Health News

Please read below health news we selected for our readers that highlight the importance of healthy diet and lifestyle


Ultra-processed foods linked to over 30 health issues, from diabetes to heart trouble to cancer, research finds.

Researchers revealed in an analysis published in The BMJ that consumption of highly processed foods, including packaged snacks, soft drinks, sweetened cereals, instant noodles, and ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products, is associated with thirty-two types of negative health outcomes. Greater exposure to these foods may heighten the risk for major heart and lung diseases, cancer, gastrointestinal problems, type 2 diabetes, obesity, sleep disturbances, mental health issues, and premature mortality.

Full text: CBS News. 


Sugary or Diet Sodas Could Raise Your Odds for A-fib.

A recent study suggests that regularly drinking sodas, whether sugary or diet, may slightly elevate the risk of developing a potentially harmful irregular heart rhythm.

According to researchers in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, individuals who consumed two liters or more of artificially sweetened beverages per week had a 20% higher risk of atrial fibrillation. Those who drank the same amount of sugar-sweetened beverages faced a 10% increased risk. Conversely, weekly consumption of one liter of unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice was associated with an 8% decreased risk.

Dr. NingjianWang, the lead author from the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, emphasized the complexity of dietary habits and cautioned against definitively concluding that one beverage type is riskier than another. However, based on their findings, Wang recommended reducing or avoiding both artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible. He warned against assuming that low-sugar and low-calorie artificially sweetened drinks are inherently healthy, as they maystill pose potential health risks. 

Full text: HealthDay. 


Lifestyle Factors Associated With Frequent Headaches in Children. 

A study published online in Neurology on Feb. 28 indicates that lifestyle behaviors such as irregular meals, late sleep patterns, prolonged screen time, and frequent substance use or exposure are linked to frequent headaches in children and adolescents.

Led by Christelle Nilles, M.D., from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, the study enrolled participants aged 5 to 17 years in a large cross-sectional Canadian population-based health survey to investigate the connection between lifestyle factors and recurrent headaches. The survey included approximately 4,978,370 participants, with an average age of 10.9 years.

Overall, 6.1 percent of participants reported frequent headaches. The researchers noted that older age and female sex were associated with a higher likelihood of frequent headaches. Additionally, the odds of experiencing frequent headaches decreased with regular meal patterns but increased with later sleep patterns and prolonged screen exposure. No significant association was found between physical activity and frequent headaches. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, frequent headaches were linked to frequent alcohol use, binge drinking, cigarette smoking, electronic cigarette use, and cannabis use. Daily exposure to indoor smoking was associated with frequent headaches across the entire sample.

The authors emphasized the importance of future studies assessing whether interventions targeting these lifestyle factors could effectively reduce headache frequency, as this could have significant clinical and public health implications. 

Full text: HealthDay.