Physical Activity News and Research

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Regular exercise for young women can reduce their risk of breast cancer

The latest research on breast cancer is good news, it says that regular exercise can reduce the risk.

15 May 2008

Radioactive carbon-14 determines the number of fat cells remains constant in all body types

The radioactive carbon-14 produced by above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and '60s has helped researchers determine that the number of fat cells in a human's body, whether lean or obese, is established during the teenage years. Changes in fat mass in adulthood can be attributed mainly to changes in fat cell volume, not an increase in the actual number of fat cells.

9 May 2008

Study finds arthritis can be a barrier for adults seeking to manage diabetes through exercise

More than half of adults with diagnosed diabetes also have arthritis, a painful condition that can be a barrier to physical activity -- an important health strategy for managing diabetes, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

8 May 2008

Sport and asthma, researchers follow European Olympic athletes to Beijing

The pan-European study will allow scientists to specify the prevalence of asthma, exercise induced asthma and other allergic diseases among European athletes qualified for the Beijing Olympics, while identifying the differences in prevalence between a wide range of sports and between the different European regions.

6 May 2008

Strange barriers to physical activity may exist at child-care centers

At a time when over half of US children (aged 3-6) are in child care centers, and growing concern over childhood obesity has led physicians to focus on whether children are getting enough physical activity, a new study of outdoor physical activity at child care centers, conducted by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, has identified some surprising reasons why the kids may be staying inside.

5 May 2008

Secret to long life in lifestyle not genes

A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this longevity.

5 May 2008

Obesity and heart failure risk

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body's blood-pumping organ.

1 May 2008

High blood pressure still sneaking past doctors, Stanford study shows

Despite the well-known dangers of high blood pressure, major shortfalls still exist in the screening, treatment and control of the disease even when patients are getting a doctor's care, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

1 May 2008

Better-educated women have healthier average weight

A new comparison of multi-national data, released this month, reveals that highly educated women have a healthier average weight than less educated women, but that the meaning of "healthier" changes according to a nation's relative wealth. In countries where malnutrition is prevalent, better-educated women weigh more. But in wealthier countries - with rapidly growing rates of obesity - better-educated women weigh less.

30 Apr 2008

Obesity prevention program reduces onset of eating disorders by 61% and obesity by 55%

In their research on eating disorders, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) scientists help young women reduce the influence of the "thin ideal," which is described as associating success and happiness with being thin.

29 Apr 2008

Healthy habits provide cancer survivors a higher quality of life

A new study from the American Cancer Society finds cancer survivors who follow health behavior recommendations - avoiding tobacco, eating more fruits and vegetables, and getting adequate exercise-have higher health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores than those who do not follow such recommendations.

29 Apr 2008

Exercise helps lower heart disease risk in overweight women

The risk of heart disease in women associated with being overweight or obese is reduced but not eliminated by higher levels of physical activity, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

28 Apr 2008

Epilepsy drug phenytoin causes bone loss in young women

Young women who took the commonly used epilepsy drug phenytoin for one year showed significant bone loss compared to women taking other epilepsy drugs, according to a study published in the April 29, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Apr 2008

Smokers more prone to depression

Researchers in Spain suggest that smokers are significantly more at risk of suffering depression than non-smokers.

28 Apr 2008

Lower wealth, education and income associated with increased stroke up to age 65

Higher wealth is linked with a lower risk of stroke in Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, but does not predict strokes in those over age 65, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

24 Apr 2008

Smokers more depressed

The risk of suffering depression increases 41% in smokers, in comparison with non-smokers. This was the conclusion of a study undertaken with 8,556 participants by scientists of the University of Navarra, in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and which demonstrates in a pioneering way the direct relationship between tobacco use and this disease.

24 Apr 2008

Teenage health in Europe

After three years of work, the EU funded research programme HELENA has revealed its initial results. It concludes that amongst European adolescents, approximately 27% of males and 20% of females are either overweight or obese. It also reveals for the first time at European level, food intake and physical activity patterns for adolescents.

23 Apr 2008

Slowing the spread of cancer in Albania

Once locked in decades of isolation, Albania is seeing new horizons in the fight against poverty. Expectations run high, driving demands for better - and healthier - lives.

23 Apr 2008

Child's sex is associated with the mother's diet

New research by the Universities of Exeter and Oxford provides the first evidence that a child's sex is associated with the mother's diet. Published today (23 April 2008), in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the study shows a clear link between higher energy intake around the time of conception and the birth of sons.

22 Apr 2008

New cancer report - facts and figures 2008

An annual report from the American Cancer Society highlights that long-term favorable trends have stalled for several factors that have been responsible for declining cancer death rates in the U.S.

22 Apr 2008