According to a review of several studies at Newcastle University's Human Nutrition Research Centre, women tend to pile on the pounds when they move in with their boyfriends, while men actually lose weight and enjoy improved long-term health. This is because both partners will adapt the eating patterns of the other to try and please them, which means that women started consuming heavier meals, with greater amounts of fats and sugars, while men ate healthier options.

One American study found that men's consumption of meat went down and women's went up and another study discovered that women get fatter when they get married but tend to lose weight if the couple split up.

LOW CAL MEANS LIVING LONGER IT'S been established for some time that cutting calories in rats increases their lifeexpectancy and now a study at the Louisiana State University has found that a low-calories diet can also reverse the signs of ageing in people. Forty-eight overweight people were divided into four groups; the first were put on a diet to maintain their current weight, the second cut their calorie consumption by 25%, the third combined calorie restriction with exercise and the fourth was put on a very low-calorie diet until they had lost 15% of their body weight, followed by a maintenance plan.

After six months the fourth group had lost the most weight and all three diet groups were discovered to have reduced fasting insulin levels, a commonly recorded factor in people who live to be over 100. They also boasted reduced average core body temperature, again linked to living longer, and there was a reduction in DNA damage. Although it's not what we want to hear as we tuck into our second Easter egg, if you want to live longer, eat less.

BY GUM CHEWING gum isn't a food per se but it's a very useful thing to have when prelunch hunger pangs strike or to avoid giving offence after a particularly garlicky meal. So handy yes, but good for your health? Apparently so, according to chewing gum manufacturer Wrigleys, who are so convinced of the health benefits of gum that they've invested multimillions in a research programme called the Wrigley Science Institute.

According to them, chewing gum improves concentration, reduces stress and helps keep weight down.

Previous studies have shown that chewing gum does indeed help prevent tooth decay, while psychologists at the University of Northumbria discovered that chewing gum helps memory because, it was suggested, the act increases oxygen supply to the brain. The work of the Wrigley Science Institute, which will be carried out in independent laboratories, won't be known for another year and it will be extremely interesting to see what results they'll find. It's most likely to be the sort of data that will encourage us to buy more gum.

Claire O'Mahony healthmatters@tribune. ie