A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.
CROWDFUNDING RESEARCH
Australians can donate to medical research via a new online crowdfunding platform.
Founder George Crones says Researchable is unique and partners with major reputable research institutions.
"An astounding 86 per cent of applications for public research grants are unfunded," he says.
"The result is that good researchers leave Australia or promising ideas simply die."
The first three projects involve Curtain University research on diabetes; the University of Tasmania research on allergies, and the Burnet Institute's research on sexting and pornography.
The projects can be viewed and supported at www.researchable.com
BALANCED YOGA
Yoga's not just for the young, say researchers, who have found the ancient exercise may reduce the risk of falls for older Australians.
Falls affect one million older people nationally every year, says Dr Anne Tiedemann of the George Institute for Global Health, Australia.
Poor balance and mobility are closely linked with a higher risk of falls, but the institute's researchers found yoga had a positive effect on the balance and mobility of those aged over 60.
"Yoga programs could be implemented to complement other effective balance programs like Tai Chi, to encourage older Australians to have an ongoing exercise regime that improves their quality of life," she said.
"Our research has found that overall yoga programs were safe for older people to take part in and resulted in improvements in key activities such as standing on one leg, standing up from a seated position and walking."
POTATOES RISK
Women who eat lots of potatoes have a greater risk of suffering diabetes during pregnancy, says new research.
Those who eat two to four servings a week may be around 27 per cent more likely to develop gestational diabetes, a common pregnancy complication with long-term health risks for mothers and babies.
However, substituting two servings with other vegetables, legumes, or wholegrain foods was significantly associated with a nine to 12 per cent lower risk.
In the 10-year study of more than 21,000 pregnancies, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), 854 were affected by gestational diabetes.
The US-based researchers said potatoes had a high glycaemic index compared with other vegetables, so could trigger a sharp rise in blood sugar levels, and that could be one explanation for the findings.
They stressed that the study did not prove potatoes caused diabetes.
FEAR OF FALLING
People over 65 are being recruited for an optometrist's study examining the association between falls, fear of falling and activity levels.
"Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness and vision loss in older adults with one in seven Australians over 50 showing signs of macular degeneration," says QUT researcher Ursula White.
Older people with central vision loss due to macular degeneration were less active than their normally sighted peers and twice as likely to have a fall.
Ms White - at ursula.white@qut.edu.au - is recruiting people over 65 with and without macular degeneration.
BID TO EDIT EMBRYOS
Scientist Dr Kathy Niakan is seeking to be the first in the UK to be allowed to genetically modify human embryos.
She says the experiments would provide a deeper understanding of the earliest moments of human life and could reduce miscarriages, according to the BBC.
Dr Niakan has argued her case before the regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which has yet to make a decision on her application.
