Weird Health News: Red Meat Causes Blindness?

Anne Hathaway has been reportedly enjoying burgers these days. After getting super-svelte for the Oscars, the star is enjoying herself a bit. Hey, a good burger now and then isn't going to do you in. But, if you eat red meat a lot, researchers say they have a new health concern for you. Carnivores, read on.

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Researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia followed about 5,600 men and women over the course of 13 years. They found that those who consumed beef, lamb, and pork at least 10 times per week were 50 percent more likely to develop blindness.

Clearly there could be other factors at play here (for instance, maybe the meat-eating people in the study didn't eat their vegetables or get other important nutrients?), but the findings are a little startling. Still, the takeaway isn't that red meat is bad, or that eating it will make you blind (good, because I'm still eating it!), it's just another hint that too much of anything might increase various health risks.

Weird Health News: Fatty Foods May Make Your Brain Sluggish

You know that tired, sluggish feeling you have after eating a big greasy burger and fries? I tend to have a once-a-year craving for a huge burger, and afterward I always feel like I need to be wheeled out on a stretcher. Here's the startling reason why, say researchers ...

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The New York Times reported on a study recently, which seems to connect the dots between high-fat foods and slower mental capacity. Researchers at Cambridge University studied rats and found that rodents who were fed a short-term high-fat diet (in other words, the equivalent of your recent burger cravings) had significantly reduced cognitive function.

Weight Loss News: Beware of This Kind of Breakfast

Breakfast is healthy, right? Of course it is! But, be careful--researchers warn that if you approach your breakfast this way, you may have trouble losing weight and keeping it off...

We've all heard the news that breakfast eaters are more likely to lose weight and keep it off than non-breakfast eaters. But, that doesn't mean to go crazy on portion sizes in the morning, say researchers in Germany. A big breakfast may backfire.

They found that people who ate larger breakfasts didn't experience any greater energy level or a so-called hunger-blunting affect throughout the day compared to those who ate light breakfasts. And, the bigger breakfast eaters consumed 400+ more calories each day.

The Role of Fiber in a Pre Diabetic Diet

Breaking down the various components of a pre diabetic diet can be helpful in finding areas where you can make the diet even more appealing to you. After all, diets that we agree with are much easier to stick to than ones where we feel deprived.

Fiber is one of those areas that generates a lot of discussion when it comes to a pre-diabetic diet. Fiber is a solid part of any good pre-diabetic diet and steps should be taken to incorporate as much fiber as possible. From a health perspective, fiber is what helps us maintain good digestive health, as well as allows us to process nutrients better.

Thankfully, you can get plenty of fiber without breaking your new pre-diabetic diet as well. In fact, vegetables and beans have the fiber that you're looking for, and both food items can be acquired cheaply in large quantities. Make sure that as you incorporate more fiber into your pre-diabetic diet that you don't neglect the other aspects of your new pre-diabetic diet, such as getting plenty of water in your system. The water will help your body process and move the fiber out of your system when the time comes.

The Glycemic Index - What it Means For Your Pre-Diabetic Diet

When you're in the early stages of building a pre-diabetic diet, it's not uncommon to feel a little overwhelmed at the idea of creating such a different meal plan than what you might be used to in the past. Thankfully, you don't have to do it on your own - there are plenty of tools out there that can help you make smarter food choices from the very beginning.

One of those tools is the glycemic index, commonly abbreviated as GI. The GI index  essentially takes the most common foods and assigns a number to them based on how they affect blood sugar. The higher the number, the more likely the food is to affect your blood sugar quickly. When using the glycemic index to build a pre diabetic diet, the key is to focus on foods that have low glycemic index numbers.

Obesity May Cause More Severe Fibromyalgia Pain

U.S. researchers have linked obesity and greater pain among those suffering from the chronic disorder fibromyalgia.

Study leader Akiko Okifuji at the Pain Research & Management Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City studied a sample of fibromyalgia patients -- half of whom were obese and another 30 percent of whom were overweight. Okifuji and colleagues evaluated 215 patients using several measures -- including tests of flexibility, range of motion and strength. Heart rates and sleep quality were also assessed.

The study, published in The Journal of Pain, found obesity in fibromyalgia patients was associated with greater pain sensitivity, poorer sleep quality and reduced physical strength and flexibility.

Nutritional Supplement Quality Control

Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on nutritional supplements. But how do you know if your anti-PMS herbal remedies or calcium tablets really contain what the label says they do? Is there a way to confirm that you're getting the healing ingredients you're paying for?

One valuable resource to try is the Dietary Supplement Quality Initiative. This nonprofit organization works to promote consumer access to fairly priced, high-quality dietary supplements. Along with dispensing information on how to make educated decisions about supplement purchases, the DSQI offers news updates on supplements. Visit their Web site.

Now You'll Know What 'Organic' Means

(Washington) -- After 10 years of wrangling, the Department of Agriculture has imposed standards for the use of the term "organic" in food labeling.

The new rules preclude the use of radiation, genetic engineering, sewer-sludge fertilizer, synthetic pesticides and antibiotics in food labeled organic.

These are the first federal standards ever enacted, "the strongest and most comprehensive organic standard in the world," according to former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

As with most new regulations, there is controversy. The "non-organic" food industry represented by the National Food Processors Association does not want people to think organic is synonymous with better or healthier.

New Study Firmly Ties Hormone Use to Breast Cancer

SAN ANTONIO -- A new study finds that women who take menopause hormones for five years double their risk for breast cancer.

The new analysis of a big federal study reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.

Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for as little as a couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. And when they stopped taking them, their odds quickly improved, returning to a normal risk level roughly two years after quitting.

Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women.

New Relief for Ankle Pain

Lavanyia Glover could barely walk when she first visited Anne Arundel Medical Center, in Annapolis, Md., in 2006.

The then-32-year-old from Bowie suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for years. And the disease eventually destroyed the cartilage in her right ankle, resulting in bone rubbing against bone.

Walking became painful and she had to walk on crutches while doctors tried to decide how to help her.

She was referred to Dr. Justin Cashman III, an orthopedist at Anne Arundel Medical Center who convinced her to undergo a new ankle-replacement procedure. She was skeptical at first, but decided to try the trend-setting procedure.

New Margarine Cuts Cholesterol

In the battle against high cholesterol, butter and many brands of margarine often get a bad rap. But researchers in Finland have developed a form of margarine that actually lowers blood cholesterol.

This margarine, produced by McNeil Consumer Nutritionals Europe, contains a key ingredient called plant stanol ester. Experts say this could fight heart disease by lowering the cholesterol that blocks the arteries.

The substance appears to work by blocking cholesterol from getting into the bloodstream through the digestive system. A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, says the plant stanol ester margarine could be a "crucial step" in delaying the onset of heart problems in children afflicted by a genetic disorder that increases their risk of coronary disease.

New Hope for Hypertension

Hopelessness can lead to hypertension in middle-aged men, a new study says. Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor define hopelessness as a sense of futility and negative expectations.

Their study, which appears in the February Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, focused on 616 middle-aged men from eastern Finland. Researchers say after four years, 37 percent of the men considered "high in hopelessness" developed hypertension. By contrast, 23 percent of those with "moderate" hopelessness and 17 percent of those with little or no hopelessness suffered from hypertension.

New Genes Recognized as Breast Cancer Risk Factors

We've all heard of the dreaded "breast cancer gene." But you might be surprised to hear that there are a whopping 18 genetic codes that have been recognized by doctors as common "low risk" breast cancer risk factors. That number was only 13 until several weeks ago, when five new genetic variants were identified. Each of those genes can increase a woman's breast cancer risks by up to 16 percent.

As more mutations are found it increases the chances of combining them in a test for susceptibility to the disease. Such a test could help doctors give advice to women at risk of breast cancer and assist with diagnosis and treatment.