Aging

Until recently, very few people had ever heard of raspberry ketones, the aromatic compounds that give the berries their distinctive smell. Today, health food stores have trouble keeping the capsules or drops of the stuff on their shelves. Almost overnight, an obscure plant compound became the next big thing in weight loss - and all it took was a few words from Dr. Oz. In a February episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," Mehmet Oz told viewers that raspberry ketones were "the No. 1 miracle in a bottle to burn your fat. " Once Oz calls something a "miracle," it doesn't remain obscure for long.

In the end, the mountain lion was probably looking for a place to call his own. Scientists believe the male mountain lion roamed his way down the Santa Monica Mountains early Tuesday, likely following a runoff channel. When daylight broke, he found himself in the middle of the city and scared. The lion was 3, and experts said that was the age to carve out his own territory. "These young guys are looking for a home of their own," said Jeff Sikich, a biologist with the National Park Service.

Two 17-year-old girls have been sentenced for torturing and butchering an elderly woman, less than three weeks after a pair of 10-year-olds were charged with murdering a toddler. Again, a troubled nation is asking, how could this happen? Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times. The mental images of the crime have shocked the nation just as the video pictures of little James Bulger being led to his death did last month.

When he stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the famously reclusive Howard Hughes would have roast beef sandwiches left for him in a crook of a tree, go on 2 a.m. treasure hunts for freshly baked pineapple upside-down cakes that were hidden on the grounds, and keep a phone booth inside his bungalow. "They'd switch different booths in and out of different bungalows because he [Hughes] didn't want to go through the hotel operator," says producer Richard D. Zanuck, who was told about Hughes by his father, 20th Century Fox co-founder Darryl F. Zanuck, also a frequent visitor to the picturesque pink hotel.

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

A federal administrative judge ruled that pomegranate juice maker Pom Wonderful used deceptive advertising when it implied its products could treat or prevent serious diseases and other medical conditions. Judge D. Michael Chappell upheld much of a 2010 Federal Trade Commission complaint against the Los Angeles company owned by Lynda and Stewart Resnick. The judge said in his decision issued Monday that Pom used "insufficient" evidence to back its claims that Pom products "treat, prevent or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer or erectile dysfunction.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

In a quest to look younger, be healthier and feel more vital later in life, increasing numbers of men, just like Jeffry Life, are turning to testosterone and human growth hormone. Use of both hormones is controversial. Read on: Testosterone: "Older men . . . go to their physicians and say, 'I don't have energy, I don't have sex interest, I can't get around,' " said Dr. Thomas Gill, professor of geriatric medicine and director of the Center on Disability and Disabling Disorders at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Resveratrol, the plant compound found in red wine and reputed to have anti-aging effects, including protection against cancer and diabetes, has just had a "told-you-so" moment. Resveratrol 's discoverer, the embattled Harvard professor who hopes it will point the way to new anti-aging drugs, long argued that the phytonutrient worked its magic by "turning on" the SIRT1 gene. The SIRT1 gene, one of a family of genes, the Sirtuins, is believed to control the good function and longevity of cells and, in turn, of their host.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Andrew Bynum was right. Close-out games can be easy. The Oklahoma City Thunder stepped all over the Lakers in the fourth quarter of their 106-90 Game 5 victory Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, ending the Lakers' season yet again in the Western Conference semifinals. It wasn't as bad as last season's 36-point blowout loss in Dallas, and there won't be any carry-over suspensions for next season, but the two-championship run the Lakers put together couldn't have seemed any further in the past.

Like a bad love affair, they kept it a secret from their families as long as they could. Because in 2012, who can admit the thing they want more than anything in the world is to open a bookstore? Now they know. Pop-Hop Books & Print is holding its grand opening on Sunday with readings, music, printing and refreshments. Located in Highland Park on a stretch of York Boulevard that sparkles with new shops and restaurants, the store is a celebration of books as print artifact, with used literary and art books for sale and, tucked behind movable shelves, a screen-printing salon.

OK, so I recognize that guy. Of course, absolutely, that's him. Still clutch, still fearless, still talented enough to throw his aging body in front of a defeat and almost single-handedly stop it, spin it on its axis, and turn it into a victory. Yeah, Kobe Bryant is still the one. Two days after giving away a second-round playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bryant grabbed one back for the Lakers on Friday night, controlling the momentum and creating the magic that gave the Lakers a 99-96 home victory in Game 3. With memories of Bryant's fourth-quarter collapse Wednesday still fresh, Bryant scored 14 points in this fourth quarter to give the Lakers new life, if only for 24 hours.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Is it over? It's just the first game in two weeks' worth of them, the earliest hours in a brawl that could last all day, but I know what everyone is thinking, so we might as well ask it. Is this first punch a knockout punch? How on earth can the Lakers peel themselves off the floor to win four of the next six games against an Oklahoma City team that just beat them by 29 points, two dozen sprints, a dozen floor burns, six dunks, five tongue-wagging celebrations, and one glaring Derek Fisher?

As self-consciously precocious teens go, the high schooler at the center of"Girl in Progress"is an exceptionally contrived example. But contrivance is the engine of this young-adult comedy, which pretends to deconstruct storytelling clichés while never really transcending them. The transparent postmodern manipulation of Hiram Martinez's screenplay revolves around Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez), responsible daughter to an aimless mother, Grace (Eva Mendes), who had her when she was just a teen herself.

With one high-profile haircut on the Paramount Studios lot, Vidal Sassoon vaulted to fame in Hollywood. Flown in from London, he trimmed the tresses of Mia Farrow for her role in the film "Rosemary's Baby" - a $30 haircut that he calculated cost $5,000, including airfare. The 1967 event was staged inside a makeshift "salon" in a boxing ring. The film's director, Roman Polanski, looked on as Sassoon gave the actress a pixie cut that would be copied by women the world over.

As an age, the big 5-0 is not quite old but certainly not young. You can embrace it with a big birthday bash or contemptuously tear up the inevitable invitation to join AARP. Nevertheless, visiting the doctor for a checkup at the half-century mark is bound to be a sobering reality check. Even using the word "century" in relation to one's own age ... ouch. "What a doctor sees is the sum total of what's happened for those 50 years," said Dr.

There's so much to praise in the blissful Broadway revival of "Follies," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre on the heels of its numerous Tony nominations, but let's pay homage first to the sheer sophistication of the show itself. After experiencing "Follies" again - an adult entertainment if ever there was one - I flat-out refuse to accept any more jukebox substitutes. One doesn't often talk about architecture when writing about musicals, but the most impressive thing about "Follies," beyond Stephen Sondheim's bejeweled score, is the ingenious way it is constructed.

WASHINGTON - Days before Christmas 2010, Congress was in a foul mood. Republicans had just swept the midterm elections, but Democrats were intent on finishing the year with a landmark lame-duck session on President Obama's top priorities. One measure, a revamped nuclear nonproliferation treaty with Russia, faced Republican opposition and an uncertain fate. Key GOP leaders opposed it. But Sen.Richard G. Lugarof Indiana, the party's elder statesman on foreign policy issues, was in favor.

That stereotypical image of the American teenager glued to the phone needs an update. A new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 37% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 participate in video chats using such applications as Skype, Google Talk and iChat - and girls are more likely to engage in them than boys. "As more and more devices in our lives have video capabilities - as laptops and computers come with built-in video cameras, and many smartphones have cameras that allow for video chatting, for taking videos - teens are taking advantage of that," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist with Pew Research Center.