Women Health News

New research out of UC San Francisco is the first to demonstrate that highly stressed people who eat a lot of high-fat, high-sugar food are more prone to health risks than low-stress people who eat the same amount of unhealthy food. "Chronic stress can play an important role in influencing biology, and it's critical to understand the exact pathways through which it works." … [Read more...]

Study reveals new filling material material that is not toxic to teeth. Graphene oxide could be used to make super strong dental fillings that don't corrode, according to a new study published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. Research suggests we chew around 800 times in an average meal; that's almost a million times a year. We put our teeth under huge strain, and … [Read more...]

One out of every 10 people worldwide suffer from foodborne diseases annually, and children and the poor suffer most, according to the findings of a World Health Organization task force headed by a University of Florida senior researcher. The announcement, made Wednesday, comes after more than eight years of research and data analysis by a WHO task force composed to measure … [Read more...]

  As the number of people with type 2 diabetes continues to rise and its toll increases, scientists are scrambling to unravel the complex genetic and lifestyle factors behind the disease. A new study finds that African American children with a genetic predisposition to diabetes may be able to reduce their risk by getting the USDA-recommended dose of calcium. "Even … [Read more...]

"When someone says of an obese person, 'They should just eat less and exercise more,' I say if it were that simple, obesity wouldn't be the worldwide epidemic that it is." That's according to Dr. Claude Bouchard, a faculty fellow of the Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS), a program that attracts eminent scholars from around the world for extended stays … [Read more...]

We all know that too much food combined with too little exercise can add up to poor health and disease. But overeating and inactivity also speed up the aging process, right down to our cells. At the end of a cell's lifespan, a process called senescence kicks in -- cells lose the ability to divide and begin to secrete substances that damage the surrounding cells. While unhealthy … [Read more...]

Girls who are told by a parent, sibling, friend, classmate or teacher that they are too fat at age 10 are more likely to be obese at age 19, a new study by UCLA psychologists shows. The study looked at 1,213 African-American girls and 1,166 white girls living in Northern California, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., 58 percent of whom had been told they were too fat at age … [Read more...]

New research from of the Sexuality and Gender Laboratory at Queen's University shows that heterosexual women have more diverse patterns of sexual response than previously reported. Research on women's sexual orientation and patterns of sexual response has previously focused on women's genital and subjective sexual arousal relative to their sexual identity, as heterosexual, … [Read more...]

New findings from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston revealed that teens who are involved in dating abuse -- as either the perpetrator or the victim -- are more likely to also be involved in cyberdating abuse. Further, teens who commit cyberdating violence against their partners are more likely to later be victimized by it and cyberviolence victims are more … [Read more...]

Clinical trials are testing whether oxytocin, sometimes called the "love hormone" for its role in intimacy and social bonding, has potential as a treatment for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. New research by behavioral neuroscientists Michael Steinman, Brian Trainor and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, suggests oxytocin may have … [Read more...]

Certain genetic variations increase the risk of having a lower level of vitamin D. This is the finding of a PhD project from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, which has examined the effect of eating vitamin D fortified foods or receiving artificial UVB irradiation during the winter months. The fortified diet and artificial sunlight had less of an … [Read more...]

Many Europeans do not experience the run-up to Christmas as a particularly jolly time, and often feel despondent and stressed, reports a new study published in the Springer journal Applied Research in Quality of Life. However, the study suggests Christians, particularly those who are very religious, are the exception to this pattern. In a study on Christmas and subjective … [Read more...]

In a country as wealthy as the United States, it may come as a surprise that one in 12 seniors do not have access to adequate food due to lack of money or other financial resources. They are food insecure. Recent research at the University of Illinois using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) revealed that the seniors who are dealing with … [Read more...]

Dialysis patients with more muscle mass had better scores on a 6-minute walking test as well as better scores on physical and mental health questionnaires in a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The findings suggest that physical activity that builds muscle mass may help improve the health and quality of … [Read more...]

People who take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol appear to have developed a false sense of security that could lead to heart disease and other obesity-related illnesses. A new UCLA-led study suggests that people who took statins in the 2009-10 year were consuming more calories and fat than those who used statins 10 years earlier. There was no similar increase in … [Read more...]

A woman's body at rest will remain at rest -- and that means health woes for older women. Led by Cornell University nutritional scientist Rebecca Seguin, a new study of 93,000 postmenopausal American women found those with the highest amounts of sedentary time -- defined as sitting and resting, excluding sleeping -- died earlier than their most active peers. The association … [Read more...]

People who decrease sitting time and increase physical activity have a lower risk of chronic disease, according to Kansas State University research. Even standing throughout the day -- instead of sitting for hours at a time -- can improve health and quality of life while reducing the risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, … [Read more...]

Aerobic exercise is known to prevent type 2 diabetes, and muscle-strengthening alone or in combination with aerobic exercise improves diabetic control among those with diabetes. Although men who weight train have been found to have an associated reduced risk of developing diabetes, whether such an association exists for women has not been established. In this week's PLOS … [Read more...]

Exercise can enhance the development of new brain cells in the adult brain, a process called adult neurogenesis. These newborn brain cells play an important role in learning and memory. A new study has determined that mice that spent time running on wheels not only developed twice the normal number of new neurons, but also showed an increased ability to distinguish new objects … [Read more...]

Researchers have found that exercise plays a role in how individuals feel they can manage their work-life balance. "Individuals who exercised regularly were more confident they could handle the interaction of their work and home life and were less likely to be stressed at work," said Russell Clayton, assistant professor of management at Saint Leo University and lead author … [Read more...]

Recording goals in a fitness diary, reflecting on the successes and failures and being held to account by others are some of the key strategies that have been found to maximize the achievement of goals to get fit. These findings will be presented January 8, 2014, to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology in Brighton … [Read more...]

  As most people resolve themselves to lose weight this New Year, here's why it seems to get easier and easier to pack on unwanted pounds: New research published in the January 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal, shows that as we age, the thermogenic activity of brown fat is reduced. Brown fat is a "good" fat located in the backs of our necks that helps burn "bad" white … [Read more...]

While it's clear that exercise can improve health and longevity, the changes that occur in the body to facilitate these benefits are less clear. Now researchers publishing in the January issue of Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism have discovered a molecule that is produced during exercise and contributes to the beneficial effects of exercise on metabolism. "Our finding … [Read more...]

As perceived by both patients and doctors, the cosmetic results after "lumpectomy" for breast cancer differ for African-American versus Caucasian women, suggests a pilot study in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery -- Global Open®, the official open-access medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Despite similar results on objective assessments, … [Read more...]

One in three women suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD), a range of symptoms which include bladder and bowel problems as well as pelvic pain, according to the American Urogynecologic Society. Now, University of Missouri researchers have demonstrated that a comprehensive, nonsurgical treatment significantly improves symptoms in women with PFD. "Pelvic floor … [Read more...]

Virtual reality, dance and fun are not the first things that come to mind when we think of treating urinary incontinence in senior women. However, these concepts were the foundations of a promising study by Dr. Chantal Dumoulin, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Urogynaecological Health and Aging, a researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, and an associate … [Read more...]

Doctors commonly recommend drug holidays, or breaks, from certain osteoporosis drugs due to the risks associated with these treatments. Yet little has been known about the ideal duration of the holidays and how best to manage patients during this time. This popular class of medications, known as bisphosphonates, has been shown to cause fractures in the thigh bones and tissue … [Read more...]

Clay has healing powers. This natural product is destined to help treat chronic kidney disease: a well-tolerated agent based on clay minerals lowers patients' excessive phosphate levels. Miss M. spends around 15 hours a week in hospital. Her renal functions are limited, and her kidneys are no longer able to filter toxins from her blood. She is a dialysis patient, forced to … [Read more...]

A recent study showed that prompted voiding is an effective measure for managing the problem of urinary incontinence and a behavioral strategy that can be implemented in nursing homes, both to deal with the problem and to change the attitudes of elderly residents and caregivers towards urinary incontinence. With a donation of HK$1.26 million from The Hong Kong Jockey Club … [Read more...]

With the help of biomimetic matrices, a research team led by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego has discovered exactly how calcium phosphate can coax stem cells to become bone-building cells. This work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Jan. 6, 2014. UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering professor Shyni … [Read more...]