Your Body Tips

Don’t get duped by tricky marketing strategies in grocery stores, think before you take dietary supplements and find out if you have a musical personality.

Don’t Get Duped

Many products in grocery stores today are marketed as part of a healthy lifestyle. But a recent study in the
Journal of Marketing Research found that these “fitness” foods (think protein bars and whole-grain cereals) actually encourage health-conscious consumers to eat more of them and exercise less, most likely because people subconsciously saw them as substitutes for moderation and exercise.

Do You Have a
Musical Personality?

For some dancers, musicality seems to come completely naturally. It turns out that personality might have something to do with that particular talent. In a study published in the
Journal of Research in Personality, psychologists found that, aside from musical experience, openness was the next best predictor of musical ability. They defined openness as being imaginative, open to change and new ways of thinking, and having a range of interests. Find out how you score at the researchers’ site, themusicquiz.org.

Think Before You Pop

Whether it’s for more energy or more vitamin D, there seems to be a pill for nearly everything today. But relying on dietary supplements can 
be a dangerous habit: A new study by the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that supplements led to approximately 23,000 annual emergency room visits between 2004 and 2013. Many of those visits were for heart problems in young adults ages 20 to 34 taking weight loss and energy pills—two supplements that remain popular among dancers, no matter how often they’re warned of the dangers. The booming $32 billion a year supplement industry is largely unregulated, so you can’t always know what’s in the pills or powders you’re taking. To stay safe, aim to get the nutrients you need through food. And if you need a supplement for a particular deficiency, stick with a brand your doctor recommends.