Source: Reuters Alcohol causes nearly 4 per cent of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence, the World Health Organization warned on Friday. Rising incomes have triggered more drinking in heavily populated countries in Africa and Asia, including India and South Africa, and binge drinking is a problem in many developed countries, the United...

Source: Reuters People who have spent more time in the sun and those with higher vitamin D levels may be less likely to develop multiple sclerosis, according to an Australian study. Previous studies have shown that people living close to the equator are less likely to get multiple sclerosis (MS) than those at higher latitudes,...

Source: Reuters Taking extra vitamin D and calcium does not seem to prevent bone- thinning in older men, according to Australian researchers. However, exercise did boost bone mineral density, a proxy for bone strength, their report showed. Despite the findings, people still need to get enough calcium and vitamin D to reduce the risk of...

Source: Reuters Hearing loss in a child may have links to a virus that Mom got while she was pregnant, according to a new study. In kids that had some degree of hearing loss, about 9 per cent also had cytomegalovirus (CMV) at birth, the new study in the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery...

Source: Reuters People with long-lasting depression may benefit from talk therapy when other treatment methods such as antidepressant drugs alone are not working, a new study suggested. But the topic needs more research, the authors said ‒ and they also point out that talk therapy is not accessible or affordable for everyone. About 15 million...

Source: Reuters The stress of being exposed to economic insecurity may mean people living in countries with so-called “free market” economies are more likely to become obese, British researchers said on Friday. In a study in the journal Economics and Human Biology, Oxford University researchers found that Americans and Britons are much more likely to...

Source: MyHealthNewsDaily Last year was a stellar period in terms of advancements in science and medicine. German doctors appeared to have cured a man of HIV, while scientists reportedly created the first “synthetic life.” What significant advances can we expect in 2011? Experts provided MyHealthNewsDaily with seven predictions on what might promote human health this...

Source: Reuters Fish oil capsules will not help boost weight loss if you are already dieting and exercising, new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed. Among a group of overweight and obese adults enrolled in a diet and exercise programme, those who took omega-3 fatty acids did not lose any more weight...

The first hotel chain to initiate a ban on smoking was Westin Hotel & Resort, back in January 2006 when 77 of their hotels in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean went entirely smoke-free. In the same year, Marriott made the largest move in the industry by implementing smoke-free policies in all their 2,300...

The medical tourism sector worldwide is set to become a US$100 billion sector by 2012, according to industry research. The sector is growing at a whopping 20 to 30 per cent annually and is bound to continue its growth pattern in the years to come. According to Frost & Sullivan, the medical tourism industry is...

by Jared Heng Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Singapore, with one in 12 adults between the ages of 18 and 69 years old suffering from the disease. This point was highlighted by Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister of State (Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs), on World Diabe- tes Day...

Source: Reuters Around one in a hundred deaths worldwide is due to passive smoking, which kills an estimated 600,000 people a year, World Health Organization (WHO) researchers said on Friday. In the first study to assess the global impact of second-hand smoke, WHO experts found that children are more heavily exposed to second-hand smoke than...