CDC: Bread Beats out Chips as Biggest Salt Source

Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, accounting for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food like potato chips. That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top 10 sources of sodium. Salty snacks actually came in at the bottom of the list compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn — which we think of as the saltiest foods in our diet — are only No. 10," said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. Breads and rolls aren't really saltier than many of the other foods, but people tend to eat a lot of them, said Mary Cogswell, a CDC senior scientist who co-authored the report. Salt is the main source of sodium...

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Diabetes takes toll on women's hearing

Diabetes is associated with hearing loss in women, especially if the blood sugar disease isn't well-controlled, new research indicates. The study, done by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, examined the medical records of 990 men and women who had hearing tests between 2000 and 2008. Patients with diabetes were divided into two groups: well-controlled and poorly controlled. Among women aged 60 to 75, hearing loss was 14 percent worse even in well-controlled diabetics compared with those without diabetes. That is not a clinically significant loss, noted study author Dr. Kathleen Yaremchuk, chairwoman of the department of otolaryngology at the Henry Ford Healthcare System in Detroit. “An individual might not notice it,” Yaremchuk said. On the other hand, poorly controlled diabetics’...

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Clinton Goes FULL VEGAN!

Former president Bill Clinton sponsored a whole conference Tuesday dedicated to that simple strategy for living a healthy life. He brought his daughter, celebrity exercise and cooking gurus, doctors, athletes, and a few politicians with him. Within half an hour of launching the first Health Matters meeting tied to the Human Challenge golf tournament, they all acknowledged the solution is a no-brainer. But while Tuesday's talk clearly wasn't breaking new ground, the conference was. Clinton's daylong workshop with doctors, spa owners, pharmaceutical reps and a handful of locals was the first of its kind, part of an extreme makeover of the former Bob Hope Classic. In the end, panelists from actress Goldie Hawn to PGA player Notah Begay III...

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Poor sleep makes diabetes more difficult to control

A large study has found insomnia makes diabetes harder to control. Poor sleep causes higher levels of insulin resistance and higher blood sugar levels, found in a cross-sectional analysis of study participants taking part in the CARDIA heart study. Researchers from University of Chicago Medical Center studied 40 diabetic patients who were part of the ongoing 20 year study. The participants were monitored for six nights to find the link between poor sleep and higher blood sugar levels in diabetics. "Poor sleep quality in people with diabetes was associated with worse control of their blood glucose levels," said Kristen Knutson, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and lead author of the study. "People who have a hard time controlling their...

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Vitamin D linked to lower risk for type 2 Diabetes

In a study following around 5,000 people for five years, researchers found out that the vitamin D with lower average level had 57 percent increase risk in developing the type 2 diabetes as compared to those who are in the level of recommended range. Dr. Claudia Gagnon, a fellow at the Western Hospital at the University of Melbourne in Australia when the study was done, the studies like on what they did stated that the blood sugar levels of the Vitamin D higher that what it is recommended for a healthy bone may be important in order to decrease the risk of developing the type 2 diabetes. Vitamin D is produced by the body in response to the sunlight as well as it happens naturally in some foods such as eggs, cod and salmon. Vitamin D is...

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