Lifestyle

SAN DIEGO — A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine analyzing weekly patterns in health-related Google searches reveals a recurring pattern that could be leveraged to improve public health strategies.

BOSTON — A new study released Thursday by mobile engagement provider Mobiquity has found that while 70% of people use mobile apps on a daily basis to track calorie intake and monitor physical activities, only 40% share data and insights with their doctors. And as many as 55% of today's mobile health app users also plan to introduce wearable devices like pedometers, wristbands and smartwatches to their health monitoring in coming years.

BALTIMORE — Cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the United States have nearly doubled since 1988, suggests new research released Tuesday from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with obesity apparently to blame for the surge. The researchers also found that the burden of the disease has not hit all groups equally, with alarming increases in diabetes in blacks, Hispanics and the elderly.

WASHINGTON — Among severely obese people, vitamin D may make the difference between an active and a more sedentary lifestyle, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism on Tuesday.

The study found severely obese people who also were vitamin D-deficient walked slower and were less active overall than their counterparts who had healthy vitamin D levels. Poor physical functioning can reduce quality of life and even shorten lifespans.

WASHINGTON — Dietary supplement use by U.S. adults is more prevalent than indicated by published data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, according to a new article in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Nutrition. The review article is based on five consecutive years of online market research studies, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

Walgreens helped create a new, larger worksite health organization when it sold a majority interest in Take Care Employer Solutions to strategic health investor Water Street Healthcare Partners. The new entity, which combines Take Care with CHS Health Services, will serve more than 200 leading corporations through nearly 500 worksite health-and-wellness centers across the country.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark, has announced the recipients of nearly 70 grants awarded to free and charitable clinics, school-based health centers and community health centers as part of a $5 million commitment to increase access to health care in communities nationwide through partnerships with the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, the School-Based Health Alliance and the National Association of Community Health Centers.