Despite the widely held belief—promoted by the World Health Organization and U.S. public health organizations for two decades—that eating more fruit and veggies can diminish cancer risk, a large scale study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds that getting a daily five servings of apples, tomatoes and leafy
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To analyze how portion sizes have changed, not just in the last two decades, but in the last millennium, the director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and his brother, a biblical scholar at Virginia Wesleyan College, sized up portion sizes in paintings of the Last Supper over time, according to an article published earlier
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For middle-aged women who aren’t counting calories, how much exercise does it take to keep off extra weight? According to a new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, roughly an hour per day. Though current recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services suggest that a weekly 150
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A natural fiber found in seaweed may reduce the body’s fat absorption by as much as 75%, according to findings presented this past weekend at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. As part of a three-year research project funded by the U.K.’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council researchers Iain
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The BBC News Magazine reports this week on a growing trend of people relying on convenience foods such as pre-chopped carrots and onions, instead of buying the raw ingredients and doing the prep work themselves. As writer Finlo Rohrer reports, popular U.K. supermarket chain Waitrose released figures showing a 40% increase in the last
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A recent study examining the potential impact of sin taxes—increasing the cost of junk food, in particular—as a means to promote healthier choices found that, in a lab setting at least, when unhealthy foods cost more, people tended to eat them less. Now, new research attempts to size up the value of sin taxes in the real world. A
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As part of a broader effort to shed their unhealthy food reputation, in Australia and New Zealand McDonald’s is teaming up with Weight Watchers to market some menu items as healthy options that fit into the diet program’s points system, the Telegraph reported last week. The collaboration means that McDonald menus will bear the Weight …
Public health officials grappling with the obesity epidemic have debated a wide range of approaches to helping slim the American waistline. To some degree, everything from building more sidewalks to banning chocolate milk has been explored. Yet few tactics have been as polarizing as the possibility of introducing tariffs on treats. …
Grandparents are supposed to spoil their grandchildren, right? All of those extra treats and indulgences that Mom and Dad would say no to are often fair game when they’re coming from Nana or Grampy. Yet, while that may be a harmless occasional policy, when Granny and Pops are full-time childcare providers, it can be a recipe for
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While some of the staples of eating healthy are pretty easy to remember—eating balanced meals that include veggies, protein and starch, and eating lots of fiber, not too much sugar and not too much fat—sometimes keeping track of all of the little ways that diet can influence our health can be a challenge. Yet, if there’s one thing
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Wearing a helmet when you take to the slopes is commonly considered a good idea, but just how much of a difference does it really make? A big one. According to an analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, for skiers and snowboarders, wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury by more than a third. And while,
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