research

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK) are starting a project to look into one of many dieters' favorite "facts" - that chocolate is good for you.

Eggs are in the news again. Is it good news this time or bad news?

Well--it's both. Yet again, eggs are confusing us all by being nutritious, but associated with certain health risks.

According to recent studies, the news looks good if you're a woman trying to avoid breast cancer; not quite so good if you're a middle aged man who eats more than one a day.

Yahoo news is touting the benefits of big hips and butt: "A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes".

Unfortunately the result has only been examined in mice.

No, it's not just your imagination: men eat more meat than women do. And women consume more fruits and vegetables than the guys.

But who eats the most eggs? Yogurt? Oysters? And who is at most risk for food-borne illness? A recent population survey of 14,000 American adults had at least a few surprises.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is back in the news again. Researchers have combined data from 18 previous studies and arrived at a conclusion:

In general, Americans don't get much exercise. With cars to get us to work or anywhere we want to go, desk jobs, and TV watching, it's a wonder we get any exercise at all.

The surgeon general recommends 30 minutes of activity daily to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Whether you actually get this amount or not, if you think you're doing enough to be healthy, you may get the same benefits.

Having a fit or slim appearance may not necessarily imply good health - or the amount of fat you are carrying.

Researchers in the UK have been using MRI scanning technology to show the amount of fat surrounding internal organs.

A study currently underway in Sweden is remarkably similar to Morgan Spurlock's SuperSize Me.

Healthy, normal weight students in their early 20s have been consuming as much as 6,000 calories per day, while associate professor Fredrik Nyström tracks their health.

We all have different goals when it comes to exercise. Despite this, walking is (arguably) the one exercise that you hear the most about.

Researchers from the University of Alberta compared fitness levels between the 10,000 step program, and a slightly more intense fitness regime. Not surprisingly they found that "gentle exercise was not enough to get fit."

Two new studies conclude that those who are overweight face an increased risk of dying prematurely than normal weight people. These studies fly in the face of earlier studies that suggested being slightly overweight had no risks.

According to new research a high-calorie, low-fiber Western diet is the cause of childhood obesity. For some this may sound obvious - however this research digs far deeper into the relationship between our modern diet and what it is doing to our kids.

I'm all for incidental exercise - but sometimes we are clutching at straws. Researchers have given kids heavier toys to play with - and measured their heart rates and calories burned.

Perhaps we can add a new entry into all those calories burned tables: "Playing with blocks - 5 Calories".

The body of research that supports the use of low carbohydrate diets continues to grow.

Some health conditions are reversible - thanks to exercise - and you don't need to go over the top to feel the benefits. The people at Duke University have spent a year looking at the effects of physical activity - and the outlook is comforting.

"Diets don't work" is a familiar motto used by many authors looking to spin their own weight loss program. However it's not true. Diets can work - although it depends how you define 'work'. The British Medical Journal has published the weight loss results of 4 commercial diets. The study effectively sets a baseline of what you can expect when using a popular diet program.

Research of almost 70,000 women over 16 years has shown that having ample amounts of sleep is a key to avoiding weight gain.They found women who slept five or fewer hours a night were a third more likely to put on at least 33lbs (15kg) than sound sleepers during that time. (BBC)

Eating often is the key to hunger management, however many weight loss regimes advocate a cut-off time for eating. WebMD reports on a study that looks at this very issue. Are meals eaten late at night more fattening than those eaten in the day? "The outcome was, there was no difference at all," Cameron tells WebMD. "Whether they eat by day or by night, monkeys have an equal probability of gaining weight. So weight gain depends on how many calories we eat, and not when we eat them."