The World Of Medicine

In the heat, ice really is nicer to your body

When you’re exercising in warm weather, it’s both the amount of water you drink and its temperature that are important.

- Samantha Rideout

University of Montana, USA, scientists monitored people walking briskly on a treadmill in a temperature of 31°C. During the three-hour test, they alternately refreshed themselves with ice water slurries or lukewarm water. Exercisers had to drink twice as much warm water as ice water to maintain a healthy heart rate, core body temperature and skin temperature.

Yellow light on red yeast rice

Because red yeast rice (RYR) contains monacolin K—a compound chemically identical to the active ingredient in the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin—it has become a popular dietary supplement, taken in pill form. The good news: RYR may lower cholesterol. The bad news: an Italian survey has found that RYR carries some of the same risks as statins, namely muscle damage and liver injury. And while a patient with a statin prescription will be under a doctor’s care, RYR is usually self-prescribed. Before using RYR to combat high cholesterol, talk to your doctor and ask him or her to supervise you.