Researchers have finally found that how much fiber you eat can affect stroke severity and the chances of recovery. The researchers studied 50 stroke victims. They found that the more fiber they ate, the less severe their stroke and the greater the chance they could resume everyday activities like feeding themselves.

“Many recent studies have looked at fiber and its relation to the risk of having a stroke,” says researcher Angela Besanger, RD, a nutritionist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “What’s new here is that we looked at people who have had a stroke, asking whether fiber can decrease its severity and improve function,” Besanger said.

She presented the results at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference. For the study, participants were asked to recall how much fiber they consumed in a 24-hour period. Then, their consumption of total fiber, soluble fiber, and insoluble fiber was correlated with stroke severity and recovery. Read more

Antibiotic drug are meant to treat bacterial infections, but they are not effective against viruses such as those that cause the common cold. To prevent overuse of antibiotics, it’s important to only take them for bacterial infections. Here are suggestions on how to use antibiotics properly, courtesy of the Nemours Foundation:

* Only Drink antibiotics as recommended by your doctor. Never take any antibiotic that was prescribed for someone else, or that was prescribed for you to treat a different illness. Read more

A recent study reports that the eyes can provide clues that tell researchers how well a person can hear. This finding may be especially helpful for diagnosing hearing problems in babies, very young children and in people who can’t actively take a hearing test, such as those with a traumatic brain injury. “When most animals detect a change in their environment, their pupils dilate. And, the quieter the sound, the less the dilation,” explained study author Avinash Bala, a research associate at the University of Oregon in Eugene. “One of the things you can use this for is to see when a sound becomes detectable.” Read more

New study find that hospital patients who have the misfortune of suffering cardiac arrest at night or on the weekend are less likely to survive than those who have a heart attack during weekdays or weekday evenings. Although the study was not set up to pinpoint exactly why this is happening, it’s likely that different staffing patterns, access to procedures, and other systemic issues may explain the difference in outcomes.

“Hospitals simply don’t work the same at night as they do during the day,” explained study author Dr. Mary Ann Peberdy, an associate professor of internal medicine and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “There is enough data out there to suggest that this may be a process issue that is at least contributing, and probably contributing substantially.” Read more