Washington -- A U.S. health advocacy group says Jack in the Box's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger tops the list of worst "cheap eats."

The non-profit Cancer Project reviewed nutrition information for items on the Value Menus of five national fast food chains. Jack in the Box's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, which costs a dollar, has 23 grams of fat, 860 milligrams of sodium.

The report said most items on Value Menus are high in fat, saturated fat, calories and cholesterol. Many also contain processed meats and grilled meats linked to increased cancer risk, the group said Monday in a release.

"Dollar menus might be easy on the wallet, but these high-fat fast foods can be really hard on your health," Cancer Project staff dietitian Krista Haynes said in a statement. "People looking for food bargains can cut their risk of heart disease and cancer by steering clear of cheeseburgers and choosing low-fat vegetarian meals. "

United States, December 10: A new report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has predicted that over the next two decades, cancer death rate will drastically shoot up with rocket pace becoming more than double worldwide.

Durham, N.C. -- A study of patients at nine fertility clinics in the United States finds that many couples are unhappy with the available alternatives for surplus embryos.

More than 1,000 couples were surveyed for the study led by Anne Lyerly of Duke University, USA Today reported. More than half said that they were unlikely to donate embryos they did not need to another couple.

That finding was surprising, given the terms of the debate on in vitro fertilization and the fate of embryos couples do not need, Lyerly said.

"If you look at the policy debate and the discussion in the literature, there is a presumption that if you respect or care about an embryo, you would want it to become a child," Lyerly said.

Forty percent of the couples who said they did not want more children said they would prefer to donate surplus embryos for research, as did 15 percent who were considering more children. But the federal ban on funding for research on embryos means many clinics do not offer that choice.

Nottingham, England -- British and U.S. medical scientists say they have identified a gene that protects the body from developing lung cancer.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham and Washington University in St. Louis said they discovered the tumor suppressor gene LIMD1 is responsible for protecting the body -- a finding that could lead to new lung cancer treatments and screening techniques.

Lead researcher Tyson Sharp and his University of Nottingham team, together with Dr Greg Longmore, a professor of molecular cell biology at Washington University, set out to examine if loss of the LIMD1 gene correlated with lung cancer development.

Examining human lung cancer tissue and comparing it to healthy lung tissue they found the LIMD1 gene was missing in the majority of lung cancer samples, indicating that the presence of the LIMD1 gene protects the body against lung cancer.

Ottawa -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning against consumption of Santa Lucia-brand ricotta cheese because of possible contamination.

The CFIA and the manufacturer, the International Cheese Co. Ltd. of Toronto, said the cheese might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause the food-borne illness listeriosis.

The recalled cheese is sold in packages of 500 grams, bears a "Best Before" date of "09JA01" (Jan. 1, 2009) and lot number 477. The cheese was distributed in Ontario.

Consumers with questions can contact the company at 416-769-3547.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Washington -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and WebMD say they are collaborating in expanding consumers' access to the federal agency's health database.

"We are enthusiastic about this collaboration with WebMD because it will enable us to reach more consumers with accurate, science-based information that can help them improve their health," Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach of the FDA said. "This is an important step forward in our effort to form partnerships to help bring timely safety alerts and other public health information to a wider audience in the most effective and convenient way."

The FDA said WebMD attracts nearly 50 million unique visitors each month, providing consumers with health news and information.

The partnership includes creation of an online consumer health information resource on WebMD.com (www.webmd.com/fda) through which people can access information on the safety of FDA-regulated products, including food, medicine and cosmetics.

Melbourne -- U.S. and Australian researchers say the drug tasimelteon may alleviate jet lag and sleep disorders experienced by shift workers.

Shantha Rajaratnam of Monash University's School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine in Australia said tasimelteon acts on melatonin receptors in the brain.

The research was published in The Lancet.

"Our studies show that tasimelteon is able to effectively shift the rhythm of melatonin levels in the body, which are a well-established marker of the human biological clock," Rajaratnam said Monday in a news release.

The research, conducted by a team from Monash, The Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Harvard Medical School and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, showed tasimelteon improved a patient's ability to fall asleep and stay asleep when bedtime was shifted earlier by five hours.

Washington -- The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall of approximately 36,388 pounds of DeNunzio-brand Polish kielbasa due to a labeling error.

The FSIS said DeNunzio's Sausage of Elmira, N.Y., initiated the recall because the sausage products might contain soy protein, an undeclared allergen.

Being recalled are 1-, 2- and 4-pound jars of "DeNunzio Polish Kielbasa, Fully Cooked, Ready to Eat, Packed in Vinegar."

The sausage products were produced between March 13 and Nov. 26, and were shipped to distributors in New York and Pennsylvania for further distribution to retail establishments.

Consumers with questions can contact the company at 607-732-2131.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Boston -- A study of blacks living in a Boston-area community found those born in the United States were more likely to have asthma than those born elsewhere.

Doug Brugge, an associate professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, said a review of 479 asthma screening questionnaires from children and adults in Dorchester, Mass., suggests black adults who were born in the United States and living in Dorchester were three times as likely to be diagnosed with asthma as black adults in the community who were born outside the United States.

Brugge, however, warned that the results cannot be generalized to the U.S. population because it focused on a specific neighborhood in Boston.

"If future research confirms that the U.S.-born black population has a higher prevalence of asthma than the foreign-born black population, resources such as asthma screening and detection can be directed to populations or communities most in need," he said Monday in a news release.

Philadelphia,December 2: The American College of Physicians (ACP) has published a new practice guideline in the “Annals of Internal Medicine” website, on the World AIDS Day celebrated on December 1. This guideline urges physicians to give all the patients aged 13 years and above a routine screening for HIV.