Health Issues

Researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) just announced intriguing findings which describe cellular changes that develop when neuronal stem cells are exposed to elevated levels of a chemical typically found in processed foods. The study serves as an example of the importance of the food pregnant women eat, and how it may potentially affect development of the fetal brain.

Autism encompasses a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, communication and repetitive behaviors. Autism is a spectrum disorder, meaning the symptoms can be classified in terms of their position on a scale. Autism Speaks points out there is not just one type of autism but many subtypes influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

What scientists warned would happen decades ago is coming to pass. Antibiotic resistance has become a major threat worldwide and the primary cause of this man-made epidemic is the misuse of antibiotics. Pharmaceutical drugs are used to combat bacterial infections in humans and animals, but over the past decades have been widely overprescribed.

Nitrate pollution in Iowa's drinking water may be responsible for up to 300 cases of cancer annually in the state, a new study shows. Four states — Iowa, Delaware, Arizona and California — have "average levels of nitrate contamination that, at the high end … could cause more than 10 cases of cancer per 100,000 people a year," according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, based in Washington, D.C.