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JAMA

Achieving Health Equity by Design

April 14, 2015

Disparities in health outcomes by race and ethnicity and by income status are persistent and difficult to reduce. For more than a decade, infant mortality rates have been 2 to 3 times higher among African American populations, rates of potentially preventable hospitalization have been substantially higher among African American and Latino populations, and the complications of diabetes have disproportionately afflicted African American and Latino populations.1 These and other disparities have persisted despite recognition that inequity costs the economy an estimated $300 billion per year.2 In addition, health disparities threaten the ability of health care organizations to compete fiscally as insurers increasingly base payments on quality and outcomes, such as reducing preventable admissions and readmissions.

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JAMA

April 14, 2015

The Health of Young African American Men

Deaths in Ferguson, Missouri; New York City; Sanford, Florida; and other areas have focused international attention on young African American men. In a recent campaign, young African American men draw attention to key overlooked facts that describe their demographic: 1 of 3 goes to college, 3 of 4 are drug free, 5 of 9 have jobs, 7 of 8 are not teenaged fathers, and 11 of 12 finish high school.1 How can clinicians help address existing health disparities and add to these positive outcomes?

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February 24, 2015

A Finnish study found daily saunas protect middle-aged men against heart attacks.

Men’s Fitness

MEN’S FITNESS

The Finnish are clearly onto something. Though the Angry Birds ship has sailed—we feel your deep-seeded jealousy toward Rovio’s genius, too—you can jump on Finland’s health bandwagon by stepping into a sauna.

Frequent sauna trips (baths? sits?) may help you live longer, a Finnish study published in JAMA Internal Medicine has found. Saunas are to Finland what Starbucks is to America. For a population of 5.3 million people, there are 3.3. million saunas in Finland, according to InterNations.org. And they have good reason to cherish their sweatboxes.


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LAUGHING MAKES YOUR BRAIN WORK BETTER

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Men’s Fitness

Studies show that laughter improves memory.

Laughter is great not just for your mood, but for your gray matter, says a new study out of Loma Linda U., where a group of adults who watched a funny video for 30 minutes did better on unrelated short-term-memory tests afterward than a separate group who’d just sat twiddling their thumbs.


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  • Say pilsner and black beer is most effective
  • Can halve the amount of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have been linked to colorectal cancer

As barbecue season approaches, researchers have discovered an unlikely ingredient that could improve the safety of your meat – letting it swill in beer.

They say that letting meat marindade in pilsner can help reduce the formation of potentially harmful cancer-causing substances in grilled meats.

They say pilsner and black beer are most effective, halving the amount of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have been linked to colorectal cancer.

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Medical Daily

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Medical Daily

Dec 10, 2014 02:21 PM

Turmeric is a main spice in curry — it’s a yellow-colored, bitter-tasting ginger root that can also be quite medicinal. Turmeric has been used to treat arthritis, heartburn, stomach issues, and diarrhea, among other things throughout human history — but now researchers have found a new potential outlet for the root in treating disorders involving fear memories, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In a new study led by Glenne Schafe, a professor of psychology at Hunter College, researchers found that curcumin — the principal compound found in turmeric — impaired the formation of fear memories in the brain after a traumatic experience.

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The Huffington Post

 

Your love for avocados is oh-so right, according to a new study that finds that eating an avocado a day can improve bad cholesterol levels — at least in overweight and obese people.

Avocados have gotten a bad rap in the past because they’re high in calories and fat. But it’s their richness in monounsaturated fat that researchers say gives avocado its ability to lower bad cholesterol.

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From the print edition

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The Economist

Electronic cigarettes and health

The latest investigation of vaping suggests it can help you quit smoking

 

Dec 20th 2014 | From the print edition

THERE are few more reliable routes to an early grave than cigarette smoking. But despite the dangers, nicotine addicts find it almost impossible to kick the habit. Half of those who try to stop “cold turkey” will fail within a week. Fewer than 5% manage to stay clean for a year or more. Crutches such as nicotine patches or gum, which provide the drug without the cigarettes, can help—but only a little.

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 Men’s Fitness

How to avoid the possibility of eating poisonous rice.

Eaters of white and brown rice have healthier diets— they take in more fruits and vegetables and less saturated fat and added sugar, a Baylor College of Medicine study of more than 14,000 adults showed. But all’s not well in Riceville. It turns out, the grain is often tainted with carcinogenic metals, especially when crops are grown in once industrial areas. In China, the concern is cadmium, a metallic compound that may cause cancer and kidney disease. In fact, a Greenpeace East Asia test found unsafe levels of cadmium in 12 of 13 rice crops sampled. Stateside, arsenic is the enemy, though the FDA has so far deemed levels too low to cause immediate adverse health effects.

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From the print edition

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The Economist

Food allergies

Patching things up

A new treatment for allergy to peanuts is being developed

 

Dec 20th 2014 | CHICAGO | From the print edition

  • T

ANAPHYLAXIS, an allergic reaction that causes swellings and rashes and can thus block a person’s airways, is always unpleasant and sometimes lethal. Often, the allergen is in a specific sort of food. Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soyabeans and wheat are particularly risky. Together, they account for 90% of anaphylactic incidents in America, a country in which between 4% and 8% of children are reckoned to have a food allergy, and in which a third or more of such allergies are potentially life-threatening.

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