Category Archives: Health
It is time to bust the myth of physical inactivity and obesity: you cannot outrun a bad diet
A Malhotra, T Noakes and S Phinney
A recent report from the UK’s Academy of Medical Royal Colleges described ‘the miracle cure’ of performing 30 min of moderate exercise, five times a week, as more powerful than many drugs administered for chronic disease prevention and management.1 Regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and some cancers by at least 30%. However, physical activity does not promote weight loss. Read more »
How Food Marketers Make You Think You’re Choosing Healthy Food
Plans to eat healthy can fly out the window when you step into a grocery store. Maybe you add junk food to your cart full of vegetables. Or maybe you believe the hype that a food is healthy, when it’s really not the best choice. Here are some of the traps that food marketers use against you. Read more »
How your face betrays your personality and health
We are more than just a pretty face. It turns out the shape, size and even colour of our looks can relay some very important information about our personalities, health and sexuality. David Robson investigates.
Celebrate your fat – it’s fighting off infection
Most of us aren’t fond of our flab but perhaps it’s time to see it in a new light. Fat cells may be among our first line of defence against pathogens.
“Fat has an additional role we didn’t suspect,” says Jay Kolls of the University of Pittsburgh.
Beyond physical barriers such as skin, our main protection against marauding bacteria and viruses is the immune system. This is a complex network of cells with sophisticated weapons such as antibodies, which recognise and destroy foreign cells and proteins. But although many microbes multiply rapidly, it can take days for antibody production to ramp up. It now seems fat cells also play a defensive role – and they respond more speedily than many parts of the immune system.
