Low-Fat Dieting Can Lead to Depression

Not everyone is aware that the "scientific consensus" that fat is bad for you was wrong. Some people - particularly women - are still trying to lose weight by limiting fats, which leads to mood problems like depression.

The subject of dietary fat is always one of controversy - fat is good, fat is bad. Eat this fat, not that fat. And it always seems that information is changing and new opinions contradict the old. So what is true? Most people still assume that when it comes down to it, the less fat the better. It's literally a sad misconception, since research is showing low-fat diets are behind mood problems like depression. Read more

Easing Sneezing: Can Diet Help Season Allergies?

A reader asks The Times if diet can ease hay fever symptoms.

My annual hay fever misery has begun. I’m talking antihistamnines and using eye drops which the pharmacist advised. is there anything I can eat and drink that may just help to ease my symptons.

As you will know, hay fever is a seasonal allergic reaction to various pollens and can cause anything from a blocked and runny nose to itchy, watery eyes, copious amounts of sneezing, and if you are unlucky, all of these. Pollen has this effect in some people because the immune system thinks that pollen is the enemy (like a bacterial or viral infection) and stimulates it to release histamine and other compounds to fend it off. This triggers inflammation at the point where the pollen entered your body — the eyes, nose and throat. You have done the right thing in going to the pharmacist and if symptoms worsen, a trip to your GP may be necessary. Read more

Binge Drinking Increases Risk of Dementia

While a little wine may help you live longer, heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of dementia later in life, especially for women.

Heavy drinking may be to blame for one in four cases of dementia. Doctors have linked alcohol intake to the development of the brain-wasting condition in between 10 and 24% of the estimated 700,000 people in the UK with the disease.

They warn that binge drinking and increased consumption are likely to produce an epidemic of alcohol-related brain damage in the future, which could see drinkers starting to experience serious memory problems in their 40s.

Women who drink a lot are at much greater risk than men of suffering problems with their cognitive functions, because they are physiologically less well able to cope with alcohol's effects. Read more

5 Minutes to Whole-Body Rejuvenation

This video demonstrates a stretch that targets the hips, which in turn increases circulation and vibrancy throughout your whole body. You can participate by sitting in a chair, wearing whatever you happen to be wearing (although if that includes a belt, loosen it slightly first to breathe and move more easily).

The Best and Worst Brain Foods

Food is the ultimate natural remedy since we have to eat. Here's a list of the best and worst foods to eat to for performing various mental tasks.

If you want to make the right decisions in confusing times—Time to refinance? Explore a different career? Root for the singing spinster or the 12-year-old?—you need to pay special attention to what you eat. That’s right: Your grocery list can help with your to-do list. That’s because the right foods are a kind of clean-burning fuel for your body’s biggest energy hog: Your brain. A study in the Journal of Physiology makes the point that, though your brain represents only 2 percent of your body weight, it makes 20 percent of the energy demands on your resting metabolism.

On our new Eat This, Not That! Web site, we rounded up the best foods to munch on when you need a mental boost—and found studies that show, in fact, that you can be up to 200 percent more productive if you make the right eating choices. Stock up on these items to halt mental decline, jog your memory, sharpen your senses, improve your performance, activate your feel-good hormones, and protect your quick-witted sharpness, whether you’re 15, 40—or not admitting to any age whatsoever! Read more

Want to Live Longer? Drink a Little Wine

A new study finds that drinking a little wine each day boosts men's life expectancy by five years.

Men who regularly drank up to a half a glass of wine each day boosted their life expectancy by five years, Dutch researchers report.

Light, long-term alcohol consumption of all types of beverages, whether wine, spirits or beer, increased life by 2.5 years among men compared with abstention, the researchers found. By "light," they meant up to 20 grams, or about 0.7 ounces a day. Read more

12 Foods Every Pantry Should Have

"Recipes for Health" author Martha Rose Sulman lists twelve foods every pantry should have, so you will always be able to throw together a good, healthful meal.

In her online series for The New York Times, “Recipes for Health” author Martha Rose Shulman offers delicious foods that also reflect scientific thinking about health. Last week she responded to dozens of reader questions about healthy eating, “Recipes for Health: Talk to the Chef.”

Several readers asked about the best foods to stock the pantry. Today, Ms. Shulman offers 12 foods she always tries to keep on hand. “With these ingredients, I know I will always be able to throw together a healthy, good meal,” she says. Read more