Health briefs: Older brain can learn, with a catch

But there is a catch. Lots of that information isn't important, and it might be replacing more relevant stuff, like where you parked the car.

A new study suggests that adults who are well into their 60s and 70s can learn visual information just as readily as the whippersnappers in the 19-to-30 range, but the elders pick up much more irrelevant visual information than do their younger counterparts.

The findings could help clarify the nature of cognitive declines that come with age. At least for visual perceptual learning, older brains remain "plastic," or changeable, but they may sacrifice stability — or long-term retention of information, the study suggests.

Tucked away near Lake Geneva, Switzerland, a handful of Nestlé scientists are quietly working on realizing every couch potato's dream: exercise that comes in a bottle.

The world's biggest food company says it has identified how an enzyme in charge of regulating metabolism can be stimulated by a compound called C13, a potential first step in developing a way to mimic the fat-burning effect of exercise. The findings were published in the science journal Chemistry & Biology.

While any slimming smoothies or snack bars are a long way off, eight scientists at the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences in Lausanne are looking for natural substances that can act as triggers.

"The border between food and pharma will narrow in the coming years," said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, an analyst at Bank Vontobel in Zurich. "Companies with a diversified, healthy food portfolio will emerge as the winners."

Does such a statement sound weird to you? That's to be expected: For years we've been told that anemia and iron deficiency should be treated as soon as possible.

Yes, it is true that anemia can be a crippling condition and that, when severe, it can cause heart failure. But a growing pile of clinical evidence shows that low iron stores and mild anemia may be beneficial in some cases, by offering protection from infections such as malaria and tuberculosis, and by helping combat chronic diseases including cancer.

"Anemia is a body's genetically programmed response to illness. You can [see this effect] in many animals, even fish," says Ryan Zarychanski, a University of Manitoba physician.