Ever since the 1930s, when researchers have speculated that our national appetite for salt is one reason asthma leaves more and more of us breathless. Thanks to recent study by Tim Mickleborough, Ph.D., a physiologist at Indiana University’s Department of Kinesiology, we are closer to knowing how the mechanism.

Mickleborough and his colleagues started with 24 young men and women with exercise-induced asthma. Half of them, twelve were put on a low-salt diet that allowed them no more than 3,750 mg of salt per day (that’s mean 1,600 mg sodium, salt being 40 percent sodium). The other half were put on a high-salt diet: they ate the same foods as the first group plus a daily capsule containing 10,000 mg of extra salt. The low-salt group were given placebo capsules. Government guidelines recommend no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day about 1 teaspoon salt. Read more

Studies show that a lot of people gain at least a pound between November and January during the winter. And the worst part: That gain is usually permanent. This usually happen because of the cold weather that makes outdoor activities are less, cravings for fattening comfort foods, and the seemingly endless weeks of holiday celebrating.
It’s certainly OK to splurge on the occasional small portion of a decadent food, but most adults do better if they stay clear of the temptations. Experts say, is that there really are no “bad” foods. A few bites of even the most fattening food can fit into your diet. Here are the nine foods most likely can make you gain fat: Read more