Brown Fat Sucks Up Excess Glucose In The Blood.

reports that research published in the Journal of Cell Biology suggests that brown fat “acts as a ‘super vacuum’ to suck up excess glucose...in the blood by producing large amounts of a substance that transports glucose into the brown fat cells, where it can be burned to produce heat – a process called thermogenesis.” The blog adds that the research “helps to connect the dots between years of findings suggesting that better understanding brown tissue can lead to new treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/11/10/how-brown-fat-the-good-fat-burns-calories-and-could-help-treat-type-2-diabetes-and-obesity/

Most Kids Who Are Obese At Age 11 May Still Be Too Heavy At Age 16.

according to a study published online Nov. 10 in the journal Pediatrics, “the vast majority of children who are obese at age 11 are still far too heavy at age 16.” After following “nearly 4,000 children in three US metropolitan areas over five years, researchers found that 83 percent of obese 10th graders had also been obese in fifth grade.” Just “12 percent of kids who were obese in fifth grade transitioned to a normal weight over the following half-decade,” the study found. http://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/kids-obese-at-young-age-often-stay-that-way-693545.html

Morocco insists on delaying African Cup over Ebola fears

Morocco is sticking to its demand to postpone the African Cup of Nations football tournament due to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, despite pressure from the Confederation of African Football. A statement from the Ministry of Sports late Saturday said that because of the "spread of the deadly Ebola pandemic," Morocco was maintaining its call for delaying the tournament it is scheduled to host from Jan. 17-Feb. 8, to the following year. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-outbreak-morocco-insists-on-delaying-african-cup-over-virus-fears/

Time to Quit the Cubans? Cigars May Be as Bad as Cigarettes

according to a report published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, “the amount of NNAL, a carcinogen which comes only from tobacco, was as high in daily cigar smokers as those who regularly smoke cigarettes.” Study’s lead author, Jiping Chen said, “There is no safe level of cigar smoking...Even cigar smokers who don’t smoke every day are exposed to substantially higher levels of toxic compounds” than nonsmokers. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-07/time-to-quit-cubans-cigar-may-hurt-as-much-as-cigarettes.html

Most People Who Think They Are Allergic To Penicillin Are Not.

Many Americans may check the box "allergic to penicillin" on medical forms, but new research suggests that most of them are mistaken. Follow-up testing revealed that most people who believed they were allergic to penicillin were actually not allergic to the antibiotic, according to two new studies. In one study, 94 percent of 384 people who believed they were allergic to penicillin tested negative for penicillin allergy. And in the second study, penicillin skin testing was performed on 38 people who believed they were allergic to the antibiotic, and all of them tested negative for such an allergy. The studies were to be presented Friday at the annual meeting of American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), in Atlanta. "A large number of people in our study who had a history of penicillin allergy were actually not allergic," Dr. Thanai Pongdee, lead author of the first study, said in an ACAAI news release. "They may have had an unfavorable response to penicillin at some point in the past, such as hives or swelling, but they did not demonstrate any evidence of penicillin allergy at the current time," Pongdee explained. http://consumer.healthday.com/respiratory-and-allergy-information-2/misc-allergy-news-17/think-you-re-allergic-to-penicillin-maybe-not-693288.html

As Children Get Older, Their Sleeping Patterns Shift.

a study from Brown University suggests that children, particularly as they get older, tend to go to bed later due to a shift in sleeping patterns. NBC News correspondence Miguel Almaguer explained that researchers “tracked 94 children for two years,” finding that “the typical nine-year-old falls asleep at 9:28 p.m. But by age 11 their bedtime naturally shifts to 10:00.” By the time teens are 15, they are going to bed around 10:30. Seventeen-year-olds may be going to bed as late as 11 pm. kids “are believed to need about nine hours of sleep during adolescence but many are not getting that minimum, and many parents and health-care professionals blame” early school start times. For that reason, “the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that schools start after 8:30 a.m. based on the growing body of research about the negative effects of insufficient sleep for teens.” http://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/study-builds-case-for-later-starting-time-in-high-school-693517.html

Distractions Diminish Food Cravings

Food craving has become a much more prominent focal point because we're finding out that the brain's reward pathways are what drive most of the overeating in the U.S. and industrialized nations,It's not due to physiological need. ... The reward salience, or craving, usually wins out." Two studies reported here at the Obesity Week meeting show that cognitive strategies for turning attention away from food cravings help patients turn off the desire to indulge -- at least temporarily. Both studies sought to test cognitive strategies to suppress cravings, with one taking a mental tack and the other a more physical approach. patients who were told to use four basic cognitive strategies while looking at pictures of food: Distract: Think about anything other than the food Allow: Accept your thoughts and recognize they're just thoughts that don't need to be acted upon Later: Focus on the negative long-term consequences of eating the food Now: Focus on the immediate reward of the food Demos and colleagues found that focusing on long-term consequences reduced the urge to eat most significantly -- and it also increased brain activity in areas associated with inhibitory control, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ObesityWeek/48472?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2014-11-08&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2%40gmail.com&mu_id=5883165&utm_term=Daily This contradicts other studies that said focusing on the meal and savoring each bite vs eating mindlessly while watching tv or playing video games , resulted in eating less calories each meal.