Steroid Injections for Back Pain Linked to Spinal Fracture Risk FRIDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who get steroid injections to ease lower back and leg pain may have increased odds of suffering a spine fracture, a new study suggests. It's not clear, however, whether the treatment is to blame, according to experts. But they said the findings, which were published June 5 in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery , suggest that older patients with low bone density should be cautious about ste...

Health Tip: Vary Your Child's School Lunch (HealthDay News) -- If your child is tired of the same old sandwich, try spicing up lunch with more creative fare. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says fun alternatives to school-lunch sandwiches include: Roll lunch meat inside a wrap, using pita bread or a tortilla in a fun color. Wrap a slice of deli meat around a slice or stick of cheese. Stack the usual sandwich toppings on crackers, instead of bread. Create a salad with greens, cheese, nuts and beans.

Health Tip: Protect Kids' Eyes (HealthDay News) -- A flying object or injury could affect your child's vision for life. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers these suggestions to help protect your child's eyes: Don't buy or acquire any toys with sharp points or edges. Keep sharp and pointy objects, such as knives or scissors, out of your child's reach. Equip your child with the appropriate eye protection for his or her sport. Make sure your child wears sunglasses that block 100 percent...

Your Summer Cold May Actually Be an Allergic Reaction SATURDAY, June 15 (HealthDay News) -- Sneezing, watery eyes, scratchy throat? What you think is a summer cold may actually be allergies, an expert says. "Contrary to popular belief, seasonal allergies don't only strike in the spring and fall months," Dr. Richard Weber, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), said in a college news release. "Allergies are also common in the summer and can even last year-round for s...

Skipping Breakfast May Raise Diabetes Risk SUNDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Eating breakfast every day may help overweight women reduce their risk of diabetes, a small new study suggests. When women skipped the morning meal, they experienced insulin resistance, a condition in which a person requires more insulin to bring their blood sugar into a normal range, explained lead researcher Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, an instructor of medicine at the University of Colorado. This insulin resistance was short-term...

Statins Plus Certain Antibiotics May Set Off Toxic Reaction: Study MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors should avoid ordering certain antibiotics for older patients who take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, such as Lipitor, Canadian researchers say. Statins, which are taken by many millions of people, don't mix well with the antibiotics clarithromycin or erythromycin, according to a study, published in the June 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine . These two commonly used antibiotics in...

Hot Weather Takes Toll on Farmworkers: Study MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- Even after they leave the fields at the end of hot day, farmworkers still have to cope with high levels of heat and humidity in their living quarters, a new study shows. "We found that a majority of the workers are not getting much respite from the heat in the evening," study author Sara Quandt, a professor of epidemiology and prevention at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said in a center news release. "While we didn't ...

Saturated Fat May Make the Brain Vulnerable to Alzheimer's MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- A diet high in saturated fat can quickly rob the brain of a key chemical that helps protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. In a small study published online Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology , researchers found that dietary saturated fat cut the body's levels of the chemical apolipoprotein E, also called ApoE, which helps "chaperone" amyloid beta proteins out of the brain. "People w...

Red Meat Linked to Increased Diabetes Risk MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- People who eat a lot of red meat increase their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while those who cut down on red meat cut their risk. Those are the findings of a large new study out of Singapore involving 149,000 U.S. men and women. The researchers found that increasing the consumption of red meat can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 48 percent. "There is no need to have more red meat on your plate; it in...

Kids With Autism May Find Human Voice Unpleasant MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new brain-imaging study could help explain why children with autism have difficulty with verbal communication: They may not get much pleasure from the human voice. Researchers found that those with the disorder showed weaker connections between the brain's voice-processing areas and its "reward" centers compared to those without. That suggests that kids with autism do not get the same pleasure from the human voice tha...