Latest Health News

FRIDAY, May 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Going gluten-free is a trend that touts benefits for the mind and body, but a new study finds no evidence that gluten is bad for your brain.Among nearly 13,500 middle-aged women, researchers found no connection between eating wheat, barley or rye (the sources of gluten) and mental ability. According to the study authors, the only folks who benefit mentally from avoiding gluten are those with celiac disease, who can't digest it."Those without a history of a true gluten sensitivity from celiac disease should not pursue a gluten-free diet under the assumption that they will improve their brain health," said lead author Dr. Andrew Chan, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and vice chair of gastroenterology at Massachusetts General...

FRIDAY, May 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to a certain type of air pollution while pregnant may up the odds that your child will develop asthma, a new study says.Children born to mothers exposed to high levels of ultra-fine particle air pollution during pregnancy have a significantly increased risk of asthma, researchers found.Ultra-fine particle pollution is smaller than the width of an average human hair and can get deep into the lungs and pass into the blood.This study included 376 mothers and their children, most of them Black or Hispanic, in the Boston metropolitan area who were already being followed to assess their health.Many of the women lived in areas near highly trafficked major roadways where there's greater exposure to ultra-fine particle air pollution.Slightly...

FRIDAY, May 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Mom always said too much TV would rot your brain, and as with so many other things it appears she was right.Middle-aged folks who regularly turn to TV for entertainment appear to have a greater risk of decline in their reasoning and memory later in life, three new studies suggest.Researchers found that even moderate amounts of TV viewing were associated with worse performance on cognitive tests as people aged. Regular TV viewers also experienced greater brain atrophy.The investigators couldn't say whether TV itself is directly behind this brain decline, or if it's the amount of sedentary couch time folks accumulate while watching television."I don't think it's necessarily the act of watching TV itself that is bad for brain health, but that it...

FRIDAY, May 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A pill called upadacitinib, already approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis, might also ease another common immunological condition -- eczema. In two phase 3 clinical trials, patients with moderate to severe eczema showed rapid and significant improvements after taking the drug, said researchers at Mount Sinai in New York City.The clinical trials were funded by the dug's maker, AbbVie Inc., and included nearly 1,700 patients with the inflammatory skin condition. "The results of these trials ... were so incredible that by week 16, most patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis [eczema] either had a 90% disease clearance, or even 100% disease clearance," study first author Dr. Emma Guttman-Yassky said in a Mount Sinai news release....