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If you're using fat free dressing on your salad, you're doing it all wrong. According to scientists, you need to eat salad with fat-based dressings to get the most out of the veggies. Having no fat in your salad actually diminishes the benefit from eating vegetables. This sounds a little crazy, right? But yes, even though fat free dressing has less calories than its fatty filled counterpart, you're not getting the full oomph you want when eating vegetables with skinny dressings. Researchers at Purdue University compared salad eating with dressing that had saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat at...

Obese government workers in South Carolina can get stomach-shrinking surgery through the state health plan under a pilot program that starts in January. The state's employee insurance plan will cover gastric-bypass or Lap-Band surgery costs for 100 people statewide on a first-come, first-serve basis, said Stephen VanCamp, director of the employee insurance program. The surgeries - which involve either surgically creating a smaller stomach or shrinking intake with a belt-like, adjustable device - cost about $24,000 each. Lawmakers required the test program in the 2010-11 Budget as a way to address the state's growing obesity problem. The Budget and Control...

Scientists in the Netherlands have created pig in a test tube. Debate has already started on whether it will save the world, or just throw vegetarians into a quandary. In the meantime, the researchers may be in line for a celebratory feast: They could be the new front-runners for a million-dollar prize offered by a major animal rights group. The research team, funded by a major sausage maker and the Dutch government, used cells from a live pig to grow pork muscle tissue in a Petri dish. After extracting cells called myoblasts from the muscle of a live pig, the...

If a fat-free BLT sandwich sounds too good to be true, ask New York celebrity chef David Burke to make one. His version would go something like this: Lettuce, tomato and a few sprays of bacon on toast. Burke, chef at the upscale Manhattan eatery davidburke & donatella, has come out with fat-, calorie- and carbohydrate-free "flavor sprays" for regular Joes who are watching their weight or are time-crunched in the kitchen. There are 18 savory and sweet sprays in the line, from smoked bacon to banana split. A dozen more flavors are planned, including wasabi, sausage and peppers, and...