Ultra-thin models not required

Models of average size are just as effective at selling products as ultra-thin models, a new research suggests. A social psychologist at the University of Sussex in England scientifically examined the claim that thinness sells by comparing different types of advertisements, and presented her research at an obesity conference in Ottawa, Canada, this month. The ads featured the Size 0 models common in magazines as well as equally attractive models who had a body size that represents the average Canadian woman, a Size 10 or 12. She found that thin models make many women feel bad about their own bodies, while average-sized models do not. She also found that average-sized models were just as effective as thin models for promoting body-care products and diet foods.

Couch potatoes beware

Hearty feasts and couch-potato marathons are holiday traditions, but an endocrinologist at the UT Southwestern Medical Center warns that packing on kilograms and not exercising could be deadly for millions of people who have diabetes and don’t even know it. Diabetes can be a silent killer because its symptoms aren’t sudden, but build up over time and lead to heart disease or other maladies. So if one is 40 plus, obese, lacks physical activity or has a family history of diabetes, one must make time during the holidays to visit a doctor for a diabetes test. Symptoms include excessive thirst or hunger, dramatic weight loss, fatigue, frequent urination or blurry vision.

Painless vaccines

Dreaded and painful vaccinations could one day be as simple as sticking on a Band-Aid. Early tests of skin-patch vaccines are beginning in hundreds of volunteers in the US. While one version is designed to protect against the flu, another is to prevent travellers’ diarrhoea. Unlike syringe-based vaccines, patches wouldn’t need refrigeration. Nor would they pose the infection risk of reused needles, a continuing problem. The National Institutes of Health is helping fund patch research in the hope of strengthening today’s imperfect flu shots, and gaining extra help if bird flu or some other super-flu ever triggers a pandemic. Only time will tell if the patches really work.

Chocolates good for heart

Fulfilling the dreams of chocaholics everywhere, US researchers have shown that a few squares of chocolate a day can almost halve the risk of heart attack death by decreasing the tendency of platelets to clot in narrow blood vessels. This is due to chemicals called flavonoids found in dark chocolates. The finding was presented at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific session in November.