Too many patients who go to U.S. emergency rooms for dental problems are prescribed antibiotics and opioid painkillers, a new study claims. The findings show the need for continued efforts to combat both opioid abuse and overuse of antibiotics, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said. For the study, the investigators analyzed… read on >
A new poll suggests that education is all that stops most Americans from embracing plant-based diets that are better for the planet. The poll, of just over 1,000 adults nationwide, found that 51% said they would eat more plant-based foods if they knew more about the environmental impacts of their eating habits, but 70% said… read on >
Little ones who stay up late may have a higher risk of becoming overweight by the time they are school-age, a new study suggests. Researchers found that young children who routinely got to sleep after 9 p.m. tended to gain more body fat between the ages of 2 and 6. Compared with kids who had… read on >
Grandparents can be a bad influence on kids’ weight, researchers say. That’s the upshot of an analysis of 23 studies conducted in the United States and eight other countries by a team from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The study found that kids who were cared for by grandparents had nearly… read on >
Could hot chocolate deliver relief to those suffering from the painful condition known as peripheral artery disease (PAD)? A small, new study says it’s entirely possible. Though you may be picturing a steaming cup of hot milk chocolate with tiny marshmallows bobbing on the top, the concoction the study volunteers drank was made from dark… read on >
A clinical trial of the weight-loss drug Belviq (lorcaserin) shows an association with an increased risk of cancer, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting that its maker withdraw the drug from the U.S. market. Eisai Inc. has already “submitted a request to voluntarily withdraw the drug,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, who directs the… read on >
In the midst of a U.S. epidemic of opioid abuse, knowing how to quickly administer the anti-overdose drug naloxone could save a life. Now, research finds that delivering naloxone via nasal spray could be the quickest and easiest of three methods of administration. “Our goal was to see if there was a method that was… read on >
For better or worse, your social media friends might be influencing your eating habits, British researchers report. They asked nearly 400 college students to estimate how much fruit, veggies, snacks and sugary drinks their Facebook friends ate each day. Those participants who believed their social media buddies ate the recommended five daily portions of fruits… read on >
Viagra can salvage a man’s sex life, but in rare cases it may temporarily steal his sight. Researchers report that some men who took sildenafil — the generic form of the impotence drug — suffered from vision problems, including a kind of color blindness that could take weeks to resolve. The case report details 17… read on >
Nearly half of antibiotic prescriptions for Medicaid patients appear to be inappropriate, new research suggests. That kind of overprescribing raises risks for everyone, experts say, as bacteria gain more chances to mutate around the life-saving drugs. For the study, researchers analyzed 298 million antibiotic prescriptions filled by 53 million Medicaid patients between 2004 and 2013.… read on >
