Warning: Slather on the Sunscreen
Distance runners may be at higher-than-average risk of skin cancer--and not just because they spend so much time in the sun. Austrian researchers compared 210 marathoners with 210 nonrunners and found that the runners had more moles and lesions that are risk factors for melanoma (though no one was actually diagnosed with the disease). Sun exposure is the obvious culprit, says Christina Ambros-Rudolph, a dermatologist at the Medical University of Graz and lead author of the study, in the current Archives of Dermatology. Researchers also suspect that tissue damage that occurs during strenuous exertion may prompt the release of proteins that hinder the immune system. But immunosuppression is suspected only in very intense exercise, and the study didn't measure whether the increased risk is offset by the health benefits of running. So for now, it's best to wear lots of sunblock and avoid working out at high noon. -Katherine Hobson
You Might Be Able to Escape the Knife; An Exercise Payoff: Sounder Sleep; Progress in the Food Allergy Fight
You Might Be Able to Escape the Knife
If you're unlucky enough to have a herniated disk, your prospects are good whether you choose surgery or drugs and physical therapy. According to two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, surgical patients experienced less pain and more improvement in function during the first six months. By the two-year mark, the other group had almost caught up. "This study supports nonoperative treatment for patients who can manage their pain," says coauthor William Abdu, medical director of the Spine Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H. -Michelle Andrews
An Exercise Payoff: Sounder Sleep
Researchers studying diabetes risk in overweight kids at the Medical College of Georgia report in the November Obesity that one quarter of their subjects were affected by disordered sleep, many more than the expected 2 percent. But the problems were reduced by half after the children took part in three months of after-school physical activities. Having less fatty tissue in the neck may have created more room in the airway, thus improving the children's breathing, the researchers say, or an overall improvement in health may have been responsible. Catherine Davis, a clinical health psychologist and lead author of the study, notes that children who have difficulties with sleep often appear to have mild attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Signals of sleep problems include loud snoring, pauses in breathing, and sleeping with the head tilted back. -Nancy Shute
Progress in the Food Allergy Fight
Allergic to eggs? Someday, a little egg might be just what the doctor ordered. Duke University and University of Arkansas researchers report that a pilot study exposing seven kids with egg allergies to minuscule amounts of powdered egg whites and gradually increasing exposure over two years caused most to build enough resistance to eat the equivalent of two scrambled eggs without a reaction. "This is not something I would want people to try at home," warns lead researcher Wesley Burks, a Duke pediatric allergist. Egg allergies can cause severe reactions and even death. But Burks believes that "oral immunotherapy" could lead to treatments or a cure for certain food allergies. -Adam Voiland
This story appears in the December 4, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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