​Here Are All the Ways Eating an Avocado Helps Your Health

Want another reason to add a couple slices of avocado onto your sandwich? People who regularly eat avocados tend to have better overall diets, taking in more fiber, healthy fats, and certain vitamins than those who don’t eat the fruit, according to a new study in Internal Medicine Review. They also weighed less, had lower waist circumferences, and lower insulin levels. Now, the study was supported by the Hass Avocado Board—who obviously support the consumption of avocados—but the study also needed to pass an objective peer review to be published.

Simply thinking you’re taking statins may make you believe you’re experiencing side effects associated with them, new research from Imperial College London suggests. When patients weren’t sure whether they were taking statins or a placebo pill, they reported a similar number of side effects. But when they knew they were taking statins, they were up to 41 percent more likely to report muscle pain, one of the most common side effects of the drug that causes many to discontinue its use. This illustrates the “nocebo” effect, where you develop a side effect known to be associated with a drug that’s not actually related to the drug itself.

The Esophageal Cancer Action Network (ECAN) just filed a citizen’s petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking the agency to add new warnings on over-the-counter acid reflux meds about the risk of esophageal cancer associated with persistent acid reflux disease, according to The Baltimore Sun. The meds may relieve the symptoms, but that doesn’t mean the cancer risk no longer exists, the petition says. The FDA is currently reviewing the petition and will respond directly to ECAN.

It’s not just your imagination: You may feel extra crappy during a thunderstorm if you suffer from asthma or other respiratory ailments, researchers from the University of Georgia suggest. That’s because the combination of rainfall, winds, and lightning together with the available pollen and mold spores can exacerbate asthma flares, they say. What’s more, the electrical activity during a thunderstorm can further break up the pollen, making it easier to disperse—and you more likely to start wheezing.

Carrying too much extra weight is a risk factor for arthritis, since it can place extra pressure on your joints, causing the cartilage to wear away. But losing the pounds could help: Overweight or obese people who lost 5 percent of their bodyweight showed lower rates of cartilage degeneration than those whose weight remained stable—and the effects were even more significant in people who lost 10 percent of their bodyweight, the researchers from the University of California at San Francisco found.