Orshe

An editorial accompanying the study notes some women may be “making an informed choice to not use an imperfect technology.”

Read more:  Convincing Women to Get Their Mammograms (Or Not)

A tuna roll is not a tuna roll is not a tuna roll.

Should life and health insurers be investing in the stocks of fast-food companies?

Researchers at the Cambridge Health Alliance, which is associated with Harvard Medical School, say no, citing the downside of fast food — associations with obesity and other health problems, heavy marketing to kids and the the chains’ environmental impact. Insurers, however, do have a responsibility to share- or policyholders to maximize returns, and that may include investments in companies that don’t share their health-promoting mission, they say.

Patients already lie to their doctors. And almost half of respondents in a new survey said if there was any hint their health information — even stripped of identifying details like name or date of birth — would be shared with outside organizations, they might be even less forthcoming.

Women who donate eggs for use with in-vitro techniques aren’t supposed to be compensated more than $10,000. And the amount paid isn’t supposed to vary based on characteristics of the donor, according to guidelines from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

But a new study, published in a report from the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics institute, looks at egg-donor advertisements placed in 306 college newspapers for a glimpse of what actually be going on.

Some obese children as young as 3 years old have elevated levels of a marker that is linked to heart disease in later life, a new study says.

With new food-safety legislation making its way through Congress, safety advocates are hoping the FDA will soon have sweeping new powers to protect the nation’s food supply, as I write in the Informed Patient column today.

Some time ago, 20 obese men traveled by cogwheel train and cable car to the awesomely named Umwelt Forschungsstation Schneefernerhaus, a research station (pictured) in the shadow of Germany’s highest mountain.

The men were the subjects of a study on altitude and weight loss. They were allowed to eat whatever they wanted during their week on the mountain, and their activity was restricted to slow walks through the research station.

There’s more research out today indicating that being overweight can be less harmful for the elderly than for younger people and saying that dieting may not be helpful for the post-70 crowd.

Merck shares rose 3.7% yesterday; the WSJ, among others, cite Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold’s decision to raise her rating on the stock to “outperform.”

So what did Arnold say in the note that apparently added a few billion to Merck’s market cap? Here’s a bit of her reasoning:

The pipeline has potential “to offer upside relative to investor expectiations.” She cites experimental drugs for blood clots and hepatitis, and a vaccine for staph.