Carrying extra weight on your hips, bum and thighs is good for your health, protecting against heart and metabolic problems, UK experts have said.

Hip fat mops up harmful fatty acids and contains an anti-inflammatory agent that stops arteries clogging, they say.

Big behinds are preferable to extra fat around the waistline, which gives no such protection, the Oxford team said.

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A 107-year-old Malaysian woman says she is ready to marry for the 23rd time because she fears her current drug addict husband might leave her for a younger woman, a report said Monday.

Wook Kundor made headlines four years ago when she married Muhammad Noor Che Musa, a man 70 years her junior in northern Terengganu state, with pictures of the couple’s wedding splashed across regional newspapers.

We’ve had WAGS, yuppies and metrosexuals; now meet our newest social phenomenon, TWITs.

The TWITs are “Teenage Women In Their Thirties”.

Just like men with Peter Pan-syndrome who are not ready to grow up, TWITs are putting serious relationships and parenthood on hold, instead choosing to continue partying and enjoying the freedoms they discovered in their teens, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.

Melbourne fashion model Kelly Johns is proud to be a TWIT. Ms Johns keeps her age a secret but admits she is in her 30s. “People have a perception of me as being young and fun and when I tell them my age it changes the way they see me,” she said.

She doesn’t have children, is single and said the freedom of youth shouldn’t be a distant memory. “I am here to have good clean fun, party it up and live my life.” she said.

“If I found the right man I would settle down and have kids, but I am not going to sit around at home waiting.”

[ via - news.com.au ]

It has researched women’s feelings about snacking and guilt to produce new packaging, new flavors and a new ad campaign, all in an effort to get women to eat Frito-Lay snacks…

Women are snacking more than men, but are not eating as many Frito-Lay snacks, said Jill Nykoliation, the president of Juniper Park, the advertising agency that handled the Frito-Lay women’s project. “So if it’s, you’re snacking two times as much, but you’re not snacking with us, why, and what can we do for you?”

Frito-Lay is also trying to replicate its success with its good-for-you message on its SunChips brand, which is one of its fastest-growing, said Gannon Jones, the vice president for portfolio marketing at Frito-Lay North America.

[ iht.com ]

Here she is, Miss America. The Miss America crown was won by Indiana’s own Katie Stam, a student at the University of Indianapolis, People.com is reporting.

Stam was among four Miss America finalists that were voted on by viewers of the competition, a new development after 88 years of pageantry. The show was aired on TLC and hosted by Mario Lopez.

Last year’s Miss America winner, Kirsten Haglund of Michigan, crowned Stam, who also walks away with a $50,000 scholarship as well as her title.

A model dressed as the Virgin Mary poses during a performance in Santiago.

A prominent fashion designer has sparked outrage in Chile by dressing up models like the Virgin Mary — in some cases with ample, near-naked breasts.

The Roman Catholic Church condemned Ricardo Oyarzun’s plans for a show featuring the models, and a conservative group tried unsuccessfully to block it in court.

At the society’s annual meeting last month in Chicago, some prominent surgeons said they had openings and for the first time agreed to negotiate fees with patients.

More recently, a quarterly earnings statement from Mentor Corporation, a breast implant manufacturer, reported that the number of breast implants sold in the United States decreased 5 percent during the three months ending Sept. 26 over the same period last year. In the last month, two manufacturers of cosmetic medical devices have closed.

“In Orange County, where plastic surgery is a part of their culture, doctors told me business is down 30 to 40 percent,” said Thomas Seery, the president of realself.com, a site devoted to reviewing vanity-medicine procedures. “That tells me something is fundamentally changing there.”

[nytimes.com]

The 21-year-old blue-eyed blonde beauty, who is pursuing an engineering degree, was crowned Miss World 2008 in an extravagant African-themed pageant held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The top five finalists also included Miss India, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Miss Trinidad and Tobago, Gabrielle Walcott, Miss Angola, Brigith dos Santos, and Miss South Africa, Tansey Coetzee.

Tutors at the university in northwest Siberia where the new Miss World studies praised her academic record on Monday, happily complaining that the news of her victory almost disrupted classes.

Sukhinova is a fifth-year student studying cybernetic systems in the Oil and Gas University in Tyumen, a center of the region’s oil and gas industry located over 2,000 kilometers from Moscow. She is one of only five women in the 27-student group.

The Spring/Summer 2009 show presentations kicked off yesterday and will continue run to October 29 at the official venues, SMX Convention Center and SM Mall of Asia.

Designers from Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Pampanga, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite and Quezon as well as the “Pilars of Philippine Fashion” that includes Aureo Alonzo, Ben Farrales, Pitoy Moreno, Boy Ginoo, Nolie Hans, Barge Ramos, Anthony Nocom and Ricci Lizaso will present a 30-piece premier collections and 45-piece solo shows. Top local retail brands such as Bayo, Bench, Folded & Hung, Penshoppe and Plains & Prints are also joining the fashion week.

The Spring/Summer 2009 collections aim to promote eco-friendly couture by using organic and indigenous materials.

Stay tuned for some updates on the wonderful display of Filipino talent and ingenuity.