Health Buzz: Bottled Water and Other Health News

Bottled Water May Not Be as Clean as You Thought

A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that 10 bottled water brands—bought at grocery stores and other retailers in nine states and Washington, D.C.—contained 38 chemical pollutants, averaging eight pollutants per brand. Some contained chemicals that are not regulated in bottled water, and some had chemicals that exceeded the legal limits in California and industry-sponsored volunteer safety standards. Four brands contained bacteria. Americans today drink twice as much bottled water as they did a decade ago, according to the EWG. Makers of bottled water do not have to notify customers of contaminants in the products and, in most states, they're not required to notify consumers of the source of the water how or whether it's purified, or if it's simply bottled tap water, the group says.

In July, Maura Judkis explored whether bottled water is as terrible as some suspect. Adam Voiland reported on whether it's possible for drinking water to cause diabetes in August. And in March, U.S. News explained how to keep medicine out of the water supply.

Sharing Your Genes on the Web

A new website, PersonalGenomes.org, aims to recruit people who are open to sharing their genome sequence and certain personal information with researchers and the general public. The goal is advance scientific knowledge of how genes and environment contribute to human traits and to help determine how best to diagnose, treat, and prevent illnesses. Harvard University Medical School researchers developed the website with the hope of recruiting 100,000 participants and speeding the research process by avoiding some of the extensive precautions required to protect the privacy of participants in traditional medical studies, the New York Times reports.

In September, Katherine Hobson discussed what you need to know about mapping the cancer genome.

The Food Industry and Your Kids

With America's obesity problem among kids reaching crisis proportions, even junk food makers have started to claim they want to steer children toward more healthful choices. In a study released earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese, and 11 percent were extremely obese. Food giant PepsiCo, for example, points out on its website that "we can play an important role in helping kids lead healthier lives by offering healthy product choices in schools." The company highlights what it considers its healthier products within various food categories through a "Smart Spot" marketing campaign that features green symbols on packaging. PepsiCo's inclusive criteria—explained here—award spots to foods of dubious nutritional value such as Diet Pepsi, Cap'n Crunch cereal, reduced fat Doritos, and Cheetos, as well as to more nutritious products such as Quaker Oatmeal and Tropicana Orange Juice.

U.S. News's Adam Voiland lists 10 things the food industry doesn't want you to know.

Car Surfing—a Very Bad Idea

Car surfing, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as a"thrill-seeking activity that involves riding on the exterior of a moving motor vehicle while it is being driven by another person," was responsible for at least 58 deaths and 41 nonfatal injuries from 1990 through August 2008. Men were the victims of car surfing accidents in 70 percent of the cases, Adam Voiland reports.

Last year, Voiland explained why men are accident prone.

—January W. Payne