Your health

A dust-up over mites

Bought those expensive mattress protectors, air filters and a HEPA vacuum cleaner to get rid of your dust mites?

It's probably useless, researchers conclude.

A review of 54 studies involving 3,000 people with asthma showed that even if you make a big dent in your dust mite population, enough remain to trigger symptoms.

"I realize that our findings are unwelcome," says lead author Peter Gotzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark, "but those are the facts."

Marriage has benefits

In a new poll, 7 percent of people say they or someone in their household got married so they could get health insurance benefits.

Nearly a quarter of those interviewed by the Kaiser Family Foundation said that within the past year, they or someone they lived with had either taken a new job or decided to stay put to get better health benefits.

Take it in stride

The latest lists of most walkable cities includes places like Tempe, Ariz., (average temperatures over 100 degrees three months of the year) and Fairbanks, Alaska, (65 inches of annual snowfall.)

But we can't argue too much with Illinois' winners, ranked in order: Chicago, Naperville, Aurora, Cicero, Waukegan, Elgin, Springfield, Peoria, Joliet and Rockford.

Nationwide winners in categories, according to Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association, are Des Moines, Iowa, for green spaces; Tempe for most people walking to work; Bozeman, Mont., for safe streets; Fairbanks for highest percentage of walkers; San Francisco for best destinations; and Birmingham, Ala., as the top pick among people working toward more walkable cities.

Find out more at www.prevention.com/bestcities.

Apples and oranges

Everyone's heard that apple-a-day adage. While you're at the fruit bowl, grab an orange, too. Some researchers say the vitamin C in it will help keep your face from wrinkling.

Women 40 and older who had greater amounts of vitamin C were 11 percent less likely to develop fine lines and flaky skin, says a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Vitamin C boosts collagen production, which keeps skin firm," says lead researcher Maeve Cosgrove, a nutritional epidemiologist.