HealthBeat
Kids and hot cars don’t mix
Leaving kids in hot cars – or even warm cars – is never a good idea. Tragic stories of kids dying from heat stroke after being left in too-hot cars remind us of that all too often. But, according to a new national survey, an alarming number of parents say they have left their children […]
July 9, 2014 4:27 pm
Americans are stressed out
Nearly half of the people included in a nationwide survey said they’ve had a major stressful event in the past year, with most people pointing to health-related problems as the cause of the stress. NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a poll on stress this spring, surveying […]
July 7, 2014 3:07 pm
Hold the salt
A review of meals from the top restaurant chains found restaurants have decreased the amount of sodium in their meals slightly but progress has been slow and unsteady. The Center for Science in the Public Interest reviewed 136 meals from 17 restaurant chains. On average, the restaurants reduced sodium by 6 percent between 2009 and […]
July 3, 2014 2:55 pm
Nail-biting health issues
Biting your fingernails doesn’t only make your nails look bad. It can also make you feel bad. Time magazine readers asked whether biting your nails was dangerous or just gross. The magazine went to the experts, who said nail biting is dangerous for a number of different reasons. Nails harbor germs, in particular a family […]
July 2, 2014 6:05 pm
One in 10 adult deaths due to excessive drinking
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found excessive alcohol consumption accounts for one in 10 deaths among working-age adults. Excessive alcohol consumption includes binge drinking (five or more drinks on an occasion for men; four or more for women), heavy weekly alcohol consumption (15 or more drinks per week for […]
June 26, 2014 4:29 pm
Kids’ cereals: Sugar by the pound
It’s no surprise that some kids’ cereals contain a lot of sugar. But just how much sugar do they contain? According to a report by the Environmental Working Group, children’s cereals are, on average, 34 percent sugar by weight. Environmental Working Group analyzed 1,556 cereals on the U.S. market. The group found that 92 percent […]
June 24, 2014 5:24 pm
Insuring the uninsured
Nearly 60 percent of people who purchased health plans through insurance exchanges were uninsured prior to purchasing their plan, according to a new survey. The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted the survey from early April to early May, after the close of the open enrollment period. The survey includes people who purchased plans inside and outside […]
June 19, 2014 4:37 pm
U.S. health care ranks last, again
The U.S. health care system ranks last – not an unfamiliar position – among industrialized countries, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The 2014 report looks at the health care systems in 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The U.S. came […]
June 16, 2014 4:11 pm
Priorities for birth control decision making
When it comes to discussing birth control options, women and their physicians have differing opinions about what’s most important. For doctors, the most important things to discuss are how to use contraceptives and which methods are most effective at preventing pregnancy, according to a survey published in the journal Contraception. Women, however, are most concerned […]
June 12, 2014 5:12 pm
FDA: Pregnant women should eat more fish
Pregnant women aren’t getting enough fish in their diet, according to government officials. The Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that pregnant women should be eating two or three servings of low-mercury fish per week. The announcement is the first time government officials have given a minimum amount, according to […]
June 10, 2014 5:20 pm