Gain weight, lose manhood?

Oh no! Is this true?

500 men were studied for 20 years. The result published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology showed a four-point increase in body mass index (BMI) accelerates natural decline in testosterone by 10 years. Lost of virility by almost 10 years?! Whoah!

10 years? OMG! Accordingly for someone standing at 5'10", this 4-point increase correspond to 30 lbs weight gain.

The worse thing accordingly to this study, low T increases risk of diabetes, bone fractures and Alzheimer's disease.

This is really a wake up call. Time to shape up...

Read the label

We read the label to determine the contents of the product. However, the chemical and packaging jargons may affect our full understanding.

What is it exactly are we on the alert against?

There is an easy 4-step way to do it:

1. These labels "trans fat", "interesterified" or "stearate-rich" oils bad for our our health. Dump it and find a healthy replacement.

2. Compare similar products and always choose those with less sugar.

3. Look for fiber. The more, the better.

4. Prefer those with fewer ingredients. Drop those with more chemical sounding names.

Nothing beats a well-oiled machine!

As we grow old, we tend to develop ulcers as well. Not if you are taking extra-virgin olive oil.

An experiment found out that extra-virgin olive oil can destroy ulcer-causing bacteria (Helicobacter pylori) and may have been due to the oil's high polyphenols content.

So while scientists are not yet sure how much, they suggest a couple of teaspoons daily. As the mechanics would say, nothing beats a well-oiled machine!

Depressed? Dump the Prozac and tie a knot!

Funny as it seems but it's true. Depressed people who get married get greater psycho benefits from marriage than their non-married fellows.

Researchers from the Ohio State University analyzed 3,066 unmarried people data from the US National Survey of Families and Households and after a 5-year follow-up, married ones were asked about their psychological well-being. they showed 7 points improvement in their depression score while those on medication and remain single showed smaller improvement.

It is said that the hallmark of depression is loneliness, Marriage provides companionship that many depressed people crave for.

Materialistic bitch

Got members of my family married to Chavacano urbanites. Oldies have long suspected that the less-than-stable or rocky relationship has something to do with the ethnicity of their spouses. Chavacano urbanites are "sosyal", elitist and have this delusion of grandeur as Spaniard principalia and look on others as "indios". Are they right? 

As it turns out there is a perfect (?) scientific explanation to their rocky relationship. while it has nothing to do with ethnicity, it may have bearing on one's elitist background. So no matter how many things she has, she wants more. According to a Utah study of 600 married couples, those with materialistic wives (35%) tend to be less than satisfied in their relationship.

One possible reason: the wife hassles her husband for more cash, regardless of their financial standing; and if she doesn't get what she wants, she thinks her husband failed.

Dr Jason Carroll, the study author, says there is no easy fix. However, he suggests the husband makes his wife aware of those who have less and we they have exactly.

Wisdom behind wisdom teeth

The funny thing about "wisdom teeth" is that many used it to assert their being young. 

Today, I read that there is more primordial wisdom to this than being young. This is a matter of evolution. According to Asst Prof Armin Segarra of UP College of Dentistry, wisdom tooth might be a remnant of the past that is now disappearing because our body find no modern use for it.

Our modern jaws are quite smaller and with little room for the 3rd molars. It is overcrowded in there and so wisdom teeth may not fully emerged, twisted or displaced.

So should I worry that I never had these wisdom teeth? Maybe not. Because people like us with no wisdom teeth maybe a step higher in the evolutionary ladder

How bad is the earbud?

MP3, MP4, iPod and the like has replaced the old Sony Walkman that I grew up with. With these new innovations come the earbud headphones as opposed to the old over-the-ear kind.

My father never bought me a Walkman arguing it can damaged hearing. Is this true? Whether old or new, headphones have the capacity to damage hearing if we used it at high volume for a long time.

A Harvard study found out that adults who listened to music with their headphones for more than an hour  and a half at 80% volume experienced permanent hearing loss.

So a little discipline wouldn't hurt. Perhaps this is what my father has been trying to tell me?!