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And, while we re on the topic of obesity, children s obesity is getting some attention today, too. Unfortunately, it s for the wrong reasons. A study just published in Pediatrics has concluded that strict laws in some states restricting school sales of junk food and sweetened drinks may contribute to lowering childhood obesity rates.

Sepsis is a dangerous bloodstream infection, one that can develop from even a minor cut yet lead to organ failure and death. It accounts for about 1.6 million hospitalizations a year (about 4,600 patients every day). Add to that a mortality rate of between 20 and 50 percent, and the FDA s approval of a new device for making more rapid and accurate identification of such bacterial infections seems like very good news indeed.

A recent study published in Current Biology finds that researchers are now able to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine a person s age with about 92 percent accuracy at least if they re between the ages of 3 and 20. But aside from simply being a neat trick, the technology can be used to detect abnormal brain development within that age range a key period of brain development.

Good news: U.S. cases of chickenpox have fallen by nearly 80 percent between 2000 and 2010, the CDC reports. And much of that decline can be attributed to vaccination.

Clostridium difficile, commonly known as C. diff, is a potentially deadly infection of the colon, most often affecting hospital patients. But many now question whether hospitals are doing everything they can to prevent the infection from occurring.

Vitamin D-deficient kids may benefit from supplementation, according to the results of a new study published in the journalPediatrics. The new report found that such children had fewer colds during the winter.

A new study finds that between 1993 and 2009, antipsychotic drug prescriptions skyrocketed among U.S. children and adolescents.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients will be keeping their fingers crossed that the first oral immune-mediator treatment for the disease will be approved by the FDA.

The growing popularity of so-called energy drinks among young people has prompted an investigation into whether the companies are misleading consumers about risks associated with the beverages.

Imagine a sensor about the size of a grain of salt that, once swallowed, can transmit details about your heart rate and physical activity levels and track your adherence to a drug regimen. This technology, imagined by Proteus Digital Health, Inc., is now a reality that was approved just last month by the FDA.

As breast cancer research continues to make news, take a moment to catch up on the latest in a two-part series of op-eds by our very own Dr. Ross, featured on Examiner.com.
You can read them both in their entirety here and here.

In an op-ed in the current issue of JAMA, Dr. Howard K. Koh, assistant secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and HHS Secretary Kathleen G. Sebelius boast about the efficacy of various interventions in curbing the tobacco epidemic. Their piece specifically highlights the effectiveness of media campaigns, higher prices, and smoke-free policies in helping smokers quit. The news would be quite welcome if only it were true.

Nearly 67 million Americans are living with hypertension, according to the latest estimates from the CDC, and nearly half of those people do not have their condition under control. Those are the dismal findings published in a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that was based on 2003-2010 data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Every year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on state obesity rankings, and every year, a number of Southern states top the list.

In 2008, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute both recommended that yearly screening for high blood pressure should begin as early as age three. However, according to a recent study published in Pediatrics, pediatricians are still failing to take kids blood pressure at about one-third of routine check-ups.

If you re pregnant or even contemplating it I m sure you ve heard the mantra about drinking while gestating: Just Say No. Everyone knows that there s no amount of alcohol you can safely imbibe if you re pregnant. Right?

An Inhalation Toxicology study found that very few chemicals in very low concentrations were detected.

It turns out that the stress of a demanding job, combined with having little control over it, could be a deadly combination, according to a recent UK study. In a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies, researchers from University College London analyzed the association of job stress defined as high work demands and low decision control with the risk of heart disease.

It was no surprise to ACSH staffers and many New Yorkers yesterday when news broke that the New York City Board of Health had approved a mayoral regulation banning super-sized sugary drinks at certain restaurants, concession stands, and other eateries.

For years, breast cancer awareness campaigns have urged women not to miss their scheduled mammograms. Yet there are some women for whom a regular mammogram is not enough. The latest research shows that women whose breasts are composed mostly of dense tissue can have a mammogram year after year and still have their breast cancer go undetected.

It s official: The flu season is upon us, and ACSH would like to join the ranks of other leading health organizations in encouraging everyone over the age of six months to get their flu vaccine as early as possible.
And for those of you who may think that you needn t worry about getting immunized, given last year s mild flu season, we d like to remind you that the CDC reports that influenza-associated deaths range from 3,000 to nearly 50,000 each year. And, unfortunately, last year s vaccine will not offer much (if any) protection against this year s flu virus.

Ordering drugs over the Internet may seem convenient, but the Food and Drug Administration is warning that the vast majority of online pharmacies are fake and probably selling counterfeit drugs.

If young children are showing signs of a weight problem, it s best for parents to take action sooner rather than later, according to a new study. Published online yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the latest research suggests that weight gained early in childhood will be much harder to lose by the teenage years.

In April of this year, the FDA rejected a petition by the Natural Resources Defense Council to ban the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging. We at ACSH applauded the agency s decision, which was based on a research review finding that normal levels of exposure to this chemical used to protect canned foods from contamination and spoiling do not pose a health risk to humans.

Until recently, New York had seemed poised to approve the method of natural gas extraction dubbed fracking, which would have not only allowed access to vast amounts of safe and clean natural gas, but would also have provided an economic bounty for depressed New York State areas, including more jobs for struggling communities along the Pennsylvania border. But now Gov.