Health

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) The central government on Tuesday denied media reports which claimed that the Ministry of Health has issued health warnings on Indian snacks such as samosas, jalebi, and laddoo to fight obesity crises in the country.It noted that the warning labels on food issued by the Ministry of Health are “not selective towards Indian snacks”.“Some media reports claim that the @MoHFW_INDIA has issued a health warning on food products such as samosas, jalebi, and laddoo. This claim is fake. The advisory of the Union Health Ministry does not carry any warning labels on food products sold by vendors, and has not been selective towards Indian snacks,” the Ministry of Health said.Media reports claimed that the Union Health Ministry has urged all ministries, departments, and autonom...

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) In a first, Indian researchers from the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and AIIMS Bibinagar in Telangana have developed a low-cost prosthetic foot to boost mobility among people with limb loss, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.The first made-in-India cost-effective advanced Carbon Fibre Foot Prosthesis was developed under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. It will help amputees from lower-income groups get access to good-quality prosthetics, as well as lower the production cost for prosthetics in the country.The new prosthetic foot is biomechanically tested to load up to 125 kg with sufficient safety factors. It also has three variants to cater to patients of different weights.“This foot is designed with the goal of offering a high-quali...

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday recommended countries to use the twice-a-year lenacapavir injection as an additional pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) option for global HIV prevention.The landmark policy action, aiming to reshape the global HIV response, was issued at the 13th International AIDS Society Conference (IAS 2025) on HIV Science, in Kigali, Rwanda.Lenacapavir -- the first twice-yearly injectable PrEP product -- offers a highly effective, long-acting alternative to daily oral pills and other shorter-acting options.With just two doses per year, lenacapavir is a transformative step forward in protecting people at risk of HIV -- particularly those who face challenges with daily adherence, stigma, or access to health care. Lenacapavir was approve...

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The Health Ministry’s directive to put up an oil and sugar board warning the amount of sugar, fat, and oil in samosas and jalebis in all government canteens and restaurants is a big step to curb the growing levels of obesity and boost the Fit India initiative, said health experts on Monday.The health ministry has directed all central institutions to install “oil and sugar boards” similar to tobacco warnings on cigarette packets. The informative posters and digital boards highlight the harmful impacts of the amount of sugar and oil present in popular food items, including samosas, kachori, pizza, pakoras, banana chips, burgers, soft drinks, and chocolate pastries.It also displays the effects of these foods on the human body as well as shares the recommended amounts...

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Oral health plays a significant role in cancer care, and increasing survival rate, according to researchers from the All India Medical Science (AIIMS).The presence of pathogenic oral bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia has been shown to elevate cancer incidence and adversely affect overall cancer-specific and disease-free survival.In a comment published in the journal, The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia, oncologists Dr. Abhishek Shankar, and Dr. Vaibhav Sahni from AIIMS stated that urged the need to boost public health initiatives as oral health can significantly influence cancer outcomes and survivorship.“It is abundantly clear that oral healthcare plays a significant role in enhancing health-related outcomes, including th...

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Dietary approaches like intermittent energy restriction, time-restricted eating, and continuous energy restriction can all improve blood sugar levels and body weight in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a study.Although researchers identified improved HbA1c levels, and adverse events were similar across the three groups, the IER group showed greater advantages in reducing fasting blood glucose, improving insulin sensitivity, lowering triglycerides, and strengthening adherence to the dietary interventions.IER typically involves periods of reduced calorie intake. It differs from intermittent fasting (IF) as it involves periods of complete or near-complete food abstinence.The research directly compared 5:2 intermittent energy restriction with 10-h...

San Francisco, July 13 (IANS) ‘Love hormone’ Oxytocin may play a protective role in mood disturbances triggered by sleep loss and hormonal shifts during key reproductive transitions like postpartum and menopause, say researchers.Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied the combined impact of sleep interruption and estrogen suppression on mood and oxytocin levels in healthy premenopausal women.Their findings suggest that oxytocin may help reduce the negative mood effects brought on by fragmented sleep, which is an often-overlooked consequence of reproductive transitions.“We found that oxytocin levels rise in response to stress-related sleep disruption, and that women with higher oxytocin levels before disrupted sleep experienced less mood disturbance th...

New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) Do not follow Hollywood movies on how people get heart attacks, researchers have warned, saying that the portrayals of someone clutching their chest and collapsing dramatically are misleading and shouldn’t be expected.Ann Eckhardt, a nursing professor and researcher at The University of Texas at Arlington in the US said that ‘The Hollywood Heart Attack’, unfortunately, is not real life.“It’s not always intense. Sometimes it’s just discomfort that doesn’t feel quite right, so people tend to wait to see a doctor. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to have negative consequences after your heart attack,” Eckhardt said in an article published in the journal Heart & Lung.Eckhardt and her colleagues are working to set the record straight by first understand...

Bhubaneswar, July 13 (IANS) The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, has constituted a high-level expert committee to oversee and monitor the treatment of a female B.Ed student, who attempted self-immolation.The student from Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, Balasore, was admitted to the institute following her self-immolation bid before the principal’s chamber on Saturday over harassment by the Head of Department (HOD).As per the office order issued by the Medical Superintendent of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the expert committee includes Prof. Jayant Mitra – Department of Anaesthesia, Prof. Manoj Panigrahi – Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Dr Sanjay Giri – Additional Professor, Burn and Plastic Surgery (Member Secretary), Dr Shantanu Subba – Associate Professor, Burn and ...

Seoul, July 13 (IANS) Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Sunday welcomed medical students' decision to return to school after a 17-month boycott of classes in protest of the previous government's medical reform plan as a "big step forward."An association of medical students announced they will return to school after boycotting classes since February last year in protest of the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration's plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 starting this year, reports Yonhap news agency."(Their decision) marks a big step forward and it is a relief," Kim wrote on his Facebook page, adding he will make efforts to find a solution to the issue."President (Lee Jae Myung) also has contemplated a solution and instructed me and the government to find ways to address it. What...