Health & Wellness

Details: Written by: Kara Gavin-U. Michigan

Costly Scans Don’t Save Lives After Lung Cancer "PET scanning is a great technology and very effective, but using it in this way doesn't seem to make any difference for these cancers that have a relatively poor prognosis," says Mark Healey

Details: Written by: David Neil, Lecturer, University of Wollongong

What Is The Placebo Effect And Are Doctors Allowed To Prescribe Them? Suppose you discovered that some past prescription a GP gave you was actually a placebo. The treatment made you feel better, but now you know that the perceived benefit was really a placebo effect. Would you be upset at the deception, or pleased the doctor had found a way to help you?

Details: Written by: Nicholas Talley, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Research and Laureate Professor of Medicine, University of Newcastle

gut batceria 3 6 If you’ve eaten a fabulous meal recently, the experience was pleasant, comfortable and pain-free because your stomach and intestinal system worked seamlessly to move the food along and eventually absorb it.

Details: Written by: Andrew Watterson, Chair in Health Effectiveness, University of Stirling

Can Talcum Powder Really Cause Ovarian Cancer? The debate about whether or not talcum powder causes ovarian cancer has rumbled on for decades. However, it recently reached fever pitch after a US court awarded damages to the family of a woman who died of ovarian cancer, allegedly as a result of having used talc as a feminine hygiene product for many years. Does that mean women should avoid using talcum powder?

Details: Written by: Tim Olds, Professor of Health Sciences, University of South Australia

We’d all like to have a different, or at least improved, body. But why do we want the body we want? Mike/Flickr, CC BY-SA A 2011 British survey found 12% of women would give up two to ten years of their lives just to be their ideal weight, while 29% of men think about their appearance at least five times a day. So what makes an ideal body, and why do we want one so badly?

Details: Written by: Vincent Ho, Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University

Japanese people are more likely to crave sushi because it’s what they eat regularly. Kana Hata/Flickr, CC BY Food craving is an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist. This is different from hunger, as consumption of any number of foods satisfies hunger. Food craving is an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist. This is different from hunger, as consumption of any number of foods satisfies hunger.

Details: Written by: Rebecca Charlotte Reynolds, Lecturer in Nutrition, UNSW Australia

Things To Consider When Pondering Whether We Should Eat Red Meat Many types of red meat and red meat products are available, from farmers' markets, to supermarkets, to restaurants. The impacts of their production and consumption on human health, animal welfare and the environment are complex.

Details: Written by: Matthew Solovey-Penn State University

Omega-3s May Lower Breast Cancer Risk For Obese Women Obesity is a major breast cancer risk factor in postmenopausal women, and scientists believe increased inflammation is an important underlying cause.

Details: Written by: Jordan Smith, Lecturer , University of Newcastle

Should Children And Adolescents Lift Weights? We all know exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, and most will agree kids should be doing more of it. However, a recent study found while parents are positive about their children engaging in aerobic activities (running, playing sports), they have much more negative views when it comes to strength exercises.

Details: Written by: Amy Reichelt, Senior Research Fellow, UNSW Australia

Does Eating Chocolate Improve Your Brain Function? Everyone loves a study that turns one of our favourite vices into a health benefit. This week, the news headlines tell us “eating chocolate improves brain function” and that it “could help protect against normal age-related decline”.

Details: Written by: James P Sheppard, Senior Research Fellow in Primary Care, University of Oxford

Why We Should Measure Our Own Blood Pressure My heavily pregnant wife went to see her GP last week for a routine check-up. During her appointment, the doctor measured her blood pressure and got a high reading. My wife was surprised by this and insisted that she felt fine, so he took a second reading. But that was high, too. The doctor was concerned enough to book her a follow-up

Details: Written by: Nick Fuller, Research Fellow, Clinical Trials Development and Assessment, University of Sydney

Acai berries are just berries. Youtube, CC BY The list of over-the-counter dietary and weight loss supplements is exhaustive, with the majority based on scant supporting evidence from studies conducted in humans to support their claims. Weight-loss products make up one of the largest growing markets in the world.

Details: Written by: Jane Peek, Post-doctoral researcher, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Learning to cope. Toni Blay, CC BY-NC-ND Billy Connolly picked up a special recognition award at the recent National Television Awards for 50 years in the entertainment industry – but it was the effects of the comedian’s illness that shaped the headlines.

Details: Written by: Steve Ellen, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Monash University

Marital resemblance is the degree to which we marry people who resemble us in some characteristic or another. olga_murillo/Flickr, CC BY

Marital resemblance is the degree to which we marry people who resemble us in some characteristic or another.Is it true that like attracts like? When it comes to mental health, it seems the answer is yes.

Details: Written by: Irene Maeve Rea, Professor emeritus, Queens University Belfast

People In Their Nineties Reveal The Secrets To Aging Well There are many reasons why some people live long healthy lives while others don’t, but one of them is undoubtedly genes. That doesn’t mean we should be negative about our chances of ageing in good health. Although our genes are handed down from our parents, the hand that we are dealt seems to be influenced by our lifestyle, too. Food,

Details: Written by: Daniel Angus, Lecturer, The University of Queensland

New App Helps People With Neurological Conditions Practice Speech Researchers at CSIRO and University of Queensland have developed an app called Harlie that is designed to chat with humans. Unlike Siri and Google Now – which are designed to answer specific questions – Harlie is designed for small talk.

Details: Written by: Richard Hoffman, Lecturer in Nutritional Biochemistry, University of Hertfordshire

What Are Ready Meals Doing To Our Health? Who doesn’t like a ready meal once in a while? People in the UK certainly do: consumption of ready meals and convenience meat products has increased five-fold over the last 40 years, according to the latest National Food Survey on UK food-buying habits. High levels of calories and fat in some of these products can

Details: Written by: Jim Dryden, Washington University in St. Louis

Just A 5% Weight Loss Can Dramatically Improve Your Health "If you weigh 200 pounds, you will be doing yourself a favor if you can lose 10 pounds and keep it off," Samuel Klein says. "You don't have to lose 50 pounds to get important health benefits."

Details: Written by: Peter Gates, Senior Research Officer, National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Australia

Does Cannabis Cause Mental Illness? Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with one in three adults using it at some point in their life. It’s legal in some places around the world, and offered medicinally in others. But what does smoking pot do to your mental health?

Details: Written by: Nathan Hurst, University of Missouri

Exercise May Protect The Liver From Booze

New research suggests that aerobic exercise could offer protective benefits for the liver against damage caused by excessive alcohol consumption. A study using 'runner rats' indicates that higher levels of physical activity may mitigate the risks of fatty liver disease and inflammation associated with chronic drinking.

Details: Written by: Zoë Krupka, PhD Student Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University

domestic violence 2 25 The story of how psychology framed women for their own assaults began, as so many of psychology’s stories do, with some trapped animals. In the late 1960s, psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a series of behavioural experiments with dogs. He electrically shocked them at random and observed their responses.