Teen girls who often read magazine articles about dieting and weight loss appear to be three times as likely to engage in extreme dieting practices, such as vomiting and using laxatives. So say University of Minnesota experts, including Patricia van den Berg, PhD.

Their study doesn’t prove the magazines caused teen girls to go on unhealthy diets or use extreme measures to control their weight. But parents might want to limit their teenaged daughters’ exposure to magazines that prize thinness, and teens should put media images in perspective, van den Berg’s team says. The study appears in Pediatrics’ January edition.

Researchers looked at 2,516 Minnesota teens, divided roughly equally by sex. The teens were studied for five years, starting when they were about 13-15 years old. At the study’s start, the teens completed surveys about dieting, body image, and self-esteem. The survey also included this question: “How often do you read magazine articles in which dieting or weight loss [is] discussed?” Forty-four percent of the girls reported reading such articles frequently, compared with 14% of the boys. The researchers also measured the teens’ height and weight. Five years later, the teens completed a follow-up survey. Read more

Cosmetic skin fillers called polyalkylimide implant injections may cause infrequent, but sometimes severe, immune-related side effects months after treatment, Spanish researchers warn.
These implants, which consist of gel and water, are used in cosmetic procedures for facial features such as the lips, cheeks, forehead and lines that develop between the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds).

“In the early reports on polyalkylimide implant injections for cosmetic purposes, there were no significant signs of bioincompatibility (rejection of, or reaction to, the foreign material). However, more recent evidence refutes these statements, and so the complete safety of polyalkylimide implant gels can no longer be assured,” wrote Dr. Jaume Alijotas-Reig, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Autonomous University of Barcelona, and colleagues. They assessed 25 patients who developed adverse effects 12 months or more after polyalkylimide implant injection. The problems included swelling, hardening, and swollen or tender nodules (skin lesions) near the injection site, along with systemic troubles such as fever, arthritis, and dry eyes or mouth.
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A compound found in celery and green peppers may help protect against inflammatory brain conditions. The compound, called luteolin, is a potent antioxidant known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Luteolin belongs to a family of plant molecules called flavonoids, which are found in various vegetables, fruits, and beverages, including chamomile tea.

Researchers have rigorously studied the potential health effects of flavonoids for more than a decade. Previous studies have shown that flavonoids can help counter dementia caused by brain inflammation.

For the current study, Saebyeol Jang of the division of nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and colleagues investigated how luteolin acts on cells called microglia taken from mice. Microglia are scattered throughout the central nervous system and are principally responsible for the brain’s immunological defense. Excessive production of inflammatory molecules produced by microglia in the brain can worsen neurodegenerative changes seen in animal studies on Alzheimer’s disease and an inflammatory brain condition called Creutzfeld-Jakob disease.

Jang’s team exposed mice microglia cells to bacteria and then treated them with the luteolin. Their experiment showed that luteolin reduced the inflammation triggered by the bacteria. The researchers also learned that the celery compound blocked a “promoter” to the gene that coded for an inflammatory signaling molecule.

In a second experiment, the researchers gave mice drinking water containing luteolin for three weeks, and then injected the animals with bacteria. Blood tests showed that the luteolin-spiked water reduced measures of inflammation in the blood and brain four hours after the injection. Specifically, researchers noted a reduction in inflammation in the brain’s hippocampus, the area related to memory and learning.

via webmd

Women who breastfeed for more than one year reduce their risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by half, according to a new Swedish study. The researchers also found that having children but not breastfeeding offered women no protection against the disease. Taking oral contraceptives also failed to reduce the risk of RA. It’s been suspected that oral contraceptives offer protection against the disease because they contain hormones that are elevated during pregnancy.

The Malmo University Hospital study included 136 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 544 women without the disease. Women who breastfed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get RA as those who never breastfed. Women who had breastfed for one to 12 months were 25 percent less likely to get the disease than those who never breastfed. Read more

Your mother was right: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Not only does it give you energy to start a new day, but breakfast is linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved performance.

Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast (as opposed to the kind containing doughnuts) can help give you:

* A more nutritionally complete diet, higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals
* Improved concentration and performance in the classroom or the boardroom
* More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity
* Lower cholesterol levels
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