Publix GreenWise Market Magazine - December 2008
True or False?
 Wearing lip balm helps protect your lips from cancer-causing sun rays.
False. Certain lip balms and glosses may actually increase your cancer risk because applying something clear and shiny makes it easier for harmful UV rays to get through. To protect your lips, the American Cancer Society recommends wearing lip balm with an SPF of at least 15 whenever you’ll be out in the sun.
Women who wear lipstick or lip gloss should apply a layer of lip balm with sunscreen underneath. Then touch up the lip balm during the day, just as you do your lip color. When it comes to protecting yourself from the sun, sunscreen is as important on your lips as it is on the rest of your body.
Having the flu can affect your eyes.
True. Occasionally people notice that their eyes burn, water or ache when they are first coming down with the flu, says Steven Siepser, M.D., a clinical instructor at Thomas Jefferson University/Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. In other cases people who are already sick can get a secondary eye infection by touching their eyes with germ-covered fingers or putting in contaminated contacts.
That’s why washing your hands frequently and following the directions for proper contact lens care are even more important when you have the flu. “If you develop signs of inflammation—such as redness, burning, watering or swelling—discontinue wearing your contact lenses immediately,” says Alberto Martinez, M.D., a clinical correspondent for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The average American gains 5 pounds during the holidays.
False. Actually, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine (March 2000) found that the average weight gain during the Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s holiday period was just under a pound, even though most people made no effort to control their weight. Fewer than 10% of people in this study gained 5 pounds or more.
But it’s not all good news: Most people didn’t take the weight back off after the holidays. Over the years, even small weight gains can add up to bigger problems. So it pays to watch what you eat and stay physically active during the holidays to keep that needle on the scale from slowly creeping up.
|
 |
|
