ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• The science of champagne fizz: How many bubbles are in your bubbly?
• Key chocolate ingredients could help prevent obesity, diabetes
• Infants are sensitive to pleasant touch
• Integrating meditation with science
• Rainy day can ruin online restaurant review
• Biological evidence of positive and negative people in the world
• Levels of sodium intake recommended by CDC associated with harmful health outcomes
• Contrary to expectations, life experiences better use of money than material items
• Coffee Consumption Reduces Mortality Risk from Liver Cirrhosis
• The mammography dilemma: 50 years of analysis
• Heart-healthy benefits of Mediterranean diet

The science of champagne fizz: How many bubbles are in your bubbly? Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT The importance of fizz, more technically known as effervescence, in sparkling wines and champagnes is not to be underestimated -- it contributes to the complete sensory experience of a glass, or flute, of fine bubbly. A scientist has now closely examined the factors that affect these bubbles, and he has come up with an estimate of just how many are in each glass.

Key chocolate ingredients could help prevent obesity, diabetes Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT Improved thinking. Decreased appetite. Lowered blood pressure. The potential health benefits of dark chocolate keep piling up, and scientists are now homing in on what ingredients in chocolate might help prevent obesity, as well as type-2 diabetes. They found that one particular type of antioxidant in cocoa prevented laboratory mice from gaining excess weight and lowered their blood sugar levels.

Infants are sensitive to pleasant touch Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:57 AM PDT Infants show unique physiological and behavioral responses to pleasant touch, which may help to cement the bonds between child and parent and promote early social and physiological development, according to research. According to the researchers, the findings "support the notion that pleasant touch plays a vital role in human social interactions by demonstrating that the sensitivity to pleasant touch emerges early in human development."

Integrating meditation with science Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:57 AM PDT Mindfulness meditation produces personal experiences that are not readily interpretable by scientists who want to study its psychiatric benefits in the brain. Researchers have now been able to integrate mindfulness experience with hard neuroscience data to advance more rigorous study.

Rainy day can ruin online restaurant review Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:55 AM PDT After looking at 1.1 million online reviews for 840,000 restaurants in more than 32,000 cities across the country, researchers have found that the weather outside can be just as significant a factor for reviews as what happens inside a restaurant. The study shows evaluations written on rainy or snowy days, or very cold or hot days, are more negative than those written on nice days.

Biological evidence of positive and negative people in the world Posted: 02 Apr 2014 07:00 AM PDT The ability to stay positive when times get tough -- and, conversely, of being negative -- may be hardwired in the brain, finds new research. The study focused on women because they are twice as likely as men to suffer from anxiety related problems and previously reported sex differences in brain structure and function could have obscured the results.

Levels of sodium intake recommended by CDC associated with harmful health outcomes Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:58 AM PDT Current levels of sodium intake recommended by the CDC have been discovered as unhealthy, according to a new study. concluded that 2,645 -- 4,945 mg of sodium per day, a range of intake within which the vast majority of Americans fall, actually results in more favorable health outcomes than the CDC's current recommendation of less than 2300mg/day for healthy individuals under 50 years old, and less than 1500 mg/day for most over 50 years.

Contrary to expectations, life experiences better use of money than material items Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:58 AM PDT Why do shoppers continue to buy material items, despite research showing that purchasing life experiences will make them happier? A new study says they believe material items will be the best use of their money, despite the fact that, after the purchase, experiential items are considered the better value. The research suggests these individuals are sacrificing well-being for a sense of value that never materializes.

Coffee Consumption Reduces Mortality Risk from Liver Cirrhosis Posted: 02 Apr 2014 06:56 AM PDT Consuming two or more cups of coffee each day reduces the risk of death from liver cirrhosis by 66%, specifically cirrhosis caused by non-viral hepatitis, new research reveals. Findings show that tea, fruit juice, and soft drink consumption are not linked to cirrhosis mortality risk. As with previous studies, heavy alcohol use was found to increase risk of death from cirrhosis.

The mammography dilemma: 50 years of analysis Posted: 01 Apr 2014 01:21 PM PDT A comprehensive review of 50 year's worth of international studies assessing the benefits and harms of mammography screening suggests that the benefits of the screening are often overestimated, while harms are underestimated. The authors report that the best estimate of the reduction in mortality from breast cancer due to annual screening for women overall is about 19 percent. For women in their 40s, the reduction in risk was about 15 percent, and for women in their 60s, about 32 percent. But how much a woman benefits depends on her underlying risk of breast cancer.

Heart-healthy benefits of Mediterranean diet Posted: 31 Mar 2014 08:43 AM PDT New research further illuminates the heart-healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet, tying the eating plan to lower levels of platelets and white blood cells, two markers of inflammation. Inflammation has an association with greater risk of heart attack and stroke. The Mediterranean diet, characterized by generous servings of foods such as greens, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, has long been hailed as a heart-healthy eating plan.

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