Researchers from King’s College London and the University College London examined data from surveys of more than 11,000 pregnant women, including about 500 with a history of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, or both conditions.

Although women with a history of eating disorders were no more likely than other women to take longer than a year to conceive, a higher percentage did take more than six months to achieve a pregnancy (39% vs. 25%).

Infertility Treatment More Common With Eating Disorders

Women who reported having an eating disorder in the present or past were more than twice as likely to have received treatment to help them conceive (6% vs. 2.7%).

Among the other findings in the self-reported, survey-based study:

• 41% of women with past or current eating disorders reported that their pregnancies were unplanned, compared to 28% of women with no such history.
• Although the majority of women reported being happy to discover they were pregnant (71%), women with anorexia or bulimia were more than twice as likely to report feeling unhappy about their pregnancies (10% vs. 4%).
• Women with an eating disorder or history of one were also more than twice as likely to consider motherhood a “personal sacrifice.”

The study, published online this week in the international obstetrics and gynecology journal BJOG, is the largest ever conducted in the U.K. examining the impact of eating disorders on fertility and attitudes about pregnancy.

Study researcher Abigail Easter says the findings highlight the need to provide extra support to women with current or prior eating disorders before conception and during pregnancy.

“We know that many women with a history of an eating disorder often feel unable to inform health care professionals of their illness,” she tells WebMD. “When planning a pregnancy or becoming pregnant we would encourage women with eating disorders, even if it was in the past, to discuss this with their doctors.”

Rate of Unplanned Pregnancies a Surprise

Easter says the researchers were surprised to find such a high rate of unintended pregnancies among women with a history of eating disorders.

Women with eating disorders often have infrequent periods or no periods at all. Although conceiving is often more difficult under these conditions, it is not impossible or even all that uncommon, Easter says.

”Women with eating disorders can underestimate their chances of conceiving and not take adequate measures of birth control,” Easter tells WebMD. “The contraceptive pill may also not be an appropriate form of contraception for someone with bulimia who regularly self-induces vomiting as a means of controlling weight.”

Imperial College London professor emeritus Philip Steer, MD, who is editor-in-chief of BJOG, says it is important for health care professionals to recognize that women with a history of eating disorders may have more negative feelings associated with pregnancy and childbirth compared to other women.

He agrees that they may also need more support.

“Women with eating disorders are often very intelligent and successful, so providers could easily fail to recognize that they may need extra nurturing during pregnancy and even after giving birth,” he says. “This research shows that an eating disorder history should be seen as a warning sign that a woman may have additional challenges associated with pregnancy.”

[Posted 06/02/2011]

AUDIENCE: Consumers, Patients

ISSUE: FDA notified consumers, women who participate in breast cancer screening and healthcare professionals that thermography is not a replacement for screening mammography and should not be used by itself to diagnose breast cancer. Thermographic systems use an infrared camera to produce images (thermograms) that show the patterns of heat and blood flow on or near the surface of the body. The FDA is not aware of any valid scientific data to show that thermographic devices, when used on their own, are an effective screening tool for any medical condition including the early detection of breast cancer or other breast disease. The FDA is concerned that women will believe these misleading claims about thermography and not receive needed mammograms.

BACKGROUND: Certain facilities, websites, and mobile units are promoting the use of thermography as a stand-alone evaluation tool for screening and diagnosing breast cancer, claiming that is a substitute for or superior to mammography. They also claim that thermography can detect pre-cancerous abnormalities and diagnose breast cancer long before mammography and that compressing the breast during mammography will cause or spread cancer by pushing cancer cells into additional locations in the body.

RECOMMENDATION: Woman should have regular mammograms according to screening guidelines or as recommended by a health care provider. Patients should follow a health care provider’s recommendations for additional breast diagnostic procedure which could include thermography, clinical breast exam, breast ultrasound, MRI or biopsy.

Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events, side effects, or product quality problems related to the use of these products to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program:

• Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
• Download form or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit by fax to 1-800-FDA-0178

The classification was issued Tuesday in Lyon, France, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a review of dozens of publishe

d studies. The agency is an arm of the World Health Organization and its assessment now goes to WHO and national health agen

cies for possible guidance on cellphone use.

Classifying agents a

s “p

ossibly carcinogenic” doesn’t mean they automatically cause cancer and some experts said the ruling shouldn’t change people’s cellphone habits.

“Anything is a possible carcinogen,” said Donald Berry, a professor of biostatistics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas

. He was not linked to the WHO cancer group. “This is not something I worry about and it will not in any way change how I use my cellphone,” he said — from his cellphone.

After a week-lon

g meeting, the expert panel said there was limited evidence cellphone use was linked to two types of brain tumors and inadequate evi

dence to draw conclusions for other cancers.

“We found som

e threads of evidence telling us how cancers might occur, but there were acknowledged gaps and uncertainties,” said Jonathan

Samet, the panel’s chairman.

“The WHO’s verdict means there is some evidence linking mobile phones to cancer but it is too weak to draw strong conclusions from,” said E

d Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research U.K. “If such a link exists, it is unlikely to be a large one.”

Last year, results of a large study found no clear link between cellphones and cancer. But some advocacy groups contend the study raised serious conc

erns because it showed a hint of a possible connection between very heavy phone use and glioma, a rare but often deadly form of brain tumor. However, the numbers in that subgroup weren’t sufficient to make the case.

The study was controversial because it began with people who already had cancer and asked them to recall how often they used their cellphones m

ore than a decade ago.

In about 30 other studies done in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S., patients with brain tumors have not reported using their cellphones more often than unaffected people.

Because cellpho

nes are so popular, it may be impossible for experts to compare cellphone users who develop brain tumors with people who don’t use the devices. According to a survey last year, the number of cellphone subscribers worldwide has hit 5 billion, or nearly three-q

uarters of the global population.

People’s cellphone habits have also changed dramatically since the first studies began years ago and it’s unclear if the results of previous research wo

uld still apply today.

Since many

cancerous tumors take decades to develop, experts say it’s impossible to conclude cellphones have no long-term health risks. The studies conducted so far haven’t tracked people for longer than about a decade.

Cellphones send sign

als to nearby towers via radio frequency waves, a form of energy similar to FM radio waves and microwaves. But the radiation

produced by cellphones cannot directly damage DNA and is different from stronger types of radiation like X-rays or ultraviolet light. At very high levels, radio frequency waves from cellphones can heat up body tissue, but that is not believed to damage human cells.

Some experts recommended people use a headset or earpiece if they are worried about the possible health dangers of cellphones. “If there is a r

isk, most of it goes away with a wireless earpiece,” said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

Brawley said people should focus on the real health hazards of cellphones. “Cellphones may cause brain tumors but they kill far more people throug

h automobile accidents,” he said. Brawley added it was also reasonable to limit children’s use of cellphones since their brain

s are still developing.

Earlier this year, a U.S. National Institutes of Health study found that cellphone use can speed up brain activity, but it is unknown whether that has any dangerous health effects.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission have found no evidence cellphones are linked to cancer.

The federal agency says it is lowering the recommended safe cooking temperature for whole cuts of pork from 160 degrees to 145 degrees and adding a 3-minute rest time.

That temperature should be measured with a food thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat, then allowing the meat to sit for three minutes before carving or eating.

The safe temperature for beef, veal, and lamb remains at 145 degrees, but the USDA says it is adding a 3-minute rest time to its preparation recommendations.

New Guideline Does Not Apply to Ground Meats

The USDA says the change does not apply to ground meats, including beef, veal, lamb, and pork, which should be cooked to 160 degrees. The safe cooking temperature for all poultry products, including chicken and turkey, remains 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

“With a single temperature for all whole cuts of meat and uniform 3-minute stand time, we believe it will be much easier for consumers to remember and result in safer food preparation,” USDA Under Secretary Elisabeth Hagen says in a news release. “Now there will only be three numbers to remember — 145 for whole meats, 160 for ground meats, and 165 for all poultry.”

Making Sure of Microbiological Safety

It says cooking raw pork, steaks, roasts, and chops to 145 degrees with the addition of a 3-minute rest time will result in a product that is microbiologically safe and at its best quality.

Rest time is the amount of time the product remains at the final temperature after it has been taken off a grill, oven, or other heat source, the USDA says. During that 3-minute period, the temperature of meat remains constant or continues to rise, destroying pathogens.

he USDA says its Food Safety and Inspection Service determined that it’s just as safe to cook cuts of pork to 145 degrees as it is to cook them to 160 degrees, as long as there is a 3-minute rest time.

The new guidelines clarify long-held perceptions about cooking pork. People had viewed the color pink in pork as a sign that it’s undercooked. But now the USDA says if raw pork is cooked to 145 degrees and allowed to rest for three minutes, it is safe to eat, even if a little pink.

The agency says the only reliable indicator of safe meat is temperature obtained with a food thermometer, and that its appearance is not a reliable indicator of temperature. It says any cooked, uncured red meats, including pork, can be pink.

The National Pork Board says reducing the standard by 15 degrees “may yield a finished product that is pinker” that most people who cook are used to.

But Dianne Bettin, chair of the Checkoff’s Domestic Marketing Committee and a pork producer in Truman, Minn., says research has shown that Americans tend to overcook common cuts of pork, “resulting in a less than optimal eating experience.”

New Guidelines May Mean Better-Tasting Pork

Cooking pork under the new guidelines will help people enjoy pork at its most flavorful, juicy, and safe temperature, Bettin says in a National Pork Board news release.

The National Pork Board and the USDA both recommend a digital cooking thermometer to make sure the final temperature is correct.

The USDA also offers this advice for people cooking pork:

Keep it clean. This refers to surfaces on which the meat is cooked, and your hands.

Take steps to avoid cross contamination by separating the cuts.

Cook to the proper temperatures.

Chill after it is properly cooked and ensure prompt refrigeration.

Current guidelines, which were written to help prevent tooth decay, recommend that babies stop bottle feeding around their first birthday.

But many parents don’t appear to be following that advice.

The study, which has tracked nearly 6,750 children across the U.S. from the time they were born in 2001, found that nearly one in four toddlers was still a regular bottle user at age 2.

Researchers found that, compared to those who were weaned off a bottle earlier, 24-month-olds who were drinking from a bottle were about 30% more likely to be obese by age 5 1/2. That’s after adjusting for a host of things thought to influence the risk of obesity, such as mom’s body weight, breastfeeding, the family’s income level, and time spent watching TV or computer screens.

“This is an important study because it identifies a clear risk factor for childhood obesity,” says Karen Bonuck, PhD, a professor in the department of family and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Bonuck, who reviewed the study for WebMD, is studying how weaning toddlers off bottles may affect the total number of daily calories they get. She was not involved in the current research.

How Bottle-Feeding May Add Pounds

Though it’s not entirely clear how bottles may be causing obesity, researchers have some theories.

“At older ages, the bottle is probably used for comfort or convenience, rather than nourishment,” says study researcher Rachel A. Gooze, MPH, a doctoral student in public health at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Gooze says by age 2 many kids are having meals and snacks at the family table. Calories they get from a bottle that’s tucked into a car seat or into bed at night are likely to be extra.

“If we think of a 2-year-old girl of average size who’s put to bed with an 8-ounce bottle of whole milk, she’d receive about 12% of her daily caloric needs from that bottle,” Gooze says.

If she has eaten well that day, those calories may be in excess, Gooze says.

Weight Gain After Bottle-Feeding

For the study, which is published in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers analyzed data collected in the Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort.

Children were included in the study at birth and assessed at 9 months, 24 months, 4 1/2 years, and 5 1/2 years.

Parents were asked, at the 24-month interview, if the child primarily drank from a bottle, a sippy cup, or a regular cup. They were also asked whether they usually put the child to bed with a bottle. If the answer to either question was yes, the child was considered to be a regular bottle user.

At age 5 1/2, children were weighed and measured. If their height and weight put them above the 95th percentile on standardized body mass index (BMI) charts, they were classified as obese.

Mothers were asked if they had ever breastfed and, if so, the age the child stopped breastfeeding. They were also asked what age solid foods were introduced.

Of the 6,750 children included in the study’s results, 17.6% were obese at age 5 1/2.

Nearly one in four (22.3%) was a regular bottle user at 24 months of age.

The prevalence of obesity at 5 1/2 years was about 23% in regular bottle users compared to about 16% in children who were not using a bottle.

After adjusting their data to account for 13 factors that are thought to influence the risk of obesity — including socioeconomic status, race, maternal education, mom’s weight, breastfeeding, age at introduction of solid foods, and birth weight, 2-year-olds who were regular bottle users were about 33% more likely to be obese than those who primarily drank from cups at that age.

“This is a well-done study,” Bonuck says. “The main caveat, and this is a limitation of a large national survey, is that it is hard to say exactly what or how much of the daily calories came through the bottle.”

Bonuck points out that bottles come in all different sizes and can be filled to different levels, something this study wasn’t able to take into account.

The researchers acknowledge a number of other things that were missing. They didn’t have data on children’s physical activity, for example, or specific aspects of diet — like total daily calories, sugar-sweetened beverages in the diet, or information on whether or for how long infants were exclusively fed breast milk.

Previous studies have suggested that exclusive breastfeeding for six months or more may reduce the risk of obesity later in life.

Advice to Parents

“Prolonged bottle use has been shown to lead to tooth decay in children,” Gooze says. For that reason alone, she says, it’s a good idea for parents to try to follow existing guidelines.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry states that infants should not be put to bed with a bottle and recommends that parents wean infants from bottles between 12 and 14 months of age.

Gooze says many toddlers find that parting with the comfort and security of a bottle can be difficult. But parents can ease the transition by reframing the bottle’s departure as a developmental milestone, something big kids don’t need.

Switching from milk or juice to water may also help, especially if the bottle isn’t replacing a meal.

The FDA says it issued the guidance because of continuing concerns about the potential for accidental overdoses resulting from the use of cups, spoons, or other devices with markings that are confusing, unclear or inconsistent with directions on labels.

“Accidental medication overdose in young children is an increasingly common but preventable public health problem,” Karen Weiss, MD, program director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Safe Use Initiative, says in a news release.

Tips for Parents

The guidelines offer these tips to parents and caregivers of infants or young children:

• Always read and follow the Drug Facts label on over-the-counter medication.
• Know the active ingredient in the child’s medication.
• Give the right medicine in the right amount to the child.
• Talk to your doctor, pharmacist, or nurse to find out which drugs can be given with other drugs — and which drugs can’t.
• Know the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.
• Use the dosing tool that comes with the medication, such as a dropper or dosing cup.
• Know the weight of the child using the medications.
• Always use medications with child-resistant caps.
• Store all medicines in a safe place, out of reach of kids.
• Check the medicine three times before giving it to a child.

The guidelines describe how clearly marked and easy-to-use dosage delivery devices can minimize the risk of unintentional overdose when children are treated with over-the-counter liquid medication for conditions such as cough, cold, pain, and digestion problems.

Improvements in Dosage Delivery Devices

The FDA says in a news release that the recommendations to companies include:

• Dosage delivery devices for orally ingested liquid over-the-counter products should be included in all products.
• Devices should be marked with calibrated units of liquid measurement, such as teaspoon, tablespoon, or milliliter, that are the same as specified in the product directions. The devices should have no unnecessary markings.
• Manufacturers should make sure that dosage delivery devices are used only with products they are intended to be packaged with.
• The liquid measure markings on the devices should be clearly visible and not obscured when the liquid product is added to the device.

People who have questions about dosage delivery devices or how to measure medicines should contact a doctor, pharmacist, or other health care professional. The FDA says health professionals and patients should report adverse events, side effects, or product quality problems to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.

The CDC says that the number of people diagnosed with asthma grew by 4.3 million between 2001 and 2009, when one in 12 Americans were told they had the lung disease. The proportion of people of all ages with asthma in the U.S. increased from 7.3% (20.3 million people) in 2001 to 8.2% (24.6 million people) in 2009.

Costs are rising too, from $53 billion in 2002 to about $56 billion in 2007, for a 6% increase.

“Despite the fact that outdoor air quality has improved, we’ve reduced two common asthma triggers — secondhand smoke and smoking in general — asthma is increasing,’’ says Paul Garbe, DVM, MPH, chief of the CDC’s air pollution and respiratory health branch, in a news release. “While we don’t know the cause of the increase, our top priority is getting people to manage their symptoms better.”

Part of the reason, Garbe says, could be better diagnostic methods now in use.

CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, says in the news release that asthma is a lifelong disease that kills thousands of people annually and adds billions to the nation’s health care costs.

“We have to do a better job educating people about managing their symptoms and how to correctly use medicines to control asthma so they can live longer, more productive lives, while saving health care costs,” he says.

Preventing and Controlling Asthma

Garbe and Ileana Arias, PhD, principal deputy director of the CDC, spoke at a news briefing after the release an article on asthma in Vital Signs, a report that appears on the first Tuesday of the month as part of the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Both scientists cautioned that asthma incidence is increasing and said that people need to do all they can, such as keeping homes clean and avoiding pollution when possible, to prevent asthma attacks.

They said symptoms can be controlled by correctly using prescribed medicines, such as inhaled corticosteroids, and recommended better education about asthma for the general public and doctors as well.

A higher percentage of children reported having asthma than adults in 2009 — 9.6% compared to 7.7%. Also, diagnoses were especially high among boys, 11.3%.

The greatest rise in asthma rates was among African-American children, who had a 50% increase from 2001 to 2009, according to the CDC. The highest rate of asthma in 2009 was among African-American children, 17% of whom had asthma.

Annual asthma costs in the U.S. were $3,300 per person between 2002 and 2007.

About two in five uninsured and one in nine insured people with asthma could not afford their prescription medication, the CDC says.

The CDC offers a list of recommendations to reduce asthma attacks. These include:

Improving indoor air quality for people with asthma through measures such as smoke-free laws and policies, healthy schools and workplaces.

Teaching patients how to avoid asthma triggers, such as tobacco smoke, mold, pet dander, and outdoor air pollution.

Encouraging doctors to prescribe inhaled corticosteroids for all patients with persistent asthma, and to use a written asthma “action plan” to teach patients how best to manage their symptoms.

Promoting measures that prevent asthma attacks, such as increasing access to corticosteroids and other prescribed medicines.

Encouraging home environmental assessments and educational sessions conducted by doctors, health educators, and other health professionals.

The prevalence of asthma increased went up significantly between 2001 and 2009 in these groups:

Children: from 8.7% to 9.6%

Adults: from 6.9% to 7.7%

Males: from 6.3% to 7.1%

Females: from 8.3% to 9.2%

Whites: from 7.2% to 7.8%

African-Americans: from 8.4% to 10.8%

Hispanics: from 5.8% to 6.4%.

In 2008, CDC says 52.6% of people who had asthma said they’d had an attack in the past year.

Other key findings:

21.8% of people with asthma said they were in fair or poor health, compared to 9.3% who did not have asthma.

In 2008, almost 42% of people with asthma said they missed one or more days of school or work because of asthma in the past year.

People who had an asthma attack missed an average of 4.5 days of school or work per year.

26% of people with asthma reported emergency department or urgent care center visits.

7% were admitted to a hospital for asthma.

Asthma prevalence was higher in the Northeast (9.3%) and Midwest (8.8%) than in the West (7.7%) and South (7.5%).

The American Academy of Dermatology’s poll of about 3,800 white girls and women between 14 and 22 suggests that many thousands are trying to get tans in the sun or turning to tanning booths, or doing both.

Among key findings of the survey:

• 32% of respondents had used a tanning bed in the past year; of those, one-fourth used a tanning bed at least once weekly.
• 81% of respondents had tanned outdoors either frequently or occasionally in the past year.
• 42% of indoor tanners are more concerned about wrinkles than non-indoor tanners; 28.4% of non-indoor tanners expressed such worries.
• 65.5% of respondents said they think people look more attractive with a tan; 87.3% of indoor tanners gave that answer.
• Indoor tanners were four times as likely to say their mothers used a tanning bed, compared to outdoor tanners.

Education About Risks of Tanning

“Our survey underscores the importance of educating young women about the very real risks of tanning, as melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — is increasing faster in females 15 to 29-years-old than in males of the same age group,” dermatologist Ronald L. Moy, MD, FAAD, says in a news release.

Moy, who is president of the American Academy of Dermatology, also says that most young women with melanoma are “developing it on their torso, which may be the result of high-risk tanning behaviors, such as indoor tanning.”

He says that in his practice in California, he has had patients — young women with a history of using tanning beds — who have died from melanoma.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization’s International Agency of Research on Cancer both have said ultraviolet or UV radiation from the sun and artificial light sources such as tanning beds and sun lamps are carcinogenic.

The news release from the American Academy of Dermatology says indoor tanning increases a person’s risk of melanoma by 75%.

The survey showed that 18- to 22-year-olds were almost twice as likely to have used indoor tanning than 14- to 17-year-old girls.

Spray tans are considered a safe alternative to ultraviolet exposure from the sun and indoor tanning booths, but still, 86% of respondents said they had not resorted to spray tans in the past year.

“Exposure to UV radiation is the leading risk factor for skin cancer, yet — despite this knowledge — droves of teens and young women are flocking to tanning bed facilities and beaches or pools to tan every year,” Moy says.

Tanning Salons Are Prevalent

“A recent survey of 116 U.S. cities found an average of 42 tanning salons per city, which means tanning salons are more prevalent than Starbucks or McDonald’s,” Moy says. “We are very concerned that this tanning behavior will lead to a continued increase in the incidence of skin cancer in young people and, ultimately, more untimely deaths from this devastating disease.”

Unless the upward trend changes, the American Academy of Dermatology says in its report that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.

About 75% of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma, the incidence of which has been rising for at least three decades, especially among young, white women in recent years.

Vegetarians may have lower cataract risk

compared to vegetarians, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Oxford in England say vegetarians and vegans are 30% to 40% less likely to develop cataracts than people who eat a lot of meat.

Other factors, such as smoking, diabetes, and exposure to bright sunlight, also have been linked to greater risk of cataracts.

Researchers studied data on 27,670 people participating in the European Prospective Investigation in Cancer and Nutrition study. The participants in the study, all older than 40, were asked to fill out dietary surveys between 1993 and 1999. They were checked on between 2008 and 2009 to see if they had developed cataracts; about 1,500 had developed cataracts.

The participants were divided into groups according to the amount of meat they ate:

• Highest meat consumption: 3.5 ounces or more a day.
• Mid-range meat consumption: 1.7 to 3.4 ounces a day.
• Low-meat consumption: less than 1.7 ounces a day.
• Fish eaters: Those who ate fish but not meat.
• Vegetarians: Those who did not eat meat or fish but did eat dairy products and/or eggs.
• Vegans: Those who did not eat meat, fish, dairy products, or eggs.

Compared with those who ate the most meat, the risks for developing cataracts were lower for all other groups. Mid-range meat eaters had a decreased cataract risk of 4%, low-meat eaters 15%, fish eaters 21%, vegetarians 30%, and vegans 40%.

The researchers found that the progressive decrease in cataract risk was seen for both men and women but appeared to be confined to participants 65 and older at recruitment.

What Is a Cataract?

A cataract occurs when the eye’s lens becomes cloudy, leading to blurred vision and visual loss. Cataracts are more common in older people. Surgical procedures are typically required to treat cataracts.

The researchers say in a news release that about 21 million Americans suffer from at least one cataract, and that this number will increase to 30 million by 2020 as the baby boom generation continues to age.

The researchers write that their study is the first to describe cataract risk in relation to a vegetarian diet.

The study is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers found that older people have a more difficult time multitasking not because they have to devote more attention to a secondary task, but because their brains have a harder time disengaging from the secondary task and going back to the original one.

The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to analyze brain activity in 20 people over age 60 while they performed a multitasking exercise. Then, researchers compared their results to a similar experiment with 20 younger adults.

They found that older adults had more difficulty recognizing a nature scene that had been previously shown to them when they were interrupted to perform another task, which involved stating the gender and approximate age of a face shown to them before the nature scene.

Researchers say the brain imaging showed that the older participants initially reacted to the new task in a similar manner as the younger group. But there the similarities ended.

“Unlike younger individuals, older adults failed to both disengage from the interruption and re-establish functional connections associated with the disrupted memory network,” write Wesley C. Clapp of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers say the results suggest that multitasking causes a bigger working memory disruption in older adults because of this inability to switch between tasks efficiently.