ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• New guidelines deem 13 million more Americans eligible for statins
• Spices and herbs intervention helps adults reduce salt intake
• US women unfamiliar with most stroke warning signs
• Ruling with an iron fist could make your child pack on pounds
• Titanium clubs can cause golf course fires
• Neuroscience 'used and abused' in child rearing policy
• Lied-to children more likely to cheat, lie
• Drinking alcohol several times a week increases risk of stroke mortality
• Fried foods may interact with genes to influence body weight, say experts
• Precise reason for health benefits of dark chocolate: Thank hungry gut microbes

New guidelines deem 13 million more Americans eligible for statins Posted: 19 Mar 2014 04:57 PM PDT New guidelines for using statins to treat high cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease are projected to result in 12.8 million more U.S. adults taking the drugs, according to a new research. The new guidelines expand the criteria for statin use to include people whose 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including stroke, is elevated based on a risk-assessment score.

Spices and herbs intervention helps adults reduce salt intake Posted: 19 Mar 2014 01:52 PM PDT A behavioral intervention that taught adults to use herbs and spices instead of salt led to a decrease in sodium consumption compared to people who tried to reduce sodium on their own. Adults taking part in a 20-week behavioral intervention consumed 966 mg/day less salt than their self-directed counterparts.

US women unfamiliar with most stroke warning signs Posted: 19 Mar 2014 01:52 PM PDT Many US women don't know most of the warning signs of a stroke. Hispanic women were less likely than others to know the warning signs of a stroke. Nearly all women knew that they should immediately call 9-1-1 if they suspected that they were having a stroke.

Ruling with an iron fist could make your child pack on pounds Posted: 19 Mar 2014 01:52 PM PDT Kids whose parents are demanding but not emotionally responsive are about one-third more likely to be obese than kids whose parents set healthy boundaries, are affectionate and discuss behavior. Researchers compared kids whose parents are generally affectionate, have reasonable discussions about behavior with their child and set healthy boundaries (authoritative) with those whose parents were strict about limits without much dialogue or affection (authoritarian).

Titanium clubs can cause golf course fires Posted: 19 Mar 2014 11:39 AM PDT Titanium alloy golf clubs can cause dangerous wildfires, according to scientists. When a club coated with the lightweight metal is swung and strikes a rock, it creates sparks that can heat to more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for long enough to ignite dry foliage, according to new findings.

Neuroscience 'used and abused' in child rearing policy Posted: 19 Mar 2014 08:48 AM PDT Influential policy-informing 'evidence' that children's brains are irreversibly 'sculpted' by parental care is based on questionable evidence. The study highlights that mothers, in particular, are told that if they are stressed while pregnant or suffer postnatal depression, they will harm their baby's brain. 'Telling parents that acts of love are important because they are 'brain-building' inevitably raises the question of how much cuddling, talking and singing is enough?' the authors state.

Lied-to children more likely to cheat, lie Posted: 19 Mar 2014 06:38 AM PDT A new experiment is the first to show a connection between adult dishonesty and children's behavior, with kids who have been lied to more likely to cheat and then to lie to cover up the transgression. Research has documented that the majority of parents admit to lying to their children even as they maintain that honesty is an important value. "The actions of parents suggest that they do not believe that the lies they tell their children will impact the child's own honesty. The current study casts doubt on that belief," the authors say. The study has implications not only for parenting but also for teaching scenarios and for forensic situations, said Carver: "All sorts of grown-ups may have to re-examine what they say to kids. Even a 'little white lie' might have consequences."

Drinking alcohol several times a week increases risk of stroke mortality Posted: 19 Mar 2014 05:54 AM PDT Consuming alcohol more frequently than twice a week increases the risk of stroke mortality in men, according to a study. The results show that the effects of alcohol are not limited to the amount consumed, but also the frequency of drinking matters. Other significant risk factors for stroke include elevated blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, smoking, overweight, asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis, and elevated cholesterol levels.

Fried foods may interact with genes to influence body weight, say experts Posted: 18 Mar 2014 04:00 PM PDT Individuals who are genetically predisposed to obesity may be more susceptible to the adverse effects of eating fried foods, concludes a study. The results of a new study show that eating fried food more than four times a week had twice as big an effect on body mass index (BMI) for those with the highest genetic risk scores compared with lower scores. In other words, genetic makeup can inflate the effects of bad diet.

Precise reason for health benefits of dark chocolate: Thank hungry gut microbes Posted: 18 Mar 2014 12:47 PM PDT The health benefits of eating dark chocolate have been extolled for centuries, but the exact reason has remained a mystery -- until now. Researchers reported that certain bacteria in the stomach gobble the chocolate and ferment it into anti-inflammatory compounds that are good for the heart.

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