Working out delays effects of aging Many people think of stiff joints and slow movement as just normal parts of aging, but if people keep up healthy, active lifestyles as they age, they can ward off some of those health problems, according to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. People of any age can star...

Low energy density diet prevents weight gain Children who have a gene linked to an increased risk of obesity can prevent that fate by eating more fruits and vegetables, according to a report from the journal PLoS ONE. Looking at more than 2,000 children, researchers from University College London an...

Twice as much potassium as sodium cuts heart risk Getting twice as much potassium as you do sodium could cut your risk of death from cardiovascular disease in half. That’s the conclusion of a study from Loyola University Health System in Chicago, which looked at people who weren’t asked to chang...

Sprints may be best for diabetes prevention If one of your goals in working out is to reduce your risk of developing diabetes, experts say just a few minutes of intense exercise may do the trick. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh found that working out hard for as little as 7.5 minu...

Brits hoping to work off some of that baby fat How worried are they in Britain about the soaring obesity rates among children? This worried: some municipalities are ginning up “movercise” exercise programs for young kids, and by “young,” they mean as early as one year old. Th...

Most young kids’ play is sedentary A study looking a three-, four- and five-year-olds enrolled in community-based preschool programs found that 89 percent of the kids’ physical activity could be described as sedentary activity, while 56 percent of activities were sedentary during outdoor playtim...

More TV predicts unhealthy diet If you need another argument for why your teenagers shouldn’t spend so much time watching television, a University of Minnesota study of 2,000 kids found that those who watched the most television were more likely to follow an unhealthy diet five years later. Those ...

Kids who need vitamins usually don’t take them Children who are taking vitamins are often the ones who don’t really need them, while kids who could benefit from supplements because of their poor diets usually don’t take vitamins. That’s the conclusion of a study from the University of Califo...

Peanut product recalls extend to pet treats The Food and Drug Administration says it thinks a peanut processing plant in Blakely, Georgia, is the sole source of the salmonella outbreak that has now sickened at least 468 Americans and one Canadian and has been linked to six deaths. More than 125 diff...

Men seem to switch off thoughts of food When volunteers didn’t eat for a day and then were asked to suppress thoughts of food, men reported fewer cravings and less feeling of hunger than women did, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. When given brain scans...