Top-selling drugs, including the anti-blood-clotter Plavix, will lose their patent protection by the end of 2012, opening the market to much cheaper generic versions.

The time added to a woman's life if she doesn't smoke, is physically active, maintains a healthy weight and follows a Mediterranean diet (high in produce, nuts, legumes, whole grains, fish, mono-unsaturated fats; moderate in booze; and low in red meat and refined grains).

Daily shopping appears to cut a woman's risk for early death by 23 percent, according to a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Researchers suspect that shopping's health benefits come not just from the pleasure of spending money but also from doing the physical activity that running errands requires, socializing with people you meet along the way and enjoying the fun of getting out of the house, not to mention restocking the pantry with fresh food.

Aloe Vera and prickly pear juices are thought to have properties that reduce inflammation in the body. (Chronic inflammation has been linked to cancer and heart disease.) And prickly pear extract may be a hang-over remedy: One study says it cuts day-after symptoms, apparently by lowering alcohol-induced inflammation.

False. People hospitalized with a serious illness are more likely to die within 30 days of admission if they're cared for by a physician who's been practicing for 20-plus years rather than one who finished her training more recently, says research from Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “It may be more difficult for physicians who trained long ago to keep up with the rapid advances in hospital care for very sick patients,” explains lead study author William Southern, MD. That said, once admitted to a facility, you may be better off in the hands of a hospitalist—a doctor who works only in hospital settings—regardless of that person's age. “We suspect these physicians are more likely to keep up with improvements in inpatient care, because that's what they focus on all the time,” says Southern.

True, but … not for the reason you think. Researchers from Tokyo Women's Medical University examined autopsy reports from 2000 to 2007 and found that nearly 80 percent of the people who drowned had eaten two hours or less before swimming. The surprise: They didn't necessarily die because they cramped up. The scientists suspect that some choked on their vomit while swimming (because the physical exertion caused their filled stomachs to churn too much). Or some may have lost consciousness because too much blood was diverted from the head to the belly, where digestion was taking place.

Jonesing for some chocolate? If you visualize yourself eating multiple bites of your favorite candy before you take that first chomp, you'll end up consuming a lot less, according to research done with M&M's at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. What's going on? When you eat a single food, you get tired of it after a while and don't want it anymore, notes lead author Carey Morewedge, PhD. More good news: The study team recently discovered that this trick curbs cravings even more effectively when you're hungry.

In a major study of nearly 14,000 subjects, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, concluded that each 10 percent increase in muscle mass (as a percentage of body weight) correlated to a 12 percent drop in prediabetes. Improvements occurred even in individuals who exercised but did not lose weight. To boost your odds of preventing type 2 diabetes, strength-train at least twice a week by lifting weights, exercising with resistance bands or doing push-ups and other moves that use your body weight for resistance.

Hepatitis C can seriously—and fatally—harm your liver. But when either of two new drugs, Incivek (telaprevir) and Victrelis (boceprevir), is used in conjunction with conventional medications, the cure rate for the disease rises from under 50 percent to nearly 70 percent, says Nancy Reau, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Vo2 max, a measure of the maximal amount of oxygen per kilogram of body weight that your body uses in a minute of intense exercise. (Calculate yours at ntnu.edu/cerg/vo2max or download the free iPhone app VO2Cal.) You're in good shape as long as your VO₂ max stays above 35 milliliters per kilogram per minute, according to a study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Women who slipped below that figure were five times as likely as the fittest women in the study to have at least three cardiovascular-disease risk factors. VO2 max, a common gauge of fitness, is the single best indicator of longevity because it reflects, among other things, “how well your heart pumps,” says study author Ulrik Wisloff, PhD, head of the Cardiac Exercise Research Group at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Regular aerobic exercise can help boost your VO2 max.

False. A new study shows that nearly 7 percent of women who get shingles will succumb again—a good reason to talk with your doc about protecting yourself with the shingles vaccine. This year the FDA approved the vaccine for people 50 and older; previously it was approved only for those 60 and up. Shingles, an extremely painful rash, is caused by a reactivation of the chicken pox virus 98 percent of us had as kids.

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