What you must do for your health this week: Recently, killjoys reported that carcinogens can form when you braai your meat.

Well, they can, but there are ways of avoiding this.

Apparently the carcinogens form when you burn fat, so you can reduce the risk of them by using leaner cuts, avoiding "well-done" meat, and using a marinade. Sosaties are a win.

Your traditional braai is still one of the healthiest ways of cooking food so be sure to have one this week and celebrate the start of spring. - Bruce Gorton

BREAKTHROUGHS

The new, direct evidence using hair shows chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks. Stressors such as job, marital and financial problems have been linked to the increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease including heart attack. But there hasn't been a biological marker to measure chronic stress. Drs. Gideon Koren and Stan Van Uum developed a method to measure cortisol levels in hair providing an accurate assessment of stress levels in the months prior to an acute event such as a heart attack. The research is published on-line in the journal Stress. - www.breakthroughdigest.com

BIZARRE OF THE WEEK

An antibiotic that gets its microbe-fighting power from insect proteins proved effective in attacking a common infection that afflicts blast victims in war zones, US researchers said.

The antimicrobial peptide - a fragment of a larger protein found in certain insects - helped speed wound healing and clear infections in mice infected with Acinetobacter baumannii, the most common systemic infection in soldiers who have burns or blast wounds.