Diversity is the spice of life – and none more so than for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, who bucks the trend when it comes the all-American family.

In a new interview, the stunning actress opens up about her brood of six children – who between them were born in five different countries across three continents and are raised by their American parents, power couple ‘Brangelina’.

Speaking to the U.S. January edition of Marie Claire, Jolie describes each of them in loving detail, referencing their quirks, hobbies and behavioural traits.

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This may be the first time you’ve heard of it, but diets rich in choline may help protect your brain from the affects of ageing.

The nutrient from the B vitamin family is found in foods like chicken, eggs and saltwater fish as well as legumes such as kidney beans.

Researchers at Boston University found people who got plenty of choline in their diets performed better on memory tests and were less likely to show brain changes associated with dementia.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to get the benefits of a vigorous workout without having to sweat.

Some years ago, Clinton Rubin, a biomechanical engineer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, set out to develop a non-drug treatment that could mimic the bone-building action of exercise. His research resulted in a compact platform, called the Juvent 1,000, that produces tiny up and down vibrations. Simply stand on the device, and the shaking motion is supposed to make muscles contract and put tiny stresses on the skeletal structure, leading to bone-building activity – just like real exercise.

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Most weight-watchers know that the best way to shed pounds is to combine a healthy diet with exercise, rather than just rely on one or the other.

However, scientists still know little about the relationship the two factors have with each other.

Now a review from Harvard University has found that starting a fitness regime first could be the key to tackling obesity.

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Health Canada contends that a maximum intake of 400 milligrams of caffeine per day is safe for healthy adults – an amount found in about three small (8 ounce) cups of coffee.

Women of childbearing age should limit caffeine intake to 300 milligrams per day as some evidence suggest that heavy caffeine intakes increase the risk of miscarriage.

During pregnancy, I advise women to consume no more than 200 milligrams of caffeine per day.

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When it comes to healthy eating, we’re told to choose our foods by colour. The darker and brighter the colour, the more nutrients and phytochemicals they have.

For many foods that’s good advice. Brown bread has more vitamins and fibre than white bread. Spinach, carrots and other brightly coloured vegetables offer more beta carotene than celery, cucumbers and other pale looking produce.

But dark versus light or brown versus white isn’t always a straightforward choice. In some cases, dark coloured foods don’t offer more nutrients than their white counterparts.

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