Marketing makes dubious claims about infant formulas

Marketing claims promote benefits of providing infant formula and toddler milks that are not supported by scientific evidence, yet 60% of caregivers mistakenly believe these products provide nutrition not present in breastmilk, whole milk, or other healthy foods, according to a new paper published in Maternal and Child Nutrition from researchers at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. Relatedly, caregivers who believe these unsupported claims are significantly more likely to serve infant formula and toddler milk to their children, despite expert recommendations that toddler milks are not necessary for toddlers and that breastmilk is superior to infant formula for infants up to 12 months.
Read More

An app for patients and doctors to calculate cancer survival probabilities

A new app is able to calculate personalized survival probabilities for patients suffering from soft tissue sarcoma. Doctors and patients can use the app to calculate personalized survival probabilities together. Mathematician Anja Rüten-Budde received her doctorate for her research into survival probability statistics that led to the creation of the app.
Read More

Antibiotics: City dwellers and children take the most

City dwellers take more antibiotics than people in rural areas; children and the elderly use them more often than middle-aged people; the use of antibiotics decreases as education increases, but only in rich countries: These are three of the more striking trends identified by researchers of the NRW Forschungskolleg “One Health and Urban Transformation” at the University of Bonn in a recent study. They evaluated 73 publications on the use of antibiotics in the outpatient sector around the world. The subject is of great importance: Too many antibiotics are still being administered. Possible consequences are resistance. Already there are hardly any effective drugs available against some bacteria. The study will be published in May in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, but is already available online.
Read More