Dangerous Drink
Photos: GettyImages. Texting, Rick Gomez; Healthy Gums, John Kuczala; Slim Design, Fuse; Drink, Zlatko Kostic; Autism, Image Source; Snoring, Image Source.
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omen with soda habits have just been given yet another reason to consider making the switch to something a little less sweet. Researchers have established a correlation between the consumption of soda and other sugary drinks to endometrial cancer. The disease, which tends to be most prevalent in postmenopausal women in their 60s and 70s, appears to develop at a
much higher rate in women who are heavy soda drinkers, according to researchers affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Researchers did not find a similar link in consumers of diet or sugar-free beverages. One theory researchers offered for their findings is a possible correlation between sugary beverages, obesity and cancer as obese women tend to have higher rates of insulin and estrogen
Snoring and Pregnancy
Don’t Mix
I
f you’re pregnant and snore during your sleep, it’s nothing to snooze about, according to a new study. It turns out snoring may actually be harmful to you and your baby. Researchers at the University of Michigan reveal in a new study that expectant mothers who snore three or more nights per week are at higher risk of poor delivery outcomes, including births by cesarean section and delivering low-birth-weight babies. Researchers found that even when their gestational ages were similar, babies of chronic snorers were often likely to be much smaller than
babies born to nonsnorers often falling below the tenth percentile of birth weights. The researchers also noted that women who begin snoring during pregnancy are at higher risk for dangerous conditions such as high blood pressure and preeclampsia. Researchers say the study has important implications for maternal and fetal health, as identifying snoring mothers during pregnancy and treating them for problems such as sleep apnea may lead to better pregnancies, safer deliveries and more robust newborns. The study was reported recently in the journal Sleep. source: http://tinyurl. com/hl14snore
than their healthier-weight counterparts. Higher rates of insulin and estrogen have been associated with endometrial cancer. Meanwhile, the American Beverage Association, an industry trade group, says that the study did not establish an actual cause and effect relationship between endometrial cancer and sweetened drink consumption. source: http://tinyurl. com/hl14sugar
Focus on Autism A
s researchers continue to delve into the complicated and baffling reasons for the autism epidemic, they have set their sights on finding ways to identify the syndrome earlier in infants. And they’ve yielded another important clue: Although autism and its related spectrum disorders are often not formally diagnosed until after the age of 2, researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) say they have been able to spot symptoms in much younger children by focusing on their eye contact or lack of it. In a study recently published in the journal Nature the NIMH researchers said they discovered a startling decline in the amount of eye contact infants later diagnosed with the disorder made with adults — most notably their mothers — beginning between the ages of 2 to 6 months. Children typically begin to explore the faces of others within the first hours of life. The next step, researchers say, is to translate their findings about early eye contact in a manner that is helpful for diagnostic and treatment uses. source: http://tinyurl.com/hl14autism
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