Yes, it does work, at least according to researchers at Tulane University. A Tulane news release reports that epidemiologists at the school followed the diets and health of 500,000 Chinese people for seven years, tracking their intake of chili peppers and their likelihood of dying. Ready? The envelope please…… The researchers […]

Which exercise is best for lowering blood pressure? New York Times fitness columnist Gretchen Reynolds puts that question to Glenn Gaesser, the director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University and an expert on exercise and hypertension. Gaesser’s answer? Just about any exercise. Exercise helps lower blood presser, […]

Some beer drinking, twice a week beer drinking to be precise, appears to lower the risk of heart attack by 30 percent, when compared to heavy beer drinking, or no beer drinking at all. One more thing: It may only work if you’re a woman. That’s right, a woman. A […]

Feeling fidgety? That’s a good thing, according to researchers at the University of Leeds. Scientists there examined data from the University of Leeds’ UK Women’s Cohort Study, one of the largest studies of diet and health of women in the UK, which asked, among other things, if women were fidgety, […]

That’s right, yohimbe. It’s an African tree whose bark supposedly yields an aphrodisiac, sold widely as a dietary supplement to men hoping to boost their sexual performance. Rachel Zimmerman, writing for WBUR’s CommonHealth blog, doesn’t tell us if it works, but she does pass on a warning from researchers at […]

Great news for Inuit readers: the paleo diet should work pretty well for you. For everyone else, however, not so much. We know this because researchers at UC Berkeley have learned that the Inuit and their Siberian ancestors have special mutations in genes involved in fat metabolism. The mutations help them […]

Communication between the brain and the quadriceps is different in people who train by running long distances. That’s right; it’s quicker. We know this because a University of Kansas news release reports that researchers at the school measured muscle responses of five people who regularly run long distances, five who […]

Yes, more news about the benefits of beet juice. This time, it comes from researchers at Washington University, who found that drinking concentrated beet juice — which is high in nitrates — increases muscle power in patients with heart failure. A Wash U news release reports that the researchers studied nine patients […]

When researchers at John Hopkins School of Medicine report that yoga improves arthritis symptoms, they mean that it improves the life of the person with the arthritis symptoms, a good thing. And their recent study suggests that it also improves our energy level and mood. Science Daily reports that researchers […]

Many older Americans–40 percent according to the New York Times–take aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease. Now comes a recommendation from the United States Preventive Services Task Force that they also take it to prevent heart attacks and colorectal cancer. The Times reports that the task force found that low-dose aspirin can […]