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Good news for tubby mice everywhere: Vinegar might help keep the pounds off.

Japanese researchers gave mice a high-fat diet along with acetic acid, a main component of vinegar, while a control group was given the same diet along with water. The mice that were given the acetic acid gained weight, but less than their water-fed counterparts.

What does this mean for humans looking to keep up a high-fat diet but pack on fewer pounds? Not much right now. The study is still very preliminary and it is not known whether the same genes might be activated the same way in people.

I tend to think there's no real substitute for hard work, which makes me think that the new pill that might one day allow us to get fit while slouching on the couch or achieve elite athletic status without dripping a drop of sweat is just not all it's cracked up to be. I know, mice are running their little hearts out on treadmills as I write so that we won't ever need to, but still, I don't buy it. And I won't buy it, even if and when it becomes mainstreamed into our obese world.

If you haven't been tuning in to the news on this medical development, here's what's happening: U.S. researchers have developed two possible pills that build muscle, stamina, even burn fat. In tests, mice were able to run 44% further with a boost from these concoctions, suggesting humans may be able to do the same without prior training. The whole concept is controversial due to fears the pill could be misused in sports. Let's face it, when drugs are used to achieve something good, there's always a side effect that's not so good, whether it's unfair athletic gain or a long list of possible health complications.

The initial good researchers were hoping to achieve with the two drugs (labeled AICAR and GW1516) is the improvement of health for those with muscle-wasting diseases and those with diseases like diabetes, in need of physical activity. Now that it's clear anyone can benefit, well, anyone will likely be able to benefit. Says one researcher: "If you like exercise, you like the idea of getting 'more bang for your buck'," And: "If you don't like exercise, you love the idea of getting the benefits from a pill."

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Think you can cut just 300 to 500 calories a day from your diet? If so, it could be the very thing that keeps you living longer.

It's been said before: Limiting caloric intake can slow the aging process. This theory, based on the study of rats and mice, goes like this: Fewer daily calories decrease production of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging. Now, a new study adds to this theory and shows that this hormone decrease occurs when humans regularly skip rich desserts or forgo the Big Mac for a turkey sandwich instead.

So, researchers know now that calorie restriction does indeed slow hormone production in both animals and humans. Great news. What they need to determine now is whether the restriction actually slows the aging process. Common sense says that it does -- there's lots of evidence that cutting back on calories can limit risk for many common diseases, like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Avoid these diseases, and yes, you will live longer.

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With the growing number of prostate cancer cases worldwide., it's absolutely incredible to think that preventing this disease may someday be as easy as taking a single shot.

Sound far-fetched? It's not, say researchers from the University of Southern California, who created a vaccine that prevented the onset of prostate cancer in 90 percent of mice genetically predestined to develop the disease. What's more, in a recent issue of Cancer Research, they suggest that a similar strategy might work for men with rising levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen), a potential diagnostic indicator of prostate cancer.

As lead investigator W. Martin Kast, Ph.D. stated in an article released to the AP wire, "This has never been done before and, with further research, could represent a paradigm shift in the management of human prostate cancer." Rather than relying on "watchful waiting," which is the current approach doctors recommend for men with high PSI levels but no sign of cancer, a less reactive and far more proactive approach can be taken. As Dr. Kast summed it up in an almost Don King-esque promotion of the technology, "But what if instead of a watchful wait, we vaccinate" That could change the course of the disease."

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What do you do when your car starts to fall apart on you? Many people will trade it in for a new and better running car. Now, wouldn't it be incredible if we could do the same thing with any bad genes we may have? Believe it or not, that exact scenario is not that far off from happening.

In a breakthrough discovery, researchers from Kentucky University were able to manipulate what's known as the Par-4 gene in mice, and in doing so made the furry little creatures completely resistant to cancer. Yes, you read that correctly: these mice were rendered completely resistant to cancers of all kind, including highly aggressive types.

This study was funded by the National Institute of Health. Next on the agenda for researchers is to find a way to utilize the manipulation of the Par-4 gene in humans to produce similar cancer resistance effects.

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28 rats go on a low-cal diet. No, this is not the set-up to a bad joke, but instead is the number of test rodents that were found to lose more weight with the help of leucine - the most common amino acid found in proteins - than those rodents that ate normally.

It was discovered that by adding leucine to a low-cal diet, the rats lost 24.5% more weight over a six week span than those who nibbled on whatever it is rats typically nibble on. In addition to the weight loss, the leucine may have also helped regulate blood sugar.

Leucine can be found at most health food stores (GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Vitamin World, etc.). Be sure to check with your doctor to make sure supplementation with this amino acid is right for you.

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I'm a fan of foods without sugar. But sometimes I worry about items labeled sugar-free that still retain a semi-sweet taste. How can this be? How can something sugar-free taste so, well, sugary?

It all comes down to two words: Artificial and sweeteners. Like aspartame, the sweetener no one is really too sure about.

According to an article in the Fall/Winter 2007 issue of Beyond, a magazine all about breast cancer, long-term studies of low doses of aspartame given to rats beginning in the womb indicated a cancer connection. A different study of humans, published in the January 2007 Annals of Oncology, contradicts this conclusion, though, revealing there is no link between the use of artificial sweeteners and cancer. Data is just not strong enough to say anything about human risk.

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Being skinny might be in your genes, according to a new study. A gene called Adipose (or adp) means the difference between fat and thin in mice and fruit flies, and researchers are wondering if the same could be said for humans in the midst of our obesity epidemic. The gene, when manipulated one way, caused mice to become obese, but when manipulated the other way, made them thin.

For years, researchers have been trying to uncover the 'thrifty gene' -- that is, the gene that causes humans to store food as fat in case of starvation. But this gene is being called the anti-thrifty gene. Of course, a lot more research will have to take place before the findings can be tested on humans, but the results so far are promising.

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If you heard that combining caffeine and exercise would help prevent skin cancer would you believe it? I don't know what one has to do with the other, but according to the study discussed here, somehow a mix of the two does increase immunity -- well, in mice at least.

Four groups of hairless mice were tested in total. One group ran on a wheel, the second consumed caffeinated water (the equivalent of a cup or two of coffee a day for a human), the third exercised and drank the water and the fourth, a control group, did neither. All mice were exposed to UVB rays.

The study measured each group's rate of apoptosis. This, the study states, is the rate at which the body instructs damaged cells to destroy themselves. Many skin cancers are caused when the body is unable to rid itself of cells that have been badly damaged by sun exposure.

The results were pretty impressive. Compared to the control group, the mice that drank caffeine showed a rate of apoptosis that increased by 95%, while the group on the wheel's rate increased by 120%. Those that both exercised and consumed caffeine had their rate of apoptosis increase by a whopping 400%! While studies on mice don't always apply to humans, it may be an interesting start to preventing skin cancer.

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