INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

NEW YORK — A column published Friday in the Wall Street Journal questioned whether or not women actually control the purse strings in the household.

According to the column, women are attributed to making as many as 80% of all household spending decisions.

WASHINGTON — Two associations representing dietary supplement companies criticized a British Medical Journal meta-analysis published April 20 that concluded calcium and vitamin D supplementation may increase risk of heart attack and stroke.

NEW YORK — Many children with Type 1 diabetes have other autoimmune disorders as well, according to published reports.

Citing findings in a recent study of nearly 500 children published in the journal Diabetes Care, Reuters reported that one-third of children with the disease — an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the cells of the pancreas — also have such disorders as celiac disease, autoimmune thyroid disease and a disorder of the adrenal glands called Addison’s disease.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Another story this week is a reminder of how important even the most subtle finesses of a corporate logo can be in the minds of the consumer.

(THE NEWS: Wegmans leaves 'circle W' to Walgreens. For the full story, click here)

ATLANTA — By 2020 or sooner, the entire nation could have laws banning smoking in all indoor areas of private sector worksites, restaurants and bars, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday has found.

The projection is based on the rate at which states have been adopting comprehensive smoke-free laws. In just the past 10 years, 25 states and the District of Columbia have enacted these laws, the CDC reported.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — Calcium causes heart attacks! Vitamin E kills! Vitamin D makes your eyeballs explode! OK, the last headline was just made up, but these are the kind of B-movie headlines many of these inaccurate meta-analyses generate, especially across the dietary supplement industry.

NEW YORK — An investigational antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory drug could help treat a common complication of diabetes.

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo Clinic found that pirfenidone potentially could treat diabetic nephropathy, a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease.

NEW YORK — The link between diet soda and diabetes may not be as strong as previously thought, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Between 1986 and 2006, more than 40,000 men filled out regular questionnaires about health and diets, which the Harvard team, led by nutrition and epidemiology professor Frank Hu, then collected.