On one hand, knowing how to eat right can be simple – eat when you’re hungry, and stick to nutritious foods that fill you up and keep you satisfied. But another component of playing the weight loss game is when you eat, and that’s when things can get complicated. While studies have proven that eating late at night doesn’t automatically lead to your body storing more fat , a new study in mice has found a link between when you eat and weight gain. Researchers looked at two groups of mice, both of which were fed the same amount of a high-fat diet, and found that the mice who were only allowed to eat during an eight-hour period during the day ended up gaining less weight than the mice that were allowed to eat the same amount of food any time during the day and night. Researchers believe that the difference in weight gain is due to the fact that the body’s organs operate at peak efficiency at different times, so everything from your liver to your muscles may be burning more calories and working harder depending on the time of day or night. Frequent eating throughout the day and night, they say, may throw off your body’s metabolic cycles, so you may be more successful with weight loss if you stop eating at a certain point during your day (even if you are eating the same amount of food). This newest study is just one more piece of information in the late-night eating debate, but the theory hasn’t been tested on humans yet. And it’s important to note that this study doesn’t prove the myth that you shouldn’t eat past a certain time to avoid your food turning into fat – the study is just saying that restricting when you eat to a certain time period may help regulate your metabolic cycles. In any case, what’s your take on the issue: do you avoid eating late at night to prevent gaining weight? Do You Avoid Eating Late at Night to Prevent Weight Gain? Yes – I think eating at night makes me gain weight. No – I eat late if I want to, and it hasn’t been an issue. No, but I want to stop.

The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to combat Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 5 million Americans and whose progression has been resistant to treatments. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius detailed the plan Tuesday at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit 2012: Path to Treatment and Prevention. Alzheimer's is projected to affect 16 million by 2050.  "The plan gives us a blueprint to build on our research efforts," Sebelius said at the announcement.  "These actions are the cornerstone of an ambitious and  aggressive agenda." The plan promises to find effective prevention and treatment approaches  for Alzheimer's disease by 2025.  Leading Alzheimer's researchers from around the world are at the National Institutes of Health today to talk about which research should be emphasized. To help, the government has launched with website www.alzheimers.gov as a resource for people to find out more about the disease, caregiving and getting help. President Obama signed the National Alzheimer’s Project Act into law in January 2011, which called for a coordinated national plan to fight Alzheimer's. In February of 2012 , the administration said it would push for a $156 million increase in funding for Alzheimer's research over the next two years. As of Tuesday, Obama's proposed 2013 budget allows for a $100 million increase for anti-Alzheimer's efforts. Funding for Alzheimer's research in the United States has not even approached the level of monetary support for other major diseases. Last year, the NIH spent $3 billion on research into AIDS, $4.3 billion on heart disease, and $5.8 billion for cancer, according to the Alzheimer's Association . Photo gallery: Alzheimer's disease The current thinking among Alzheimer's experts is that early detection and intervention – even before symptoms begin – is better. Individuals with only mild memory problems may hold the most promise for testing treatments. Some of the funding will go towards launching two major clinical trials, according to HHS.  "One is a $7.9 million effort to test an insulin nasal spray for treating Alzheimer’s disease.  A second study, toward which National Institutes of Health is contributing $16 million, is the first prevention trial in people at the highest risk for the disease," said Sebelius in a press statement. Funding is only one part of finding solutions for this debilitating disease.  In practice scientists find it challenging to get a lot of participation in clinical trials . Some people don't want to risk the possible side effects of an experimental drug; others do want to try new drugs, but fear being placed in the placebo group.  And elderly people may have practical difficulties getting to the study location. Filed under: Alzheimer’s , Conditions Tagged: Elizabeth Landau – CNN.com Health Writer/Producer

If you're turning 50 or you're already there, colorectal screening is in your future.  Although you would only have to be screened every 10 years (if no polyps are found), the prospect of getting prepped for procedure is a big turn-off for many.  You've probably heard some of the horror stories about the pre-screening laxatives, the taste, the amount, the ensuing "cleansing." But for those who are a little squeamish about all that liquid going in–and coming out, a new laxative free colonoscopy might be on the horizon.  A study of 605 adults published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows this type of colonoscopy has promise. This new exam is called a laxative-free computed tomographic colonography (CTC) or virtual colonoscopy.  Study author Dr. Michael Zalis, Director of CT Colonography at Massachusetts General Hospital says the hope is that more people will find this preparation easier to stomach and result in more people getting this life-saving test. "When we do a virtual colonoscopy we give a safe contrast agent that patients ingest over 2 days with snacks," Zalis said. "It's about 5 milliliters, about the volume of food you would see in a ketchup packet." The contrast is taken orally 1-3 times a day, mixes easily with a low-fiber diet a patient is consuming and shows up on an x-ray.  The feces are tagged and have a distinctive appearance on the cat scan.  The contrast is not absorbed by polyps or the colon wall.  Researchers have developed computer software that cleanses the colon images electronically. "We observed with this laxative-free version we could identify patients who had one or more polyps 1 centimeter or greater in size and we could do that with a performance that was very similar to optical colonoscopy and in a range that many people would consider acceptable for screening.  We could detect 91% of these larger lesions, in our study, OC detected 95%.  In this study that's the difference of 1 polyp." Currently there are 2 main types of colon screenings, says Zalis: The regular optical and the virtual colonoscopies. For the optical colonoscopy (OC), a gastroenterologist inserts a 6-foot long scope with a camera at the end into the colon.  This allows the doctor to see any polyps (pre-cancerous tumors) and immediately remove.  The patient sedated for the entire procedure, so they shouldn't feel a thing.  To prepare for this procedure, patients usually have to drink a laxative solution on the day before.  This means they are drinking anywhere between 2 quarts and a gallon of liquid until the bowels are empty. The computed tomographic colonography (CTC), sometimes called a virtual colonoscopy, requires the same preparation, it's the test that's different. A tiny tube the size of a pinkie is inserted.  This screening uses a low-dose x-ray cat-scan instead of a scope that takes pictures of the colon that are fed into a computer and later read by a technician, after the patient has left the exam.  If polyps are found, the patient has to come back and have a regular colonoscopy to have the precancerous lesions removed. "They both require a full laxative prep and the prep is found to be so unpleasant that it deters people from participating in screening," Zalis said. "Nobody should be dying of colon cancer.  It's a slow-growing disease." And largely preventable.  Polyps are not cancerous, but they are a benign precursor that can  turn into cancer if left unchecked.  According to the American Cancer Society , colon cancer deaths has been dropping over the last 2 decades.  Still, there are about 104,000 new cases of colon cancer each year and approximately 51,000 deaths. There is a  caveat when using this new type of "cleanse" – while the laxative-free test accurately detected polyps 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) and larger during the study, it was less successful finding smaller growths.  But Zalis says smaller lesions are clinically less important. "We can't ignore them, but we know that the most important lesions to get are the advanced adenomas and 90% of them are 1 centimeter or larger." Researchers say results from this study need to be validated by another larger study.  In the meantime, Zalis is making this test available to his patients at Mass General, even though it is not yet fully covered by Medicare or insurance.  The cost for this test is not higher than a traditional virtual colonoscopy, Zalis says, because the method of cleansing the bowel is all that changes. "We've known for a long time if we could make and validate a colon exam that was far more patient-friendly, then we might be able to bring the benefit of screening to many people who are not participating in screening and who are at risk for colon cancer, " Zalis says. A second colon cancer study also releasing in Annals looked at whether having an immediate family member such as parents, siblings and children with adenomatous polyps (larger polyps that can turn into cancer over time) increased a person's risk of colon cancer. Researchers looked at 12 different studies and concluded that more studies are needed before a conclusion can be made. Filed under: Cancer Tagged: Saundra Young – CNN Medical Senior Producer

When babies are on the verge of walking, their parents know it's high time to baby-proof their house or apartment if they haven't already done so. But in all the preparations, they may forget to baby-proof their child as well, not by wrapping their little one in bubble-wrap, but by removing potentially dangerous objects from their child's mouth.  Binkies (aka pacifiers), bottles and sippy cups, serve an important purpose in calming and feeding a child but, used improperly, they can also hurt a child. In a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics , researchers looked at data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System and reviewed 20 years of records of children age 3 and under, who were treated in the emergency departments across the country. Between 1991 and 2010, they found 45,398 children were treated for injuries that involved pacifiers, bottles and sippy cups – that's about 2,270 cases per year. In 86% of the cases, falling down contributed to the injury and two-thirds (65.8%) of the children involved bottles. One in five (19.9%) injured children had a pacifier in their mouth, and in 14.3% of the cases, a sippy cup was involved. Some of the injuries reported included lacerations to the mouth, cuts and bruises to the lip or tongue and a variety of dental injuries. "Teeth were either knocked out, chipped, pushed back up into the gums or knocked sideways," says Sandra Keim, lead study author and a researcher at the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The study also found that one-year-old children were injured the most often. Dr. Garry Gardner is a pediatrician in Chicago and he chairs the Injury, Violence and Poison Control committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He's not surprised by the results of this study, especially that the majority of children injured were about 1-year-old. "They toddle along and they're not very coordinated and it's amazing to see these kids trip over nothing – and they do it all the time. If there's anything in a child's mouth, he says, it's going to cause an injury to the mouth or hurt a tooth. He notes that according to the study, it's a good thing that most of the injuries weren't life-threatening. Dr. Joanna Cohen – a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. – says the study results are pretty consistent with what she sees in their emergency department.  "Usually these injuries seem to be minor lacerations in the face… or minor facial trauma." Keim points out that fears of BPA and other chemicals in plastic bottles has led to somewhat of a renaissance for glass bottles, which can add another layer to the types of injuries toddlers can sustain. The researchers believe this is the first study to provide a nationwide picture about how many of these injuries occur. Keim points out that the data only reflects the number of children who were actually taken to an emergency room. It doesn't include any visits to the pediatrician, dentist or Dr. "mom" or Dr. "dad." When should you take your child to the ER? Cohen says if the injury is "a deeper laceration that might require sutures, or an associated dental injury," or if the child hurts its head in any way. It's impossible for any parent to keep an eye on their child every second of their waking hours.  But there are some simple steps that can help parents reduce the number of these types of injuries. Keim, who is also a mom has this sage advice: "Getting your child in the habit of drinking while seated rather than walking around can help prevent some of the injuries." She also refers to the AAP guidelines which recommend transitioning your child from a bottle or sippy cup at about 12 months of age and teaching your child to drink from a cup without a lid. The AAP already recommends weaning your baby off the pacifier in the second 6 months of life to reduce the risk of middle ear infections. Keim and Gardner both make the point that if toddlers no longer use a pacifier by the time they start walking and running, a parent doesn't have to deal with taking it away from them to reduce the risk of injury. Another benefit to not having your child attached to a bottle or sippy cup for long periods of time: You reduce your child's chance of getting cavities. Gardner adds one more reminder: "Kids shouldn't run around with food in their mouth either."  That's just adding the risk of choking. He points parents to the AAP's website healthychildren.org for additional advice and parenting tips. Filed under: Children’s Health Tagged: Miriam Falco – CNN Medical Managing Editor

Working a nine-to-fiver is mandatory for most people, and unfortunately, a long commute often comes with the territory. According to a study published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine , those who travel 16 or more miles each way weigh more and have higher blood pressures than those with less than 10-mile commutes. Of the almost 4,300 residents from Dallas and Austin involved in the study, researchers discovered that for every 10-mile increase in driving distance, the commuter’s BMI (body mass index) rose .17 units. People with lengthy commutes are nine percent more likely to be obese, either because they didn’t exercise as much, are eating fast food while driving, or they’re not getting enough sleep because their long commute forces them to wake up early. Weight isn’t the only thing affected by a long drive to work. Spending that much time in the car, especially stuck in traffic, also makes a person tired, moody, and stressed out, which is one reason 52 percent of those in the study with a longer commute suffered from high blood pressure. So what’s a commuter to do? Quitting your job is obviously not an option, and if working at home part-time isn’t feasible and neither is finding a job closer to where you live, keep reading to learn what commuters can do to avoid weight gain and other health issues.

iStockphoto More adults went without needed medical treatment, a dental visit or routine check-ups in 2010 than a decade earlier, according to a new study . In 2010, some 21% of adults under the age of 65 told a government survey that they had an unmet health-care need, 20% said they hadn’t been able to get into a doctor’s office and 39% said they hadn’t had a dental visit. Those numbers were all higher than responses in 2000, researchers at the liberal Urban Institute think tank found after analyzing National Health Interview Survey questionnaires that asked adults under the age of 65 about their health. The latest numbers are likely to add further fuel to the debate over the future direction of health costs. National health-spending growth was at a near-historic low in 2010, as WSJ reported , but experts are divided over whether the trend is a good thing or not. As the Health Blog explained in January , many observers attribute the decline in spending to people cutting back on care because of the weak economy. But they also say the long-term cost implications depend on whether the people postponed necessary treatments for conditions that will worsen, or put off unnecessary treatments that they would be better off skipping. In the study, adults without health insurance were much more likely to say they didn’t have access to care or didn’t see a doctor or a dentist. In 2010, 46% of these people said they had had unmet medical needs, 48% said they had seen a doctor in the previous year, and 28% said they had seen a dentist.

In the midst of all your margarita- or mint julep-fueled celebrating this weekend, here’s a reminder to pull on your running sneakers and go for a jog: a new study has found that regular jogging can help you live longer . The study compared joggers and nonjoggers as part of a larger Danish study that’s been tracking 20,000 people for over 30 years. Researchers compared about 2,000 joggers from the study with nonjoggers and found that the joggers were 44 percent less likely to die from any cause compared to those who didn’t jog, and in general had longer life spans – up to six years longer. Running and jogging can help lower your risk of many diseases and conditions, like high blood pressure, cancer, and high cholesterol, so it’s no surprise that the regular joggers in the study were healthier overall. The good news is that you don’t have to become a serious runner to reap the benefits; researchers say that the most benefits came from jogging at a slow or average pace (not strenuous enough to feel too out of breath) for one to two and a half hours a week, and it’s fine to break your jogs up into a few sessions during the week. Why not start now? Here’s an easy jogging-walking workout for you to try this weekend.

iStockphoto Here’s what’s making health news this morning: Terror Fears Fail to Halt Study (WSJ): A government panel had previously recommended against publication of the research on how a bird-flu virus was altered to make it more contagious in animals. U.S. Lags in Global Measure of Premature Births (NY Times): The U.S. does worse than any Western European country, Japan and Scandinavia in the percentage of mothers who give birth before their babies are due, a comparison by the World Health Organization and other groups says. U.S. Charges 107 With Defrauding Medicare (WSJ): Charges were brought in seven cities against defendants for allegedly running fraud schemes involving $452 million in false claims. Deadly Infection Claims San Francisco VA Lab Worker (San Jose Mercury News): The 25-year-old man had been handling bacteria linked to fatal bloodstream infections, raising concerns his colleagues might have been exposed. Vitamins E, C No Help Against Vision Disorder (Reuters): A study published in Ophthalmology , part of ongoing research of more than 14,000 male doctors over age 50, showed the two vitamins — both antioxidants — didn’t help prevent macular degeneration. Analytical Trend Troubles Scientists (WSJ): The popularity of observational studies — as opposed to experimental ones — has raised concerns about the reliability of results. Import Rule Seen Weakening Mad Cow Safeguards, Group Says (Bloomberg News): The USDA rule, proposed in March, would follow criteria set by the World Organization for Animal Health, which farm and rancher groups say would open a loophole weakening protections against the illness.

People who eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids may significantly lower their risk of developing memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has found. Researchers recruited 1,219 people over age 65, and followed their dietary habits for more than a year.  Then they tested the subjects' blood for a protein called beta-amyloid, a protein is associated with memory problems and Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, plaques and tangles which are found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients are actually clumps of this substance. “We know that the amyloid mechanisms are out of control in a person with Alzeimer’s disease,” said the study's lead author, Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, associate professor of clinical neurology at New York's Columbia University Medical Center. “We wanted to see if different nutrients influenced those levels.” Interestingly, the people in the study who consumed omega-3 had significantly lower levels of amyloid in their blood. The effects are continuous researchers say.  The levels decreased by 20-to 30% for each gram of omega-3 fatty acid added to their diet.  One gram is equivalent to a handful of walnuts, or half a piece of salmon. “The more you eat, the lower the amyloid level will be,” said Scarmeas. The study – published in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology  - also evaluated beta-carotene, vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin E, omega-6, saturated fatty acids, and non-unsaturated fatty acids in the participants diets. Omega-3 was the only nutrient that showed an association with lower amyloid levels. A 2010 study found that people who ate food high in omega-3 acids had a nearly 40% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to people who didn’t.  However, the reason why couldn’t be determined.  Researchers believe this new study may help explain the connection. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids are often the crux of a Mediterranean diet. Choose fatty fish like mackerel, trout, herring, tuna or salmon.  Non-fish options include kale, tofu, soybeans, walnuts and flaxseed. Although it is best to get nutrients from natural resources, omega-3 supplements can also be effective.  Consult with your doctor before adding fish oil supplements to your diet because they may interact with other medications. Filed under: Alzheimer’s , Brain , Healthy Eating , Vitamins and supplements Tagged: Danielle Dellorto – CNN Medical Senior Producer

The first of two controversial studies about  a mutated form of the potentially lethal H5N1 bird flu virus was finally published Wednesday after months of debate over whether release of the research could pose a biosecurity threat. The  journal Nature  published the study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka. Similar research led by Dutch researcher Ron Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam has yet to be published in its entirety in the journal Science. Both studies found that with a few genetic alternations, this bird flu virus can be much more easily transmitted. Six months ago the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) asked both journals not to publish essential data because they feared it could be misused and turned into a biological weapon.  Scientists in favor of publication argued that the data was important for flu surveillance and public health preparedness. "This study has significant public health benefits and contributes to our understanding of this important pathogen,” said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the author of the Nature study and a flu researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a released statement. “By identifying mutations that facilitate transmission among mammals, those whose job it is to monitor viruses circulating in nature can look for these mutations so measures can be taken to effectively protect human health." H5N1 is a virus that has caused major concern, due to high global death rates associated with it.  Since 2003, the virus has infected at least 600 people, mostly in Asia, and killed more than half of the people infected.  The virus has spread to people who are in close proximity to birds, but it hasn't spread easily human-to-human. But researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and another team from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands each created a mutated version of the H5N1 virus that can more easily transmitted amongst mammals.  They tested the mutated virus on ferrets, which closely mimic the human response to the flu. The 23-member NSABB had expressed that revealing such detailed results could "represent(s) a grave concern for global biosecurity, biosafety, and public health.” But the World Health Organization recommended that the two studies be published in their full form.  By April, the U.S. government reversed its position with new information and revisions.  The board said the research could help in fighting a possible future outbreak.  It recommended the researchers' findings be published without "methods or details" that could be used by terrorists to produce a biological weapon. Flu viruses constantly mutate in nature.  The virus engineered in Kawaoka's lab was of low virulence, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "H5N1 viruses remain a significant threat for humans as a potential pandemic flu strain. We have found that relatively few mutations enable this virus to transmit in mammals. These same mutations have the potential to occur in nature," said Kawaoka in the university’s press release. The research also showed that the mutant virus could be controlled by a H5N1 vaccine and the drug, Tamiflu.  The study was funded partly by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. Filed under: Global Health , Infectious diseases Tagged: Madison Park – CNNhealth.com Writer/Producer