Drug linked to pancreatitis

The Food and Drug Administration said officials are working on a stronger warning label for the diabetes drug Byetta after reports that the drug caused a dangerous form of pancreatitis that has killed at least two people. The FDA issued a warning in October saying that the drug was linked to pancreas problems after 30 people reported getting sick, but new illnesses prompted the agency to seek a stronger warning telling patients to be on the lookout for symptoms and stop taking the drug if they develop acute pancreatitis or swelling of the pancreas. They also say doctors should prescribe a different drug to people with known pancreas problems…

Lack of sleep leads to higher blood pressure

Turns out that not getting enough sleep doesn’t just make kids heavier, it can also raise blood pressure among teenagers. A study in the journal Circulation found that teens who slept fewer than six and a half hours a night had twice the risk of developing high blood pressure than teens who slept more, and those with “troubled sleep” had triple the risk of high blood pressure. This held true when researchers adjusted for weight, gender and socioeconomic status. Overall the teens weren’t getting as much sleep as they should: the average sleep time was 7.7 hours, when experts say they really ought to be getting nine…

Unattainable beauty has economic costs

A report by the YWCA says that women spending money trying to attain an unrealistic level of beauty has economic implications. The report says that if a woman who had spent $100 a month on beauty treatments, makeup, etc., instead saved that money, in five years she’d have enough money to go to college for a year. If she saved the $50 she might spend on a manicure and pedicure each month for 10 years, she’d have almost $10,000 in her retirement account. The report also mentions the potential health hazards of trying to look like an airbrushed goddess, from chemicals in beauty products to unhealthy eating patterns and smoking to try to lose weight…

Fish oil doesn’t raise child’s IQ

Taking fish oil supplements while pregnant doesn’t appear to raise the IQ of the child by the age of 7, but the children were better than others at a test of sequential processing, meaning solving a problem that had to be tackled in a specific sequence or order. This was a follow-up to a study that found that 4-year-olds whose mothers had taken fish oil during pregnancy had higher IQs than kids whose moms ate corn oil instead. Researchers, writing in the journal Pediatrics, said they think the benefit of fish oil during pregnancy was diluted by other factors by age 7, such as the child’s own nutrition and environment…

UK tourist spots don’t offer healthy food

Finally, a survey by consumer advocacy group Which? found that many common tourist attractions in the UK don’t offer a lot of healthy food choices for visitors. The group surveyed people who had been to a UK tourist attraction in the last year and found that 29 percent said there was a healthy food choice available, while 58 percent said the food was unhealthy. Then Which? researchers visited some of the top spots to score them on the availability of healthy foods. If you’re looking for good food, check out the Tate Modern and Eden Project in Cornwall, but skip Blackpool Pleasure Beach, where most of the food is fried.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 and is filed under Diabetes, Food miscellaneous, Foreign stories (non-U.S.), Kids and families, Nibbles: diet news shorts. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.