* A study of roughly 1800 Japanese Americans found that people who consume fruit or vegetable juice at least three times per week had 75 percent less risk of developing dementia than those who drank one glass of juice per week.

* The Not-For-Profit Health Improvement Institute rated the twenty most visited health websites. The NIH, WebMD, and the Mayo Clinic came out on top.

* Does the full moon increase the number of births? Apparently not. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found no link between births and the phase of the moon.

* Pediatric golf injuries are on the rise. A study published from Georgia, where golfing is very popular, revealed that golf-related accidents were the second most common cause of sports injury, after bicycle use, among 2500 patients younger than 19 years, who were evaluated by neurosurgeons. Most were caused by golf cart accidents and golf clubs. Only one was secondary to being hit by a golf ball itself. The injured children averaged seven years of age. The most common injury was a skull fracture followed by bleeds inside the brain. One child died from a golf cart accident. Another injured child required a permanent shunt inside the brain to relieve pressure. Interestingly, many of the accidents occurred at home rather than at golf courses. It is important to recognize that golf carts can be dangerous and that children, if they use them at all, need to be supervised.

* A fetus whose mother is exposed to second-hand smoke, may be at as much risk as if the mother herself smoked. Smoking during pregnancy causes genetic damage in a developing fetus. Now, it appears that breathing smoke from others causes the same type of damage. Even if the woman does not smoke, it is imperative that husbands, boyfriends, friends, and other family members quit smoking around her.

* In another unrelated study, attention deficit disorders (ADD) markedly increased when the fetus was exposed to alcohol consumed by the mother during the last third of her pregnancy. The message from this study is that it's never too late to quit drinking during pregnancy. Other causes for attention deficit disorders were high lead levels and custody changes. Exposure to cocaine, cigarettes, or alcohol during the first and second trimesters do not seem to affect the rate of ADD, but are linked to other development problems.

* It has been well established that in general, weight reduction can decrease a woman's risk of breast cancer. Some women carry a special gene mutation called BRCA which markedly increases their risk of breast cancer. Even in these women at high risk, a weight loss of about 10 pounds between the ages of 18 and 30 resulted in a 34 percent reduction in breast cancer, and a 63 percent reduction for those between the ages of 30 to 40. In similar fashion, gaining 10 pounds increased the woman's risk.

* Ever wonder why some young athletes die suddenly on the football field or on the basketball court? Why some runners collapse and die when they are young and should be in the best of shape? As it turns out, there is a genetic heart condition which is the chief cause of sudden death in athletes.

Interestingly, ultra-endurance athletes who do not have this genetic change may also be at risk. In a study of the Australian Ironman Triathlon athletes, investigators found evidence of heart injury after competing events. The enzymes found in the blood were the same as those that one sees in people experiencing a heart attack.

It was suggested that because of the extreme effort, areas of the heart may actually die, which causes scarring. The scarring can later lead to heart rhythm abnormalities. In another study, up to 89 percent of these ultra-fit athletes had abnormal heart rhythms.

Perhaps as with everything else in life, neither extreme is the best. Moderation with physical activities may also be advisable.
