The Korea Herald

Coffee culture carries caffeine risk

Mar 22, 2012

Caffeinated drinks take away calcium, curb bone growth for teenagers: experts Koreans are definitely caffeinated: They love coffee, cola and chocolate as well as foods that contain a large amount of the stimulant. Though it has been less than two decades since global coffee shop franchises were introduced to the country, industry insiders said about 37 million cups of coffee are sold every day,...
Ewha Hospital offers free dental treatment

Mar 22, 2012

The Dental Department of Ewha Womans University Medical Center will offer free treatment for gum disorders from 1 p.m. through 3 p.m. on March 28. The free event will be held at the hospitals’ grand meeting room in Mok-dong in eastern Seoul. The doctors will not only examine patients’ gums and treat them free of charge, but also give lectures on how to maintain dental health. Participants can ...
Waterborne diseases on the rise

Mar 22, 2012

The prevalence of waterborne or food-related diseases is on the rise, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. The center also called for extra care in personal hygiene as the weather grows hotter. The number of such diseases reported between Jan. 1 and March 14 this year was 32, up from 24 cases a year earlier. The number of patients increased to 780, up from 492 over ...
Joint replacement gives seniors leg up on activity, longevity

Mar 22, 2012

SACRAMENTO, California ― A lifetime of wear and tear on his joints caused Dick Pryor, a 77-year-old retired landscape architect, to undergo not one but two surgeries to replace his knees. Neither slowed him down for long. “With one knee replacement, I was back skiing three months later,” said Pryor, a Sacramento, Calif., resident who began skiing a half-century ago. “I could have gone skiing so...
Study of ‘meth babies’ finds behavior problems in childhood

Mar 22, 2012

The first study to look at methamphetamine’s potential lasting effects on children whose mothers used it in pregnancy finds these kids at higher risk for behavior problems than other children. The behavior differences - anxiety, depression, moodiness - weren’t huge, but lead researcher Linda LaGasse called them “very worrisome.” Methamphetamine is a stimulant like crack cocaine, and earlier res...
24-pound tumor misdiagnosed as pregnancy

Mar 19, 2012

A woman in Barcelona, Spain, is taking legal action against a hospital where doctors misdiagnosed a 24-pound, cancerous uterine tumor as a late-term pregnancy. The woman, whose name has not been released, told ThinkSpain she went to a hospital emergency room suffering from excruciating abdominal pain, only to be "treated with contempt." She alleges doctors quipped, "Haven't you ever heard of co...
Drop in strokes, blood vessel conditions boosts life expectancy

Mar 18, 2012

A decline in cerebrovascular diseases and other forms of chronic illness has helped push up Korea’s life expectancy in the past 20 years, a report showed Sunday. The report by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute showed men and women living 4.77 years and 5.34 years longer, respectively, in 2010 compared to 1990. The average life expectancy among Koreans in 1990 stood at 77.39 years ...
"Pink slime" critics fight ammonia-treated meat

Mar 16, 2012

“Pink slime” just went from a simmer to a boil. The stomach-turning epithet for ammonia-treated ground beef filler has suddenly become a potent rallying cry by activists fighting to ban the product from U.S. supermarket shelves and school lunch trays. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to announce Thursday it will offer schools choice in ground beef purchases in response to requests from ...
85 local governments designate smoke-free zones

Mar 15, 2012

Watch out smokers: 85 local district offices have banned smoking on boulevards and at other public spots. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 10 metropolitan or provincial governments and 75 district offices have designated communal parks, playgrounds, bus stops, beaches and boulevards as no-smoking zones as of Feb. 29. People who do not abide by the rules will be fined up to 100,00...
Samsung Hospital to open on Saturdays for checkups

Mar 15, 2012

Samsung Seoul Hospital said it will open on Saturdays for health checkups, allowing wider access for people who cannot spare time during weekdays. “Previously, people had to wait for about a couple of months in order to receive checkups after a reservation. But the Saturday openings will reduce the wait time dramatically,” the hospital said in a press release. “More companies are asking for che...
EWUH signs patient referral pact with Vietnam

Mar 15, 2012

Ewha Womans University Hospital has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday to ensure that the patients referred from the Vietnamese government receive ample treatment at the hospital. At the signing of the contract were Kim Kwang-ho, head of the hospital, and Tran Trong Toan, the Vietnamese ambassador to Korea. The pact is expected to facilitate h...
U.S.: More work needed to stop smoking in young people

Mar 15, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ― More work needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including creating smoking bans and increasing taxes on tobacco products, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office said in a report released Thursday. Almost one in five high school-aged teens smokes, down from earlier decades, but the rate of decline has slowed, the report said. It says it’s particularly impor...
Gastritis

Mar 15, 2012

Mr. K is 40 years of age, and recently experienced a digestive disturbance and felt pain at the epigastrium, or upper central region of the abdomen, after overeating. He also sometimes presented with such symptoms as vomiting or heart burn. He therefore visited a local clinic. Through an interview with Mr. K, the physician recognized the symptoms and performed an abdominal examination. This was...
Making meat in your diet history

Mar 15, 2012

More Koreans turn vegetarian though skepticism remains about its health effects Thirty-two-year-old office worker Kim Jin-ee recently decided to become a vegan. She removed all meat, milk, fish and eggs from her fridge to start. It was not her first time trying out a vegetable-oriented diet. She tried a couple of years ago, but failed. “People around haven’t been too generous with vegetarians....
Scientists produce retina structure from blood-derived cells

Mar 14, 2012

U.S. scientists have succeeded in making early retina structures by using stem cells from blood, marking a breakthrough toward treating eye diseases, Science Daily reported Tuesday. The new findings can help study degenerative retinal disorder such as retinitis pigmentosa, a prominent cause of blindness in children and young adults, according to a statement by the University of Wisconsin- Madiso...