Two decades ago, the only people eating brown bread were health food fanatics and New Yorkers. But a new report has found that health-conscious Australians are increasingly choosing wholegrain varieties, steadily eroding the popularity of white bread. In pictures: Your favourite recipes Sales of wholegrain and nutrient-enriched bread are growing by 10 to 15 percent […]

Ever since hormone-replacement therapies were linked to a slightly increased risk of cancer, many women are turning to natural supplements to ease annoying menopausal afflictions. Try these drug-free remedies for relief. Get a phyto fix Phytoestrogens are compounds with mild oestrogen-like effects that have been shown to offer relief for hot flushes and vaginal dryness. […]

St George Hospital is refusing to release any details of an epidural blunder that left a young mother crippled, fuelling concerns that the public health system is not being held accountable for its mistakes. Grace Wang, 32, suffered massive damage to her nervous system, leaving her in a wheelchair and unable to hold her newborn […]

Is there anything omega-3s can’t do? These anti-inflammatory fatty acids, found in cold-water fish (such as salmon, tuna, herring and mackerel, and also in some other seafood), have already been shown to exert a protective effect against heart disease, depression, diabetes and arthritis. In pictures: Ten hot tips to stay young Researchers from the Johns […]

You already know that taking time out to practise meditation helps to still your thoughts and leaves you feeling physically and mentally calmer. Now it seems that squeezing just 30 minutes of timeout into your busy daily schedule may also reduce your odds of developing dementia and possibly prevent mental health disorders such as depression. […]

Researchers are growing human hearts in test tubes with hopes of ending long waiting lists for transplants. Scientists at the University of Minnesota in the US created the organs by “stripping” cells from the hearts of deceased people, leaving behind a tough protein skeleton, known as a ‘ghost heart’. They then coated eight ‘ghost hearts’ […]

Five years on from the first hit season, host Natalie visits our favourite farmers. Four weddings, two engagements, two babies – and two more on the way – is proof that Nine’s hit series The Farmer Wants A Wife sows seeds of love every season. And when the show sent host Natalie Gruzlewski around the […]

They’ve lost 270kg between them and never looked better. This year’s remaining seven contestants in The Biggest Loser are scrubbing up very well. Just look at the hotties who’ve been hiding beneath their workout gear of lycra leggings and tatty oversize T-shirts! “I feel so good,” says Lara Whalan (Westren family), 25, who’s lost 37kg. […]

The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt, Sceptre, $25 When Mia’s husband of 30 years calls for a pause in their marriage (“the Pause was French with limp but shiny brown hair. She had significant breasts”) she goes mad briefly, is hospitalised, and emerges from hospital shaken but sane into a world entirely made up […]

Savages, by Don Winslow, William Heinemann, $29.95 It was Sir Michael Parkinson — well-known TV interviewer, lesser-known crime buff — who first put me onto Don Winslow, describing his 2005 novel The Power of the Dog as the best crime thriller ever written. He’s probably right. Four books on, Winslow returns to Dog territory, where […]