Plant breeders of the Wisconsin-Madison University have developed a new oat variety called BetaGene, which is 2% higher in beta glucan and therefore even more cardio-friendly than other oat varieties on the market...

A woman who is both over weight and pregnant faces double challenges, not least because many women who are not overweight struggle not to gain weight over the course of the nine month gestation period. Pregnant women who are overweight or obese can have serious health risks including high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, diabetes and premature birth, but there is good news...

The constant health education that dialysis patients receive can lead to boredom and noncompliance. But a Loyola University Medical Center study has found that brief, casual chats can be a significant benefit to patients. The technique is called "talking control support therapy." As patients were undergoing dialysis, researchers stopped by for informal chats...

As we near the final year exams for schools and universities, students should be wary of powering up on buckets of soda and pocketfuls of candy bars. A UCLA study on rats suggests that fructose slows down the brain and memory functions. Too much sweetness can also prevent learning. The findings are published in Journal of Physiology and also show omega-3 fatty acids helping to negate the effect...

Beta-carotene, selenium and folic acid - taken up to three times their recommended daily allowance, these supplements are probably harmless. But taken at much higher levels as some supplement manufacturers suggest, these three supplements have now been proven to increase the risk of developing a host of cancers...

Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning - and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology has published the findings...

For the first time, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have peered inside a living mouse cell and mapped the processes that power the celebrated health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids...

A study in the May 16 edition of JAMA reveals that survival rates of newborns in poor Bangladeshi communities were significantly improved if their mothers received multiple micronutritions, including iron and folic acid combined with early food supplementation during pregnancy, in comparison with women receiving the usual food supplementation...

Water could change the way we eat. That's the conclusion of new research by T. Bettina Cornwell of the University of Oregon and Anna R. McAlister of Michigan State University. Their findings appear online this week ahead of regular publication by the journal Appetite. The paper featured separate studies. One involved a survey of 60 young U.S...

A curious twist in a family of plant proteins called chalcone-isomerase recently was discovered by Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Joseph Noel and colleagues at Iowa State University led by Eve Wurtele...

A new study that looked at the hunger trends over a 10-year period found that 14.85 percent of seniors in the United States, more than one in seven, face the threat of hunger. This translates into 8.3 million seniors...

National Medal of Science winner Bruce N...

A new study led by Brown University researchers reports that percutaneous endoscopic gastric (PEG) feeding tubes, long assumed to help bedridden dementia patients stave off or overcome pressure ulcers, may instead make the horrible sores more likely to develop or not improve. The analysis of thousands of nursing home patients with advanced dementia appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine...

Managing adult obesity is challenging for primary care physicians, but a new review published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to provide an evidence-based approach to counselling patients to help them lose weight and maintain weight loss...

Individuals who consume egg proteins for breakfast are more likely to feel full during the day than those whose breakfasts contain wheat protein. Results from the study, conducted by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana, USA, and colleagues were presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France...

An online poll conducted for World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggests that only one in five adults in Britain is eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. The YouGov poll conducted earlier this month finds that on average ony 22% of the British adult population is consuming the 5 portions a day recommended by the government...

People with Type 2 diabetes are usually advised to keep a low-fat diet. Now, a study at Linkoping University shows that food with a lot of fat and few carbohydrates could have a better effect on blood sugar levels and blood lipids...

Neuroscientist Patrik Verstreken, associated with VIB and KU Leuven, succeeded in undoing the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson's using vitamin K2. His discovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients...

A national, phase II clinical trial examining the effects of resveratrol on individuals with mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease has begun as more than two dozen academic institutions recruit volunteers in the coming months. R. Scott Turner, M.D., Ph.D., director of Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, is the lead investigator for the national study...

Soybeans soaking in warm water could become a new "green" source for production of a cancer-fighting substance now manufactured in a complicated and time-consuming industrial process, scientists are reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Hari B...