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Ever wonder how your diet habits — good or bad — compare to others? Annual surveys done by the International Food Information Council Foundation detail positive changes that people are making and where improvement is still needed. People are, in general, hungry for more food information and get it from sources as varied as dietitians and government websites, but most rely on friends and family. That could explain why nearly 80% of last year’s respondents said they were confused by information overload and, at times, contradictory advice. People want to eat healthier, but aren’t always sure what to do. Know-how seems to come with age, as those over age 50 were far more confident in their choices and get more of their information from reliable sources compared with younger people. Just over one-third of the respondents in the most recent survey follow a set eating pattern. Most popular is intermittent fasting. (This is usually done in one of two ways — either eating during an eight-hour span each day followed by 16 hours of fasting, or fasting on two days each week.) Sixteen percent of people adhere to a low-carb approach, such as the Keto and Paleo diets. These diets have their fans, but also their critics who cite the unhealthy side effects of eliminating entire food groups. Not surprisingly, as people cut down on… read on >

(HealthDay News) — The keys to healthier snacking are moderation and choosing your munchies wisely, says the American Heart Association. The AHA recommends: Crunchy foods, such as apples, celery sticks, cucumbers, rice cakes, popcorn and nuts. Low-sugar drinks, such as sparkling water, fat-free milk and veggie juice. Filling foods, such as hummus, low-fat cheese and yogurt. Snacks to curb your sweet tooth, such as fruits, raisins and banana-nut bread. The AHA encourages people to mind nutrition labels when packing snacks. Always avoid added sugars and salt.

Research points to a very long list of benefits from exercise, from improving your overall health to easing stress and enhancing mental well-being. But a landmark study in the journal Circulation highlights a negative, yet specific, concern. While health factors like obesity and diabetes are known heart attack triggers, data from 12,500 people in 52 countries pointed to two other risk factors to be aware of: exercising at a very high level of physical exertion; and anger or emotional distress. Either can double the risk of a heart attack. And when combined, they’re even more dangerous, tripling the risk. So, while you might take a walk around the block to cool off when you’re angry, it’s not the time to bench press 300 pounds at the gym. Does this mean you should never challenge yourself with strenuous workouts? Not necessarily. For an external trigger such as exercise to bring on a heart attack, there probably needs to be an existing problem, like cholesterol build-up in your arteries, researchers explained. Regular activity is associated with heart benefits, according to the American College of Cardiology. The person who faces a risk from exercise is more likely to be someone out-of-shape who jumps into vigorous exertion suddenly. That’s a reminder that the best approach is to start slow, and increase duration and intensity at a slow yet steady… read on >

Americans are eating as much processed meat as they did two decades ago, and have not increased the amount of fish they consume. That’s the bad news from new research on dietary data, which also found one-quarter of U.S. adults eat more than the recommended amount of unprocessed red meat, and less than 15% eat recommended amounts of fish/shellfish. The good news comes from another finding: Americans are eating a bit less beef and more chicken than they used to, and for the first time, consumption of poultry exceeded that of unprocessed red meat. “Despite strong evidence linking processed meat with cancer risk, consumption of processed meat among U.S. adults didn’t change over the study period [1999-2016],” noted lead investigator Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, from Tufts University’s School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston. “While factors other than health [e.g., social, cultural and economic] can influence Americans’ food choices, the lack of widespread awareness of health risks associated with processed meat may have contributed to the lack of consumption change,” she added in a news release from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The researchers analyzed data gathered between 1999 and 2016 on the eating habits of U.S. adults, 20 and older. Over those 18 years, consumption of processed meats stayed about the same, 182 grams/week in 1999 and 187 grams/week in 2016. The… read on >

Cigarette use fell in most countries over the past three decades, but increased in some nations, notably China, a new global study says. Researchers analyzed data from 71 countries that represent 85% of the world’s population and account for more than 95% of global cigarette use. While overall cigarette use declined, there were significant differences between countries. About 2.5 million metric tons (MMT) of cigarettes were smoked in China in 2013, more than Russia (0.36 MMT), the United States (0.28 MMT), Indonesia (0.28 MMT), Japan (0.20 MMT), and the next 35 highest consuming countries combined. The United States and Japan had reductions of more than 0.1 MMT over a decade, while Russian consumption plateaued, and Chinese and Indonesian consumption rose by 0.75 MMT and 0.1 MMT, respectively. The study was published June 19 in The BMJ. A second study in the same issue of the journal looked at global cigarette use after adoption of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a 2003 international treaty meant to reduce tobacco use. It found that wealthy and European countries had a decrease in annual consumption of more than 1,000 cigarettes per adult, but low- and middle-income and Asian countries had an annual increase of more than 500 cigarettes per adult. The findings “should motivate greater implementation of proven tobacco control policies” and “encourage more assertive… read on >

You know how important getting enough restorative sleep is for facing each new day refreshed and ready to take on the world. Now research suggests that your sleep position may have an impact on brain health, too. For a study done on animals, researchers used dynamic contrast magnetic resonance imaging to see the brain’s glymphatic pathway. That’s the system that clears waste and other harmful chemicals from the brain, much like the way the lymphatic system clears waste from organs. The researchers found that brain waste was cleared most effectively when sleeping on one side rather than on the back or stomach. This means that side sleeping could help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other brain-based diseases. That’s because a buildup of brain waste likely plays a part in these illnesses. Many people naturally sleep on their side already. The researchers hypothesize that humans have adapted to this position over time precisely because it helps rid the brain of the waste that builds up during waking hours. While they caution that this type of MRI study needs to be done on people to confirm their initial findings, if you’re a tummy or back sleeper, you may want to consider readjusting your sleep position. Four out of 10 people sleep not only on one side, but also in the fetal position, with torso hunched… read on >

You don’t have to adopt a total vegetarian lifestyle to improve your health. You can get some of its advantages simply by replacing some of the animal proteins in your diet with plant-based ones. This can be an especially important switch for people who have even one risk factor for heart disease, like smoking, excessive drinking, being overweight or being inactive. Researchers looked at 30 years of data from 131,000 participants in the landmark Nurses’ Health Study and compared the outcomes of eating different types of protein for a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The investigators found that swapping just a small amount of animal-based protein — processed red meat in particular — with plant-based protein cut the risk of early death from all causes. And the greater the swap, the greater the benefits. On the other hand, the researchers found that eating a diet high in animal protein was associated with a higher risk of death from heart disease. Nuts, legumes including beans and lentils, and even whole grains all contain some protein and can be quite filling. But rather than a radical shift in eating, which could be hard to maintain long-term, make small swaps on a consistent basis so that the changes will stick. Some ideas: Use beans to replace some of the ground beef in recipes. Have oatmeal with chopped… read on >

For people recovering from surgery or dealing with a painful injury, an expert suggests that there are a number of safer alternatives for managing pain than using potentially addictive opioids. “Today, more than ever before, we have a host of other methods that can effectively lessen pain,” Dr. James Grant, chair of the department of anesthesiology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, said in a hospital news release. The United States is grappling with an opioid addiction epidemic. There were 218,000 overdose deaths involving prescription opioids in 2017, five times higher than in 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people become addicted when they receive prescription opioid medications after surgery or a major injury. The first step in reducing opioid addiction is making patients realize that managing pain doesn’t mean they are going to be pain-free, according to Grant. “It’s important for patients to understand that when you undergo surgery, you won’t be entirely pain-free,” he said. “We need to manage expectations and make sure patients understand there likely will be some discomfort associated with any procedure. But as days go by after the procedure, the discomfort should progressively subside a little until you get back to your pre-procedure state.” Grant also outlined a number of ways to manage pain without opioids. For many patients, over-the-counter nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory medications like… read on >

A vape pen exploded in the face of 17-year-old Nevada boy, breaking his jaw and requiring multiple surgeries to repair the damage, according to a case report in the latest New England Journal of Medicine. The 2018 incident highlights a little-known danger of e-cigarettes — the devices can unexpectedly blow up, causing burns and severe facial damage. “He was [using] this vape pen, and it blew up in his face while he was [using] it,” said one of the doctors who treated him, Dr. Katie Russell, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The e-cigarette blast was strong enough to break bones and blow out teeth. “He broke his lower jaw, which takes a large amount of force,” Russell said. Doctors had to insert a two-inch plate on his lower jaw to stabilize the fracture. “His jaw was wired shut for about six weeks,” she said. “He could only eat soft food for six weeks, until it healed, and then he had to come back and have another operation to get those wires removed.” Although the boy has fully recovered from his injuries, he still has three or four teeth missing, because he’s lacked the insurance coverage to afford to have them replaced, Russell said. “He’s still missing all those teeth, but he’s hoping to get them fixed this summer,”… read on >

Yogurt is a healthy food, and it may also be a cancer fighter, a new study suggests. Men who had two or more servings of yogurt a week had a 26% lower risk of developing precancerous growths in their colon, a new study reports. Researchers didn’t find the same cancer-fighting benefit for women, however. “These data suggest that other characteristics of yogurt, such as its potential role in altering the natural bacteria in our guts, may have cancer-preventive properties,” said researcher Dr. Andrew Chan. He’s a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. But researchers cautioned that the study doesn’t prove yogurt prevents colon cancer, only that there appears to be an association. Specifically, the findings suggest that Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, two bacteria usually found in yogurt, may reduce cancer-causing chemicals in the colon. Researchers said yogurt may also reduce acid in the gut, creating a more hospitable environment for these beneficial bacteria. In addition, yogurt may fight inflammation, helping to reduce cancer risk, they said. “These findings require further corroboration in other populations and additional work in understanding the mechanisms by which yogurt may affect gut health,” Chan said. Researchers said they did not receive any funding for the study from the yogurt industry. For the study, Chan and his team collected data on nearly 33,000 men and nearly 56,000… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

How Does Your Diet Stack Up?

Health Tip: Snack Healthier

How Working Out in Anger Can Put You at Risk

Still Too Much Processed Meat, Too Little Fish in U.S. Diets

Global Efforts to Cut Smoking Show Mixed Results

The Health Benefits of Sleeping on Your Side

How to Pack More Plant Protein Into Your Everyday Diet

The Safer Way to Ease Post-Surgical Pain

Another Vaping Danger: E-Cigarette Explodes in Teen’s Face

Yogurt Might Help Men Avoid Colon Cancer: Study