Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

-- Cranberry juice really does protect against urinary-tract infections, as women have long believed and a scientific study now confirms. As it happens, the study was funded by Ocean Spray, which provided the juice.

-- Children who drink caffeinated soda show significant improvements in tests of attention and manual dexterity, a new study reports. Not surprisingly, the kids also said the caffeine made them feel less sluggish -- and more anxious.

-- Fat consumption in the U.S. continues to fall -- down to 34% of daily calories in 1990 from 42% in the mid-1960s. But Americans are eating more rather than fewer calories, and they grow heavier every year.

THE BAD NEWS

-- The number of new AIDS cases surged unexpectedly last year, more than doubling, owing largely to a jump in infections among heterosexuals. The numbers had been expected to go up because of a change in reporting procedures, but not by this much. The increase was greater among women (151%) than among men (105%). The biggest increases of all were among teens and young adults.

-- People who wear contact lenses overnight are more than eight times as likely to get eye infections as those who don't, even if the lenses are the so-called extended-wear type, according to a new study. Nearly 75% of those cases could be prevented by taking the lenses out at night.

Sources -- GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; National Center for Health Statistics.

BAD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Archives of Ophthalmology.