THE INFORMATION YOU

NEED TO STAY WELL

by SARA ALTSHUL

orange

The extent

to which

volunteers

overestimated

the width of

their hands in

a University

College

London study.

Researchers '

say this

distortion of

xrsonal size,

'ooted in the

Drain, may

apply to other

body parts.

So you grab a fast-food breakfast with the

works every now and then. Don’t beat yourself

up about it—just be sure to order an orange

juice chaser. According to researchers at the

State University of Buffalo, the juice can

decrease the meal’s harmful effects. When you

eat a fatty fast-food-style meal, it causes your

levels of free radicals to rise sharply. These

harmful molecules ricochet through your body,

damaging cells and setting the stage for heart

problems, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.

The Buffalo study looked at healthy people who

ate a 900-calorie, high-fat breakfast with water,

sugar water, or orange juice. The plain and sugar

water group experienced free-radical increases

of up to 63 percent, but those who drank OJ

saw increases of just 47 percent. Moreover, the

harmful blood components known as toll-like

receptors (TLRs) rose in all groups but the OJ

drinkers. TLRs are thought to play a role in

heart disease, obesity, and insulin resistance. Still,

OJ is no anti-fat elixir. While it can help limit the

unhealthy effects of one fat-laden meal, don’t

make the drive-through a habit.

No more sick days!

Classroom germs have real consequences for kTas. Earlier

this year, a research team from the University of Arizona in

Tucson evaluated six elementary school classrooms; half

had surfaces swabbed daily with a disinfectant, half didn’t.

Kids assigned to the unsanitized classrooms were 2.3 times

more likely to miss school due to illness—and were absent

longer—than students who sat in squeaky-clean rooms.

Fortunately, a few simple tools can reduce your child’s risk.

m e c h a n ic a l p e n c il s

Hand-cranked pencil

sharpeners are often used but rarely cleaned,

making them a top source of infectious microbes,

says the UA team. Stock up on “dicky” pencils.

c l ip - o n c l e a n e r

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is

an effective fallback if kids can’t leave class to wash

up. But they’ll never use it if it’s at the bottom of

their backpacks. Use a bottle clip (like Purell

Retractable Clips, $10 for 3, at amazon.com) or a

ribbon to attach it to the outside of your child’s bag.

EXACT LUNCH m o n e y

Studies show that the flu

virus (among other pathogens) can survive at least

an hour on bills and coins. Insulate your child from

“cash flow cooties” with exact change for lunch.

KO

the

OT

Although regularly putting in tw o o r th ree ho urs m ore than an average eight-hour w orkday fattens yo u r

bank account, you m ight not get to spend all that dough, say Finnish research ers. The research team ,

from the Finnish Institute o f O ccupational Health, studied 6 ,0 0 0 m iddle-aged B ritish office w o rkers fo r

n years and discovered that people w ho consistently w ork longer ho urs have a w hopping 6 0 percent

greater chance o f having a heart attack o r heart disease than do folks w ho are out the d o o r by 5.

2 4 8 SEPTEMBER 2010 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS

PHOTOS: (ORANGE JUICE AND CHILD IN BED) VEER