Drinking black tea can help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke as long as you take it without milk. Research published in advance online on January 9 in the European Heart Journal reports that milk totally counteracts the favorable vascular health effects of black tea, with the authors stating, " caseins [milk proteins] accounted for these inhibiting effects of milk, probably by formation of complexes with tea catechins."

An article published in the January issue of Diabetes Care warns that diabetics who consume red meat and foods high in heme iron (e.g. oysters) increase their risk of coronary heart disease. The study looked at 6,161 women with type 2 diabetes.

A paper published online on January 8 in Circulation has found that severe cases of congenital heart disease are on the rise among North American adults, but likely due to more babies born with CHD surviving to adulthood.

Not that this will surprise anyone, but a study published online on January 9 in PLoS Medicine has concluded that industry-funding of nutrition-related scientific articles may bias conclusions in favor of sponsors' products, with potentially significant impact on public health. Researchers had examined articles concerning soft drinks, juice, and milk.

Good news in stem cell research, particularly for those looking to solve the ethical problem of using embryonic stem cells: Stem cells have been found in amniotic fluid. According to an article published online on January 7 in Nature Biotechnology, scientists have successfully obtained stem cells from samples of amniotic fluid that had been discarded following unrelated diagnostic amniocentesis procedures, and have used the stem cells to create muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve, and liver cells in the lab.

Yet another reason to practice safe sex: Males who contract the common STI gonorrhea can double their risk of getting bladder cancer. The research was published in the January issue of British Journal of Cancer.

Looking for ways to keep kids slim? Have dinner with them – and not in front of the TV. According to an article published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, which looked at 8,000 kids who entered kindergarten, and then again in third grade, kids who watched more TV and ate fewer family meals were more likely to be overweight by third grade than other kids.

A paper published in the January issue of The Journal of Pediatrics has found that tween girls between the ages of nine and 12 are more likely to become overweight than when they are teenagers. The study, which looked at 1,166 white girls and 1,213 black girls, found that rates of overweight increased through adolescence from 7% to 10% in the white girls and from 17% to 24% in the black girls.