New methods and tools for measuring exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials will be required to protect the health of workers in nanotechnology-related jobs — estimated to total 10 million people by 2014 — according to two occupational health experts writing in the inaugural issue of the journal Nanotoxicology.
A study of herbal kelp supplements led by UC Davis public health expert Marc Schenker concludes that its medicinal use may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused. Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine over-the-counter herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them.
Soldiers exposed to the deafening din of battle have little defense against hearing loss, and are often reluctant to wear protective gear like ear plugs that could make them less able to react to danger. But what if a nutritious daily “candy bar” could prevent much of that potential damage to their hearing?
More than one in seven American adults have used nonprescription dietary supplements to try to lose weight, according to researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Health care professionals should focus on women’s lifetime heart disease risk, not just short-term risk, according to updated American Heart Association guidelines.
Johns Hopkins cardiologists are calling for an expansion of the criteria widely used by physicians to detect and assess a postmenopausal woman’s chances of developing cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death among women in the United States.
Seniors aren’t consuming enough vitamin K, notes a review, and studies should continue to examine non-dietary factors related to vitamin K status, like effects of estrogen on vitamin K metabolism.
A new study to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice reveals that French maritime pine tree extract known as Pycnogenol? (pic-noj-en-all) delays the uptake of glucose from a meal 190 times more than prescription medications, preventing the typical high-glucose peak in the blood stream after a meal.
“Companies, workers and investors alike are being challenged by the uncertainties surrounding nanotechnology workplace safety. These uncertainties include lack of sound, scientific information on occupational risks, poorly determined perceptual risks, and hesitancy over nanotechnology oversight,” according to co-authors Andrew Maynard and David Y.H. Pui in an article in the latest issue of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research. This is a special journal issue devoted to nanoparticles and occupational health.
Adequate levels of folate or folic acid (vitamin B) are important to prevent pregnancy complications like neural-tube birth defects – spina bifida, but in recent years folate levels have decreased among non-pregnant US women of childbearing age.