In The News

I'm in the middle of completing a cool little project I started this week that I'll let you in on next week. I'm having too much fun! Until then, here's some articles worth checking out:

Diet Questions - Advice and Tips To Help You Lose Weight Safely

Should I eat protein or carbs? What's a good pre-workout meal? How about after my workout? What about the number of grams of protein per day for optimal muscle mass? These are some of the questions we receive daily from real people just like you. We have included these diet questions below to help assist you with finding the right answers to your most common diet questions. We provide diet advice and nutritional tips so you can start building muscle and losing fat! Read more.



Health Journalists Face Translation Challenge, Researchers Find

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2008) — The media constantly inform the public of new health information, but many Americans have difficulty recognizing what they should, or should not do to improve their health. University of Missouri researchers conducted a national survey and found that the majority of health journalists have not had specialized training in health reporting and face challenges in communicating new medical science developments.

Amanda Hinnant and María Len-Ríos, assistant professors in the Missouri School of Journalism, surveyed 396 newspaper and magazine journalists and completed 35 in-depth interviews to offer insight into the role of journalists in reducing the negative effects of limited health literacy. Health literacy, as defined by the American Medical Association, is ‘the ability to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment.’

“Almost half of the journalists reported they were not familiar with the concept of health literacy, but said that their readers’ ability to understand health information was very important to consider when writing health stories,” Hinnant said. “Increasing knowledge of health literacy could help journalists clarify medical information to readers.”

Of the journalists surveyed, only 18 percent had specialized training in health reporting and only 6.4 percent reported that a majority of their readers change health behaviors based on the information they provide. The journalists had an average of 18 years of journalism experience and seven years experience as health journalists.

“Health journalists play an important role in helping people effectively manage their health,” Len-Ríos said. “However, we found that many journalists find it difficult to explain health information to their readers, while maintaining the information’s scientific credibility. They have to resist ‘bogging down’ the story with too much technical science data and ‘dumbing down’ the story with overly simplistic recommendations.” Read more.

Happiness may affect breast cancer risk

BEER-SHEVA, Israel (UPI) -- Happiness and optimism may help guard against breast cancer, while adverse life events may increase breast cancer risk, Israeli researchers said.

Ronit Peled of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel questioned women about their life experiences and evaluated their levels of happiness, optimism, anxiety and depression prior to diagnosis. Researchers used this information to examine the relationship between breast cancer and life events or psychological distress.

A total of 622 women ages 25 to 45 were interviewed: 255 breast cancer patients and 367 healthy women.

The study, published in the British journal BMC Cancer, showed a clear link between outlook and risk of breast cancer, with optimists 25 percent less likely to have developed the disease. Conversely, women who suffered two or more traumatic events had a 62 percent greater risk.

"Young women who have been exposed to a number of negative life events should be considered an 'at-risk' group for breast cancer and should be treated accordingly," Peled said in a statement.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International