According to researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, low social interaction twice as harmful as obesity and just as harmful as alcohol and smoking when it comes to longevity. The meta-analysis suggests that social ties have a very important but not widely recognized effect on health. Read more

A recent study online at Journal of Medical Internet Research has come to the conclusion that individualized websites can help people maintain weight loss. Maintaining the weight loss is considered the most critical phase among health experts as most people relapse within two years. Read more

According to a study presented in Archives of Neurology low vitamin D levels might provide an important clue as to why some people are more prone to develop Parkison’s disease. The study that involved 3000 participants and lasted 30 years found that the participants with low levels of vitamin D ere three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s.

19 people have fallen ill and three developed kidney failure after eating shredded romaine lettuce sold from restaurants and wholesalers. Federal officials have now announced a multistate recall of the contaminated lettuce.

According to a large study published online May 7 a high intake of coffee and carbonated drinks does not increase the risk of developing colon cancer. Tea on the other hand did show some modest associations and will be researched further.The study is called Risk of Colon Cancer and Coffee, Tea, and Sugar-Sweetened Soft Drink Intake: Pooled Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies and can be found in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2010

According to the results from a randomized controlled study to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting pregnant women might benefit from doses of vitamin D as high as 4000 IU. Women taking high doses of the vitamin experienced lower rates of preterm labor and preterm birth, and lower rates of infection

A group of retired military leaders have expressed their concerns about the state of USA children, as 27% of the young adults from 2005 were to overweight so serve in the military, and is the main cause for being rejected. The excess weight makes it harder to pass the physical exam, an leaves people wondering if USA is just to fat to fight.

A year-long study in an upstate New York middle school has shown that moving the salad bar closer to the cash register increases the sales by 250-300%, and got 6% more of the children to eat lunch. This non-expensive method widely used by stores to increase sales can be used to clever promote better food choices for the children.