Bite On This

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Get up-to-date with these latest research findings.

By Elaine Quek

Be Sweet — You are what you eat!

The next time your partner cautions you about eating another doughnut, tell him you can’t help it — because you’re a sweet person! Research done by North Dakota State University found that people who preferred eating sweet things tend to have more pleasant dispositions and are more helpful than those who go for savoury foods. It seems too, that people with a preference for sweet food are generally more agreeable and more likely to volunteer for community services than those who did not.

LIGHTEN UP Plants that exist in dark and dingy environments often look rather sad. And humans, it seems, are no different. In an international study on people’s responsiveness to positive stimuli, light therapy produced faster results, and with fewer side-effects, as compared to the popular anti-depressant Prozac for the treatment of winter blues. Light therapy works because it affects the same part of the brain as anti-depressants, which target the sleep-promoting hormone, melatonin, and the stress hormone, cortisol. Some doctors have started prescribing the treatment, with sessions lasting 30 to 45 minutes daily.

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WELLNESS FOR ALL

If you’re a smoker, don’t blame your kids for never listening to you — they might not be able to.

While smoking has been associated with hearing loss among smokers, new research from the New York University School of Medicine has revealed that passive smoking almost doubles the risk of hearing loss among teens. Almost half of the 800 teens in the study who had been exposed to secondhand smoke had hearing problems, compared to about one in four of the 750 teens who had not been exposed.

From fix to ‘fix-it’

Six or more cups daily

Here’s a reason to feel less guilty about a guilty pleasure: That daily coffee ritual may just lower the risk of developing prostate cancer, says a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, which followed 50,000 American men over 12 years. And the best part — it doesn’t matter whether it is regular or decaf! With other recent studies showing that coffee could protect against Parkinson’s disease and liver cancer, you can now go for seconds, and use a bigger cup while you’re at it!

30%

60% lower risk of developing prostate cancer

lower risk of developing prostate cancer

One to three cups of coffee daily

MUSCLE BOUND

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OF CHILDREN AGED 12

IN SINGAPORE ARE 29 per cent of In comparison, about 12 per cent and ed Kingdom Unit 12-year-olds in Australia and the is glued to child your If . hted t-sig shor respectively are or her to get him e urag the telly or computer screen, enco screen and itor mon a from glare ssive outdoors. The exce to myopia. e ribut cont poor lighting in a room are said to Source: Health Promotion Board

Doing cardio has long been touted to be the way to a healthier heart and body. However, the Los Angeles Times reported last year that weight training has similar benefits. One case was a 2010 study reported in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology which found that kidney dialysis patients who had the leanest muscle mass were 37 per cent less likely to die than the patients who didn’t. Strength training also increases the proteins that take glucose out of the blood and transport it into the skeletal muscle, giving the muscles more energy, and lowering overall blood-glucose levels.

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Dried and Tested

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Think that apples are only good when they’re fresh and juicy? Think again.

Dried apples can lower your cholesterol, says a study by the Florida State University. Women who ate 75g of dried apples daily for six months had a 23 per cent decrease in bad cholesterol. Their levels of good cholesterol also rose by about four per cent.

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