Breathing air pollutants raises the risk of having a heart attack, a new review suggested. Other studies have linked air pollution levels to hospital admissions and deaths from cardiovascular disease. But making that link for heart attacks has been controversial, since the research has been mixed. In Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Hazrije Mustafic from the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center and his team … full story

A genetic mutation appears to help survival rates in women who suffer from a common type of ovarian cancer, a new study released Tuesday found. The research appearing in the January 25 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed the mutations were found in six percent to 15 percent of women with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Kelly Bolton of the National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland and colleagues found … full story

Obese people who had weight-loss surgery were less likely to later suffer a heart attack or stroke, or to die from one, compared to people who did not have the surgery, according to a Swedish study. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come from a study of more than 4,000 obese people treated at 500 surgery departments and health care centers in Sweden. Between 1987 and 2001, half of those people opted for … full story

Scientists have found that a glass of milk may contain up to 20 painkillers, antibiotics and growth hormones. Through a highly sensitive test, scientists found a host of chemicals used to treat illnesses in animals and people in samples of cow, goat and human breast milk, Daily Mail reported. Though the doses of drugs were far too little to create an effect on anyone drinking them, the results highlight how man-made chemicals were now found throughout … full story

More than the apple, a strawberry a day could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire army of brain, hormone and cancer specialists. Fisetin is a natural flavonoid found very abundantly in strawberries and to some extent in other fruits, vegetables, tea and red wine. It eases diabetes complications, Salk Institute’s Cellular Neurobiology Lab (CFL) said. Flavonoids are natural compounds having similar effects as antioxidants, which help protect … full story

Avoid coffee during a fast food meal because it could have dangerous repercussions for your wellbeing as it causes a spike in blood sugar levels. A healthy person’s blood sugar levels shoot up after eating a high-fat meal, but that spike doubles after having both a fatty meal and caffeinated coffee – jumping to levels similar to those of people at risk of diabetes, says Marie-Soleil Beaudoin from University of Guelph. “The results tell us that … full story

Apples contain an antioxidant, nutrients which slowdown process of ageing and some ailments, that extends average lifespan by 10 percent, a study says. The results, obtained with fruit flies in place of humans in hundreds of research projects each year, bolster similar findings on apple antioxidants in other animal tests. Zhen-Yu Chen and colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, note that free radicals, harmful substances in the body, … full story

If you want to improve the way you eat, the best way to do so is to first make an action plan and then visualise yourself carrying it out, researchers say. “Telling people to just change the way they eat doesn’t work; we’ve known that for a while,” says Bärbel Knäuper of McGill’s Department of Psychology. “What we’ve done that’s new is to add visualisation techniques to the action plan,” adds Knauper, the journal Psychology and Health reports. … full story

Some outpatient facilities may have more lapses in infection control than you’d think: According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, about two-thirds of ambulatory surgical centers have at least one problem with infection control. Ambulatory surgical centers are facilities that provide surgery to patients who don’t need to be hospitalized or stay overnight. “It’s a disappointing number,” says lead study author Melissa … full story

Can chocolate really lower your blood pressure? Based on a recent Spanish university study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the answer may well be yes. Researchers studied the effects of cocoa powder on hypertension in rats, which are considered to be a reliable animal model for human hypertension. The cocoa powder used was a commercially available brand rich in flavonoids, dietary phytochemicals believed to have healthful … full story