Exclusively breastfed babies have fewer and less severe infections as infants regardless of the standard of health care or vaccinations they receive, according to a new study. But partially breastfed babies may not enjoy these protective effects.
"Exclusive breastfeeding helps protect infants against common infections and lessens the frequency and severity of infectious episodes not only in developing countries but also in communities with adequate vaccination coverage and healthcare standards," writes researcher Fani Ladomenou, of the University of Crete in Heraklion, Greece, in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Although several studies have shown breastfeeding reduces the risk of a number of common childhood infections, researchers say it has not been clear whether other factors, such as standard of health care or immunization, play a role.
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New research shows that you can develop celiac disease at any age -- even if you previously tested negative for this autoimmune intestinal disorder.
During the past 30 years, there has been a fivefold increase in the prevalence of celiac disease, and a lot of these cases occurred in elderly people, according to a study published in the Annals of Medicine.
"This has been such an unexpected result," says study researcher Alessio Fasano, MD, director of the University of Maryland's School of Medicine Center for Celiac Research and their Mucosal Biology Research Center in Baltimore. "Our impression was always that this disease began in childhood, and went under the radar screen and surfaced later on with symptoms."
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(NaturalNews) A new report published in the journal Pediatrics has many common sense folks scratching their heads in confusion. Childhood obesity has become a major problem with more than 17 percent of American children now overweight, and most people realize that poor diet and lack of exercise are to blame. But a new study has somehow linked a flu-related antibody to being overweight, suggesting that it may be possible to actually "catch" obesity from an obese person.
According to the report, children who have been exposed to "adenovirus 36" (AD36), a common cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans, are apparently more likely to be fat than children who have never been exposed. Researchers came to this conclusion by sampling 124 children, in which 22 percent of those who were overweight had antibodies from AD36 in their bodies as opposed to only seven percent among those who were of a normal weight. From this, they concluded that the antibody must play some role in causing obesity.
Such reasoning, of course, is absolutely ridiculous because every medical professional knows that correlation does not imply causation, especially when it takes an extreme stretch of the imagination to make a connection, particularly one between a virus and obesity. But this fact did not stop the team from suggesting that obesity may be caused by a virus.
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A new study is the first to provide a comprehensive characterization of the effects of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in an indoor pool environment. It found that swimming in indoor chlorinated pools may induce DNA damage that can lead to cancer.
DBPs form from reactions between disinfectants and organic matter. Previous studies have found an association between DBPs in drinking water and bladder cancer. The new study looked at close to 50 healthy adults after they swam for 40 minutes in the chlorinated pool. The researchers found increases in two genotoxicity biomarkers associated with cancer risk.
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(NaturalNews) Toddlers who watch television are significantly more likely to have poor health and poor educational performance by age 10, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Montreal and published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
At the age of 10, children who had watched more TV as youngsters were significantly more likely to be rated by their teachers as having lower levels of classroom engagement and poorer performance in math. They were also less likely to be active and more likely to drink more soft drinks and have a higher body mass index.
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