Life, Health and Enjoyment

  The FDA is investigating reports of five deaths and a nonfatal heart attack in people who drank high- caffeine energy drinks made by the Monster Energy Company. Meanwhile, a Maryland couple has filed a wrongful death suit against the company, alleging that their product killed their 14-year-old daughter. They say Anais Fournier, 14, collapsed after drinking her second 24-ounce Monster Energy drink in two days. She died six days later. The reports are not proof that the drinks caused the deaths, but merely signal there might be a problem. Even if the deaths are determined to be caused by caffeine poisoning, the FDA will consider all sources of caffeine before blaming the deaths on the energy drink. In addition to caffeine, energy drinks contain other stimulants, including taurine and guarana , a caffeine-containing plant. Because energy drinks are sold as nutritional supplements, they are not regula...

The requirement to fast before a cholesterol check can be a major inconvenience. People who forget to fast may be told to reschedule their appointments. For those who remember, sitting in a doctor's waiting room with a growling stomach can make for a rough start to the day. Now a large new study shows that cholesterol levels aren't radically different in people who ate compared to those who fasted before their blood was drawn. The study, which is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine , suggests that people may not need to fast before they get a cholesterol test . Experts who were not involved in the research called the results an eye-opener. "This information is actually very, very interesting. It might change how we approach a patient," says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Fasting and Cholesterol For the study, researchers looked at the results of al...

The FDA has approved the first at-home, over-the-counter HIV test, which could potentially inform thousands of Americans about their HIV status. The OraQuick In-Home HIV Test can detect antibodies of the virus from a saliva sample. It can provide results without a laboratory in 20 to 40 minutes. About 1.2 million people in the U.S. are infected with HIV, and an estimated 20% of those infected are unaware that they are HIV-positive, according to the CDC. The outcome of the test isn't definite or absolute, especially when exposure may have been within the past three months. Clinical studies expect one in 12 tests to read a false negative and one in 5,000 tests to read a false positive. At an FDA Advisory Committee meeting in May, officials said they thought an additional 45,000 people would learn they have HIV through the test. FDA officials said the test will offer a different testing method for many unknowingly HIV-positive Americans that are unlikely to get tested at ...

Identify the father of a baby as early as the eighth week of pregnancy . The new method, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine , uses fetal DNA isolated from the mother's blood. The test has already been used to prove an affair in a murder trial, and experts say it has other significant medical and legal applications. "The technology is extremely important and really a very, very significant step forward for medical prenatal diagnosis," says Peter Benn, PhD, director of the diagnostic medical genetics laboratories at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. He was not involved in the research. A previous study by the same researchers showed how the test could be used early in pregnancy to determine whether a fetus has Down syndrome , for example. "That technology will allow genetic disorders to be identified without going through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling . That's a very important and useful step forward b...

Tods who have a poor relationship with their moms are more likely to be obese by the time they turn 15, a new study shows. So just how does a toddler's less-than-stellar relationship with mom affect risk for being obese as a teen? The reasons are not fully understood, but study researchers suggest these toddlers, when coping with stress, may begin to use food as a source of comfort in place of mom at a very early age. The findings appear in the January 2012 issue of Pediatrics. One thing, however, is clear: Childhood obesity rates in the U.S. are getting higher. As it stands, about 1 in 3 children in the U.S. are overweight or obese and this includes pre-schoolers. This suggests that whatever is causing the uptick starts pretty early. Relationship With Mom May Play Role in Childhood Obesity Researchers analyzed close to 1,000 toddlers' emotional bonds with their moms at 15 months, 2, and 3 years of age. They measured mom's sensitivity during 15-minute video...

Recycled Paper Towels Had the Highest Bacterial Counts Grabbing a paper towel in a public restroom may leave more on your hands than you bargained for. Researchers say they've found bacteria, including some that are known to make people sick, in unused paper towels. They also found that those bacteria could be transferred to hands after washing. The study is published in the American Journal of Infection Control. It did not find any illnesses connected to paper towel use. Experts say the findings are probably most important for people in hospital isolation units and those with weakened immune function who need to be extra cautious about contact with germs. Germs Lurk in Paper Towels Researchers at Laval University in Canada tested six brands of commercial paper towels -- the kind doled out in many public bathrooms. They found bacteria in all of them, but the towels made from recycled fibers were the most heavily contaminated. “In our study, the concentration of ba...