Strange but true health tips

• You can lose weight by paying for groceries with cash; turns out, you’re more likely to buy unhealthy foods if you pay with a credit card.

• Taking a vitamin D supplement fortifies your muscles, making them less prone to injury.

• Flirting at work is a hidden sign that your job isn’t right for you.

• Google is making us forgetful, because we’re less likely to try to remember information that we know is readily accessible.

Who knew, right? Here are nine more fascinating strange-but-true study findings we’ve run across over the past few years.

Read ‘em all here.

20 Habits That Make You Fat

Decades ago, around the time of Steven Tyler’s last haircut, a completely wrong-headed idea started being passed around America’s dinner tables: Eating fat makes you fat.

Wrong. Eating fat won’t make you fat, any more than eating money will make you rich. Calories make you fat, and most “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods actually have just as many calories as their full-fat versions, because of added sugar and chemicals. And there’s no debate on this one: Since we made “cut down on fat” our favorite food craze roughly 30 years ago, the U.S. obesity rate has doubled. Among children, it has tripled.

Read it all here.

Study: Breath can reveal breast cancer

SEOUL, July 24 (UPI) — Researchers in South Korea say they can detect breast cancer at the earliest stage by analyzing a person’s breath.

RNL Natural Co., a biotechechology company with headquarters in Seoul conducted a study of 35 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 35 healthy women without breast cancer.

The study found breath analysis — inspired by canines’ ability to recognize distinct scents in an extremely sensitive manner — can help physicians screen breast cancer patients at a very early stage.

Read more here.

A germ-slaying, food-saving cheat sheet for protecting your home from everyday pathogens.

We’re not sure which is more startling: that an estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the United States every year, or that up to 80 percent of them are believed to be caused by food prepared at home. When it comes to restaurants, public health officials try to keep those numbers in check with regular safety inspections. But who’s checking up on you?

The following food-handling guidelines come from the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Restaurant Association. From your fridge temp to your fruit-washing routine, they’ll help you keep your kitchen up to code.

Read it all here.

Why can’t I remember anything? Tips for boosting brain power

Easy, helpful hints to help prevent memory loss from a leading neurologist

There is no one magic pill that a person can take to prevent memory loss. But the combination of several lifestyle changes that are balanced in safety and science may yield the most benefit.

As an Alzheimer’s specialist with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease, I recommend some practical tips to my patients — and my own family — to help prevent memory loss.

Reaad it all here.

Scientist sees aging cured

If Aubrey de Grey’s predictions are right, the first person who will live to see their 150th birthday has already been born. And the first person to live for 1,000 years could be less than 20 years younger.

A biomedical gerontologist and chief scientist of a foundation dedicated to longevity research, de Grey reckons that within his own lifetime doctors could have all the tools they need to “cure” aging — banishing diseases that come with it and extending life indefinitely.

Read it all here.

Eat tomatoes!

A study found that volunteers who ate helpings of ordinary tomato paste over a 12-week period developed skin that was less likely to burn in the sun.

Researchers at the University of Manchester found that test subjects were 33 per cent more protected against sunlight than another group who were not given tomato paste.

The effect of eating tomatoes was equivalent to slapping on a factor 1.3 sunscreen. Changes were also seen within the skin of the volunteers that counteract the appearance of aging.

Scientists think an antioxidant, lycopene, which gives tomatoes their color, can neutralize harmful molecules produced in skin exposed to the sun’s ultra-violet rays. Damage inflicted by the free radical molecules on skin structures and DNA can lead to premature aging and skin cancer.

Previous research has shown that cooked tomatoes contain higher levels of lycopene than raw tomatoes. Tomato paste of the sort used to make pizza toppings is rich in lycopene. Skin levels of procollagen, which helps the skin stay supple and youthful, were also boosted by the tomato diet.

Read it all here.

And life to your years

The Super 6 habits that can add years to your life: feet, forks, fingers, sleep, stress and love.

Regular physical activity (feet) is associated with weight control, reduced inflammation, enhanced immune function and reduced cancer risk specifically. Optimal diet (forks) exerts far-ranging effects on every aspect of physiology, and similarly stands to reduce the risk of all chronic disease. Combine eating well and being active with a commitment to never hold a cigarette (fingers), and the risk of all chronic disease declines by roughly 80 percent.

Those are the top three, but the list of health promotion priorities very reasonably extends to three more. The quality and quantity of sleep has profound effects on psychology, immunology and neurology. A linkage to cancer risk is suggested by a rudimentary connection of these dots. Much the same is true of stress, which can contribute to hormonal imbalances and inflammation that propagate cancer — or can be managed to prevent such effects.

And, finally, there is love. We are, from our earliest origins, social creatures much influenced by our relationships with others. While love may seem a “warm and fuzzy” topic, it is in fact the cold, hard scrutiny of clinical trials demonstrating that those with loving relationships are far less vulnerable to chronic disease and death than those without.

Read the entire article here.

USDA Food Pyramid Out: Is The New Food Plate Better?

The USDA’s new food icon is a brightly colored graphic that breaks a healthy diet into four main sections: fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins, with a small side of dairy.

Read it all here.