome. More importantly, the results would be accurate. Unfortunately, in the case of certain sexually transmitted   …

(ABC News) — The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants industrially-produced trans fats — linked with 500,000 deaths worldwide each year — stripped out of the global food supply within five years.

Margarine, ghee, and hardened vegetable fats often contain industrially produced trans fats — and as they are also present  …

(Robert Preidt/ HealthDay News) — It’s smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol — and not taking illegal drugs — that pose the greatest risks to people’s health, a new international study contends.

Researchers found that alcohol and tobacco use combined cost more than a quarter of a billion disability-adjusted  …

(Bill Hathaway/ Yale News) — Soon after an individual’s initial infection with HIV, damage to brain volume and cortical thickness progressively worsens until anti-retroviral treatment is started, a new study shows.

“We knew HIV could cause neurological damage, but we did not know it happened so early in the infection,”  …

(Luke Dormehl/ Digital Trends) — Imagine a vaccine that can “turn off” peanut allergies, an allergic reaction which affects more than 3 million people in the United States alone. Thanks to research carried out at Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan, such a dream might become a reality.

Researchers  …

(Christina Stiehl/ Thrillist) — Not drinking on antibiotics is one of those common-sense health rules that’s a fact just because, like waiting 30 minutes after eating to swim, or peeing on a jellyfish sting to make it better.

It’s also a great excuse to use if you don’t feel like going out one night; most people  …

(Express Drives) — We’ve all at some point been confined within the limited space in a car or bus or airplane during a long haul journey. While this causes utter discomfort even at the thought of it, we’ve sadly got more bad news. According to a new study, sitting in a confined space for long hours may increase the risk of developing  …

(David Railton/ Medical News Today) — Two new studies report an increased risk of psychosis among smokers of not only marijuana, but tobacco, too.

The tobacco study has now been published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, and the marijuana study — which was conducted by the same team — has now been published  …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — Most of us know that without sleep, we are unable to create new memories. But is simply resting — without falling into the dreamy state — for only 10 minutes after learning something enough for us to memorize it in fine detail? Recent research suggests so.

Sleep and memory are loving  …

(Kelly Crowe/ CBC News) — It took three years of fighting for access to confidential drug information, but a Quebec bioethicist has punched a tiny hole in the iron wall of secrecy surrounding patented drug prices.

Two weeks ago, Jean-Christophe Bé lisle Pipon won a long battle to force the Quebec Health Ministry to tell him how  …

(Qing Lee/ Time) — We all know how good being in nature can make us feel. We have known it for centuries. The sounds of the forest, the scent of the trees, the sunlight playing through the leaves, the fresh, clean air — these things give us a sense of comfort. They ease our stress and worry, help us to relax and to think more clearly.  …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — New research led by scientists at Leeds University in the United Kingdom suggests that a diet rich in legumes and fish may put off the natural onset of menopause, while foods rich in carbohydrates may accelerate it.

The age at which a person experiences their menopause can impact their health  …

(Maria Cohut/ Medical News Today) — People with Alzheimer’s have severe memory recall issues, and progressive damage to their brains means that other cognitive functions are also impaired. This may cause a state of anxiety and disorientation in many people, but listening to music can help, as new research suggests.  …

(Ian Westbrook/ BBC News) — In England, 1.5 to two million people are likely to be taking anticholinergics for depression, Parkinson’s and bladder problems. University of East Anglia researchers found more cases of dementia in patients prescribed larger quantities of particular anticholinergics.

But experts said  …

(Robert Preidt/ HealthDay News) — Regular exercise can reduce your risk of depression, no matter what your age or where you live, research suggests.

In a new study, an international team of researchers analyzed data from 49 studies that included nearly 267,000 people in North America, Europe and Oceania. The study participants  …

(Shannon Brosek/ Medical News Today) — Vaginal dryness is a common symptom experienced by women when they go through the menopause transition and possibly for many years after. However, vaginal dryness can happen at any age for several reasons.

Vaginal dryness is the result of decreased levels of estrogen. Estrogen is the   …

(Kat O’Connor/ SheMazing) — Ladies, it looks like you’ll have to wave goodbye to wine, gin and cocktails in the run-up to your period because a study has found that alcohol worsens the symptoms of PMS.

The authors of the study revealed that women who consumed alcohol in the week before their period experienced more  …

(Annabelle Olivier/ Global News) — A number of citizen groups from around the province met in Montreal Saturday to discuss ways to make midwifery care more accessible in Quebec.

Midwifery has been legal in the province for 20 years, but access to services is lagging according to Lorraine Fontaine, a coordinator for Coalition  …

(Natalie Rahhal/ Daily Mail) — It does not matter what your tampon is made of – it can still cause toxic shock, according to a new study.

Tampons have no exception to the recent trend in organic-everything, and many companies have cashed in on promises of a safer, more natural product.

The notion of using an tampon or a washable  …

(Laura Donnelly/ The London Telegraph) — Don’t take it easy after a heart attack – regular exercise halves the chance of early death, a study has found.

Researchers said patients should be prescribed activity to boost their survival chances, in the light of the findings.

Swedish researchers examined data on more than  …

(Dani-Elle Dubé/ Global News) — Strawberries and celery sure do sound like healthy choices to munch on – but are you confident they’re free of pesticides?

(Catharine Paddock/ Medical News Today) — Researchers in Canada have developed a vaginal implant that aims to protect women from becoming diagnosed with HIV.

In a paper now published in the Journal of Controlled Release, they report how they successfully tested the vaginal implant in laboratory animals.

HIV, which is the   …

(Alexa Tucker/ Men’s Health) — When you wake up in the morning, you probably don’t give much thought to what went on when you were conked out. It’s safe to assume that you were, you know, breathing, right?

Not necessarily. In fact, with a common condition called sleep apnea—which can affect up to seven percent  …

(Kristen Knutson and Malcolm von Schantz/ The Conversation) — Do you wake up bright eyed and bushy-tailed, greeting the sunrise with cheer and vigor? Or are you up late into the night and dread the sound of your alarm clock? We call this inherent tendency to prefer certain times of day your “chronotype” (chrono means time).  …

(CBC News) — EpiPen injectors used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions are currently running short, and EpiPen Jr. products may soon do the same, Health Canada said on Thursday.

Health Canada said Pfizer Canada had advised the agency of the short supplies.

The auto-injector is a handheld device that treats life-threatening  …

(Niraj Chokshi/ New York Times) — It’s no secret that men are overrepresented in certain technical disciplines. So is their self-confidence, a new study suggests.

The study, published this past week in the journal Advances in Physiology Education, found that male egos eclipse those of women among students asked to compare  …

(Health 24 Genetics) — First cousins who marry run twice the risk of having a child with genetic abnormalities, according to a previous Health24 article.

Now a new study suggests that children born to parents who are cousins have a significant risk for developing a mood disorder – such as depression or anxiety.

For adults whose parents  …

(Rafi Letzter/ Live Science) — Your brain keeps making new nerve cells, even as you get older.

That’s a big deal. For decades, researchers believed that aging brains stop making new cells. But recent research has offered strong evidence to the contrary, and a new paper published April 5 in the journal Cell Stem Cell tries  …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — If Cambridge Analytica didn’t put you off Facebook forever, this might: a new study says that quitting the social media network can drastically lower your stress levels.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal — also known as the largest data leak in Facebook history — caused the social  …

(Thomson Reuters) — Elderly women who eat more vegetables may be less likely to develop hardening of the arteries, an Australian study suggests.

Researchers surveyed 954 women aged 70 and older. They also used ultrasound to assess the thickness of the walls of the carotid artery in the neck, and the extent of plaque accumulation. Thinner  …

(Sara Chodosh/ Popular Science) — You may have heard that coffee gives you cancer. Or that everything gives you cancer—if you live in California.

The reason: Proposition 65. It’s a California state law that requires businesses with 10 or more employees to provide reasonable warning about the use of any chemicals the state  …

(Sara Rimer/ BU Today) — It took you half an hour to find your keys this morning. You forgot the name of a longtime colleague at a meeting yesterday. You got lost driving to a friend’s house last week—it’s true that you were more focused on NPR than the road, but you’ve made that drive countless times and you should be able   …

(Tom Hale/ IFL Science) – Rubber ducks might look sweet and innocent, but beneath their glazed-over smile, they harbor a terrible secret. Despite spending half of their lives in a soapy bath, their insides are filthy and pretty damn gross.

New research by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, ETH Zurich,  …

(Bellatory) – If your feel that your hair is dropping in handfuls and you feel that you are starting to look more like your balding uncle than curly-haired beauty or hunk, then read on and do something about it! First of all, calm down! If you are a woman, then bear in mind that 90 per cent of women’s hair loss is only temporary; it is probably  …

(HealthDay News) — Overuse of antibiotics is one of the main causes of the dangerous health threats posed by antibiotic resistance — when the drugs are no longer effective against the diseases they were designed to fight.

Yet new research finds that antibiotic use by people rose 39 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2015,  …

(Kathleen Harris/ CBC News) — A Liberal MP, backed by his party’s women’s caucus, is pushing for a legal change to allow surrogate mothers and sperm donors to be paid for their services.

Anthony Housefather, chair of the House of Commons justice committee, said Canada’s current law is out of step with modern  …

(Rana L.A. Awdish and Leonard L. Berry/ Harvard Business Review) — Modern medicine’s true healing potential depends on a resource that is being systematically depleted: the time and capacity to truly listen to patients, hear their stories, and learn not only what’s the matter with them but also what matters to them. Some  …

(Richard A Lovett/ Cosmos) — We may not think of our living rooms and offices as chemical factories, but reactions occurring within them can produce a dangerous array of toxic air pollutants, scientists say.

In some cases, these chemicals are formed by the same reactions that produce urban smog, says Sasho Gligorovski, a physicist  …

(Charlie Fidelman/ The Gazette) — Early detection. Faster, safer, better. Aggressive ovarian cancer is more often than not detected when it’s so advanced that survival is limited; there is no reliable screening test.

Now researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre and McGill University say they’ve developed   …

(Honor Whiteman/ Medical News Today) — You may have heard that breakfast is “the most important meal of the day,” and a new study helps to support this. It found that eating a big breakfast and reducing lunch and dinner size may be key for people looking to lose weight and improve their blood glucose levels.

Led by researchers  …

(Kristen Houser/ Futurism) — The platypus is, frankly, a weirdo. It’s one of the last surviving species of egg-laying mammals. It has venomous flippers. And that furry body combined with the duck bill? Looks like it belongs on evolution’s blooper reel.

And now another strange element of its biology is intriguing scientists:  …

(Tim Newman/ Medical News Today) — Using computer modeling, researchers have designed a new compound that may help to treat neuropathic pain. In animal trials, it produced immediate, long-lasting therapeutic effects.

(Agence France-Presse) — Being overweight or obese does pose a risk of heart disease, despite claims to the contrary, a study of nearly 300,000 British adults suggested Friday.

While it is generally accepted that being overweight increases a person’s disease risk, some researchers have recently suggested that carrying   …

(Alice Park/ Time) — Researchers know that a condition as complicated as Alzheimer’s can’t be traced to a single or simple cause. Genetic factors contribute to the degenerative brain disorder that robs people of their memory, and biological process related to aging play a role as well.

But in recent years, scientists have uncovered  …

(Graham Readfearn/ The Guardian) —The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water after a new analysis of some of the world’s most popular bottled water brands found that more than 90% contained tiny pieces of plastic. A previous study also found high levels of microplastics  …

(Ana Sandoiu/ Medical News Today) — When you’re going through a tough time, some people seem to know almost instinctively what you need, while others, although well-intended, may not be able to offer the emotional support you’re hoping for. Is this because the ability to empathize is innate, or down to our  …

(Scott Douglas/ Slate) — Here’s the most important thing I learned while writing a book on running and mental health: In clinical studies, regular aerobic exercise is as effective as antidepressants in reducing symptoms of mild to moderate depression.

And that’s not just because moving might help you get into shape and  …

(Doug Criss and Carma Hassan/ CNN) — What would you do if you and your coworkers were getting raises totaling $700 million? If you’re like a group of doctors in Canada, you’d fight it.

Some general practitioners and medical specialists in Quebec have signed a petition saying they don’t want the hundreds of  …