Health & Wellness News
Learn more about the latest news for health and wellness and how it may affect your family, your community, and you.
U.S. Smoking Rates Stall
HealthDay News | November 8, 2007
In 2006, 20.8 percent of American adults were current cigarette smokers, a percentage that hasn't changed much since 2004, a new government report says.
Being Overweight Isn't All Bad, Study Says
The Washington Post | November 7, 2007
Being overweight boosts the risk of dying from diabetes and kidney disease but not cancer or heart disease, and carrying some extra pounds actually appears to protect against a host of other causes of death, federal researchers reported yesterday.
Weight Gain Can Increase Breast Cancer Risk
ABC News | October 23, 2007
Weight gain has already been associated with several illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease and even insomnia. Now, according to new research published Monday in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, it has been linked to another health problem: breast cancer.
Marital Stress Linked to Heart Disease
The Washington Post | October 23, 2007
When married couples lose their cool with one another, it may take a toll on their hearts, too, researchers have found. What's more, the damage that's wrought may depend onhowthey lose it, according to study leader Tim Smith, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah.
In Diabetes, a Complex of Causes
The New York Times | October 17, 2007
The fifth leading killer of Americans, with 73,000 deaths a year, diabetes is a disease in which the body’s failure to regulate glucose, or blood sugar, can lead to serious and even fatal complications.
Chronic illnesses exacting stiff price
Chicago Tribune | October 11, 2007
The nation's hospitals, which are spending more money on developing wellness programs and preventive medicine, released a study this week showing the soaring costs of chronic illness to the workplace.
U.S. leads Europe in chronic-disease rates
Bloomberg | October 9, 2007
Americans are more likely than Europeans to be treated for preventable chronic diseases caused by obesity and smoking, adding more than $100 billion a year to U.S. health-care spending, a study found.
An ounce of prevention: Study says many lives could be saved with preventive care
The Clarion-Ledger | October 9, 2007
According to a new study from the Partnership for Prevention, 100,000 lives could be saved each year in the United States if increased use of common preventive care services or regimens existed.
Editorial: It’s about wellness
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | September 30, 2007
The idea of focusing on wellness is perhaps one of the best ideas in the health care reform debate. Chronic illness sucks up much of the health care dollar. Emphasize wellness at the front end, and you've potentially saved those dollars, not to mention avoiding agony for patients.
Older Blacks, Latinos Struggle With Diabetes Control
The Washington Post l September 27, 2007
Black Americans and Latinos with diabetes who take drugs to control their disease are less likely to have their blood sugar under control than whites, a new study finds.
Opinion: Can prevention save us? I doubt it
Fort Worth Star-Telegram | September 26, 2007
When Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., unveiled her $110 billion health-care plan last week, one of her strategies for paying that bill was savings resulting from disease prevention and "wellness." As with most presidential campaign program proposals, there were few details on this, such as how prevention is being defined and how much savings would result.
Prevention: Report Urges Screening for Family of Heart Patients
New York Times – September 18, 2007
Doctors know that siblings and other close family members of people who have heart attacks are at increased risk for heart problems of their own. So when patients are brought to a hospital, why not identify them and suggest that they get a screening?
U.S. Life Expectancy Hits New High
HealthDay News | September 12, 2007
Life expectancy rates in the United States are at an all-time high, with people born in 2005 projected to live for nearly 78 years, a new federal study finds.
New asthma policies stress prevention, monitoring
USA Today | September 11, 2007
Medications and lifestyle recommendations to improve daily asthma control and prevent attacks should be tailored to each patient, based on age and the changing course of the disease, according to new guidelines.
Depression More Sickening than Some Chronic Disease, Study Says
FOX News |September 7, 2007
Depression takes a bigger toll on overall health than the chronic diseases angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes, according to a new study in this week's edition of The Lancet.
US Slipping in Life Expectancy Rankings
Associated Press | August 12, 2007
Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries. For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.
Find yourself packing it on? Blame friends
New York Times | July 26, 2007
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that
obesity can spread from person to person, much like a virus. The study involved a detailed analysis of a large social network of 12,067 people who had been closely followed for 32 years, from 1971 to 2003.
Poor nutrition in pregnancy may mean obese kids
ABC News | July 26, 2007
What pregnant women eat or don't eat may determine whether or not their baby faces a lifetime of obesity. These scientific findings, which appeared online on the Web site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer further evidence of a possible link between an unhealthy pregnancy diet and obesity.
Exploring a surprising link between obesity and diet soda
Wall Street Journal | July 24, 2007
Excerpt: "Do unhealthy people drink diet soda? Does diet soda make people unhealthy? Those are some the questions raised by a surprising new study that links consumption of soft drinks -- both the sugared and diet variety -- with a higher risk for a range of obesity-related health problems."
Study: Overweight kids do worse in school
TIME Magazine | July 24, 2007
Excerpt: "
Kids struggle in high school for a lot of reasons — drugs, lack of interest, trouble at home, to name a few. But a new study in the July issue of Sociology of Education highlights a factor that doesn't immediately come to mind: obesity."
Lifestyle, not just genes, could imprint next generation
Good Morning America | July 23, 2007
People can inherit baldness, facial features and other physical traits from their grandparents. But according to researchers, it's not just your grandparents' genes leaving their imprints on you, but also their lifestyle factors.
Study: Diabetes keeps rising among youth
USA Today | July 19, 2007
The Journal of the American Medical Association published a report on the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, the first study designed to estimate the national incidence of diabetes by race, ethnicity and diabetes type in people under the age of 20.
75 percent of Americans overweight by 2015
Reuters | July 19, 2007
According to a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers, if people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese. Their findings were published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.
Weight bias may harm obese children
Reuters | July 18, 2007
The stigma that society attaches to obesity can cause children immediate, and possibly lasting, harm, according to a research review.
Associated Press | July 18, 2007
Eleven of the nation's biggest food and drink companies will adopt new rules to limit advertising to children under the age of 12, a move that restricts ads for products such as McDonald's Happy Meals and the use of popular cartoon characters.
Bad eating habits linked to teen lung problems; Diets lacking in fruit and fish may cause issues such as asthma, study finds
Reuters | July 10, 2007
Teenagers who do not get enough of the nutrients commonly found in fruits and fish are more prone to underperforming lungs, asthma, coughing and wheezing, researchers reported on Monday.
Scant Drug Benefits Called Costly to Employers
New York Times | June 27, 2007
Employers that shift too much of the cost of drugs to workers in their company health plans could wind up losing more than they save, through absenteeism and lost productivity, according to a study by health policy researchers.
Current Culture Makes it Hard for People to Exercise
WKBW-TV ABC Boston | May 16, 2007
A survey released by the International Health & Racquet Sport Association (IHRSA) found that ninety-nine percent of Americans believe that exercise helps preserve good health, but most feel they have to battle current culture to exercise regularly and that the government should do more to promote physical activity. "The link between sedentary lifestyles and the precipitous rise in obesity and chronic disease is undeniable," said Joe Moore, President and Chief Executive Officer of IHRSA and member of the PFCD's Advisory Board.
Bad habits give birth to chronic diseases
The Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) | May 11, 2007
With some of the highest death rates from cancer, cardiovascular disease and all causes, Kentucky is one of America's sickest states. The state ranks worst in the nation for teen tobacco use and above the national average for high school students who are obese. State residents are also at risk for chronic diseases due to a "propensity to eat too many fatty foods and exercise too infrequently," But Kentucky is not alone.
Diabetics need much more than a shot
The Los Angeles Times | May 7, 2007
Managing diabetes requires constant support and substantial investment. The cost of care could be much lower, paying off in the end for thousands of people, if patients could take simple measures to control their disease and avoid complications. However, most patients do not get "a steady drumbeat of medical attention and lifestyle education" from their doctors, even the ones with adequate health insurance.
Diabetes is a long-term investment for insurers and patients
The Los Angeles Times | May 7, 2007
Much of America's healthcare industry operates on the economic short term. Preventive care saves money; in the case of diseases such as asthma, preventive care can quickly cut costs by reducing emergency room care and hospitalizations. But for diabetes, the upfront efforts to avoid complications often don't pay off for decades.
Severely obese fastest-growing U.S. overweight group
Reuters | April 10, 2007
Severely obese Americans, those who are 100 or more pounds overweight, are the fastest-growing U.S. overweight group. A recent study found that the proportion of severely obese was 50% higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000.
Insurance doesn't guarantee follow-up care, study finds
Boston Globe | March 14, 2007
According to a study by the American Medical Association, Americans don't always get the follow-up medical care they need even if they have health insurance. However, those without health insurance are even less likely to get follow-up care.
For many employees, fitness has its prize
The Los Angeles Times | March 12, 2007
The Ottawa Dental Laboratory, located outside of Chicago, is incentivizing employees to improve their health with prizes, such as watches, grills, and mountain bikes - all purchasable with health care "bucks" earned when meeting certain wellness goals. Also mentioned were IBM Corp., Blue Shield of California, and Wells Fargo & Co. who give out monetary rewards for health improvements.
The fit may produce less of harmful, stress-related chemicals
USA Today | March 8, 2007
This article describes an additional benefit of being physically fit - protection from damaging artery inflammation that worsens during stress. A recent study showed that mental stress probably does less damage to people who are physically fit.
Too few kids with asthma get flu shots
The Associated Press | March 8, 2007
According to U.S. health officials, children with asthma should get flu shots but only three in ten do so. The study represents the first national estimates on flu vaccination rates for asthmatic children.
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