Most of us know sugar is bad for teeth because it feeds bacteria that cause tooth decay. But fewer of us are aware that equally damaging is repeated exposure to acids in food and drinks.
Creams and lotions can’t prevent stretch marks but may help them fade.
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Most women get them. Some men get them. Few people welcome them. Stretch marks, or stria distensae, are scars that appear when the skin is stretched beyond its elastic limit.
Almost 60% of Australian women are predisposed to female pattern hair loss.
faungg's photo/Flickr
Balding in men is so common it doesn’t raise an eyebrow. But when a woman starts to lose hair, it can be extremely distressing. Will she end up bald, too?
Around one in nine people aged over 65 has Alzheimer’s disease.
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Howard Carter, The University of Western Australia dan Daniel Green, The University of Western Australia
Exercise alone can be hard, but exercising in the heat is a whole lot harder. Put simply, this is due to the balance between how much heat the body generates and how much it is capable of losing.
Threadworm infection is common but it’s often asymptomatic.
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Intestinal worms (or helminths) are multicellular parasites that live inside the gut. When mature, they can generally be seen with the naked eye. In developing countries with poor sanitation, the most…
Cutting your kilojoule intake by 2,000kJ a day will help you lose 5kg – a clothes size – in three months.
Lindsay Széchényi/Flickr
Want to drop a dress or pants size? Then losing five kilograms, or about 5% of your body weight will help that zipper start to close with ease. In case you need another reason, keeping a small amount of…
Children will learn to like vegetables if they’re regularly exposed to them from a young age.
Zadorozhnyi Viktor/Shutterstock
Hippocrates said circa 400BC that “food should be our medicine and medicine should be our food”. He would probably turn in his grave if he saw the amount of highly processed, sugary food and drinks marketed…
Daily kilojoule requirements are based on many variables, and no two people are the same across all of these parameters.
Sarah Horrigan/Flickr
Dietary guidelines broadly recommend a daily intake of 10,000 kilojoules (2,400 calories) for men and 8,000 kilojoules (1,900 calories) for women. But what do these figures mean in the context of the number…
There are up to 400 chemical compounds on human skin that could play a role in attracting mosquitoes.
sookie/Flickr
There’s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito…
Typical sports nutrition guidelines advocate eating carbohydrate-rich food before, during and after exercise to maximise performance.
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Carbohydrate-rich diets are often recommended as part of exercise regimes to promote recovery and maximise performance. But recent research suggesting such foods may not help exercise recovery and their…
The human brain leaves computers behind with its endless capacity for problem solving, innovation and invention.
Humphrey King/Flickr
Anthony Hannan, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
The human brain is the most extraordinary and complex object in the known universe, a kilogram and a half of soft tissue that, at its peak, leaves computers behind with its endless capacity for problem…
An ice cream on a summer’s day may hit the spot, but it won’t help you beat the heat.
Mark Crossfield/Flickr
Warmer temperatures and eating outside go hand-in-hand, but picnics can sometimes lead to nasty surprises. Food poisoning is unsurprisingly more common in summer months. Every Australian experiences food…
Avoiding undercooked chicken meat or liver will help prevent infection.
Alexa Clark/Flickr
Chicken meat is an extremely popular and affordable source of animal protein, and each Australian now consumes approximately 43 kilograms of it every year. But chicken is also uniquely prone to making…
Professor of Clinical Exercise Science College of Sport & Exercise Science and Deputy Director Research Training Institute for Health and Sport (IHES), Victoria University