People who adopt four healthy behaviours – not smoking; taking exercise; moderate alcohol intake; and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day – live on average an additional fourteen years of life compared with people who adopt none of these behaviours, according to a study published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

If companies provide workplace flexibility and if employees perceive that flexibility as real, then healthier lifestyle habits are put into action by those employees, according to new research by lead author Joseph G. Grzywacz, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

People who have quit smoking can further reduce their risk of developing lung cancer by adding lots of vegetables to their diet − as measured by eating four or more servings of salads a week − compared to people who quit but do not eat their veggies, report researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

People are generally optimistic, believing they’ll do better in the future than they’ve done in the past. This time around, I’ll actually use that gym membership. I’m sticking to the diet this time. Now is the time to start saving for a down payment on a house.

Americans increasingly are attached to portable devices such as laptops, mobile phones and MP3 players, shifting their appetites into eat-and-run mode. According to a recent survey, nearly one in three Americans ages 18-34 has eaten a meal on the go in order to multitask and spend more time using personal mobile devices.

Many of the lifestyle habits that children and adolescents develop—eating a diet high in fat and low in fruits and vegetables, being physically inactive or sedentary, and experimenting with tobacco and alcohol use—can have a major impact on their health later in life.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new wellness incentive for U.S. employees that encourages healthy living for families and children. The Children's Health Rebate, which is being offered as part of IBM's annual benefits enrollment, is to reward good nutrition and physical activity for the entire family, which is key to helping children develop healthy habits for a lifetime.

A leading cardiologist hopes alarming figures on obesity found in rural South Australia and Victoria will lead to greater efforts to improve diets and lifestyles.

A healthy, natural alternative to energy bars was found by an American-Indian company: the Tanka Bar, made with bison meat and cranberries. The company, based on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, came up with the Tanka Bar as a modern-day spinoff of a traditional food of the Lakota tribe called "wasna" that sustained Great Plains Indians during long trips centuries ago.

World-first equipment, made exclusively for UQ scientists, will determine how to produce food which is better for us, but still tastes good.

One route to a long and healthy life may be establishing the right balance in insulin signaling in the body and brain, according to new research from Children's Hospital Boston. The study, published in the July 20 issue of Science, not only reinforces the value of exercising and eating in moderation, but also helps explain a paradox in longevity research.