WASHINGTON (AFP) - A strong cup of coffee may do more than just wake you up in the mornings. It could also help you stave off multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study.

Scientists in Oklahoma found that mice which had been immunized to develop an MS-like condition appeared to be protected from the disease by drinking the equivalent of six to eight cups of coffee a day.

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WEDNESDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Smokeless tobacco products (STPs), which include products such as snuff and chew tobacco, do increase the user's risk of cancer -- just not as much as smoking does.

So say researchers who examined worldwide patterns of STP use and the associated risk of cancer.

Reporting in the July issue of The Lancet Oncology, a team led by Dr. Paolo Boffeta, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in France, noted that STPs contain more than 30 carcinogens, including nitrosamines and metals.

WEDNESDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.

The changes were seen both in long-term practitioners and in newer recruits, the scientists said.

TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- As the temperatures rise, older adults become more vulnerable to heat-related health issues because their bodies don't cool down as quickly as younger people.

"Sometimes, older people may not feel hot when the temperature is dangerously high and are also less likely to feel thirsty, which means their bodies have lost too much water," Dr. John B. Murphy, president of The American Geriatrics Society, said in a prepared statement.

MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Are 3 or 4 grams of trans fats in a serving of baked or fried food bad for you, or can you stop worrying?

Answer: It's always unhealthy, since no amount of the artery-clogging artificial fat is good for you.

However, a new study suggests that the Nutrition Facts panel found on the side of grocery store products does a poor job of getting that message across to consumers.

"It's very misleading to just throw a number out there," contends study author Elizabeth Howlett, a professor of marketing at the University of Arkansas, in Little Rock.

SUNDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- As the mercury continues to rise, people of all ages should take precautions to ward off heat-related illness while exercising, playing or taking part in any kind of physical activity outside.

SUNDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- More than 98,000 Americans are clinging to life this very second, and their only chance for survival is a dead person's generosity.

The science of organ transplantation has improved by leaps and bounds. But despite the advances, almost 7,200 Americans died in 2005, waiting for a replacement organ that never arrived, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

When we last left off, I was telling you about my latest round of thyroid woes—my numbers have been all over the chart and I’m having a really hard time regulating my levels with my current medication. Even though my medicines have been working well all along, lately they seem to have given up the proverbial ghost.

I headed back to the doctor for another round of blood work and found out in the process that my fasting blood sugar was too high, and that my physician wanted to test my pituitary gland to see if it was connected to my thyroid issues.

(HealthDay News) -- Women tend to miss almost half their menopause-related hot flashes, which are associated with memory problems, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study that included 29 women with moderate to severe hot flashes.

The women wore monitors that measured skin changes during a hot flash. Both subjective (self-reported) and objective (detected by the monitor) hot flashes were recorded over 24 hours. The average number of objective hot flashes was 19.5 per day, about 40 percent more than were reported by the women.

FRIDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- The key to a healthy mind in old age may lie in an active social life, a new study suggests.

"If you are socially engaged, you are at lower risk of dementia," said Dr. Valerie C. Crooks, a researcher at the Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

During her study, which followed more than 2,200 women ages 78 and older for four years, those with large social networks reduced their risk of getting dementia by 26 percent, she said.