ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Drinking alcohol provides no heart health benefit, new study shows
• Want a higher GPA in college? Join a gym
• What you eat may affect your body's internal biological clock
• Mothers orchestrate infant attention to teach new words, study concludes
• Mobile phone bling may be personal, and also cultural thing
• How antioxidants can accelerate cancers, and why they don't protect against them
• Decreasing font size enhances reading comprehension among children who have already developed proficient reading skills
• Natural birth may strengthen immune system, mouse study shows
• Go play outside: Outdoor time promotes physical activity in youth
• Being a good sport ranks as top 'fun' factor in study of youth sports
• Great tasting low-fat cheeses, cakes could soon be on the menu
• How coffee protects against Parkinson's
• Low back pain? Don't blame the weather
• Men's hot flashes: Hypnotic relaxation therapy may ease the discomfort that guys don't talk about

Drinking alcohol provides no heart health benefit, new study shows Posted: 10 Jul 2014 12:19 PM PDT Reducing the amount of alcoholic beverages consumed, even for light-to-moderate drinkers, may improve cardiovascular health, including a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, lower body mass index and blood pressure, according to a new multi-center study. The latest findings call into question previous studies which suggest that consuming light-to-moderate amounts of alcohol may have a protective effect on cardiovascular health.

Want a higher GPA in college? Join a gym Posted: 10 Jul 2014 10:09 AM PDT For those students looking to bump up their grade point averages during college, the answer may not be spending more time in a library or study hall, but in a gym. New research shows that students who were members of the recreational sports and fitness centers during their freshman and sophomore years had higher GPAs than those who weren't. The research also indicated that students with memberships stayed in school longer.

What you eat may affect your body's internal biological clock Posted: 10 Jul 2014 10:08 AM PDT Food not only nourishes the body but also affects its internal biological clock, which regulates the daily rhythm of many aspects of human behavior and biology. Researchers provide new insights into how adjusting the clock through dietary manipulation may help patients with various conditions and show that insulin may be involved in resetting the clock.

Mothers orchestrate infant attention to teach new words, study concludes Posted: 10 Jul 2014 08:15 AM PDT Gestures mothers use in teaching their infants new words are vital for infant word learning. By measuring the child's pupil diameter, researchers noted that the gesture also results in enhanced arousal and better attention just at the time the infant views the object and hears the word for it.

Mobile phone bling may be personal, and also cultural thing Posted: 10 Jul 2014 07:15 AM PDT Choosing mobile phone cases and customizing phones with charms and decorations may reveal a lot about a person's culture, as well as increase attachment to the devices, according to researchers. "The more you customize your phone for aesthetic reasons the more it reflects who you are," said one author. "You see your phone as your self."

How antioxidants can accelerate cancers, and why they don't protect against them Posted: 10 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT Two cancer researchers have proposed why antioxidant supplements might not be working to reduce cancer development, and why they may actually do more harm than good. Their insights are based on recent advances in the understanding of the system in our cells that establishes a natural balance between oxidizing and anti-oxidizing compounds. These compounds are involved in so-called redox (reduction and oxidation) reactions essential to cellular chemistry.

Decreasing font size enhances reading comprehension among children who have already developed proficient reading skills Posted: 10 Jul 2014 06:43 AM PDT Decreasing the font size helps to improve reading comprehension among fifth graders who have mastered the technical skills of reading, a new study has demonstrated. "This study demonstrates the difference between children at different stages of reading proficiency, and it is important to understand that difficulty impairs comprehension at one stage, while at another it actually facilitates comprehension. After mastering reading skills, an effective way to improve comprehension could be to decrease the text's font size," said an author.

Natural birth may strengthen immune system, mouse study shows Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:14 AM PDT New knowledge about the immune system has been uncovered by a mouse study, which indicates that natural birth improves the immune system of the pups. Newborns delivered by natural birth are exposed to more bacteria from the mother. The newborn baby's immune system in this way learns to distinguish between its own harmless molecules and foreign molecules. In the experiment, pups delivered by Caesarean section showed a lower number of cells of a type that plays an important role in preventing reactive immune cells from responding to molecules from the body itself, from the diet and from harmless intestinal bacteria.

Go play outside: Outdoor time promotes physical activity in youth Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT The World Health Organization recommends that youth participate in a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day. Studies have shown that youth experience most of their MVPA during school hours. Therefore, it stands to reason that increasing outdoor time after school hours would increase MVPA. Researchers have now confirmed that time spent outdoors after school was positively associated with MVPA.

Being a good sport ranks as top 'fun' factor in study of youth sports Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT If you think winning is one of the key determinants that makes organized sports fun for kids think again: Winning along with other mental bonuses ranked near the bottom of 81 determinants of fun, each of which falls into one of 11 big fun factors, according to a new study. In this first of a kind study, a research team used a method called concept mapping in order to map "fun" in youth sport.

Great tasting low-fat cheeses, cakes could soon be on the menu Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT Low-fat cheeses and cakes that are just as tempting as full-fat equivalents could be heading for supermarket shelves, thanks to fresh insights into how proteins can replace fats without affecting foodstuffs' taste and texture.

How coffee protects against Parkinson's Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT A specific genetic variation discovered by researchers protects against Parkinson's Disease – especially for those who drink a lot of coffee. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's have a complicated background where both genetic factors and exposure to environmental factors are involved. In a study of a million genetic malformations, the research team identified a variant of the GRIN2A gene as a protective factor against Parkinson's. The corresponding protein is part of a complex that is thought to play a role in several neurodegenerative diseases.

Low back pain? Don't blame the weather Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:12 AM PDT Sudden, acute episodes of low back pain are not linked to weather conditions such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind direction and precipitation, researchers have determined. These findings indicate that the risk of low back pain slightly increases with higher wind speed or wind gusts, but was not clinically significant.

Men's hot flashes: Hypnotic relaxation therapy may ease the discomfort that guys don't talk about Posted: 10 Jul 2014 05:10 AM PDT Men who experience hot flashes are unlikely to talk much about it, but they may find relief from their silent suffering if they are willing to try an unusual treatment, according to new research. After seven weeks of hypnotic relaxation therapy, a 69-year-old man who had uncontrolled hot flashes following prostate cancer surgery showed a drastic decrease not only in hot flashes but also an impressive improvement in sleep quality, according to the study.

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