Health News for the Week of 8/17/2008

This week's health news round-up is a mixed bag.

A new study getting a lot of press this week says that drinking Red Bull is bad for your heart. A lot of inveterate Red Bull drinkers say the study is...well, bull, but some people are concerned.

An important announcement for anyone who takes medication on a regular basis is that fruit juice may stop medication from working. It applies to grapefruit and orange juice, and they're looking into apple juice as well. I almost never take pills with plain water, even though I know that's the recommended way to go.

A 61-year-old woman gave birth in Japan, as a surrogate for her own grandchild. She's not the only woman to do this, but she is the oldest. Also interesting is that surrogate births are banned in Japan by the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (like the AMA, I suppose) but some clinics do them anyway.

Some Restaurants in Sweden Will Soon Bear 'Allergy-Free' Certificates. These certificates will be awarded based on staff trained to help customers make better choices. That doesn't make as much sense to me as basing it on the food, but I suppose it all comes down to helping the customer.

You might like to have a night out now and then, but be careful. A Danish study followed almost 6,000 women and found that those who drank had a higher chance of developing perennial allergies, even if they didn't have allergies before. That last part seems kind of scary.

But don't let that scare you out of taking a break. Another study shows that stress can make your allergies worse. Mild stress results in a 75% increase in allergies (as shown by a skin test), while extreme stress doubled the allergies.

Not getting enough sleep? A lot of people aren't, and that's a bad thing. If you aren't a morning person, this article will teach you how to become a late riser, so you can catch up on your Z's.

Here's an interesting list of famous names, past and present, who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses. Some of them worked through their illness, but many of them died because of it.

I found this piece on sleep eating absolutely fascinating. I’d heard about it as a side effect of Ambien, but not as an isolated phenomenon.

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