HEALTH

BALTIMORE — "Too sick to go to work, but not sick enough not to tweet about it" Twitter users are helping to predict flu trends. Johns Hopkins researchers recently created a Twitter search method that helps differentiate between people merely tweeting about the flu in general and those who are actually sick, the university announced Thursday. The new tweet-screening method not only delivers real-time data on flu cases, but also filters out online chatter that is not linked to actual flu infections. 

WASHINGTON — A division of drug maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is partnering with an advocacy group focused on asthma in the launch of a new educational website about the condition.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and Teva Respiratory announced the launch of Get Smart About Asthma, which aims to increase understanding of how inflammation in the airways contributes to the disease's persistence and severity, as well as providing other educational materials.

CHICAGO — One-in-5 consumers between the ages of 35 years and 54 years are choosing products due to a loyalty card discount, SymphonyIRI Group reported Wednesday as part of its fourth quarter 2012 MarketPulse survey. And almost one-third are forsaking their preferred brands due to a sale price. The survey found that shopper sentiment dropped to its lowest point since Q3 2011.

WALTHAM, Mass. — One-of-every-4 deaths among Americans between the ages of 35 years and 69 years can be attributed to smoking, according to a study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. But smoking cessation efforts can help curb that trend, researchers noted. 

CHICAGO — Growth in 2013 will be slow-going in the first half of 2013 but will pick up at the end, suggested James Russo, SVP global consumer insights for Nielsen, during a webinar Wednesday afternoon. "The consumer remains in maintenance mode," he said. "Consumers are being pragmatic in their spending. Uncertainty dominates."

WASHINGTON — The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Tuesday joined forces to honor the Bucks County, Pa.-based Bucks Promise for Youth and Communities with this year’s Dose of Prevention award. This award recognizes community-based organizations that have implemented successful initiatives to raise awareness of the dangers of prescription drug abuse and OTC cough medicine abuse.

NEW YORK — Kraft Foods is adding to their line of flavored water enhancers with two flavors of Mio Fit, a portable liquid water enhancer with B vitamins and electrolytes, and has planned the brands first-ever Super Bowl spot to run during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVLII on Feb. 3.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson expects to return about 75% of its OTC brands to the marketplace over the course of 2013, Alex Gorsky, J&J chairman and CEO told analysts Tuesday. "I’m very pleased with the progress that we’re making in that," he said. "We mentioned to you that the consent decree that we had designed in conjunction with the FDA was approved and reviewed in October, with very few comments. And given the breadth and scale of that agreement, we felt very good about that. We’ve had teams working hard since then.