Health Briefs: 2301

Diet junkies get fizz sparkling wine, but only two glasses a day

NUTRITION BITE

THE Champagne Diet is the latest diet trend in the US, and is becoming the talk here, too.

It was devised by a New Yorker, Cara Leyba, to encourage healthy eating and drinking sparkling wine as an alternative to depressing diets people inflict on themselves after the festive season.

There are no forbidden foods, but the focus is on eating high-quality, nutrient-dense and delicious foods - with a glass or two of bubbly. The premise is that putting classy food into your body makes you value yourself more and you are therefore unlikely to overeat. A glass of dry champagne only contains around 300kj, and no more than two glasses are allowed per day.

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE WEEK

A MEDICAL device that literally sprays skin cells onto burn victims helps them heal second-degree burns in just a few days.

Dr Jorg Gerlach of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh developed the spray gun, which sprays a solution of cells and water onto the damaged skin.

According to Gerlach, the gun sprays stem cells that have been collected from a small, thin layer of skin that has been grafted from a patient's own healthy skin. The gun is not yet available in South Africa.

IF YOU DO ONE THING FOR YOUR HEALTH

THE Harvard Medical School has found that strength training, as well as aerobic exercise, can help you manage and sometimes prevent conditions like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis.

It can also promote vitality, make daily tasks more manageable, and help you maintain a healthy weight.

BIZARRE OF THE WEEK

YOUR clothes could poison you.

According to the Daily Mail, one in three people in the United Kingdom suffer from clothes poisoning or allergic reactions at some stage in their lives.

In some people the reactions can even contribute to infertility. The cause?

One chemical widely used is formaldehyde which is often used to give clothes a fresh, unwrinkled appearance.

The chemical is most commonly used in preserving corpses.

Washing clothes before you wear them isn't always enough to get rid of these toxins.