Your Health

By Janice M. Horowitz

GOOD NEWS

GETTING STONED? If you're one of the 10% of Americans who have had a kidney stone, you may have been told to cut down on calcium to prevent a recurrence. Well, you can forget that. Italian researchers report that a diet low in salt and very low in protein (about 4 oz. daily)--and with a normal intake of calcium--is significantly better at preventing the painful problem. Even more surprising, the researchers found that low-calcium diets may actually promote kidney stones.

MIND GAMES Though 4 million people nationwide are thought to suffer from Alzheimer's, the truth is, doctors can't really distinguish between Alzheimer's and other dementias until a brain autopsy is performed. At least they couldn't until now. A new, noninvasive brain-imaging test may be able to identify Alzheimer's in those who are still living. The test, a chemical tracer followed by a PET scan, reveals the telltale plaques and tangles of Alzheimer's, even in the disease's earliest stages. A word of caution: the test has so far worked on only nine patients.

BAD NEWS

OD ON B The labels on most vitamin-B bottles accurately reflect how much B is in the pills, according to a consumer group, but in more than half the brands tested, the amount of vitamin B exceeded what experts consider safe. The worst offender: niacin, sometimes sold in doses 10 times the upper limit. Too much niacin--more than 35 mg daily--can cause skin flushing and even liver damage.

--By Janice M. Horowitz

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry; ConsumerLab.com