Medical Watch Digest for Jan 11

Easing menopause

In menopause and beyond, women face extreme changes in emotional and heart health.

Now a study at Drexel University finds creative arts therapy and nutrition education ease the transition into menopause and improve quality of life.

The combination intervention reduced stress and anxiety, improved body image and body mass index.

The art classes focused on regulating emotions and managing stressors.

The nutrition education highlighted healthy food and beverage choices, portion sizes and hydration.

All participants reported some type of health benefits at the end of the study.
    

Breastfeeding a baby can help them maintain a healthy weight

Consistently nursing newborns during the first three months is associated with a lower risk of childhood obesity.

The results held true regardless of the mother’s body mass index prior to pregnancy.

A new study funded by the Environmental Influences of Child Health Outcomes or ECHO program at the national institutes of health reveals an added benefit for breastfeeding.

Researchers looked at more than 8-thousand children at 21 study sites in 16 states.

Breastfed babies had a healthier weight from 2-6 years old.

Frankincense? Really?

A gift of the magi could be the secret to beating cancer.

Frankincense is mentioned in the bible and now scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina found it has anti-cancer properties.

It’s been used in traditional medicine for centuries.

So researchers gave breast cancer patients the extract to take every day prior to their breast surgery.

They had identified and analyzed the tumor through biopsy.

They compared the activity of the tumor cells after surgery with the earlier extracted cells.

They found the tumors after treatment had a lower growth rate compared to before treatment.