Optimism linked to healthier eating among women

By Allison Bond NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women with a sunny disposition may also have an easier time adopting healthy habits, according to a new study. “It’s not just having a sunny outlook – rather, this is a marker of other things people do,” said Melanie Hingle, a dietician at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The study used data collected as part of the Women’s Health Initiative, a study of a national sample of postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. Hingle and her team found that the most optimistic one third of the women saw the most improvement in their diets, whether or not they had completed the nutrition program.