HEALTH BEAT.

• Position: Smartphones and exercise, saturated and healthy fats, and prevalence of atherosclerosis in the Tsimane people

The Most Sexually Diseased States in America report, based, in part, on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga., has been updated by BackgroundChecks.org. They are Alaska, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Delaware, and Oklahoma. The 10 least sexually problematic states are Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Maine, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

When individuals use their smartphones for texting or talking during treadmill exercise, it causes a reduction in workout intensity, maintain researchers from the College of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent (Ohio) State University. The results of their study and the widespread use of smartphones during exercise in general also help explain the results of a previous KSU study that found a negative relationship between smartphone use and cardiorespiratory fitness.

If cutting saturated fats from your diet, carefully consider what you will eat instead--so says Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard's School of Public Health, Boston, Mass. "If people replace their saturated fat with refined carbohydrates like white bread, bagels, and white rice, it is not going to do any good." He recommends eating more healthy fats such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seafood--which can help to lower heart disease risk. Dietary guidelines recommend that we get no more than 10% of our daily calories from saturated fat.

For most Americans over the age of 60, atherosclerosis--arteries clogged by plaque--is a common fact of life. However, "the Tsimane--an indigenous population in the Amazon region of Bolivia--have the lowest reported prevalence of atherosclerosis ever recorded," says Michael Gurven, chair of the Integrative Anthropological Sciences unit at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "They have minimal smoking, and they have no trans fat and little saturated fat in their diets. They eat a lot...