Blog Posts by YouBeauty.com

Don't put it off—improvement can start right now.

If you eat a lot of fish or take Omega-3 supplements to stave off memory loss in old age, we at YouBeauty salute you. If you don't: Start now! (As a bonus, the fatty acids are also bang-up wrinkle fighters. Just sayin'.) Either way, we've got some great news for all of you. While the bulk of research says you need Omega-3s to prevent bad things from happening in the future-inflammation, clogged arteries, Alzheimer's disease-a March 2013 study reveals that they can improve how well your brain works right now.

QUIZ: How Fast Are You Aging?

The form of Omega-3 you get from fatty fish, docosahexaenoic acid, better known as DHA, is vital for brain health. DHA is one of the main structural components of brain matter, and its ability to slow cognitive decline in older adults as well as its brain-boosting benefits for infants are well established. But for the most part, that's who takes it-older adults or pregnant mothers and infants.

A team of food and nutrition scientists

Waffled treads and a slew of standard, stride-correction features built into running shoes since the 1970s haven't reduced the risk of running injuries-up to 80 percent of runners report being sidelined with at least one lower extremity injury. That's why some experts say it's time to toss out highly structured kicks and set your feet free.

"Traditional running shoes are so stiff and padded that they do too much of the work your joints were meant to do on their own," says Irene Davis, Ph.D., director of the Spaulding National Running Center at Harvard Medical School. "This can leave your feet and ankles weak and susceptible to injury."

QUIZ: Are You Active Enough?

As Davis explains it, running in typical training shoes with a cushioned midsole encourages you to land on your heels. By comparison, an ultra-light "barefoot" or "minimal" shoe that's been largely stripped of padding exposes your heel to impact and promotes a shorter running stride so you land closer to the

Stop worrying about your wrinkles!

Ever complimented someone on looking young for her age, or pointed out a peer who is aging poorly? Called attention to the very beginnings of wrinkles on your forehead or a stray gray hair? Have the words "I need a facelift," ever escaped from your lips? If you answered yes to any of the above, you're guilty of "old talk"-and you're not alone.

As women age, they are increasingly likely to talk disparagingly about looking old or wishing to look younger. That kind of language has the potential to do serious damage to how women feel about themselves and their bodies. There's been a lot of research on the demoralizing impact of fat talk, the negative comments we make about our own weight. But old talk is just starting to enter the conversation.

QUIZ: How Old Do You Think You Look?

"Until now, we have used the term 'the thin ideal' to describe what the ideal woman in our culture looks like," says Carolyn Black Becker, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Trinity University in San

Up until now, lasers haven't been very effective at removing tattoos.

Some mistakes-like that rainbow and pot of gold tattoo that seemed so genius and so necessary when you stumbled into the tattoo parlor on St. Patrick's Day-are a little hard to forget. After all, you (along with the rest of the world) can see it every time you wear a sleeveless shirt. It's like you should have just gotten "drunk" tattooed on your forehead-or maybe you actually did.

Now there's a way to reverse that poor decision. A new laser system developed by Cynosure, called PicoSure, is the first safe and effective picosecond aesthetic laser to be FDA-cleared and approved for commercialization to remove both tattoos and benign pigmented lesions. And you can expect it to show up very soon in aesthetic dermatologist and plastic surgeon offices.

MORE: The Reasons Women Get Inked

So how does this laser remove tattoos better than other lasers out there? Cynosure president and CEO Michael Davin explains: "PicoSure accomplishes this by delivering short-pulse bursts of

Wheat? Whole wheat? Multi-grain? It's all so confusing!

The bread section is the grocery market aisle many of us frequent the most. It's also the most confusing. Faced with labels ranging from "organic whole wheat" to "seven grain" to "flax and grains," it's enough to make your head spin.

But the decisions you make in this aisle affect your health, along with your risk of chronic disease, in a big way. Consider this your shopping guide to help you bag a loaf that'll add years to your life, instead of taking away from it.

QUIZ: Are You Getting All Your Beauty Nutrients?

The Health Risks of White Bread
Good, old-fashioned white bread? It's no more than an enormous sugar cube. It will shoot your blood sugar to the roof and take it back down just as quickly and steeply as it turned it up. Along for the ride is insulin (sugar's chaperone), needed to take sugar into your cells so it can be used for energy. This roller coaster of blood sugar has been shown to increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, fatty liver, obesity and

Gray is here to stay.

We Asked: Des Tobin, Professor of Cell Biology and Director of the Centre for Skin Sciences at the University of Bradford in the UK.

The Answer: Sorry, no dice. You can neither slow the onset of graying nor reverse it once it's happened.

Hair gets its color from melanocytes, pigment-producing cells that live near the base of each hair. As a hair grows, it absorbs pigment, called melanin. The color that results depends on the ratio of eumelanin (which is black/brown) to pheomelanin (red/blonde), and that is determined by genetics, hormones and age. That's why blonde kids often turn brunette after puberty-and why they go gray as older adults.

QUIZ: How Old Does Your Hair Look?

Graying happens when your melanocytes begin to produce less melanin, fail to produce melanin altogether or simply die off. Researchers have also found that hydrogen peroxide (a powerful bleaching agent) is produced naturally in the hair follicle, but it's broken down by enzymes. As you age, those

Looks like a great way to start the day!

We've all heard that skipping breakfast is bad for us-from our moms to the media. And there are good reasons why you should grab a bite to eat on your way out the door. Ditching the first meal of the day has been linked to everything from high cholesterol levels to large waist sizes.

RESEARCH: Skipping Breakfast Linked to Major Health Risks

"When we skip breakfast, we have elevations in morning and afternoon hunger, plus a desire to eat and a reduced fullness or satiety," says Heather Liedy, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. "We also have elevations in ghrelin, a hormone known to increase hunger, and reductions in PYY, a hormone known to increase satiety." As if that weren't enough, skipping breakfast makes the regions in your brain that control cravings more active in the evening.

Liedy is the author of a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that not only reinforces the

Go nuts!

As nutty as it may sound, eating a handful of walnuts, pecans or pistachios every day could help ward off an expanding waistline. It could also boost your heart health and lower your risk of several diseases, according to two 2012 studies. Not too shabby, right?

MORE: Eight Fatty Snacks That Help You Slim Down

The first study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, looked at 13,292 men and women and compared their weight and risk factors for certain diseases. What the researchers found was that those who ate at least one-quarter ounce a day of tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) had a lower body weight, as well as a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, compared to non-nut-eaters.

What's more, the researchers also noted that regular tree nut eaters had higher levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and lower levels of C-reactive protein, a marker for