Gareth Thomas can have a positive impact on HIV stigma, says George, who lives with the virus.

Potatoes are practical and delish, but they’ve gotten a bit of a bad rap, nutritionally speaking. Sweet potatoes have swooped in as a trendy tater alternative, and so began the sweet potato vs. potato health debate.

But are sweet potatoes truly healthier than potatoes? Registered dietician and nutrition consultant Keri Gans, author of The Small Change Diet, and registered dietician Sonya Angelone, spokesperson for the US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, get to the root of this dietary dilemma.

What makes sweet potatoes healthy?

Sweet potatoes pack a lot of nutrients to back up their superfood status. “Sweet potatoes have several health benefits, including anti-inflammatory nutrients and blood sugar-regulating nutrients,” says Angelone.

The colour largely determines how much beta carotene is in a sweet tuber, she adds: A brighter, deeper orange hue signals more of the nutrient, which your body turns into vitamin A.

“If you are solely looking for vitamin A, then a sweet potato is your pick, hands down,” says Gans. And you should be seeking out the nutrient: “Vitamin A may help keep your skin, bones and eyes healthy,” Gans adds. “Also, it works as a cell-protecting antioxidant… Sweet potatoes have 10% of recommended vitamin A, as well as vitamin C, B6, potassium and manganese.” In fact, a medium potato contains twice as much potassium as a medium banana.

Sweet potato (medium size) nutrition info:

• Calories: 103 g
• Carbohydrates: 24 g
• Sugar: 7 g
• Fat: 0 g
• Fibre: 4 g
• Protein: 2 g
• Vitamin A: 1096 µg
• Vitamin C: 22 mg
• Vitamin B6: 0.33 mg
• Potassium: 542 mg

SOURCE: USDA Nutrient Database

How about regular potatoes — are they healthy?

Potatoes are a starch, which may give you a knee-jerk negative reaction — but it’s time to get over that once and for all, according to the nutritionists I spoke with. “They do get a bad rap, but I believe that it is unfounded,” says Gans. “Just because a food has starch, that certainly doesn’t make it unhealthy. It is simply a form of carbohydrate.” (Btw, sweet potatoes contain starch, too.)

READ MORE: 10 ways To Make Your Switch To Veganism A Whole Lot Easier

The starch in potatoes is a resistant starch, which helps regulate blood-sugar levels and contributes to satiety. Plus, potatoes actually top the satiety index (a handy measure of how full people feel after eating specific foods) as the number-one most filling food. “Basically, starch is a concentrated source of glucose, which gets broken down for energy and stored in your muscles as glycogen, or turned into fat,” says Angelone. “Starch can be a concentrated source of calories, and it is important to avoid eating more calories from starch or any other food than you burn through activity and exercise, if you want to avoid weight gain.”

Each potato variation has different vitamins and minerals. “Purple potatoes have different phytonutrients, which have been shown to lower blood pressure,” says Angelone.

Light-coloured spuds, like russet potatoes, have plenty of vitamins, too. “White potatoes meet more than 10% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin C, B6, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese,” says Gans.

Russet potato (medium size) nutrition info:

• Calories: 168
• Carbohydrates: 38 g
• Sugar: 1 g
• Fat: 0.2 g (o g sat fat)
• Fibre: 3 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Vitamin B6: .735 mg
• Vitamin C: 12 mg
• Magnesium: 49 mg
• Potassium: 888 mg

SOURCE: USDA Nutrient Database

So which is healthier — potatoes or sweet potatoes?

If you put sweet potatoes and potatoes in the ring and let them duke it out, it would be a fair fight. Both types of taters are healthy in their own right, and sweet potatoes and potatoes are very similar on nutrition stats.

Both contain vitamins with a head-to-toe impact and are covered in fibre-rich skin. “Vitamin A is important for eye health, vitamin C for a healthy immune system, B6 is needed for metabolism and our nervous system, and potassium is associated with regulating blood pressure,” says Gans.

READ MORE: 9 Foods That Can Actually Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Angelone says sweet potatoes may have a slight edge on potatoes due to the antioxidant beta carotene. “Eating a diet rich in antioxidants has been shown to decrease risk for chronic diseases,” she says.

White potatoes do come out ahead on protein content, though. “A medium white potato has about 2 grams more per serving of protein than a sweet potato,” says Gans. Plus, white potatoes have slightly less sugar than sweet potatoes as expected, but that’s NBD. “I wouldn’t be concerned at all about the sugar in any potato – it is naturally occurring not added!” says Gans.

Great, now what’s the healthiest way to cook them?

What you do or don’t do with spuds in the kitchen can actually negate all those health benefits in both sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Some popular potato cooking methods, like frying, can diminish the heat-sensitive phytochemicals in the spuds. “The vitamin C content of potatoes will decrease since vitamin C is sensitive to heat and will degrade with higher temperatures,” says Angelone.

READ MORE: 21 Amazing Sources Of Protein That Aren’t Meat (And Taste Great)

That doesn’t mean you have to eat them raw. “Steaming or boiling sweet potatoes seem to preserve the nutrients,” says Angelone. “Boiling sweet potatoes has been shown to have a more positive impact on blood-sugar regulation.” Still, water-soluble folate and B vitamins can leach into boiling water, which means you won’t be consuming them. The solution: Don’t overcook potatoes.

Also, Angelone recommends pairing sweet potatoes with a little fat to help your body absorb more of the all-star antioxidant beta carotene. That’s not an excuse to pile on the sour cream and butter, though. (Sorry, loaded baked potato fans.) Instead, opt for some baked sweet potato fries with olive oil or a lightened-up sweet potato gratin.

While many of the vitamins and minerals are concentrated in the flesh, the skin has benefits, too. “The skin has a little bit more of the fibre and iron specifically,” says Gans. The skin also helps preserve the vitamins that can leach out during boiling — yet another reason to leave it on.

The bottom line: While sweet potatoes have a slight edge on white potatoes because they contain more antioxidants, both options are nutrition-packed picks — as long as you don’t fry them.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za} 

^{Image credit: iStock}

Jennifer Nied

Women who shave or wax their pubic hair aren’t more likely to get chlamydia or gonorrhoea, according to new research that challenges studies suggesting that so-called extreme grooming increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The study included 214 women who visited an on-campus location at Ohio State University (OSU) for STD testing.

Extreme groomers

The women completed a questionnaire about their sexual and grooming behaviours. Nearly all (98%) said they had done some grooming, and between 18% and 54% were extreme groomers, meaning they removed all pubic hair at least weekly during the past year, or at least six times in the past month.

About 10% tested positive for an STD, but there was no association between extreme grooming and the risk of chlamydia or gonorrhoea, according to the study published in the journal PLOS One.

Unlike other studies, this one relied on laboratory-confirmed STD diagnoses, the OSU researchers noted.

“Previous research asked participants if they’d ever had a sexually transmitted infection, but didn’t measure whether they had one at the time of survey. That makes connecting any current grooming habits to STDs difficult,” lead author Jamie Luster said in a university news release. Luster is a former graduate student in public health at Ohio State.

This research also accounted for other factors associated with STD risk, including sexual frequency, income, race and age, noted Maria Gallo, associate professor of epidemiology and Luster’s adviser on the study.

Finding no surprise

“Particularly concerning is that previous work didn’t adjust for sexual frequency. It could be that women who were having more sex with more people – and were therefore more likely to contract infections – were more likely to be grooming,” Gallo said in the news release.

The study finding wasn’t a surprise because there’s no obvious biological reason to believe that shaving or waxing pubic hair would increase the risk of chlamydia or gonorrhoea, said Luster, who is now a researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

About 2.86 million new cases of chlamydia and 820 000 of gonorrhoea occur in the United States each year, many in teens and young adults, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

To protect against STDs, the CDC recommends sexually active people stay in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an STD-free partner and use latex condoms consistently and properly.

^{Image credit: iStock}

All women should feel sexy no matter their shape or size, and that’s what influencer Meg Boggs is out to prove. The 31-year-old mom and blogger joined forces with other influencers to create a campaign that encourages women to feel sexy in their own skin. 

“Sexy looks and feels different on everyone, but we all have it and are allowed to own it,” Boggs tells Health. “We want to encourage and empower as many women as possible to embrace and own their sexiness, too.”

Boggs explained that feeling sexy didn’t always come easily to her.  

RELATED: This Mom Shares Unedited Photos of Her Cellulite and Stretch Marks to Send a Message About Postpartum Bodies

“I never felt it until this past year, not until after noticing other women, similar to my body type, owning their sexiness so openly,” says Boggs. “It felt rare to see, but just in those rare moments, I felt the shift in how I embraced my own.”

Boggs spoke to her friend Bethanie Garcia, and the two came up with the idea to launch a campaign that features women sharing how they came to embrace sexy, too. So Boggs rounded up four other influencers—and the results are stunning. 

Meg Boggs of @meg.boggs

"I would have never described myself as sexy. Sexy, in my previous mindset, was anything but me. It wasn’t a word to describe me or my body. In fact, sexy felt out of reach for me.

I thought sexy looked one way. Had one style. Could only be acknowledged in one body type. Be one certain type of experience. I would read magazine headlines about how to achieve the ultimate sexiness. The very best version of sexy. And I believed that for such a long time. It all felt so unachievable for me. No matter how much strain I put on my body in order for it to change, still, it would never look like what the world labeled as sexy.

Towards the end of my 20s, I began to mourn the loss of my 'sexy dream body' goals. When I sort of realized that it’s something I would never have. But… a shift around me was happening. Every now and then, my eye would catch the glimpse of a woman who looked similar to me… completely owning her body.

Owning her sexiness. Owning who she was as a woman. And it sort of hit me like a ton of bricks. Wait, does that mean I’m… sexy too? Can I find confidence too? My feelings around this were swirling and brewing. Woah. This was big. This was the power of positive influence that was creating this much needed shift.

Little moments started happening where I’d feel it. I’d actually feel sexy. These feelings turned into visual moments. I’d see a sexy body as I locked eyes with myself during mirror moments. And my visual moments turned into flooding thoughts. I’d mix my visual and emotional cues, allowing myself the permission to embrace what was happening.

I was feeling sexy. Because I was. Because I am. Because we are." 

Bethanie Garcia of @thegarciadiaries

"I teamed up with @womenIRL and a group of powerful women to share what makes us feel SEXY in our own skin. Once I became a mom, I feel like all sexiness went out the window. I spent the first several years of motherhood feeling anything but sexy. My body had endured so many changes and I honestly didn't recognize the woman I saw staring back at me in the mirror.

My husband always wanted me and told me how beautiful and sexy I was, but those words didn't make me feel any better about myself internally. They were like little Band-Aids that made me feel better for a moment, but the wound was still open and there. Once I started my journey towards self-love and body positivity, there was a huge shift in my mentality. I started loving my body, appreciating my body, seeing my body for what it was. My body has endured loss, my body has given me four healthy children, my body has struggled with anxiety and depression, my body has overcome.

And once I was actively appreciating and loving my body, I couldn't help but see it as sexy. I started flirting and teasing my husband and wearing lingerie I wouldn't have dreamed of wearing before. I started seeing every roll and curve and dimple as beautiful. I started feeling sexy for living my life unapologetically—regardless of my size. I wasn't worried about what people think or what society's definition of sexy is.

I feel sexy in my skin and I am thankful every day for this body of mine."

RELATED:  This Influencer Opens Up About the Empowering Decision to Get Her Implants Removed and Breastfeed

Hunter Premo of @hunterpremo

"I’m proud to be partnering with @womenIRL and these powerful women to share what makes us feel SEXY. 

So what makes me feel sexy? Looking in the mirror and feeling confident and PROUD of my body. I struggled with an eating disorder for several years and the way I looked consumed my entire mind. I wanted to look perfect more than anything in the world and it took so much out of me. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that there is only one me and I’m comfortable with who I am. I wake up every day feeling happy and beautiful in my own skin… a petite 5’1” gal who happens to have some curves.

I didn’t see anyone with my body type growing up and I still don’t see a lot of it in the media today. In a world filled with comparison on social media, I continually have to remind myself that I am strong, sexy and beautiful just the way I am. My husband, Cameron, has been by my side for 10+ years now, has seen me in every form and his love for me hasn’t changed. Even though he has always made me feel beautiful, there is nothing that can replace  the kind of confidence that comes from within." 

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Fatima Dedrickson of @stylefitfatty

"I’ve teamed up with @womenirl and a group of amazing women to share what makes us feel sexy in our own skin. Did you notice how I said FEEL and not look? To be completely honest and transparent, last year was the first time in who knows how long that I remember saying out loud 'I feel sexy.' That’s 3 kids later…THREE!!

I remember after I had Kingston, I decided I needed to find myself and that confidence in me again. As a mom it’s so easy to put our needs, passions, hobbies, and ourselves last. I did this and it needed to change. I needed Fatty back. 

Being pregnant isn’t always glamorous. So how do you feel sexy pregnant when you have swollen feet, heartburn, gained weight, feeling sick? Confidence. Its all about how you feel about yourself regardless of the changes. 

As I watch my body go through another phase, I can’t help but smile. Because Im confident in my own skin. I found myself again; I stopped caring what others thought and cared about how I felt about me. I started to appreciate my own journey and realized how far I had traveled. I’m thankful for my body and being able to grow another baby. Sexy has no size. To me, confidence is sexy." 

RELATED: This Influencer Posted a Photo in Her Bra and Underwear to Show the Biggest Problem With Dieting

Christina and Katie Bailey of @babybaileymamadrama

Christina: "I feel beautiful and sexy when I dress up and get ready for the day.  Sometimes it is easy to get used to being in my lazy, lounging clothes when I know I am going to be chasing our kids around all day.  However, when I get ready for the day and do my hair and makeup, I feel like my wife and I are dating all over again." 

Katie:  "I feel sexy and beautiful when I work out and eat healthy.  I feel my best after I know I have done what I can to make sure my body is healthy.  This makes me feel sexy because I like the way I feel in a body that I try my best to keep in good health."

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From the shell-on challenge to the condom snorting challenge, teens have never failed to find a way to make everyone else shake their heads and wonder why they put themselves at risk by following dangerous viral trends. But this latest challenge, on the social app TikTok, is a clear reflection of just how damaging social media’s herd mentality influence can be. 

Over the past week, teens have been posting videos of themselves gluing their upper lips to their Cupid's bow, the curved indentation on the top edge of the lip below the nose. Most of the videos actually show the process: A teen applies glue above the upper lip, waits for it to start drying, then presses their lip into the glue to achieve an imitation lip-injection. 

RELATED: Curly Eyelash Extensions Are the Horrifying New Beauty Trend You Never Asked For

It's unclear how this trend started, but stunts like this are not new on TikTok. For any non-teen whose only reference point for TikTok is Kesha’s 2009 song, here’s a little background: TikTok is a social media app where users share short videos of themselves singing, dancing, and competing in viral internet challenges. Download the app, and you'll see that most of the videos feature kids, teens, and young adults. 

Since tons of kids are seeing these videos—and clearly trying out the trend for themselves—is there any physical health risk that they might face by gluing two parts of their face together? Potentially.

The glue itself could lead to contact dermatitis, an allergic skin reaction, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). The group makes the point on their website that latex is one of the most common causes of contact dermatitis—and latex is a popular ingredient in many glues. Then there's the pain and irritation that comes with trying to separate one part of the lip from the other when the stunt is over. Ouch.

RELATED: Mom Speaks Out After Girl, 12, Sets Herself on Fire While Attempting Viral 'Fire Challenge'

But the physical effects of a challenge like this isn't the only impact it might have. Health spoke to Owen Muir, MD, mental heath director at Brooklyn Minds, a mental health treatment center in New York City, about the psychological effects social media challenge sites like TikTok have on young people.

“Teenagers love trends, and that’s been going on long before we had social media,” says Dr. Muir. “It’s a way for them to connect with other teenagers and to make sure that they’re in the in crowd. Social media companies have done a great job in encouraging it.”

Dr. Muir explained that teens' brains are not fully formed just yet, so their ability to assess risks isn't fully developed. Teens are still developing a sense of identity, and they look to their peers for guidance. While an adult may see a trending challenge like this and think about what could go wrong by gluing your face together, a teen will focus on how all their friends are participating in this stunt and ignore the obvious dangers.

RELATED: The Condom Snorting Challenge Has People Inhaling Condoms up Their Noses, and Seriously, Just Stop It

Research has previously addressed the idea that social media sites create a herd mentality, encouraging people to think a certain way or do something simply because of the number of likes a post about it has received. The implication is that if enough people liked it or posted their own clips doing it, it must be okay.

While adults usually have the cognitive skills to resist following every trend or challenge that comes into their feed, teens are more susceptible thanks to their not-fully-developed brains—leading them to take on a challenge that might be far more dangerous than gluing their lips.

A JAMA study from earlier this year also found that adolescents who spent more than three hours per day on social media were more likely to report mental health issues. It's not what the exact connection is, and the study didn't focus on viral challenges but social media as a whole. Still, it lends support to the idea that too much social media of any kind probably isn't a good thing for young people.

If you're the parent of a teen and concerned that they might fall for a stunt like the one on TikTok, Dr. Muir suggests having a conversation with them, laying out the dangers of viral challenges and how following their peers and not thinking through the ramifications can land them serious injuries, or worse.

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Vegetarianism is all the rage these days, but a new study suggests that slicing meat from your diet might raise your risk of stroke slightly.

While vegetarians had a 22% lower risk for heart disease, they had a 20% higher risk for stroke, British researchers found. Meanwhile, people who ate fish but no other meats (pescatarians) had a 13% lower risk of heart disease, with no increased stroke risk.

Only a connection

“The lower risk of heart disease is likely at least partly due to lower weight, lower blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol and lower rates of diabetes linked to pescatarian or vegetarian diets,” said lead researcher Tammy Tong, a nutritional epidemiologist in the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford.

Tong cautioned that this study can’t prove that not eating meat reduces the risk for heart disease or increases the risk for stroke, only that there seems to be a connection.

And the absolute reduction in the risk for heart disease and increased risk for stroke is modest, she said.

“When translated into absolute numbers, this was equivalent to 10 fewer cases of heart disease in the vegetarians than the meat eaters in every 1 000 people eating these diets over 10 years,” Tong said.

As for stroke, three more strokes would be seen among vegetarians compared with meat eaters over the same time, she said.

Why?

B12 deficiency

Recent evidence suggests that very low cholesterol levels might be linked to a higher risk of haemorrhagic stroke, Tong noted. Vegetarians and vegans might also have low levels of some nutrients, such as vitamin B12, which is only naturally available from animal foods, she added.

“Some research has suggested there may be a link between B12 deficiency and higher stroke risk, but the evidence is not conclusive,” Tong said.

Tong also said that only heart disease and stroke were studied, but other chronic conditions need to be looked at to show the total benefit of a vegetarian diet.

The report was published in the BMJ journal.

Mark Lawrence, a professor of public health nutrition at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, said that dietary guidelines have the best advice for vegetarians as well as for fish and meat eaters.

That’s because they consider dietary associations with multiple health outcomes – not just heart disease and stroke, said Lawrence, who co-authored an accompanying journal editorial.

Benefits of vegetarian diets

“Shifting towards a plant-based diet can have personal and planetary health benefits, though it does not necessarily mean becoming a vegetarian,” he said.

For the study, Tong and her colleagues collected data on more than 48 000 men and women, average age 45, with no history of stroke or heart disease.

Among the participants were more than 24 000 meat eaters, about 7 500 pescatarians and more than 16 000 vegetarians and vegans.

During the 18 years of the study, nearly 3 000 people developed heart disease and more than 1 000 suffered a stroke. About 500 of the strokes were caused by blood clots in the brain (ischaemic stroke) and 300 resulted from bleeding in the brain (haemorrhagic stroke).

The researchers accounted for factors such as medical history, smoking, use of dietary supplements, and physical activity, which can affect the risk for heart disease and stroke.

One US dietitian noted that there are benefits to vegetarian diets – as long as you include vitamins that may be lacking.

You can’t go wrong

“Vegans and strict vegetarians need to be mindful of obtaining certain nutrients, such as vitamin B12, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids from their diet and supplements,” said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

Not getting enough of these nutrients may increase the risk of certain health problems, she said.

“That said, a more plant-based approach to eating helps reduce the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes,” Heller said.

“You can’t go wrong cutting back on red and processed meats such as beef, pork and ham and adding lentils, chickpeas, tofu, broccoli, spinach or cauliflower to your meals,” Heller advised.

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Scientists have known for a while that what happens during the foetal and early stages of a child’s life can have an impact on their later health.

Now, according to a news report, a long-term study of more than 3 000 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) has shown that anxiety experienced during pregnancy has a link with hyperactivity later in life. The link between this factor and other ADHD symptoms, is however, still unclear.

Inattention not linked

ALSPAC, a project based in Bristol UK, monitored physical anxiety symptoms in 8 727 mothers between early pregnancy and her child reaching the age of five. The researchers classified these mothers as having low, medium or high anxiety levels and checked the performance of their children in attention tests once the children reached the age of eight. There was no difference in their attention span, no matter how high the anxiety level of the mother was.

However, when a larger group of children were tested at the age of 16, it was clear that there was a difference in hyperactivity symptoms depending on the mother’s anxiety level.  

Dr Blanca Bolea, study leader, said the following: “This is the first time that a study has shown that anxiety is linked to a child’s hyperactivity in later life but that inattention is not linked. One interpretation is that some symptoms of ADHD are associated with the mother’s anxiety, but not all of them. More broadly, it shows that the stresses a mother experiences can show up in her child nearly a generation later; it is worth noting that all the mothers reported an increase in anxiety during pregnancy. Around 28% of the women we tested showed medium or high anxiety. We controlled for hyperactivity in 3 199 children in total, and found that 224 children showed signs of hyperactivity, with the rate of hyperactivity more than double if the mother had suffered from medium or high anxiety.”

A controversial illness

It’s important to note that this study is only an association and we can’t say with certainty that it’s only anxiety during pregnancy that will cause hyperactivity in later life. There are a lot of other genetic, biological or environmental factors that need to be taken into account.

According to the press release explaining the study,  it could be a that the children are responding to perceived anxiety in the mother, or it could be that there is some biological effect which causes this, for example stress hormones in the placenta having an effect on a developing brain. ADHD is a controversial illness, and there doesn’t seem to be any single cause, though we know it can be hereditary. This work shows that maternal anxiety is one factor which is linked to ADHD, but we need some more research to confirm this and other causes.”

Commenting, Professor Andreas Reif (University Hospital, Frankfurt) said:

“This is a very interesting study, especially given the longitudinal and transgenerational character and its large sample size. As with all studies of this design, one however must be cautious not to mix association with causation. As we know that ADHD and anxious traits are correlated on the genetic level, the finding could well be reflective of shared genetic influences. However, it is also important to stress that this study is not on anxiety disorders or ADHD, but rather on traits related to these disorders. For sure these data, however, further add to the emerging picture that ADHD / hyperactivity, anxiety and bipolar disorder are linked.”

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Compiled by Marelize Wilke

Scientists have revealed close-up details of a vital molecule involved in the mix and match of genetic information within cells — opening up the potential to target proteins of this family to combat cancer’s diversity and evolution.