Stubbing out smoking in films aimed at teenagers could help slash the rate of tobacco use by up to 18%, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Cinematic smoking is a potent risk factor for teenagers, with every 500 smoking shots increasing the likelihood of trying a cigarette by up to 49%.

Top grossing films such as Iron Man, Mission Impossible 2, Men In Black and 101 Dalmatians were among the hits watched by the 6,500 children in the study

"Hollywood plays a role by making smoking look really good," the Daily Telegraph quoted lead researcher James Sargent, of the Norris Cotton Cancer Centre, as saying

"By eliminating smoking in movies marketed to youth (it would) lower adolescent smoking by as much as one-fifth," he noted

Though researchers urged smoke-heavy flicks be given a higher classification rating, they say parents also needed to help steer teens away from danger.

"Authoritative parents" who are "effective in monitoring their children" have a strong track record in lowering tobacco use, the study found

"It is also important to motivate and assist parents in restricting access to these movies, which would further reduce adolescent exposure to onscreen smoking," the researchers wrote.

Women struggling to kick the butt need to look back to their childhood as early age trauma could be the reason behind the habit, say researchers.

The research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, said the decision to start smoking can be linked to difficult events during the early years.

The team observed that women who were physically or emotionally abused as children were 1.4 times more likely to take up smoking as compared to others.

They were also more likely to pick up the habit if they had a parent in prison as troubled experiences during our formative years can stay with us for life, the Daily Mail reported.

"Since adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of psychological distress for both men and women, it seemed intuitive that an individual experiencing an ACE will be more likely to be a tobacco cigarette smoker," said Dr Tara Strine, who led the study.

This effect is principally observed in women, which suggests men have 'different coping mechanisms' for dealing with difficult childhood, Strine said.

The research team believes that the findings could therefore help doctors to develop more effective strategies to help people quit smoking.

"These findings suggest that current smoking cessation campaigns and strategies may benefit from understanding the potential relationship between childhood trauma and subsequent psychological distress on the role of smoking particularly in women," they said.

Traumas can range from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to neglect and household dysfunction and affect a large range of people.

Women who want to lose weight are advised to faithfully keep a food journal, and avoid skipping meals and eating in restaurants -- especially at lunch.

The findings from the study by Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and colleagues looks at the impact of a wide range of self-monitoring and diet-related behaviours and meal patterns on weight change among overweight and obese postmenopausal women.

"When it comes to weight loss, evidence from randomised, controlled trials comparing different diets finds that restricting total calories is more important than diet composition such as low-fat versus low-carbohydrate. Therefore, the specific aim of our study was to identify behaviours that supported the global goal of calorie reduction," McTiernan said.

Specifically, McTiernan and colleagues found that: Women who kept food journals consistently lost about six pounds more than those who did not and those who reported skipping meals lost almost eight fewer pounds than women who did not.

They also found that women who ate out for lunch at least weekly lost on average five fewer pounds than those who ate out less frequently (eating out often at all meal times was associated with less weight loss, but the strongest association was observed with lunch).

If you can't resist eating an entire bar of chocolate in one go, the solution could be simple.

Unwrap it and break it into all of its individual chunks before tucking in.

Research shows that people eat less when presented with several small pieces of food rather than one large one even when the two contain the same number of calories.

It isn't entirely clear why this is so, but scientists believe it could be down to an optical illusion, with the brain and belly fooled into thinking that a bar of chocolate broken into pieces is bigger than one that remains whole.

Similarly, a muffin may suddenly seem more filling if cut into quarters before taking a bite.

US researchers watched more than 300 college students as they ate bagels.

Some were given a bagel that had been cut in four, while others were given a whole one.

Twenty minutes later, the volunteers were given another meal and told they could eat as much or as little of it as they liked.

Those whose bagel had been cut into pieces ate less of it, and also less of the later meal.

Another explanation is that cut-up food is eaten more slowly, allowing the body to realise it is full before the person has overeaten.

An experiment on rats backed up the results.

They were let loose in a maze where one direction led to 30 small food pellets and the other led to a single large pellet that was just as nutritious.

The rats were more likely to choose the route with 30 pellets and ran more quickly towards it.

Devina Wahera, lead author of the report by researchers at Arizona State University, told the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior's annual conference: 'Cutting up energy-dense foods into smaller pieces may be beneficial to dieters who wish to make their meal more satiating while also maintaining portion control.'

Since the ancient world the aromatic fragrance of burning frankincense has been part of many religious ceremonies and is still used as a means to indicate special festive atmosphere in the church today.

But frankincense can do much more.

"The resin from the trunk of Boswellia trees contains anti-inflammatory substances," said Professor Dr. Oliver Werz of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany).

The chair of Pharmaceutical and Medical Chemistry is convinced that these substances can be very beneficial in therapies against diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis or atopic dermatitis.

However, so far the active substances in frankincense cannot at present be found in drugs in German pharmacies, as the pharmacological impact of frankincense hasn't been thoroughly investigated.

"Although Boswellia resin has been used for thousands of years in the Ayurvedic medicine for instance, the clinical studies we have so far are not suffice for a license in Germany and Europe," Professor Werz explained.

But that could change. As part of a mutual project with partners of the University Saarbrucken and a start-up company, Professor Werz and his team examined the curative effect of frankincense.

In this project the researchers were able to show where exactly the boswellic acids which are responsible for the impact of the ingredients of the Boswellia resin actually interfere in the process of inflammation.

"Boswellic acids interact with several different proteins that are part of inflammatory reactions, but most of all with an enzyme which is responsible for the synthesis of prostaglandin E2," Oliver Werz pointed out.

Prostaglandin E2 is one of the mediators of the immune response and plays a decisive role in the process of inflammation, in the development of fever and of pain.

"Boswellic acids block this enzyme efficiently and thereby reduce the inflammatory reaction," the Jena pharmacist explained.

With this, not only a targeted use in the therapy of inflammatory diseases is conceivable. It can also be expected that boswellic acids have less side effects than today's prevalent anti-inflammatory treatments like diclofenac or indometacin. Their impact is less specific, they can increase the risk of stomach ulcers and can negatively affect renal function.

In their latest study the researchers around Professor Werz additionally compared the resin of different kinds of frankincense in its anti-inflammatory impact.

There are more than ten Boswellia species in the world. The most well-known and widely-used one is the Boswellia serrata from Northern and central India.

"We were able to show that the resin of the Boswellia papyrifera is ten times more potent," Professor Werz explained a further result of his research.

This species mostly occurs in the Northeast of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia) and on the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Oman).

Whether frankincense will become accepted, is indeed not only due to the outcome of the clinical examination, which is yet to come.

"Boswellic acids exclusively occur in the resin of Boswellia trees and are very difficult to produce synthetically," Werz pointed out.

Therefore these trees are the only source of these promising active ingredients. However Boswellia trees are already an endangered tree species. In many places they are just being used as heating fuel.

"Thereby without sustained protection not only plant species are endangered but at the same time medicine loses promising active ingredients," Professor Werz warned.