The millions of people who take calcium supplements to strengthen aging bones and ward off osteoporosis may be putting themselves at increased risk of a heart attack, a new study has found.
Older people who take at least 500 milligrams of calcium daily—less than the amount in a typical one-a-day calcium pill—are 30% more likely to have a heart attack than those who take no calcium at all, the study estimates.
But people taking calcium supplements should not stop without consulting their doctor, says John Baron, MD, a professor of medicine at …

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Thursday that a cup of coffee a day during pregnancy probably would not increase a woman’s risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
Studies have had conflicting findings, until recently, about the effect of moderate caffeine consumption on pregnancy complications.
But, “I think it’s time to comfortably say that it’s okay to have a cup of coffee during pregnancy,” Dr. William Barth, the chair of a College committee that reviewed the evidence, told Reuters Health.
The College’s Committee of Obstetric Practice said that 200 milligrams of …

People who take vitamin E supplements regularly for years—whether they are smokers or nonsmokers—may lower their risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the lung condition that is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
COPD includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is often, but not always, caused by smoking.
While the risk reduction is relatively small, 10%, COPD is a common and life-threatening condition in which a decline in lung function can be slowed down but not reversed. COPD symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and fatigue.
“The effect …

A study on thousands of Europeans suggests that eating less meat may in fact help you keep slim and trim.
Dr. Anne-Claire Vergnaud of Imperial College London and colleagues found that people who ate more meat gained more weight over five years than those who ate less meat, but had the same amount of calories.
The team wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that the “results suggest that a decrease in meat consumption may improve weight management.”
The study included more than 370,000 men and women from 10 different European countries.
Vergnaud …

Who needs a friend when you can have Autom by your side, counting calories, monitoring exercise and providing progress reports? That’s right, a new diet robot will soon be available, courtesy of Hong Kong start-up Intuitive Automata. For a mere $500 (+/-), you can have an adorable 15-inch robot who will bat its eyelashes, provide updates on its LCD screen and keep you on that diet.
The brainchild of Cory Kidd, an MIT grad and developer with Intuitive Automata, the robot is meant to encourage and engage dieters in a friendly …