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Eating a Mediterranean-style diet may reduce the risk of diabetes, a new study suggests. The study included more than 3,500 older adults who were at high risk of heart disease. They were randomly divided into 3 groups. Two groups followed a Mediterranean-style diet. This type of diet is high in fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, olive oil, beans and legumes. It is low in red meat and dairy. One Mediterranean-diet group added extra olive oil to the diet. The other group added extra mixed nuts. The third group followed a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. In the next 4 years, people on the Mediterranean-style diet were less likely to develop diabetes than those in the high-carb, low-fat group. Risk was 40% lower for the extra-oil group and 18% lower for the mixed-nuts group. The journal Annals of Internal Medicine published the study online.

Large doses of vitamin E might slow the rate of functional decline for people with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds. Functional decline means less ability to care for yourself. The study included 600 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. They were randomly divided into 4 groups. One group received 2,000 international units (IU) daily of alpha tocopherol, a form of vitamin E. This is a very large prescription dose. Another group received the Alzheimer’s medicine memantine (Namenda). A third group got both medicines. A fourth group received placebo (fake) pills. Researchers kept track of people for an average of 2.3 years. People who took vitamin E alone had a 19% lower rate of functional decline each year than the placebo group. They also needed 2 fewer hours of care each day. But their rate of mental decline was not significantly lower.

About 22% of young teens have sexted. And those who sent sexually explicit messages or pictures via their phones were 4 to 7 times more likely to engage in other sexual behaviors. So says a study in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers studied 410 seventh-grade students from 5 public middle schools in Rhode Island. The students, ages 12 to 14, answered survey questions online. Researchers suggest that parents and doctors start talking to kids about sexting, sex and their consequences as early as middle school. The study was published in Pediatrics online. HealthDay News reported on it Jan. 6.