Be careful who you eat with. New research conducted at the Behavioural Science Institute of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands suggests that people who eat together eat alike, meaning they eat as quickly or as slowly as their partner. The researchers, who published their work in PLoS ONE, carefully observed 70 pairs of young women who had not previously met as they ate a meal together, watching when and how often each of the women took a bite of food. HealthDay reports that if one diner took a bite within five seconds of her partner, the researchers noted the behavior as “mimicry.” What did they find? The women did indeed mimic each other, and the mimicry went both ways. They also found that the mimicry was more pronounced during the first 20 minutes of dining together. Read more in HealthDay.

Yes, it feels good, and yes, it can be pricey, but massage also does some important muscle reclamation work after a particularly tough workout. Researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging at McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario conducted genetic analysis of muscle biopsies taken from the quadriceps of eleven young men after they had exercised to exhaustion on a stationary bicycle. A McMaster news release reports on the research, for which one of their legs was randomly chosen to be massaged, and researchers took biopsies from both legs prior to the exercise, immediately after 10 minutes of massage treatment and after a 2.5 hour period of recovery. The tests showed that massage dampened the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the muscle cells and promoted biogenesis energy producing mitochondria. The researchers suspect the pain relief from massage may work in ways similar to conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, but of course, without the drugs. Read more from McMaster University.  More on massage and lower back pain.

The findings are preliminary, but they are also provocative: research conducted at the University of California at San Francisco suggests that men who do vigorous exercise three times a week have an increase in the expression of certain genes that are known to suppress tumors, including some breast cancer tumors that similar to prostate cancer tumors. HealthDay reports that when researchers compared prostate genes from 70 men with low-risk prostate cancer to normal prostate genes from 70 men they found 184 genes that were differently expressed in men who did activities such as jogging, tennis or swimming for at least three hours a week, compared with genes in men who did less exercise. The exercisers also had increased expression of genes involved in DNA repair. HealthDay reports that earlier research by the same team revealed links between vigorous activity and a lowered risk of prostate cancer progression and death. One of those studies found that men with prostate cancer who did three or more hours a week of vigorous activity had a 60 percent lower risk of death from prostate cancer, compared to men who participated in less than one hour per week of vigorous physical activity. Another showed that men who walked three miles per hour or faster had about half the risk of prostate cancer progression of men who walked at two miles per hour or less. Read more from HealthDay.

How much more does it hurt to be fat? Twenty percent, according to researchers at Stony Brook University. And that’s just if you’re overweight. Obese people hurt even more: 68 percent more for Obese 1 group, 136 percent more for Obese 2 group, and 254 percent more for Obese 3 group, as defined by the World Health Organization. A Stony Brook news release reports that when researchers at the school analyzed data about body mass index and the experience of pain from 1,010,762 people, they found a clear association between obesity and pain – with higher rates of pain identified in the heaviest individuals. “Even when we controlled for these specific diseases,” said researcher Joan Broderick, “the weight-pain relationship held up. This finding suggests that obesity alone may cause pain, aside from the presence of painful diseases.” Read more from Stony Brook University.

The strangest thing about research showing that caffeine can alter a woman’s estrogen level is that it influences women of different races in different ways. In white women, caffeine has been shown to lower estrogen. But in Asian women, it jacks it up. In black women, it also seemed to increase estrogen, although the data was not statistically significant. Anahad O’Connor reports in the New York Times that the study,  published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data on more than 250 women who drank about one cup of coffee a day, and provided blood samples and information about their exercise, eating and smoking. The source of the caffeine also seemed to influence the results. PsychCentral reports that 200 milligrams (0ne cup of coffee) or more of caffeine from coffee was consistent with the findings for overall caffeine consumption—with Asians having higher estrogen levels, whites having lower estrogen levels, and the results for blacks not statistically significant. But drinking more than one cup each day of caffeinated soda or green tea was linked to higher estrogen level in Asians, whites, and blacks.

The hot hand phenomenon, the conviction that an athlete is more likely to make a great shot if the previous shot was great, has been the subject of much debate. Is it real, or is it another sports myth kept alive by know-it-all spectators? Now comes research from Yale University suggesting that it really does work. A Yale news release reports that in October, computational biologists found a significant increase in basketball players’ chances of hitting the second free throw in a two-shot series if the first shot was a hit. Now the scientists have applied the theory to bowling, When the researchers analyzed large amounts of data from the 100 top bowlers in the Professional Bowling Association, they found that bowlers who had good results in the first eight frames of a game had a greater chance of bowling a strike in the last two frames. How does that work? More research is needed. Read more from Yale University.

Forget what your doctor told you about your risk of heart attack. Researchers at Northwestern University have published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine asserting that the common medical practice of focusing on the next ten years of a patient’s life has been giving people a false sense of security about their chances of having a heart attack or stroke. A Northwestern news release reports that when the scientists measured risk factors for cardiovascular disease — blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking status and diabetes status– of more that 250,000 people at ages 45, 55, 65 and 75 years, they found that 45-year-old men men who have all risk factors at optimal levels have a 1.4 percent risk of having a heart attack or stroke or other form of death from heart disease, while having two or more risk factors hike the risk to 49.5 percent. For women of the same age and same optimal risk factors, the chance of having a heart attack or stroke in their lifetimes is 4.1 percent, while having two or more risk factors boost it to 30.7 percent.  The release quotes Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair and associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the principal investigator warning that “With even just one risk factor, the likelihood is very large that someone will develop a major cardiovascular event that will kill them or substantially diminish their quality of life or health.”  What does “optimal” mean? The risk-factor profile was considered optimal when a participant had a total cholesterol level of less than 180 milligrams per deciliter and untreated blood pressure of less than 120 over less than 80, was a nonsmoker and did not have diabetes. Read more from Northwestern University.

Kettlebells, known as “girya” in their native Russia, are basically cannonballs with handles attached to them, and they’ve been used as long as anyone can remember to train Russian athletes. Now researchers in Denmark have found something else they’re good for: pumping up core muscles so well that back pain is significantly reduced. The New York Times reports on the Danish study, in which 40 middle-aged women with back and shoulder pain were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group trained with kettlebells in 20-minute sessions two to three times a week for eight weeks. The other group was told to exercise, period. The Times reports that the kettlebell group reported less pain and improved strength in the trunk and core muscles, compared with the control group. In fact, the researchers found that the kettlebell workout reduced lower back pain by 57 percent and cut neck and shoulder pain by 46 percent. How did it do that? The researchers noted that Kettlebell workouts strengthen the posterior muscle chain, and the increase blood flow to the back and leg muscles, which may reduce the buildup of lactic acid, and consequently, reduce pain.

Joan Salge Blake, associate professor and nutritionist at Boston University and author of the book Nutrition and You, as well as the blog, Nutrition and You!, has a few things to say about when and what to eat before exercising. In this piece in the Boston Globe, Salge-Blake recommends waiting 3 to 4 hours before exercising after a large meal, and 2 to 3 hours after a small meal. Salge Blake says you really want to eat protein as well as carbs, because protein boosts muscle glycogen synthesis, which improves endurance. The nutritionist suggests fruit and yogurt, or oatmeal, a few nuts, and skim milk. Other experts, including those from the Mayo Clinic, point out that it’s OK to eat small snacks immediately before, or even during exercise. For that the Mayo suggests energy bars, yogurt, or even a whole-grain bagel with peanut butter.

Among the many revelations of The Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report, just released by the Alliance for Biking & Walking, is this: While bicycling and walking fell 66 percent between 1960 and 2009, obesity levels increased 156 percent. And this: In 2009, 40 percent of trips in the United States were shorter than 2 miles, yet 87 percent of these trips are by car. Twenty-seven percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile. Still, Americans use their cars for 62 percent of these trips. Read more of The Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report, then get the bike out of the garage.