Remember back in the day when you went to grandma’s and she served you brown, boiled broccoli–yuck! That’s a great example where all the nutrients were probably boiled out, leaving the limp cruciferous vegetable looking dull and inedible. There are certainly some health benefits in eating raw vegetables, but cooking doesn’t take out all the nutrients. And there are benefits to eating cooked veggies as well—they’re more easily digestible, and you... 

Global fast food giant McDonald’s will announce plans Tuesday to provide a serving of fruit or vegetable with every Happy Meal sold in the U.S., the Chicago Tribune reported. The Chicago-based chain also plans to shrink the portion of fries, beginning in September in some markets, with all 14,000 American restaurants getting the revamped offering by next April, the report said. McDonald’s said it first tried using a serving of fruit or a vegetable... 

Health regulators on Monday advised people not to eat papaya from Texas distributor Agromod Produce as they investigate a possible link to a salmonella outbreak in 23 U.S. states. The outbreak of Salmonella Agona has resulted in 97 reported cases of illness across the country, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Ten people have been hospitalized. Texas and Illinois registered the most cases, especially affecting children under 5 years old and women. McAllen,... 

A combination of weight training and aerobic exercise might be the best prescription for overweight people at risk for diabetes and heart disease, a new study suggests. People doing only aerobic exercise dropped weight and inches off their waistlines—so an aerobic-only program is also a good (and less time-consuming) option, researchers said. Those in the study who just lifted weights saw very little benefit in terms of heart health, although they did gain... 

Call them sneakers, trainers, athletic shoes or runners, sizing up the embarrassment of rubber-soled riches on offer these days can be a daunting task. Experts say the right footwear can make or break your workout, but money will not necessarily buy insole happiness, nor will following the foot traffic to the latest, trendiest model. “Your shoes are, from safety and comfort standpoint, the most important thing about your fitness,” said Kevin Burns... 

Deaths from chickenpox, although rare, have dipped steeply after the U.S. began vaccinating against the virus in 1995, a new government report concludes. Since the early 1990s, the bug has gone from killing 105 a year to causing fewer than 20 annual deaths between 2003 and 2007. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) call the results “impressive” and say they show the benefit from... 

Fish is a great source of lean protein, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A, B, and D, and low in sodium, saturated fat, and calories. Shellfish is rich in minerals like calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and iron. If you’re eating fish, it may be helpful to become familiar with categories of species. With over thirty thousand species known, variety is definitely not an issue. Fish are categorized into flatfish, roundfish, mollusks, and crustaceans. Flatfish,... 

Swiss chocolate’s reputation influences how people rate it in taste tests, a new study shows. When consumers are told that they’re about to eat a chocolate bar from Switzerland, they prefer it to that same bar tagged “made in China.” If they are told about the Swiss chocolate bar’s origin after they taste the candy, however, they say they prefer the Chinese chocolate. Researchers from Babson Collegein Wellesley, Mass., gave participants... 

You are what you eat, so they say. But a new study shows it might be hard to know exactly what that is, because calorie labeling at chain restaurants can be deceptive. Across dozens of restaurants in three states, researchers found the stated calorie counts were accurate on average, but less so for individual food items. “The big story may be that there is such a huge spread in the numbers,” said Lorien Urban, a nutrition researcher at Tufts University... 

Just like other people living with chronic illnesses, the life, and times of people with diabetes is full of challenges. Despite this, most such people are able to manage their conditions well, to the extent of living full and rewarding lives. However, there are challenges that people living with the disease live with, and may therefore require support from families and friends. Some of these challenges include mood swings, anxiety, and depression. The lives...