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White rice may not be a healthy option

 

Eating more white rice may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, especially for Asian populations, Qi Sun, PhD, of Harvard and colleagues reported in the British Medical Journal.  Patients who ate the greatest amounts of the grain had a 27% greater risk of developing the disease than those who ate the least, and the relative risk was higher among Asian patients.

Original Article

Institute Director Teresa Woodruff receives alumni merit award

Since 1932, the Northwestern Alumnae Association  has honored alumni who have distinguished themselves as outstanding professional and personal achievers in their fields and who have loyally dedicated their time and service to their alma mater. This year’s award recipients have earned acclaim in business, engineering, journalism, the arts, law, athletics, medicine and health care. Among this year’s winners is Teresa K. Woodruff, the Thomas J. Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, and professor of Molecular Biosciences at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Woodruff received a Ph.D. from Weinberg in 1989.

Original Article

Hospitals can make you sick! Here are tips to reduce medical errors.

Medical errors can occur anywhere in the health care system: In hospitals, clinics, surgery centers, doctors’ offices, nursing homes, pharmacies, and patients’ homes. Errors can involve medicines, surgery, diagnosis, equipment, or lab reports. They can happen during even the most routine tasks, such as when a hospital patient on a salt-free diet is given a high-salt meal. One in seven Medicare patients in hospitals experience a medical error.

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Adopting healthy lifestyles early (before problems start) can reduce heart risks

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle from young adulthood into your 40s is strongly associated with low cardiovascular disease risk in middle age, according to a new Northwestern Medicine® study.

“The problem is few adults can maintain ideal cardiovascular health factors as they age,” said Kiang Liu, PhD, first author of the study. “Many middle-aged adults develop unhealthy diets, gain weight, and aren’t as physically active. Such lifestyles, of course, lead to high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and elevated cardiovascular risk.”

Original Article

Concerns about dietary supplements are legitimate

Dietary supplements are a $28 billion dollar business in America.  Thanks to 1994′s Hatch Act, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), pushed through Congress and released upon a then-unprotesting public by Utah’s Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), substances which may be benign, toxic, and everything in between, as long as they are sold as “dietary nutritional supplements,” get a virtual free pass.

Original Article

Celebrate Women’s History Month by remembering these women

Women’s History Month is an important time of reflection and celebration for all Americans. We recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of women throughout history, and we celebrate the power of their vital contributions to science, medicine and women’s empowerment. Here are a just a few of the many accomplishments done by women in the last century and a half.  Many of them were true pioneers in women’s health!

1835, Harriot Kezie Hunt opens her own medical practice focusing on women and children.  Because she is female, she is barred from hospitals and lectures at Harvard.

Original Article

Breastfeeding and caffeine

Babies are not able to metabolize or excrete caffeine very well, so a breastfeeding mother’s consumption of caffeine may lead to caffeine accumulation and symptoms such as wakefulness and irritability, according to an interview with expert Ruth Lawrence, MD, published in Journal of Caffeine Research.  The interview is available on the Journal of Caffeine Research website.

Original Article

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