Prevention News

Health News Roundup: Consumers Fooled By Fancy Wine Labels

Daily Pulse: In The Market For Some Wine?

The (funny!) 10-syllable mistake you’re making

Can You Pronounce Your Wine? [NPR]

What’s in a name? Apparently how much you like your vino, according to a new study from Brock University in Ontario. When it comes to their wine preference, consumers reported better taste and a willingness to pay more for brand names that have 10 syllables and three accents in the title. The more humble vineyards, like Cupcake or Fat Bird, received less praise even if they were of equal quality. The funniest part? The more people knew about wine, the more biased they were towards frou-frou French names. 

For Early Menopause, A Higher Heart Risk [Fox News]

Women who go through menopause before the age of 46 appear to have higher chances of heart disease. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham collected health data on 2,509 women and found that 3.3% of women in the early menopause group suffered a heart attack or died from heart disease compared to 1.5% of the later menopause group. It’s unknown why early menopause is linked to heart disease, but one theory centers around the changed production of estrogen. 

Sucking The Pleasure Out Of Smoking [Time]

Past efforts at a nicotine cure have disappointed, but an experimental vaccine shows promise of breaking that losing streak. The vaccine, tested on mice, makes the body produce an antibody attracted to nicotine, which absorbs the substance and prevents it from reaching receptors in the brain. Thus, smokers would no longer find pleasure in the drug. Mice treated with the vaccine showed only 15% of delivered nicotine in their brains, and appeared immune to its effects. While the results are promising, experts say human trials are still years away.

Your Brain On Fish Oil [ScienceDaily]

We all know that omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils are believed to be good for your ticker and your thinker, but exactly how it boosts memory isn’t as clear. To find answers, scientists from the University of Alberta tracked DHA—the omega-3 found in fish—in the brain, and found that people who consumed the most DHA had 30% more of it in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory. The high DHA levels were linked to the memory cells in that region of the brain being able to better communicate with each other and relay messages. 

Fear of Childbirth Means Longer Delivery [MSN]

Time flies when you’re having fun—okay, childbirth isn’t really ever a good time, but fearing how bad it will be can make it worse, finds new research from Norway. Compared to women who weren’t afraid of giving birth, women who were scared ended up being in labor for an average of 1.5 hours longer. The good news is that almost all the scared mothers in the study still successfully delivered without emergency measures. 

How To Make Iced Coffee You’ll Actually Want To Drink [Blisstree]

Nothing says summer like trading your steaming cup of joe for a frosty one. But rather than shelling out $4 for a barista to splash some ice and burning liquid into a plastic cup (hello, chemical releases!), learn how to make amazing iced coffee at home. Hint: There’s no water involved. 

Bee Venom: The New Botox? [Wall Street Journal]

One gram of bee venom from New Zealand is the equivalent of 10,000 stings and runs about $300. This is the description of a trendy new skincare product being advertised as a "natural" Botox claiming to stimulate collagen production for smoother, tighter skin. Doctors are skeptical, but Kate Middleton uses it, so it must be legitimate…right?   

Good Things Caught On Tape [Mother Nature Network]

It’s easy to innocently go looking for cat videos on the Internet (um, so we hear) and stumble upon videos of people doing mean things, reality TV clips of people behaving badly, and images of all-around heartbreaking things. But not this time. Here, proof that good things really do happen when security cameras are rolling. Sure, it’s actually an ad, but it’s impossible to not feel a little bit better about everything when you watch it. 

Published June 2012, Prevention

Recommended For You
recommended by Zergnet