Health Headlines - January 12

Attitudes Toward Overweight People Changing: U.S. Survey

Being fat isn't as much of a social problem as it used to be in the United States.

Over the past 20 years, the percentage of Americans who consider overweight people to be less attractive declined from 55 percent to 24 percent, says a survey by the market research firm NDP Group.

The survey of 1,900 people also found other indications that people have more relaxed attitudes about weight and diet, the Associated Press reported.

In 2005, 26 percent of people said they're trying to "avoid snacking entirely," compared with 45 percent in 1985. The survey also found that 75 percent of people surveyed last year said they had low-fat, no-fat, or reduced fat products during the previous two weeks, compared with 86 percent of respondents in 1999.

In 1989, salads as a main course accounted for 10 percent of all restaurant meals. That dropped to 5.5 percent in 2005.

However, the recent survey did find that many Americans do want to shed pounds. The new survey found that 61 percent of respondents said they'd like to lose 20 pounds, compared to 54 percent in 1985, the AP reported.

The 2005 survey also found that obese girls and boys were half as likely to date as their normal weight peers. The findings will be published in February in the journal Rationality and Society.

Scientist Apologizes for Stem Cell Research Scandal

Disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-Suk apologized Thursday but insisted that junior researchers were really to blame for fake findings published last year in the journal Science.

Hwang said the human embryonic stem cell research was doctored without his knowledge and called for an investigation into the matter, the Washington Post reported.

"I sincerely apologize to the nation and the international community for using erroneous data in the papers," Hwang told a news conference in Seoul. "I was responsible for going over the data thoroughly, and if I had done so, we would have been able to avoid this huge crisis."

His apology comes two days after an academic panel at Seoul National University, where most of Hwang's team did its research, concluded that claims of extracting stem cells from cloned human embryos were faked.

The research had been hailed as a breakthrough and gave hope to millions of people with incurable diseases.

On Wednesday, the president of Seoul National University apologized for the scandal, calling it a "blemish on the whole scientific community, as well as our country" and a "criminal act in academia," the Post reported.

$1.5 Billion Needed to Fight Bird Flu: UN

In order to fight bird flu and prepare for a possible human pandemic, international groups and poor nations need about $1.5 billion, according to the United Nations coordinator on avian and human influenza.

Dr. David Nabarro said he was hopeful that countries will donate more than $1 billion next week in Beijing at the first international donors' conference to finance efforts to fight bird flu, the Associated Press reported.

"Fingers-crossed, it's going to be a good-sized pledge. I think most of the countries are aware of the seriousness and the need to move money to poor countries," Nabarro said at a news conference Wednesday.

The $1.5 billion figure he cited would only fund the start of efforts to fight bird flu and much more would be needed in the event of human pandemic, Nabarro said.

"I'm sad to say we have not had a significant influx of cash for bird flu over the last two years since we've really started to get worried about it," he told reporters.

Since 2003, bird flu has infected domestic bird flocks in 16 countries and 78 people have died of the disease. Experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus may mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between humans.

Meanwhile, experts are still trying to learn more about the outbreak in Turkey, the first outside of eastern Asia to have human cases and the first one in the world to have so many separate domestic poultry outbreaks simultaneously.

In a single week, Turkey announced bird flu outbreaks in 16 areas. Outbreaks in Asia have been more sporadic. Experts haven't yet determined exactly how the outbreaks are occurring in Turkey, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Watch for Early Signs of Meningitis: Study

Parents and doctors need to be aware of the early symptoms of meningitis, which include leg pain, cold hands and feet, and abnormally pale or mottled skin color. These symptoms can appear within eight hours of infection, says an Oxford University study in the online edition of The Lancet medical journal.

These earlier signs differ from the "classic" signs -- including a red rash combined with headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light and impaired consciousness -- which can take an average of 13 to 22 hours to appear. By then it may be too late for doctors to act, researchers said.

The study noted that watching for the earlier symptoms may help doctors make a quicker diagnosis, begin treatment and save lives, London's Daily Mail reported.

The Oxford team studied 448 children who contracted the most dangerous bacterial form of meningitis. Most of the children had only mild symptoms in the first four to six hours after infection, but were close to death within 24 hours.

The researchers said that doctors are too reliant on the classic symptoms when diagnosing meningitis and that, in many cases, children with meningitis are only admitted to a hospital after being initially misdiagnosed, the Daily Mail reported.

Congress Investigating Drug Industry Educational Grants

Educational grants given by U.S. drug companies are growing rapidly and are sometimes awarded to doctors and groups who advocate unapproved uses of drugs, a U.S. Congressional investigation has found.

The Senate Finance Committee said that 23 drug makers spent $1.47 billion in 2004 on educational grants. That works out to an average of $64 million per company, The New York Times reported.

The 2004 amount is a 20 percent increase from the $1.23 billion spent on educational grants in 2003.

The committee didn't offer an estimate of what percentage of those supposed educational grants was actually used for marketing. However, in a letter sent to drug maker Johnson & Johnson, the Senate Finance Committee suggested the practice was widespread in the drug industry, the Times reported.

"If drug companies are crossing the line with these grants and influencing providers to make treatment decisions they might not otherwise make, that's a problem and we're going to tackle that," said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), the committee's ranking minority member.

Food Fact:
Zest for life.

If you throw away an orange peel, you're discarding material that could guard your health. Zest - the grated citrus skin - is rich in health-protective limonene. To grate zest, start with organic fruit, since the skin of non-organic citrus may contain pesticides. Press a piece of wax paper or baking parchment over the grater's smallest holes. Scrub the fruit and rub the rind over the paper-covered grater. When you've finished grating, carefully remove the paper, scrape off the zest and add it to vegetable dishes, tomato sauce and desserts.

Fitness Tip of the day:
Shop 'til you drop...pounds.

When you walk around the mall, you'll get more than you bargained for: A leg up on fitness. Mall walking is a perfect way to make exercise feel less like a chore and more a part of daily life. Shopping centers are heated in winter, air-conditioned in summer, safe, well lit, and free of snapping dogs and pollen. Not only will you burn calories and tone your legs, if you maintain good posture when you walk, you'll give your abs a workout. Keep yourself straight up while holding in your ab muscles; every step becomes a mini sit-up. Most of us lean forward when we walk, but we can catch ourselves easily at the mall: Just check your posture in your reflection in the windows.

FAQ of the day:
If I'm taking a blood thinner, should I avoid fish?

Eating fish or shellfish is not only safe in your case -- it's a good idea. But stay away from fish-oil capsules, which may give you higher doses of blood-thinning omega-3s than you'd get even from very fatty fish. The capsules might interfere with your medication, which has been prescribed at a certain dose based on your medical needs. (The same goes for any other blood-thinning medication.) Too much blood "thinning" can be as dangerous as too little, possibly increasing the risk of stroke.