2019-09-01 Reader\'s Digest

Vaccines May Have

Extra Benefits

Measles. Polio. Tuber-

culosis. Typhoid fever.

Thanks to vaccines,

these diseases have

been mostly eradicated

in industrialized na-

tions. And it turns out

that these live vaccines

may protect against dis-

eases beyond the ones

they were developed to

prevent. For instance, a

recent study showed

that a typhoid vaccine

also appeared to protect

against influenza, yeast

infections, and tetanus.

Earlier studies have

demonstrated that chil-

dren who receive the

measles vaccine are less

likely to die from pneu-

monia and diarrhea, as

well as from measles.

Similarly, when the live

polio vaccine and the

bacillus Calmette-

Guérin (BCG) vaccine

for tuberculosis are in-

troduced in developing

countries, deaths from

all causes go down. Re-

searchers theorize that

live vaccines work to

strengthen the overall

immune system.

BRAIN SCANS REVEAL

WHO CAN STICK TO DIETS

In a recent experiment, 123 healthy men and

women underwent MRI scans of their brains

while they looked at images of food items

and rated how tasty and healthy they were.

They were also asked to name a healthy food.

The participants with more gray matter in

two brain regions—the dorsolateral

prefrontal cortex and the ventromedial

prefrontal cortex—were more likely to make

healthy choices. Luckily, you can increase

the volume of your gray matter. It happens

when you push yourself to learn new things,

such as words in a foreign language.

42 september 2019 | rd.com Photograph by The Voorhes

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