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Every bit of exercise counts toward a longer life, even taking the stairs

Good news for busy people everywhere. A new study reported that every little bit of activity you get in can add up to a longer, healthier life — not just when you do it in half hour or more increments. While advice for the past 30 years as has usually told us to get at least 10 minutes at a time, the latest research from Duke University School of Medicine shows that it doesn’t really matter how you get it, as long as you do. No matter the length of segments people got their exercise, those who moved more were less likely to die over the next six to seven years that those who were less active. Guidelines typically recommend that people get at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise every week, or about 30 minutes, five times a week. But while, the 10-minute-at-a-time bench mark was widely accepted, it…

Soda could cause cancer tumors to grow, study shows

Think your 3 p.m. Coca-Cola pick-me-up isn’t a huge problem? You might want to reconsider. New research revealed that your sugary soda addiction could actually cause serious health problems — even cancer. According to The Sun, it was the increase in bowel cancer cases in people under 35 that spurred the interest of Dr. Lewis Cantley, of Cornell University, to look for answers. Cantley, along with his colleagues, suspected that an increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup was to blame. To test the theory, cancer-prone mice were fed high-fructose corn syrup (amounting to about one can of Coke per day for a human). The study showed that the tumors were “directly eating the sugar… the cancer was using fructose and glucose together to more than double its growth rate.” Yikes! Excluding skin cancers, bowel cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. According to the American Cancer…

Heart-Healthy February: Timing of meals might help reduce heart risks

It’s unfair that heart-healthy February falls right when we’re reaching for cold weather comfort food. But this inconvenience reminds us that we need to stay vigilant all year long — not just when it’s convenient. According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. About 1 in every 4 deaths in the United States is the result of heart disease. But it’s not just what you eat that affects your heart health. It’s also when you eat. A scientific statement released by the American Heart Association says that there is reason to believe, that the timing of our meals matters a lot when it comes to cardiovascular disease. The conclusion: Eating earlier is better. The body maintains its own internal clock, so eating later can reset that rhythm and alter metabolism. “Meal timing may affect health due to its impact on the body’s internal…

Natural sunlight helps kill germs in your house, study shows

If you’re looking for easy, natural ways to combat cold and flu season, listen up. A study published in the journal Microbiome says that letting natural light pour into your home helps kill germs. You may remember Grandma claiming something of this nature. You may even have had an intuition. But there had not been much research to explain how or why this is the case inside, until now. Researchers at the University of Oregon set up a study of 11 dust-ridden, doll-sized rooms and observed what happened when indoor rooms were exposed to daylight through regular glass, UV light, or when the rooms were kept dark, NPR reports. Dust was collected from actual homes in Portland then the miniature room were let to collect dust from outside, all while researchers kept them at a normal room temperature. Dust can sit around your house for 90 days (even if you…

A poor diet is worse than smoking or high blood pressure, study shows

You don’t smoke, your blood pressure is in-check, and you’re not obese. So what if you don’t carefully watch your diet, right? Wrong! According to a recent study published in the Lancet, poor diet is the leading cause of death worldwide—contributing to more deaths than well-know risk factors like tobacco use and high blood pressure. Researchers analyzed dietary habits of adults aged 25 and older between 1990 and 2017 across 195 countries. They compared those findings with how it affected their chances of an early death. In 2017, they found that 11 million deaths (that’s 22 percent) of the deaths over that time frame were caused by poor diet. The breakdown? About 9.5 million deaths were due to cardiovascular disease. Another 900,000 were due to diet-related cancers. More than 330,000 deaths were from diabetes, and more than 136,000 deaths were caused by kidney diseases. Not only were there more dietary-related…

Each American throws out more than $50 a week in food, survey shows

If you think tossing those banana and spinach is of no real consequence to you, think again. According to new research, your wasteful food habits are costing you more than $50 a week. The new study conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Bosch home appliances found that Americans have about $102 worth of food in their fridge at any given time. Based on survey results, the average American will end up tossing $53.81 worth of that. That amounts to $2,798 every year! In terms of pounds, each American tosses about 103 pounds of spoiled food every year, which adds up to 6,180 pounds in a lifetime. With numbers like those, it’s safe to say we should seriously reconsider our shopping habits, especially when it comes to fruit. Fruit was the most commonly wasted food overall. Specially bananas (55%), strawberries (50%), and apples (47%), which makes sense since these are some…

Big decision ahead? Eat a snack

You probably learned the hard way to never grocery shop on an empty stomach, that is, unless you want a cart full of pizza rolls and potato chips. But it turns out hunger doesn’t just lead to unhealthy decision making in the supermarket. Hunger can lead to poor long-term decision making in other areas, too. The study was recently published in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Researchers set out to understand whether being hungry had an affect not just on decisions about food, but on money and music, too. Participants fasted for 10 hours prior to the study, then they were asked whether they would prefer food, money, or music now, or a greater amount of that item in the future. For anyone who has ever felt hungry, the results aren’t too surprising. Indeed, researchers found that being hungry led participants to make different choices, no matter the topic.…

Study reveals top reason why we waste food, what foods we waste most

We know food waste is a huge problem. As a nation, we end up wasting nearly $220 BILLION growing, transporting, and processing the 70 million tons of food that goes to waste. In an effort to better understand why we’re throwing away so much food, researchers at Ohio State University set out to uncover what’s really going on in our households. According to a recent study, our biggest problem is misunderstanding food labels. Consumers get stuck on the wording around expiration dates and end up throwing food away that is still, in fact, safe to eat. “People eat a lot less of their refrigerated food than they expect to, and they’re likely throwing out perfectly good food because they misunderstand labels,” said researcher Brian Roe. The study will be published online this month and will appear in the November issue of the Resources, Conservation & Recycling journal. The study found…

Survey finds 4 in 5 Americans take vitamins, but it could be causing them more harm than good

More than 86 percent of Americans take some form of over-the-counter vitamin or supplement in attempt to improve their health. After all, it can’t hurt — right? Unfortunately, no. Taking vitamins does come at a cost. According to a recent survey on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association, only about a quarter of people (24 percent) actually received test results indicating a nutritional deficiency. “Numerous investigations show the alleged benefits are unproven and in the worst cases, vitamins and supplements can be harmful,” said Mike Varshavski, DO, an osteopathic family physician. People with documented nutritional deficiencies can most often and most effectively correct the problem with a change in diet. Since supplements don’t work as well as most people assume, taking vitamins can distract or deter people from taking other steps to treat their ailments, like improving nutrition or moderate exercise. As the multibillion dollar vitamin industry grows, Dr. Varshavski says…

7 reasons you should eat more cherries

When you eat cherries, you can enjoy so much more than just their delicious sweet taste. Yes, they’re the perfect quick snack — just rinse and go — but those tiny cherries are loaded with big health benefits too. Here are 7 good reasons to start snacking on this superfood today: 1. They’re a low-sugar sweet tooth fix Sweet cherries are delicious and sweet, but unlike that double scoop ice cream cone, they have zero added sugar. What’s more, they’re low on the glycemic index (22) compared to other fruits [grapes (46), peaches (42), plums (39)], which means their natural sugars will be released into your bloodstream more slowly, and you won’t feel that spike and crash of high-sugar snacks. All this makes them a go-to for folks with diabetes. 2. They’ll bring you better sleep If you’re tossing and turning all night long, try drinking cherry juice — or…