Latest Health News

MONDAY, Dec. 14, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Next to water, tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, and at just a couple of calories per serving, it's loaded with flavonoids that make it one of the world's healthiest beverages as well."There are really only three drinks that I ever recommend humans consume," said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of clinical cardiology and cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. "The best is water, and next would be unsweetened tea and unsweetened coffee. Everything else, unfortunately, doesn't really have any benefit, and many (when laden with sugar) cause significant harm."It makes my job very easy when people say, 'What should I drink?'"Studies show tea consumption, along with a...

MONDAY, Dec. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Young adults who spend hours a day on social media are at heightened risk of developing depression in the near future, new research suggests.In recent years, a number of studies have linked heavy social media use to an increased risk of depression."But then you have to ask the chicken-and-egg question," said study author Dr. Brian Primack, a professor of public health at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville.On one hand, he said, excessive time on Twitter or Facebook might fuel depression symptoms. On the other, people with depression might withdraw from face-to-face interactions and spend more time online.So Primack and his colleagues decided to see whether social media use made a difference in young adults' risk of future depression.It...

MONDAY, Dec. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A rare, sight-stealing infection might be triggered by COVID-19, a new study suggests.In the space of two months, three patients suffering from COVID-19 in one New York health system developed keratitis, an inflammation of the cornea, which then led to a sight-threatening infection of the tissues or fluids inside the eyeball called endophthalmitis."I see things like this, but very rarely," said researcher Dr. Amilia Schrier, a professor of ophthalmology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.Having three cases of endophthalmitis in such a short time is exceedingly rare, and because they were all tied to COVID-19 infection it needed to be investigated, she said. "The whole point is to alert people of the...

MONDAY, Dec. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly all cases of COVID-19 are completely harmless. Masks deprive people of oxygen. COVID-19 is a hoax, dreamed up by politicians to control your life.None of these statements is true, and yet every one has spread like wildfire through social media at one point or another this year.That's because such misinformation exploits specific vulnerabilities in people's ability to think and reason, just as a virus exploits weaknesses in our immune systems, a new study argues.Posts containing misinformation capture our interest and infect our reasoning because they tend to be more sensational, inciting negative emotions such as fear, worry and disgust.And we aren't likely to catch on that we are being manipulated in this way due to a common...