A joint Australian-Vietnamese study investigating the links between diet and the bone health of humans has found that vegetarians have slightly weaker bones than their meat-eating counterparts. As a part of the study, the studied the diet and bones of more than 2,700 people.

Lead researcher Tuan Nguyen said that vegetarians had 5% less dense bones than meat-eaters. Vegans, who refrain from eating all animal products were found to have 6% weaker bones.

However, researchers found "rapctically no differnece" between the bone density of meat-eaters and ovolactovegarians - people who don't eat meat or seafood but include eggs and dairy in their diets.

The scientists have not yet determined whether the lower bone density, howver, is linked to an increased risk of fracture.

"Given the rising number of vegetarians, roughly 5% (of people) in Western countries, and the widespread incidence of osteoporosis, the issue is worth resolving." Nguyen said.

A U.S. Department of Food and Drug Administration advisory panel of outside experts voted 20-17 on Tuesday to urge the agency to eliminate products that combine acetaminophen with powerful opioids. Amongst the drugs recommended to be eliminated are the popular prescription painkillers Percocet and Vicodin. This is just one recommendation from the panel, which is currently weighing steps that the FDA can take to prevent the liver damage and even death that is seen in patients who take too much acetaminophen.

Panelists have also recommended reducing the strength of over-the-counter pain medications and other drugs that contain acetaminophen, and switching the higher doses over a prescription product.

They stopped just short of recommending a ban on OTC cough, cold and other medications that combine acetaminophen with other ingredients, voting 24-13 to keep them on store shelves.

Overdoses of acetaminophen, which is commonly known by its brand name Tylenol, has been linked to liver failure and even death. The FDA, however, is concerned that consumers are not heeding warnings and are trying to come up with ways to reduce the overall number of overdoses.

Before the FDA makes any final decisions, they will seriously weigh the recommendations of this outside panel.

According to the results of new research by the National Institutes of Health, people who consume a high-fat diet are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, particularly if their dietary fat comes from animal foods including meat and dairy products.

The Diet and Health study, which was done in conjuction with the AARP, compiled data on more than half a million people who filled in a food questionairre in 1995 and 1996. 308,736 men and 216,737 women participated, and at the time none of them had pancreatic cancer. Participants were then followed for six years on average. During that time, 865 of the men and 472 of the women were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Compared to people with the lowest total fat intake, those with the highest fat intake were 23 percent more likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Saturated fat from animal food sources, especially red meats and dairy products, were found to have the strongest risk factors for cancer, increasing the risk of pancreatic tumors 36 percent.

While health experts have long been warning of the dangers of obesity, a new Japanese study warns that being very skinny is far more dangerous and shows that slightly chubby people actually live longer.

A long-term study of middle-aged and elderly people by the Tohoku University's Graduate School of Medicine showed that people who are a little overweight at age 40 life six to seven years longer than very thing people, whose average life expectancy was a good five years shorter than that of obese people.

Shinichi Kuriyama, an associate professor who worked on the study, said:

"We found skinny people run the highest risk. We had expected thin people would show the shortest life expectancy but didn't expect the difference to be this large."

He continued:

"There had been an argument that thin people's lives are short because many of them are sick or smoke. But the difference was almost unchanged even when we eliminated these factors."

The primary reasons skinny people were believed to have shorter lifespans include heightened vulnerability to diseases such as pneumonia and the fragility of their blood vessels.

Kuriyama was quick to warn, however, that he was not recommending people eat as much as they want:

A new study out of Germany's Max Planck Institute found that men who marry younger women tend to live longer. If a man marries a woman between 15 and 17 years his junior, his chances of dying early are cut by 1/5. The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 percent if he marries a woman seven to nine years younger. Interestingly, the study also found that men marrying older women are more likely to die early.

The study also suggests that women don't experience the same benefits of marrying a man either younger or older. Wives with husbands older or younger by between seven and nine years increase their chances of dying early by 20 percent. If the age difference is 15 to 17 years, this rises to 30 percent.

Researchers say that the figures for men could be the result of natural selection, and that only the healthiest, most successful older men are able to attract a younger mate.

Good news for pot smokers - marijuana's potency has hit an all-time high. According to scientists, the levels of THC found in weed these days has a higher concentration of the psychoactive ingredient THC.

The University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project tests thousands of samples of seized marijuana each year, and found that the levels of THC have now eclipsed 30 percent. During 2008, the average THC concentration was 10.1%. That's compared to 7.3% in 2007 and under 4% in 1983.

THC concentrations have been on the rise for three decades. Mahmoud ElSohly, director of the school's project, predicts that the concentrations will continue to rise before leveling off at an average of 15 to 16% in five to ten years.

Some now fear that inexperienced marijuana smokers make not moderate their intake, and worry that they may suffer from paranoia, irritability and other negative effects.

What You Need to Know

An influenza (flu) pandemic is a worldwide outbreak of flu disease that occurs when a
new type of influenza virus appears that people have not been exposed to before (or
have not been exposed to in a long time). The pandemic virus can cause serious illness because people do not have immunity to the new virus. Pandemics are different from seasonal outbreaks of influenza that we see every year. Seasonal influenza is caused by influenza virus types to which people have already been exposed. Its impact on society is less severe than a pandemic, and influenza vaccines (flu shots and nasal-spray vaccine) are available to help prevent widespread illness from seasonal flu.

Influenza pandemics are different from many of the other major public health and
health care threats facing our country and the world. A pandemic will last much longer
than most flu outbreaks and may include “waves” of influenza activity that last 6-8
weeks separated by months. The number of health care workers and first responders
able to work may be reduced. Public health officials will not know how severe a
pandemic will be until it begins.

A Historical Perspective

A new study out of Australian has found that a small portion of mushrooms every day may slash the risk of breast cancer by two-thirds. Researchers found that women who at about 1/3 of an ounce of fresh mushrooms daily were 64 percent less likely to develop a fatal tumor.

Dried mushrooms were found to have a slightly less protective effect, and reduced risk by around half.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia in Perth came to these conclusions after analyzing the eating habits of more than 2,000 women in China. Half of them suffered from breast cancer. They concluded that “Higher intake of mushrooms decreased cancer risk in both pre- and post-menopausal Chinese women.”

Some evidence suggests that mushrooms behave in a similar way to breast cancer drugs which are called aromatase inhibitors and block the body's production of oestogen, a cancer-feeding hormone.

Another recent study also showed that mushrooms may help significantly with weight loss. Researchers found that trading meat for fungus in four meals a week as a part of a balanced diet saw people shed an average of 12.7lbs. in just five weeks.

Is the current state of the economy keeping you up late at night? If so, you're not alone. A new poll finds that nearly a third of all Americans are losing sleep over worries about the sagging economy and the prospects of losing their job.

Money is the top concern, far outweighing other problems such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorist attacks, and global warming. Results of the annual poll by the National Sleep Foundation were released Monday.

Report co-author Michael Vitiello, a profess of psychiatry at the University of Washington said:

"What is very telling is that these Americans whose sleep is impacted by financial worries report that their sleep disturbance makes them much less likely to work efficiently, exercise, eat healthily, and have sex compared to their better-sleeping fellow Americans."

The survey also showed that in the past month, 27% had disturbed sleep due to money issues- 16% worried about personal finances, 15% the overall economy, and 10% worried about the prospect of losing their job.

Since 2001, the number of Americans who say they get eight hours of sleep on a regular basis has decreased 10 percent. The number of sleep-deprived Americans has increased by 13 percent.

When the most recent Consumer Reports study on sleep aids was released in September, it probably surprised no one that prescription sleep medications again topped the list as the most effective sleep solution with a 75 percent effectiveness rate. But what did surprise many experts was that sleep sounds and music was close behind at 70 percent - far more effective than over-the-counter medications and muscle relaxation techniques (57 percent and 40 percent respectively).

The Wesley Sleep Program was released in December with no significant marketing plan, and immediately shot to #2 in Amazon.com's Audio Books category, where it remains as a best-seller. With less disposable income, many Americans are finding that the second-most effective sleep aid may be a more financially responsible way of acquiring sleep than spending money on prescriptions month after month.

Billy Wilkins, a musician, educator and former member of the platinum-selling and GRAMMY Award-winning group Third Day, developed the Wesley Sleep Program based on Biblical principals. The first portion of the audio disc is designed to soothingly equip the listener for real rest, while combating four common sleep hindrances. The remaining musical portion leads to even deeper levels of relaxation and calm sleep.