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This allergy season nothing to sneeze at
Feel like you can't breathe? Do you have the uncontrollable urge to rub your eyes every 10 seconds?
The trees are blossoming and shedding pollen early this year, and that's bad news for millions of Americans who are suffering from allergies.
You probably think your area has it the worst, but the true champion of allergies in America is Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
The nonprofit organization, which is releasing its list of 100 allergy capitals next week at allergycapitals.com, bases its rankings on pollen score, how much allergy medicine is used per patient, and the number of board-certified allergists per patient -- in other words, how difficult it would be to get an appointment.
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Women risk snapped ligaments for shoe fashion
Despite sprains, foot pains and blisters, towering footwear has legions of loyal female fans.
Among them are pop stars who dance intricate choreography wearing colossal shoes. Lady Gaga wore a pair of staggering 12-inch Alexander McQueen heels in her music video "Bad Romance." The theatrical shoes she wore were unveiled by the late British designer McQueen last fall, prompting some models to decline to walk the runway for him.
"We have entered a moment of heightened impracticality in footwear," said Elizabeth Semmelhack, author of "Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe." Heels tend to get higher during economic recessions, she added.
During the Great Depression in 1930s, the oil crisis in the 1970s, and the dotcom bust heels went higher. Although she's not sure why, Semmelhack said, "it could also be sort of a greater need for escapism." |
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Fruits and vegetables are no miracles in cancer prevention
The benefits of fruits and vegetables in staving off cancer exist, but they're not as strong as previously believed, a new study reports.
Eating an additional 200 grams a day of fruits and vegetables (about two servings) resulted in only a 3 percent reduction of cancer risk, which was described as "very weak," according to the study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
"This doesn't mean fruits and vegetables aren't important," said lead author Dr. Paolo Boffetta, the deputy director at the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "They aren't the only factor. There is no one factor."
The World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Cancer Society all encourage people to maintain a healthy lifestyle and eat five servings of produce a day for cancer protecting benefits.
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