Health roundup: Test overused in heartburn patients

Your Tuesday morning health roundup:

Managing heartburn: Too many patients with heartburn and other symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) get a procedure in which a doctor inserts a flexible tube with a camera down their throats, says a new report. The procedure, called endoscopy, allows doctors to view the esophagus, stomach and upper part of the small intestine. The test can be used to screen for certain cancers but is not warranted unless patients fail to respond to medication or have additional problems such as difficult or painful swallowing, bleeding, weight loss or recurrent vomiting, says the American College of Physicians. (MyHealthNewsDaily)

Sleep and breathing: Subtle breathing problems may be behind more cases of insomnia than previously believed, a small study suggests. The insomniacs in the study thought their sleep was ruined by nightmares, pain, racing thoughts or over-active bladders, but tests showed a pattern of abnormal breathing preceded most awakenings. (New York Times)

Sports supplements: Products containing DMAA (dimethylamylamine) remain widely available online and in stores months after the Food and Drug Administration said manufacturers had failed to submit safety data for the popular sports supplements. An industry group says it's safe to assume that talks between FDA and manufacturers are continuing. (HealthDay)

Today's talker: Bodies speak louder than faces -- at least when it comes to intense emotions, a new study suggests. People did a better job detecting joy or despair in pictures of tennis players who had just won or lost a point in a big match when they relied on body language rather than facial expressions, the study found. Interesting detail: When they got to see both, people said they were reading faces, even when they really were following body cues. (NBC News)