beatricehamp74: Lab Notes: Overweight Kids More Prone to Gallstones; Women with Alzheimer’s Fare Worse Than Men

On our Lab Notes page CalorieLab’s editors select and rank the day’s essential health news items in real time. Readers can suggest, vote and comment on items. Below are brief summaries of this past week’s (August 18, 2012 through August 25, 2012) Lab Notes items. To see today’s items, visit Lab Notes.

1. Overweight Kids More Prone to Gallstones

Gallstone disease is becoming more prevalent in overweight boys and girls, says research.

2. Women with Alzheimer’s Fare Worse Than Men

Women with Alzheimer’s deteriorate more rapidly than men with the disease, say researchers who are at a loss to explain why.

3. Will You Become Sick from West Nile Virus?

So far in 2012, there have been 1,118 West Nile virus cases in people (including 41 deaths) reported to the CDC, but not everyone who is infected gets sick.

4. Court Rules Against Graphic Cigarette Labels

Cigarette companies don’t have to comply with the federal rules for including graphic warning images on their packages, ruled a U.S. appeals court.

5. ADHD Girls Often Injure Selves As Adults

Teenage and pre-teen girls who display signs of ADHD — poor attention span, hyperactivity, impulsiveness — are much more likely later, in early adulthood, to intentionally physically injure themselves, with more than 20 percent even attempting suicide.

6. FDA Warns Against Improper Use of Neti Pots

The FDA warns against the improper use of neti pots which may have caused two deaths last year.

7. Americans Throw Away Nearly Half Their Food

Americans throw out almost half of their food every day.

8. Marriage and Drinking — the Sexes Differ

Marriage and divorce effect the drinking habits of middle-aged men and women far differently. Single and divorced women both drink less alcohol than their married peers, while divorced men outdrink both single males and husbands.

9. FDA Warns of Tattoo Ink Health Risks

A family of bacteria known as nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) is blamed for an outbreak of illnesses associated with tattoo inks that are contaminated.

10. Cows Are Eating Candy Instead of Corn

Consumers don’t have to worry over grass-fed or corn-fed beef, because now there’s another option: candy-fed beef!

11. Eating Disorders in Children on Rise

Eating disorders in children under 12 are on the rise, say researchers who blame, in part, the nation’s emphasis on obesity.

12. FDA Warns Against Taking Reumofan

Reumofan Plus and Reumofan Plus Premium dietary supplements contain potentially harmful active pharmaceutical ingredients that aren’t listed on the product label, warns the FDA.

13. Exercise As Medicine

Should lack of exercise be a diagnosis? That could lead to prescribing exercise instead of medication, says one health professional.

14. Anti-Hunger Ingredient Makes You Feel Full

Methyl cellulose, used to hold ingredients in foods such as cakes and pastries together, has new applications as a satiety ingredient, say researchers.

15. Rosie O’Donnell Shares Heart Attack News

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell shared news of her recent heart attack in verse on her blog.

16. Coupons Luring Customers Away from Generics

Drugmakers are offering patients coupons aimed at lowering their copayments for brand-name medicines to compete with generic drugs.

17. Fewer Circumcisions May Increase Health Costs

Declining infant male circumcision rates could add billions of dollars to health care costs.

18. Antibiotics May Cause Babies to Gain Weight

Antibiotic use in babies under 6 months increases their risk for being overweight in later childhood, finds a large-scale NYU study.

19. Top Health Concern: No Exercise for Kids

Lack of exercise was rated as the top health concern for children in 2012 by adults in the U.S

20. Psoriasis Treatment Reduces Heart Attack Risk

A study looking at psoriasis drugs that reduce inflammation throughout the whole body may also reduce the risk of heart attacks, which is elevated in people with the skin condition.

21. U.S. Males Smoke & Drink More, Die Younger

CDC data shows that men in the U.S. smoke tobacco and drink alcohol at a greater rate than women, and visit doctors and other health professionals significantly less often, which may have a bearing on the fact that men have shorter average lifespans.

22. Type 2 Patients Beset by Pain, Other Ills

Nearly one-half of all adults with Type 2 diabetes experience acute and chronic pain, especially those 60 or older, while one-fourth report depression, sleep disturbances, neurological disorders, fatigue, and either physical or mental disability.