New research is showing that exercise beneficially affects your genes, helps reverse the aging process at a cellular level, gives you more energy, makes you smarter, and may even help you grow so many new brain cells (a process called neurogenesis) that your brain actually gets bigger.

So does improving your nutrition. A diet high in sugar and saturated fat diminishes neurogenesis, whereas other foods increase it.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20746682/site/newsweek/?from=rss “Read the Story”) (Newsweek)

New research suggests that social isolation alters the immune system at the genetic level, raising the risk of serious disease. The research links feelings of social isolation to an alteration in the activity of specific genes—ones that put lonely people at higher risk for serious disease. The study also points to the startling fact that it is the perception of loneliness that triggers the adverse health conditions, independent of how much social interaction an individual actually has.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20762868/site/newsweek/?from=rss “Read the Story”) (Newsweek)

Burger King plans to offer healthier fast-food items for children under 12, with plans to sell and market flame-broiled Chicken Tenders and apples cut to resemble thick-cut french fries.

Burger King is building a Kids Meal that will contain flame-broiled Tenders, organic unsweetened applesauce and low-fat milk, for a total of 305 calories and 8.5 grams of fat. It will be available in restaurants sometime in 2008.

It is also developing what it calls BK Fresh Apple Fries. The red apples are cut to resemble french fries and are served in the same containers as fries, but they are not fried and are served skinless and cold.

[Read](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdjsu-dALBzuyZ8cahv8DPZ_33fg “Read the Story”) (AP via Google)

The war in Iraq is not over, but one legacy is already here: an epidemic of brain-damaged soldiers.

Thousands of troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. These blast-caused head injuries are so different from the ones doctors are used to seeing from falls and car crashes that treating them is as much faith as it is science.

Most TBIs are mild, and most of these patients recover within a year. But one-fifth of the troops with these mild injuries will have prolonged or lifelong symptoms and need continuing care, the military estimates. Nearly all of the moderate and severe ones will, too.

People with TBI have frequent headaches, dizziness, and trouble concentrating and sleeping. They may be depressed, irritable and confused, and easily provoked or distracted. Speech or vision also can be impaired. Some sufferers have been misdiagnosed with personality disorders. Others have lost jobs because of unrecognized and untreated symptoms.

[Read](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-09-09-braininjuries_N.htm?csp=34 “Read the Story”) (AP via USA Today)

Children’s health is suffering because they are losing the chance to play outside, a group of experts has warned.

Over-anxious parents, computer games and school tests are to blame. The decline in “unstructured, loosely supervised” play is also adversely affecting children’s mental health, and it also threatens young people’s long-term development.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6986544.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)

A new report gives D.C. children a dubious distinction: Nearly one in four of those ages 10 to 17 is overweight, making them the heaviest kids in the country.

A “fat belt” now stretches through the South and is spreading into the Southwest. Among the states with the heftiest children are West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.

Children in Maryland and Virginia are slightly slimmer overall: About 14 percent of those ages 10 to 17 are overweight in Virginia, 13 percent in Maryland.

[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401713.html “Read the Story”) (Washington Post)

Antibacterial soaps that contain triclosan as the main active ingredient are no better at preventing infections than plain soaps, say University of Michigan researchers who reviewed 27 studies conducted between 1980 and 2006 to reach their conclusion.

The team also concluded that these antibacterial soaps could actually pose a health risk, because they may reduce the effectiveness of some common antibiotics, such as amoxicillin.

[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801039.html?nav=rss_health “Read the Story”) (Washington Post)

The nation’s largest traditional grocer is expanding organic food offerings and targeting a broader range of customers for the fast-growing segment.

The new push by Kroger, features its own brand of organic foods, from pasta to peanut butter, and displays them throughout the store, outside their usual home in natural foods sections. Starting with 65 items, Kroger expects to double its Private Selection brand organics by the end of the year.

[Read](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3460280 “Read the Story”) (AP via ABC News)

ZIP codes are more than just a way to deliver mail, they can say a lot about their residents. In a study published in the September issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, University of Washington researchers found that adults living in ZIP codes with the highest property values were the slimmest, and those living in ZIP codes with the lowest property values were the fattest. The findings show that there is significant geographic variation in the obesity problem, and that this variation is very much tied to socioeconomic status and diet.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20501356/site/newsweek/?from=rss “Read the Story”) (Newsweek)

Even as breakthroughs in science and advances in technology make the practice of medicine increasingly complex, medical educators are looking beyond biology and chemistry majors in the search for more well-rounded students who can be molded into caring and analytic doctors. More humanities students have been applying in recent years, and medical schools like them. The schools are looking for a kind of compassion and potential doctoring ability. This makes many social-science and humanities students particularly well qualified.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20534716/site/newsweek/?from=rss “Read the Story”) (Newsweek)

Increasingly, American consumers are shopping for health care the way they buy a hamburger or milk shake at a fast-food chain: By standing in line at a local store under a menu.

Store-based health clinics, which are staffed mostly by nurse practitioners and offer quick services for routine conditions from colds and bladder infections to sunburn, aren’t just a health care fad anymore, but fast becoming a serious industry.

[Read](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3469462 “Read the Story”) (AP via ABC News)

The compounds which give certain fruit and vegetables their dark colour may contain powerful cancer fighting properties.

Studies on rats and human cells found [anthocyanins](http://www.answers.com/anthocyanin “Answers.com”) – which color red, purple and blue fruits – notably slowed the growth of colon cancer cells.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6954696.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)

People who spend more time in the sun as children subsequently have a lower risk of developing [multiple sclerosis (MS)](http://www.answers.com/topic/multiple-sclerosis “Look up multiple sclerosis on Ansers.com”), a US study shows.

The University of Southern California team suggest UV rays offer protection by altering the cell immune responses or by boosting vitamin D levels.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6906712.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)