Daily Rounds: Thorny Contraception Deal; Clamor For Alzheimer's Drug; Teen-Age Diet Groups; Downsizing Snickers

Self-Insured Complicate Health Deal (The New York Times) "But the administration announced the compromise plan before it had figured out how to address one conspicuous point: Like most large employers, many religiously affiliated organizations choose to insure themselves rather than hire an outside company to assume the risk. Now, the organizations are trying to determine how to reconcile their objections to offering birth control on religious grounds with their role as insurers — or whether there can be any reconciliation at all. And the administration still cannot put the thorny issue to rest."

Alzheimer's Families Clamor For Drugs (The Wall Street Journal) "In the wake of research suggesting a skin-cancer drug may have benefits in treating Alzheimer's disease, physicians and advocacy groups are getting a flurry of calls from patients seeking to use the drug off-label. The clamor underscores how urgently patients want solutions to the rising tide of Alzheimer's. But experts caution that more research is needed to determine whether the drug, bexarotene, is effective in humans at all, not to mention what the dosage should be."

Group program helps teen girls keep the weight off (Reuters) "At those sessions, girls reviewed their own food and physical activity records and discussed issues that commonly affect heavy girls, including depression and emotional eating. Those adolescents were also advised to cut their calories to 1,600 to 1,800 per day and to eat regular meals, exercise at least five days a week, practice yoga regularly and limit television time. Parents of youth in the intervention group were invited to separate meetings, and the girls' pediatricians got extra coaching on how to help them reach their health and lifestyle goals."

Goodbye To The King Size: Mars To Downsize Candy Bars In 2013 : The Salt : NPR (npr.org) "Ready to say goodbye to a sliver of your Snickers? And how about a slightly slimmer Mars bar? By the end of 2013, chocolate-maker Mars says all of its chocolate bars will be under — or right at — the 250-calorie mark. The 2-ounce Snickers currently sold in our NPR vending machine has 280 calories, and with the downsize it will lose about 11 percent of its size. The fun-size and the king-size bars currently range from 70 to 540 calories, which means the new 250-calorie limit spells the end of the king-size bar."