Green Valley Food Corp. has announced the recall of 650 cases of alfalfa sprouts distributed in Texas because of possible salmonella contamination.

The company said in a statement late on Thursday that “Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Alfalfa Sprouts in 5 ounce containers with the date January 1, 2012 on the label are being voluntarily recalled. Green Valley said the product was distributed to retail chains and food distribution centers in Texas and other alfalfa products or blends are not affected. There have been no confirmed illnesses related to the recalled product at this point, according to the company.

A random customer sample tested positive for salmonella earlier this month. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The consumer health unit of Novartis will be taking a hit of $120 million in the fourth quarter after the Swiss drugmaker decided to voluntarily recall some products in the United States.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Novartis said operations and shipments had been temporarily stopped at the Novartis Consumer Health (NCH) Lincoln, Nebraska facility for accelerating improvements at the site.

“NCH will take a one-time charge currently estimated at $120 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, relating to the recalls and improvement work at the Lincoln facility,” Novartis said in the statement.

The drugmaker plans to gradually resume operations at its Lincoln site following implementation of planned improvements and in agreement with the FDA.

No trace of potentially deadly bacteria that killed two infants in recent weeks was found in sealed cans of Enfamil baby formula, according to U.S. health officials.

It was further added that a recall was unnecessary, providing relief for the product’s manufacturer, Mead Johnson Nutrition Co.

“Parents may continue to use powdered infant formula, following the manufacturer’s directions on the printed label,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

“We’re pleased with the FDA and CDC testing, which should reassure consumers, healthcare professionals and retailers everywhere about the safety and quality of our products,” Tim Brown, Mead Johnson’s general manager for North America, said in a statement.

“There is currently no evidence to conclude that the infant formula or nursery water was contaminated during manufacturing or shipping,” said an FDA spokesman.

According to an Israeli study, people who harbor ulcer-causing bacteria in their stomachs can be protected against some diarrheal diseases.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University said some previous studies had suggested that being infected with the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, increases the risk of diarrhea, while others have reported finding the opposite.

“Our findings suggest an active role of H. pylori in the protection against diarrheal diseases,” wrote lead author Dani Cohen in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The researchers wrote having an immune system in overdrive due to chronic H. pylori infection may also keep other bacteria in the digestive system at bay.

The price alone of Britain’s most expensive coffee at £70 is enough to wake you up. Not only this, the method by which it is made just might shock you further.

Kopi Luwak coffee that is produced on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is made from animal droppings. The droppings along with gastric juices of the native palm civet — a cat-like creature that eats only the ripest coffee cherries -are said to be the key to the coffee’s rich, frothy flavor.

The beans are extremely rare and only around 450lb are harvested per year. The coffee is to go on sale at new venue DSTRKT, near London’s Piccadilly.

If you believe that your committed relationship is being affected by personal issues, it is high time that you act right, and quick.

Here are some relationship tips that may help you break the ice:

1. Most couples fail to give time to each other and avoid making the first move or effort to work on their relationship. Adjust your schedule once in a while and spend some quality time with your partner.
2. Being on good terms with your partner’s parents is an essential aspect of a peaceful relationship but you should avoid bringing them constantly during fights, then it just goes to prove you don’t respect them.
3. Avoid fuelling negativity in a committed relationship. It is best to avoid focusing on the negative aspects as it was the positivity that brought the two of closer.

Follow these healthy relationship tips to see the difference!

Texas Medical Board may restrict or even block the experimental stem cell procedure that Texas Gov. Rick Perry underwent this summer, under new rules.

The safety and wisdom of the procedure are being questioned by some top scientists and doctors say it may run up against federal rules.

From news.yahoo.com:

The Republican presidential candidate had stem cells taken from fat in his own body, which were then grown in a lab. They were injected into Perry’s back and his bloodstream during an operation in July to fuse part of his spine.

Adult stem cells have long been used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and other cancers. While the cells are being studied to treat other ailments, from heart disease to diabetes, experts say it’s too soon to know if the approaches are safe or effective. The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved using adult stem cells to help people heal from surgery — but experimentation is common.

“Texas is a leader in innovation in many fields,” Perry wrote after his surgery. “It is critical that we continue to foster an environment that encourages technological advancement in the health care arena.”

A new study has suggested that an experimental drug that targets and kills fat cells in the blood appears to help obese rhesus monkeys lose weight.

The approach may help obese humans in future to lose weight, as per University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers.

From news.yahoo.com:

However, this new drug works by attaching itself to fat cells in the blood vessels and triggering a synthetic protein that causes the cell to die. These cells are then reabsorbed and metabolized, the researchers explained.

When the drug was tried on monkeys that were naturally obese they lost about 11 percent of their body weight over a month, Arap’s team found.

In addition, the treated monkeys also improved their insulin resistance, which is a marker for developing type 2 diabetes. After treatment, the monkeys used 50 percent less insulin, the researchers found.

The report was published in the Nov. 9 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

On Thursday, Taiwan moved to curb eating contests, a fad that has caused at least one death, and suggested the national health insurance stop paying for participants seeking medical treatment afterwards.

“The frequent ‘big-stomach’ contests not only endanger health but violate the principle of fairness as the contestants who get sick are using the national health insurance resources,” according to the Control Yuan, the top government watchdog, in a statement.

From news.yahoo.com:

The Control Yuan also urged government agencies not to host or sponsor eating contests and called on the media to carry warnings when promoting such events.

Expanding wastelines are a rapidly growing problem in Taiwan, and the number of children on the island classed as overweight or obese has surged from six percent a decade ago to 25 percent in 2009, local data showed.

“It’s something we’re keeping an eye on,” an official with the national health insurance body told AFP. “We’ve started asking the organisers of the competitions to pay for the medical bills.”

In a report released on Thursday, the UK department of health said most adults in the nation of 60 million people are eating about 10 percent more calories than necessary.

Officials said the country needs to collectively trim 5 billion calories from its daily diet to stop the bulging waistlines.

From news.yahoo.com:

But in a slightly confusing twist, the government also issued new calorie recommendations that are about 100 calories higher than the last figures in 1991. Men are now allowed to eat about 2,605 calories of food every day while for women, it’s 2,079.

British officials say the new numbers are based on a better understanding of current activity levels and that an individual’s ideal calorie count varies depending on factors like how much they exercise and their body mass index. Previous calorie recommendations underestimated the impact of physical activity, even though people are now more sedentary than two decades ago.

“This is not a license to eat more,” said Alan Jackson, head of the scientific group that came up with the new recommendations.