Health

More and more liver diseases are being caused by obesity and bad food than alcohol consumption, liver expert S.K. Sarin said here Tuesday.

“Bad food can cause bad liver. While alcohol causes liver problems in 10-20 percent of the population, fatty food which leads to obesity and problems in 25 percent of population,” Sarin said at a lecture at the Indian National Science Academy here.

According to him, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was one cause of a fatty liver linked to fat deposition unrelated to excessive alcohol use.

A US watchdog’s review has found that menthol cigarettes are a much greater public health risk than regular cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration evaluation also found that there is little proof to imply that menthol cigarettes are more or less toxic that regular cigarettes, Fox News reported.

But the review said that there is ample data to suggest that use of menthol is likely linked to increased smoking initiation by young people and that menthol smokers have a much harder time trying to quit. (ANI)

A new study has tried to understand how optimists and pessimists each handle stress by comparing them not to each other but to themselves.

Results show that indeed the “stress hormone” cortisol tends to be more stable in those with more positive personalities.

The study, by Concordia University’s Department of Psychology, tracked 135 older adults (aged 60+) over six years, and involved collecting saliva samples five times a day to monitor cortisol levels.

Scientists have shown that lack of quality sleep can lead to ageing of skin, says a study.

In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, physician-scientists at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Centre, US, found that sleep quality impacts skin function and ageing.

The recently completed study demonstrated that poor sleepers had increased signs of skin ageing and slower recovery from a variety of environmental stressors, such as disruption of the skin barrier or ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

A new study has found that sleep quality impacts skin function and ageing.

The recently completed study by physician-scientists at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center, commissioned by Estee Lauder, demonstrated that poor sleepers had increased signs of skin ageing and slower recovery from a variety of environmental stressors, such as disruption of the skin barrier or ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Poor sleepers also had worse assessment of their own skin and facial appearance.

Menthol or mint-flavoured cigarettes pose a greater health risk than non-menthol ones, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a scientific review.

“While there is little evidence to suggest that menthol cigarettes are more or less toxic or contribute to more disease risk to the user than non-menthol cigarettes, adequate data suggest that menthol use is likely associated with increased smoking initiation by youth and young adults,” Xinhua quoted the FDA as saying.

Further, menthol in cigarettes is likely associated with greater addiction.

Skipping breakfast could make you vulnerable to greater risk of heart attack, US researchers have warned.

Health experts have suggested that older men not bothering to eat after getting up are a quarter more likely to have a cardiac arrest or die from coronary disease than those who do, Daily Mail reported.

According to the researchers, missing a morning meal or eating very late at night may trigger changes in the body’s metabolism that leads to coronary heart disease.

It may also affect blood sugar and hormone levels that make heart disease more likely.

Breastfed children are less likely to develop Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), later in life, new research has found.

The world’s fittest man title holder, Rich Froning, is not boxer, cyclist or a marathon runner, in fact odds are that most of the people haven’t even heard of him.

Froning, who worked as a firefighter, is now a professional CrossFit athlete.

CrossFit is a mixture of aerobic fitness and weight lifting and its staple is the Filthy 50, which is a brutal series of exercises which includes 50 repetitions of 10 different exercises, all done as quickly as possible.

Men in inner regional areas had a 12 per cent lower risk of erectile dysfunction than those in major cities, a new study has revealed.

The research of more than 100,000 NSW men over the age of 45 has found that the risk of erectile dysfunction for men in outer regional areas was 16 per cent lower than for men in major cities, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The study suggested that a man’s risk of erectile dysfunction increased by 11.3 per cent for each year over the age of 45.

Men who regularly skip breakfast are at a 27 percent higher risk of heart attack or death from coronary heart disease than those who don’t.

Researchers analyzed food frequency questionnaire data and tracked health outcomes for 16 years (1992-2008) on 26,902 male health professionals ages 45-82.

The study suggested that men who reported not eating breakfast were younger than those who did, and were more likely to be smokers, employed full time, unmarried, less physically active and drank more alcohol.

Scientists believe that they could reap the benefits of exercise through a pill.

Two new studies investigate the enticing possibility that we might one day be able to gain the benefits of exercise by downing a pill, rather than by actually sweating, the New York Times reported.

But while some of the research holds out promise for an effective workout pill, there remains the question of whether such a move is wise.

The more encouraging of the new studies expands on a major study published last year in Nature.

A new study has shown that high levels of arsenic in rice is linked to high genetic damage in humans.

Over the last few years, researchers have reported high concentrations of arsenic in several rice-growing regions around the world.

Now, University of Manchester scientists, working in collaboration with scientists at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata, have proven a link between rice containing high levels of arsenic and chromosomal damage, as measured by micronuclei in urothelial cells, in humans consuming rice as a staple.

A new study shows that cigarettes packaged in a plain manner are less appealing to smokers and get them thinking about the urgency to quit smoking.

The study published in the online journal BMJ Open was based on interviews of 536 smokers in the Australian state of Victoria during November 2012 when plain packs were already available in the run-up to and immediately after implementation of the legislation requiring all tobacco sold at retail outlets to be contained in plain packs.

A number of women suffer from painful sexual intercourse, but they may not realize that the condition has treatments.

The condition is called Dyspareunia- which can occur just before, during or after intercourse- and can be caused by many physical and psychological conditions, CBS News reported.

Dr. Lynne T. Schuster, a physician at Mayo Clinic’s Women’s Health Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told CBSNews.com that the condition is so pervasive that at least 40 percent of all women will experience it in their lifetime.

Over 80 percent of people battling malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, will now survive the disease, new research has revealed.

Cancer Research UK scientists have asserted that their is a “massive improvement” in 10-year survival rates since the early 1970s, when a person’s odds of surviving the disease were more or less 50-50, the Independent reported.

From that time on, researchers have come up with new methods to treat the disease amid better awareness of the symptoms.

Sleepless nights could lead to serious mental health problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, a new research has claimed.

The study, conducted by Oxford University, has found that circuits in the brain are shared by mechanisms that control sleep and mental health, and therefore if your sleep is disrupted, your mental health could be too, the Daily Express reported.

Fitter and healthier men are at lower risks of losing the ability to achieve erection, a new study has revealed.

According to new research, which shows sex, drugs and rock and roll is an oxymoron, though men will start experiencing erectile dysfunction as they get older, following a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk, the Daily telegraph reported.

There are many myths going around about yoga, which absolutely intimidate newcomers.

Vyda Bielkus, co-founder of Boston’s Health Yoga Life, and Eva Norlyk Smith, managing editor for YogaU Online, helped debunk some common yoga myths.

It’s not necessary for a person to be flexible to start yoga. In fact, Bielkus said yoga can help you gain some flexibility quite quickly. She asserted that there are subtle adjustments that a person can make to every pose so that they can benefit from the movement but aren’t in pain, the Huffington Post reported.

It makes sense that pain can interfere with a good night’s sleep, but growing evidence suggests that poor sleep can itself lead to an increase in pain.

It’s like a vicious cycle that researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) are trying to understand.

“Understanding this relationship could open up new avenues in pain management through the treatment of sleep disorders,” said Megan Ruiter, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in UAB’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology.

Researchers have identified infection-fighting and inflammation-suppressing functions for a gene which is associated with human autoimmune disease.

The discovery by the University of Minnesota researchers, centered on a gene known as PTPN22, could set into motion new treatment approaches for autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes.

Quickly clearing out defective proteins in the brain may prevent loss of brain cells, a new study has suggested.

Results suggest that the speed at which damaged proteins are cleared from neurons may affect cell survival and may explain why some cells are targeted for death in neurodegenerative disorders.

One of the mysteries surrounding neurodegenerative diseases is why some nerve cells are marked for destruction whereas their neighbours are spared.

Over 80 percent of people battling malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, will now survive the disease, new research has revealed.

Cancer Research UK scientists have asserted that there is a “massive improvement” in 10-year survival rates since the early 1970s, when a person`s odds of surviving the disease were more or less 50-50.

From that time on, researchers have come up with new methods to treat the disease amid better awareness of the symptoms.

Meanwhile, 13,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the UK and in 2010 is caused 2,200 deaths.

Eating more than two eggs does not lead to higher serum cholesterol in teens, regardless of how little physical activity they do, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of Granada analysed the link between egg intake in adolescents and the main risk factors for developing cardiovascular diseases, such as lipid profile, excess body fat, insulin resistance and high blood pressure.

Today’s men, who have become more conscious about their looks, have taken their beauty parlor visits one step further by opening up for the male brazilian wax or what they call – the “brozilian.”

Off Wax and Brow Bar owner Nicky Shore, said that the new trend is the fastest growing service and there are connotations that men’s waxing is a sexual thing, but it’s about hygiene and confidence, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Shore asserted that a lot of guys are growing up getting teased about being hairy and they’re more insecure than we think.