LIGHTER LIQUOR|The booze that Americans imbibe today is less intoxicating than the alcohol they drank in the 1950s, according to an analysis in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. In 2002 beer was the most-favored alcoholic beverage, making up 60 percent of alcohol consumed. In 1950, 80 percent of liquor sold was in the “whiskey” class (straight, bonded or blended). In 1950 the alcohol content of wine sold in the United States averaged 16.75 percent; by 2002 that figure was 11.45 percent. In 1950 the alcohol content of beer averaged 5.02 percent; it was 4.65 percent in 2002.
HEAVY ON RELIGION|Faith may lighten your load – but it apparently gives some people more to carry. Women who are drawn to religiously oriented television, books and radio are 14 percent more likely to be obese than women who are not, according to a study of 2,500 people between 1986 and 1994 in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. But the Purdue University study found that women who frequently attend religious services were less likely to be obese than those who don’t. |The Washington Post
