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The health tips/information and educational flyers listed on this page and throughout this Web site are for informational purposes only. They are not intended to be a substitute for the advice of a doctor or healthcare professional, or a recommendation for any particular treatment plan.
Like any other data, the information may become out of date over time. It is important that you rely on the advice of a doctor or a healthcare professional for your specific condition. Babies May Be Smarter Than You Think
Babies can understand many words sooner than they can actually say them, a new study indicates.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say 6- to 9-month old babies learn the meaning of the words for certain foods and body parts through their daily exposure to language. They said most psychologists don't think this type of word comprehension is possible until a child is closer to 1 year.
"I think it's surprising in the sense that the kids at this age aren't saying anything, they're not pointing, they're not walking," said the study's co-author, Elika Bergelson, a doctoral student in Penn's department of psychology, in a university news release. "But actually, under the surface, they're trying to put together the things in the world with the words that go with them."
In conducting the study, researchers had 33 babies between 6 and 9 months old view a screen with a picture of a food and a body part while sitting with their parents. The parents were given phrases to say to the child, asking them to find the apple, for instance. An eye-tracking device revealed the babies' responses to the phrases.
Read full article...http://1.usa.gov/xh5Gr0 |
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Oversalted America
Researchers say 9 in 10 Americans eat too much sodium – notably in salt, and mostly from processed or restaurant food. Sodium raises blood pressure, which can contribute to heart disease and other illnesses.
But if sodium is so common and we eat so much, what can we do? Well, we can check labels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says we get over 40 percent of our sodium from 10 kinds of food – including breads, luncheon meat, pizza, cheese, pasta, and snacks.
So let’s look at a bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread – three of the top 10 right there. The CDC’s Dr. Mary Cogswell: “Just making simple choices about the bread and cheese could save up to 400 milligrams of sodium in that bologna and cheese sandwich.” |
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Millions of Americans Have Untreated Hearing Loss: Study
About 27 million Americans aged 50 and older have lost some of their hearing and could benefit from a hearing aid, a new study finds.
However, many people don't get hearing aids because they're often not covered by insurance, they don't receive training in integrating hearing aids into their daily lives, or they consider hearing loss an inevitable part of aging and not a major concern, according to the researchers.
"There's still a perception among the public and many medical professionals that hearing loss is an inconsequential part of the aging process and you can't do anything about it," said study senior author Dr. Frank Lin, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a university news release. "We want to turn that idea around."
The study is published online February 13 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The researchers examined information on hearing aid use and hearing testing among participants of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted between 1999 and 2006.
About 14 percent of people aged 50 and older use hearing aids. That ranged from 4 percent of 50- to 59-year-olds to 22 percent of people aged 80 and older.
Although more people used hearing aids as they got older, the study's authors suggested 23 million more people could benefit from hearing aids if they used them.
"Understanding current rates of hearing loss treatment is important, as evidence is beginning to surface that hearing loss is associated with poorer cognitive functioning and the risk of dementia," Lin said. "Previous studies that have attempted to estimate hearing-aid use have relied on industry marketing data or focused on specific groups that don't represent a true sample of the United States population."
Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, News Release, February 13, 2012 |
