Health briefs: Friendly peer pressure

Interested in adopting healthier habits? You have a better chance of success if you find a friend with similar traits to share the experience, a new study in the journal Science says. Participants paired with others of similar body mass, age, fitness level and diet were three times as likely to adopt healthy behaviors as those matched randomly in an Internet-based study conducted by a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I think the reality is, we as individuals may have less motivation to change on our own than if we're surrounded by our peer group," said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at North Shore-LIJ Health System, who is familiar with the study. "We're very influenced by the group phenomenon.

Fish's upside

Eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as cod and salmon, may significantly lower a young woman's risk of developing heart disease, Danish researchers report. The researchers found that women of childbearing age who never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems than women who ate fish often, and a 90 percent higher risk than women who ate fish weekly.