It's enough to give us a headache. Aspirin and statins can be an effective preventive regimen and treatment for patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease (PAD) inadequate circulation to the legs and feet, commonly caused by fatty deposits but too many aren't being prescribed the treatment, a new study has found. PAD causes pain in the legs upon walking, relieved by rest.

Before taking headlines at face value, make sure the study authors have the facts right. A new meta-analysis concludes that blood transfusions after a myocardial infarction (heart attack) doubles the mortality risk and increases the chance of subsequent MI in survivors but the study is riddled with serious epidemiological fallacies that render this conclusion suspect, at best.

Kids can be mean, especially if you stick out from the crowd. A new study, published in Pediatrics, suggests that nearly half of kids with food allergies have been bullied,with a third reporting the bullying was food-related. One-eighth had been forced to touch the food that triggered their allergy, and one-tenth actually had the dangerous food thrown at them.

A new study from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., shows that the percentage of American service members with signs of coronary artery disease has declined in the last half century falling to a rate of less than 1 in 10 military personnel. This compares with a finding of atherosclerosis in over three-quarters of autopsies among soldiers killed in the Korean War.

Two weeks after researchers reported that obesity rates decreasing for the first time in decades, new data from the Centers for Disease Control now show that this decrease is also being seen in low-income preschoolers who qualify as obese or extremely obese.

In-office eye scans that assess thinning of the retina may help doctors predict the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study suggests.
The study, published in Neurology, involved 164 people with MS, including 59 who had no disease activity. All participants underwent eye scans that measured thinning of a portion of their retinas every six months for approximately 21 months. MRI brain scans of the study participants had been performed previously.

You may want to think about eating meals as a family for more than just the holidays. A new study from the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that eating meals as a family can improve children s eating habits. The more family meals taken together, the better but some benefit accrues even if it only happens for one or two meals a week.

The late Dr. Philip Ettinger coined the term Holiday heart syndrome in 1978. Subsequently, the term has become widely used to describe isolated incidents of atrial fibrillation in otherwise healthy people who simply eat and drink too much, often accompanied by other holiday-related stressors therefore, its frequency increases around Christmas and New Year s.

ACSH friend Jon Entine has written an incisive investigative piece featured in Slate.com exposing just how much politics can interfere with science. His chosen topic is the bizarre course towards eventual (we hope) governmental approval of the genetically-engineered AquaBounty salmon over the past two-plus years.

When it comes to healthy living, healthcare workers may not always be the best role models for their patients, a new study suggests.