The study analyzed data of 84,214 women who were in the Nurses’ Health Study and 41,736 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Participants answered questionnaires every two to four years about how frequently they drank coffee, other diet habits, smoking and health conditions.

Researchers found women who had two to three cups of coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease during the follow-up period – from 1980 to 2004 – compared with those who didn’t drink coffee, and an 18 percent lower risk of dying from something other than cancer or heart disease. Men who drank the same amount of coffee had neither a higher nor a lower risk of death from 1986 to 2004.

The editors of Annals of Internal Medicine caution the design of the study does not make it certain that coffee reduces the chances of dying sooner than expected. They say something else about coffee drinkers might be protecting them. There might also be some errors in how much coffee participants drank because the estimated consumption came from self-reports.

German researchers have found a key ingredient in cocoa called flavanols makes it easier for the arteries to expand in the face of increased demand for blood. Since people with diabetes generally have problems with artery expansion, anything that helps open up the flow could reduce their risk for cardiovascular complications.

The study involved 41 type 2 diabetics who were randomly assigned to drink specially formulated cocoa with either high or low concentrations of flavonols over a 30-day period. All the participants underwent regular tests to measure blood flow in the arteries. While the initial tests showed diabetics had significantly lower expansion of arterial diameter in the face of increased demand for blood, results improved significantly following the consumption of high flavonol cocoa, and by the end of the study, were at normal levels.

“This study is not about chocolate, and it’s not about urging those with diabetes to eat more chocolate. This research focuses on what’s at the true heart of the discussion on ‘healthy chocolate’—it’s about cocoa flavanols, the naturally occurring compounds in cocoa,” study author Malte Kelm, M.D., was quoted as saying. “While more research is needed, our results demonstrate that dietary flavanols might have an important impact as part of a healthy diet in the prevention of cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients.”

The findings are the result of a study authored by Valory Pavlik, Ph.D. of Baylor College of Medicine’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center in Houston, Texas.

After receiving 1,000 international units of vitamin E twice a day for five years, the patients were 26 percent less likely to die than those who did not take the vitamin. Whether they were also taking an Alzheimer’s drug (cholinesterase inhibitor) did not make a difference. Dr. Pavlik notes the dosage was much higher than what is currently recommended for the general public.

“This is particularly important because recent studies in heart disease patients have questioned whether vitamin E is beneficial for survival.”

According to the study, patients who took vitamin E plus an Alzheimer’s drug appear to get a greater benefit than those taking either one alone. However, people who took the drug but not vitamin E did not have any survival benefit. Dr. Pavlik says more research is needed to find out why.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School found a 45-minute snooze following a memory task training session only benefited people who mastered the tasks.

The study involved 11 men and 22 women with an average age of about 23 who arrived at the sleep lab at 11:30 in the morning, went through the training at 12:15 p.m., and then were randomly assigned to take a 45-minute nap at 1 p.m. or stay awake. At 4 p.m., all the participants were retested on the memory tasks.

“These results suggest that there is a threshold acquisition level that has to be obtained for sleep to optimally process the memory,” study author Matthew A. Tucker, Ph.D., was quoted as saying.

“The importance of this finding is that sleep may not indiscriminately process all information we acquire during wakefulness, only the information we learn well.”

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine conducted the research in mice. They found the mice with more muscles lost fat and showed other signs of metabolic improvement throughout the body. The benefits were seen even though the mice were on a high fat and sugar diet and didn’t increase any other physical activity.

These data also suggest that strength training, in addition to the widely prescribed therapy of endurance training, may be of particular benefit to overweight individuals.”

Study authors conclude increasing muscle mass in humans may prove to be critical in the fight against obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and cancer.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) teamed up with researchers in Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota and Pennsylvania to study 2,010 families in five major cities in the United States. Twenty-one percent of the families they observed lacked a secure amount of food.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2005, 16.7 percent of all households with children younger than age six did not have the amount of food required for an active, healthy life. “When looking at household composition, single parent families have the highest prevalence of food insecurity, especially those that are female-headed,” John Cook, Ph.D., associate professor at BUSM, research scientist at BMC, and co-author of the study, told Ivanhoe.

While most people think of CF as a disease that impacts the lungs, it impacts the digestive system too. CF results when children inherit defective copies of the CFTR gene, which codes for a protein found in the lungs, sweat glands, and digestive system that’s responsible for transporting chloride in and out of cells and regulating important pathways involved in the passage of fluid and bicarbonate across cell membranes.

When the gene is defective, either due to CF or another digestive disease, such as inflammation of the pancreas, problems arise. But until now, researchers weren’t sure what was happening to cause those problems.

A study conducted among Asian men shows smoking increases the risk for hair loss.

Investigators from Taiwan looked at a type of hair loss called androgenetic alopecia in 740 middle aged and older men. Androgenetic alopecia is the most common form of hair loss in men and is generally considered to be hereditary. But environmental factors may also come into play, and these researchers decided to see how smoking status would affect the condition.

All the men were surveyed during in-person interviews about their risk for androgenetic alopecia, when they first began losing their hair, and smoking status.

The investigators speculate smoking may increase the risk for hair loss by either destroying hair follicles or damaging bodily functions responsible for maintaining a healthy head of hair.

The researchers note the Asians in the study generally had a lower risk for androgentic alopecia than Caucasians.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Medical School embarked on the first neural study into what exactly happens to a person’s “emotional brain” when he or she is sleep-deprived. Researchers used functioning magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study 26 people ages 18 to 30. Those assigned to the sleep-deprived group stayed awake for day one, night one and day two. Those assigned to a control group stayed awake both days, but slept normally during the night.

Results show the amygdala -- the key part of the brain involved with processing emotions -- became hyperactive when sleep-deprived patients were shown negative visual stimuli, like mutilated bodies or other gory images. However, brain scans of people in the control group who had a full night’s sleep had normal activity in the amygdala when shown the same negative visual stimuli.

Energy drinks, which include ingredients like caffeine, taurine and carbohydrates, have become increasingly popular in recent years. Many students and young adults mix energy drinks with alcohol. Researchers from the University of Messina in Italy report the practice of mixing these energy drinks with alcohol occurs at an alarming rate among students in Italy.

Researchers interviewed 500 medical school students in Italy about their use of energy drinks alone or in combination with alcohol. Nearly 60 percent of the students reported consuming energy drinks and nearly half of them reported mixing those energy drinks with alcohol. Researchers found 35.8 percent of those students had consumed energy drinks mixed with alcohol three times in the previous month.

Chemotherapy using platinum-based drugs is a mainstay treatment for ovarian cancer. However, cancer cells tend to develop resistance to platinum therapy over time, and higher doses of the drugs can cause unwanted side effects, including nerve damage and kidney failure. Researchers have tried to find ways to make cells more sensitive to platinum therapy, and the answer may be in your refrigerator right now.

Researchers demonstrated human ovarian cancer cells resistant to platinum drugs became up to six-times more sensitized to the drugs after exposure to cranberry compounds than unexposed cells. The amount of juice extract given to the cells was the human equivalent of about one cup of cranberry juice.

 "On the other hand, I wouldn't go and say you should drink cranberry juice even if you're not a cranberry juice drinker."

Study researchers said animal studies of the treatment therapy will begin soon and if successful, cranberry extract could be used as part of an injectable chemotherapy regimen or as a beverage supplement to be consumed during chemotherapy.

When researchers at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., studied 32 overweight women ages 20 to 42, they found 94 percent of the participants reported having food cravings up to six months after their dieting began. To learn more about food cravings and their impact on weight loss, researchers regularly asked each participant what kind of food they craved, how often they craved it, how badly they craved it, and how often they actually ate the desired food. According to researchers, the participants who lost the most weight were those who craved high-calorie foods and rarely gave into their cravings.

"Allowing yourself to have the foods you crave, but doing so less frequently may be one of the most important keys to successful weight control," Susan Roberts, Ph.D., a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, is quoted as saying.

Roberts advised people with low levels of self-control to satisfy their hunger for calorie-rich foods by finding low-calorie substitutes, since a food craving can be satisfied with any food that has a similar taste.

A new study out of Yale University compared weight, body mass index (BMI) and other factors in children who received usual care at a pediatric obesity clinic and those who participated in the Bright Bodies program. Bright Bodies involves intensive lifestyle interventions specially designed for children and their families.

At the end of the one-year study, children in the Bright Bodies group maintained their incoming weight -- good for kids, because they are growing taller all the time -- and actually lowered their BMIs by about 1.7 units.

By contrast, kids in the usual care group gained an average of about 17 pounds and increased their BMIs by 1.6 units.

Children taking part in Bright Bodies also improved their cholesterol levels and their insulin sensitivity, a key marker of diabetes risk.

"We have shown that a family-based program that uses nutrition education, behavior modification, and supervised exercise can lower BMI, improve body composition, and increase insulin sensitivity."

A new study from Ontario, Canada finds exercise, specifically resistance training, rejuvenates muscle tissue in healthy senior citizens.

Researchers looked at gene expression profiles in tissue samples from 25 healthy men and women older than age 65 before and after they did six months of resistance training twice a week and compared them to tissue samples from younger healthy men and women age 20 to 35.

The gene expression profiles or molecular "fingerprints" focused on the function of mitochondria -- the "powerhouse" of cells. Previous research suggests mitochondrial dysfunction has something to do with the loss of muscle mass and functional impairment, which is commonly seen in older people.

Chances are, you aren’t just imagining it, report Harvard Medical School researchers. In a new study, people were tested to see how well they remembered word pairs after being awake all day and after a good night’s sleep.  Those who get a good night's sleep had significantly higher scores than those who were awake all day. 

The finding was most pronounced when people were asked to remember the original list of word pairs just after being presented a new list in which the first word in each pair was the same, but the second one was different. The researchers believe this shows sleep not only improves memory, but also helps protect memories from competing information or interference.

The sleep group tested without the competing word list performed 12-percent better than the wake group tested without the interference. The sleep group tested after the interference scored 44 percent better than the wake group tested after the competing list was presented.

“These results provide important insights into how the sleeping brain interacts with memories,” study author Jeffrey Ellenbogen, M.D. was quoted as saying. “It appears to strengthen them.”

The finding suggests sleep disorders may play a role in worsening the memory problems seen in people with dementia.

Maybe, report researchers who studied the effects of dietary copper on the hearts of mice. Their results suggest diets higher in copper may promote the production of a protein involved in growing new blood vessels, a key to keeping the heart healthy.

The study was conducted in mice whose hearts were stressed. Mice who were fed diets high in copper avoided a form of heart thickening called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and saw a normalization of their heart function. Mice who didn't receive extra copper ended up with heart failure.

Current recommendations call for people to take in 0.9 milligrams of copper per day. Based on their study results, these researchers estimate the beneficial human dose would be about 3.0 milligrams per day.

They write, "Should similar effects of [copper] supplementation be found in controlled studies in human patients, this will point the way to a simple, nontoxic and extraordinarily economical therapy for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy."

A new study from Korea reveals a diet rich in black soybeans could help control weight, prevent diabetes, and lower fat and cholesterol levels.

Researchers let 32 rats pig out on black soybeans and fatty foods. After two weeks, the rats getting 10 percent of their energy from black soy gained half as much weight as rat not getting any black soy in their diets. The total cholesterol also dropped by 25 percent, and LDL cholesterol fell by 60 percent in the black soy group.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The only confirmed risk factor for this disease is cigarette smoking. Previous research has suggested a connection between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer, but those studies did not control for smoking. Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston led a study to look at the association between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer.

Investigators used data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The study began in 1986 and includes more than 51,000 men working in health professions. The men answered questions about their health every two years.

Study authors report 216 cases of pancreatic cancer between 1986 and 2002. They found 67 of those patients reported also having periodontal disease.

So far, the researchers report they can only speculate why there is an increased risk for pancreatic cancer in men with periodontal disease. More studies are needed to better understand the role of periodontal disease in pancreatic cancer.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania find use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) increased the odds of breaking a hip by about 44 percent in people who took the drugs for about a year. People who took higher doses for longer periods were about two-and-a-half-times more likely to suffer a hip fracture.

Previous studies have linked PPIs to decreased absorption of calcium and lower bone density in some people, and this could explain the higher rate of hip fractures among those who take them, report the investigators.

Fat and sugar trigger acid reflux because they weaken the esophageal sphincter. This muscle at the end of the esophagus acts as a one-way valve to the stomach. Normally, this muscle relaxes when you swallow to let food enter your stomach. It closes to prevent stomach acid from reentering the esophagus. Fat and sugar can inhibit the function of this valve.

Fatty foods also delay emptying of the stomach. Food sits in the stomach longer than it ordinarily would. The combination of food in the stomach and a weak muscle at the end of the esophagus can lead to acid reflux. Large, fatty holiday meals can quickly trigger acid reflux problems.

But you don't have to go hungry just because you're avoiding discomfort.

"I think the best advice I can give you is to do everything in moderation," Stuart Spechler, M.D., professor of internal medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, told Ivanhoe. "I wouldn't say, 'don't enjoy the holidays,' but eat things in moderation and try to minimize the intake of fatty foods."

Pop a Pill
Dr. Spechler said histamine H2-blockers can bring relief to those with mild acid reflux problems by slowing the production of stomach acid. Several histamine receptor blockers can be found over-the-counter, like Pepcid, Tagament, Zantac and Axid.

"If you know you get heartburn and you know eating fatty foods will precipitate heartburn, you can get some of those medications and take it a half-hour before the meal and it might help to prevent heartburn," Spechler said.

Make Simple Substitutions
Traditional holiday foods don't have to make you miserable if you suffer from acid reflux. Registered dietician Sara Simard of Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital in Baltimore pinpointed some meal pitfalls and simple substitutions:

• Turkey: Opt for light meat over dark meat when picking your portion.
• Gravy: Use chicken broth or fat-free gravy to moisten your turkey and stuffing. For a refreshing twist, try a cranberry or mango chutney.

• Vegetables and other side dishes: Moisten foods with stock broth instead of extra fat.
• Desserts: Instead of using heavy cream or whole milk, substitute with an evaporated skim milk. Also, sugar substitutes like Splenda or Equal could be used to sweeten desserts.

"Keeping the food lower in fat and lower in sugar will help prevent heartburn," Simard said.

Practice Moderation
Eating too much can overextend the stomach and weaken the esophageal sphincter, possibly leading to acid reflux. Simard offered a few suggestions to keep your appetite and consumption under control:

• Eat small meals throughout the day of the holiday party or main meal to control hunger and prevent overeating at the main event.
• Skip second helpings. Monitor your appetite so you don't overstuff your stomach.
  Slow the rate of eating and savor every bite. This will help trigger fullness.
• Grab a small plate instead of a large plate. It's easier to control portion sizes when you have space limitations on your plate.
• Get chatty. Think of holiday meals and parties as social events. People eat less when they're talking.

Take a Hike
After a large turkey dinner, it's tempting to stretch out on the couch for a nap, but this can make acid reflux worse. If you lie in a horizontal position following a meal, stomach acid is more likely to reenter your esophagus and cause heartburn.

"When you eat a big meal, try to not go to sleep or lie down immediately after that meal," Spechler said. "Try to stay upright for a couple of hours. That helps."

Staying awake and on your feet has additional benefits. By taking a brisk walk after dinner, you can offset some of the calories consumed at the holiday feast.

A small pilot study done by researchers at Stanford University Medical Center in Menlo Park, Calif., reveals a component of blood, when specially treated and re-injected into the affected elbow, can give more relief than more commonly-used therapies like cortisone shots.

"Cortisone injections do tend to work early on, but a fair number of patients will recur with their symptoms and cortisone itself is fairly toxic," study author Allan Mishra, M.D., told Ivahoe.

For this treatment, researchers tested the new treatment on patients with tennis elbow -- a condition not limited to tennis players. It is a degeneration of the tendon above the elbow. For patients who do not respond to treatments like anti-inflammatories and physical therapy, surgical repair of the tendon is sometimes necessary.

Researchers injected 15 patients with platelet-rich plasma. Platelets are red blood cells and contain powerful growth factors -- chemicals that help the body repair its own damage. Researchers used each patients' own blood and concentrated the blood cells until a half teaspoon of the material had 500 percent more platelets than normal blood.

"Your body has an excellent ability to heal itself," said Dr. Mishra. He also says the treatment needs more testing before it can be made available to the public.

The 12-week study looked at the effectiveness of workplace e-mails promoting healthy exercise and eating regimes.

The research team, led by Ronald Plotnikoff, PhD, and Linda J. McCargar, PhD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, divided participants into an intervention group, which received health-related e-mails, and a control group, which did not.

The e-mail group received weekly messages highlighting the worth of physical activity and good nutrition while offering suggestions on how to achieve a healthier lifestyle.

By contrast the control group’s mean BMI slightly increased.

E-mail deliveries of health promotion messages can have small yet beneficial effects on health behaviors over a short time frame, the researchers concluded.

They also noted that e-mail is unobtrusive, cost-effective and practical.

A study in the April 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine set out to learn more about the "metabolic effects of habitual sleep restriction."

Scientists at the Boston University School of Medicine looked at the sleep patterns of 722 men and 764 women between the ages of 53 and 93.

The subjects answered questions regarding their slumber habits and underwent fasting glucose and glucose tolerance testing.

For those who slept 5 hours or less and 6 hours per night, the diabetes risk increased 2.5- and 1.66-fold respectively.

Subjects who slept 9 hours or more per night also had increased odds ratios.

According to the study, these findings continued when insomniacs were excluded.

The conclusion: Sleeping less than 6 or more than 9 hours per night is associated with an increased prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance.

Authors suggested getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

However, until recently, little was known about the long term effects of CLA.

That led a team of scientists from Norway to observe how CLA affected body composition and safety variables in healthy men and women with a body mass index between 25 and 30.

As reported in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, study participants were randomly given either a type of CLA or a placebo.

After 1 year of supplementation, those who received the CLA had a significantly lower BFM than those in the control group; these changes were not associated with diet or exercise, and adverse events did not differ between the groups.

This led the researchers to conclude that long term CLA supplementation reduces BFM in healthy overweight adults.

However, rapid weight loss is an indicator of fluid loss and not of desirable body-weight change.

When you lose this type of weight, you’re losing fluids that your body needs to perform and function properly.

That’s why it’s important to replace the amount of fluid lost in sweat so you are able to feel and perform at your best.

Before Exercise:

Drink 17-20 oz. Two to three hours before activity and drink an additional 7-10 oz. Of fluid 10-20 minutes before working out.

During Exercise:

Drink approx. 7-10 oz. Every 15 minutes.

After Exercise:

Drink at least 20 oz. per pound of weight loss within two hours.

Is it easier or harder than average, depending on where you live?

Child.com spent 5 months studying mandated school fitness and nutrition policies.

They also looked at other factors related to healthy lifestyles, including accessible, safe playgrounds; rates of participation in youth sports; and the number of fast-food restaurants.

Here are the 10 best and worst states, according to the analysis:

Best

1. Connecticut

2. New York

3. Vermont

4. Massachusetts

5. Missouri

6. Maine

7. West Virginia

8. Wisconsin

9. Arkansas

1. Alaska

2. Nebraska

3. Nevada

4. Mississippi

5. Kansas

6. Alabama

7. Idaho

8. Wyoming

9. Iowa

10. Arizona