Month: November 2010

Exercise and support can make the difference in weight-loss programs, two new studies suggest. One study included 130 severely obese people. Their average weight was 264 pounds. They were randomly divided into two groups. Both got free low-calorie meals and counseling support. One group started an exercise program right away. The other started it after 6 months. After a year, the first group had lost an average of 27 pounds. The group that delayed exercising lost 22 pounds. The other study included 442 women. Their average weight was 200 pounds. They were divided into 3 groups. Two got Jenny Craig meals for free. One of these groups got counseling at Jenny Craig centers, and the other group by phone. Women in the third group did not get free food. They met with a dietician and had monthly follow-up calls.

A group of doctors who treat brain injuries wants more protections for athletes who suffer concussions. The advice came from the American Academy of Neurology. The new statement says that any athlete who may have a concussion should be removed from play until evaluated by an expert. The player would return only when a doctor trained in treatment of sports concussion says it’s safe. Anyone still having symptoms of concussion would not be allowed to play. The group also says that a certified athletic trainer should attend all games and practices when athletes are at risk for concussion. All of the advice applies to all levels of sports, from youth to professional leagues. Most youth sports do not have a trainer at games or practices, the Associated Press (AP) noted. Providing them would be very difficult, people involved in the sports told AP.

Considering harm to others as well as yourself, alcohol is worse than heroin or crack, drug abuse experts say in a new report. In fact, they found alcohol to be the most harmful of 20 drugs considered. The criteria included personal harms such as health effects. On this scale alone, the most harmful drugs were heroin, crack and methamphetamine. But the experts also considered harm to relationships, non-drug crime rates and other criteria. Combining both types of harm, alcohol far outranked other drugs. This was partly because it is used so widely, experts told the Associated Press. Heroin and crack came next in total harm. They were followed by methamphetamine, cocaine, tobacco, amphetamine and marijuana. The journal Lancet published the study online October 31.

Researchers have announced progress in detecting colon cancer or pre-cancers using a stool or blood test. If proven effective, they could be an alternative to the more invasive tests thought to be best now. And that could encourage more people to get tested. Colonoscopy, the most recommended test now, involves threading a tube with an attached camera into the colon. The new stool test comes from Exact Sciences, of Madison, Wis. It looks for hidden blood, a chemical change and differences (mutations) in specific genes. The blood test looks for changes in a single gene. It comes from the German company Epigenomics AG. Results of both tests were reported at conferences. The stool test was tried on samples from people who also had colonoscopies. It detected 64% of the polyps that can grow into cancer and 85% of the cancers.