Studies and Analyses

One of the simpler ways to curtail the obesity epidemic could be to cut the volume of sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks Americans are increasingly consuming, authors of new study say.

The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that energy intake from such drinks in the United States increased 135 percent between about 1977 and 2001. Over the same span, energy intake from milk — a far more nutritious beverage — dropped 38 percent.

Adults eat around twice the amount of fruit and vegetables and less fat and sugar than they did as children, a new study suggests.

Contrary to popular opinion, nutritionists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne found that most people’s diets get healthier from childhood to young adulthood. However, the research team, who were funded by the Wellcome Trust and who have published their results in the academic journal, Appetite*, also discovered that many people perceive barriers

Why do some older people experience a rapid decline in their physical and functional health while some of their peers remain healthy and active? While your genes and overall physical health play a role, new research shows how psychosocial factors can also play an important role. Two studies report on this in the September issue of Psychology and Aging, a journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

In the first study, researchers at the University of Texas Medi

Test may allow patients to avoid costly and time-consuming CT scans

A new study shows that the CA125 blood test, which measures the level of protein produced by ovarian cancer cells in the blood, may be superior to standard imaging techniques like CT scans in predicting survival in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. The study, to be published online September 13 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is the first to compare the two procedures with respect to survival.

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Challenging decades of scientific belief that the decoding of sound originates from a preferred side of the brain, UCLA and University of Arizona scientists have demonstrated that right-left differences for the auditory processing of sound start at the ear.

Reported in the Sept. 10 edition of Science, the new research could hold profound implications for rehabilitation of persons with hearing loss in one or both ears, and help doctors enhance speech and language development in hearin

In recent years, scientists have made important strides in developing drugs that help patients manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease – a chronic, progressive movement disorder affecting as many as one million Americans. But despite their effectiveness, the drugs don’t stop Parkinson’s disease from progressing, causing patients’ symptoms to eventually grow worse in spite of medication.

Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that two spec