Dangerous purses: "Women rarely go anywhere without a purse, which means that if a woman enters a place full of germs, so does her bag. That could mean she ends up carrying around microbes that could make her sick all day long. Microbiologist Chuck Gerba researches where organisms that make us sick lurk and lately he says he has found that germs gather on the outside of a woman's purse, especially on the bottom. "We found fecal bacteria you normally find on the floor of restroom," he said. "We found bacteria that can cause skin infections on the bottom of purses. What's more amazing is the large numbers we find on the bottom of purses, which indicates that they can be picking up a lot of other germs like cold viruses or viruses that cause diarrhea."




So how come we're not all dead? "A single meal high in saturated fat can affect the arteries and stop the body from protecting itself against heart disease and stroke, according to research to be published next week. A similarly calorie-laden meal that substitutes vegetable fat has far fewer ill effects, said the study by a team at The Heart Research Institute in Sydney. The study, to be published in the August 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, illustrates how daily bad habits add up over the years to heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, experts said. Saturated fats include all animal fats found in meat and dairy products, as well as coconut and palm oils. Most other vegetable fats are polyunsaturated or monounsaturated".