When Clark goes to Europe, he often gets dragged into museums to look at paintings. Much of the Renaissance art he sees depicts people who are slightly chunky because that was the sign of health and wealth at that point in history. It turns out that people from that era may have been on to something. Today our culture believes that being a stick figure is healthy and having some meat on your bones means that you're unhealthy. But the latest health findings from the Centers for Disease Control show that being slightly overweight when you're under 30 doesn't raise your risk of cancer and heart disease. In fact, it can even lessen your risk of death from some illnesses. The findings of the study were revealed in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Bear in mind that some scientists think these findings are faulty, so this not a green light for you to get a little chunky. Take any health advice with a grain of salt—or salt substitute because everyone's so sodium conscious these days!

About a year ago, Clark talked about Scott's Miracle-Gro firing employees who smoked. Employers have a direct interest in your health. Statistics tell us that smokers have higher absentee rates and medical bills than non-smokers. Clark recalls when he had a furniture delivery job in high school and the driver claimed that smoking since 12 hadn't hurt him! But today people accept it as common knowledge. Other than outright firing people, is there a way that companies can motivate people to have healthier habits? It turns out that paying workers small financial rewards to go on a fitness regimen works.

According to a new study in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, cash incentives of as little as $7 work to get people in shape. Money is even a better motivator than having a gym at work, the study found. Here's how the study worked: Groups were either offered no incentives, seven dollars or fourteen dollars. They weren't given any advice on how to loss weight or exercise. The people who were paid fourteen dollars were more likely to loss weight than those who received no money. Fourteen dollars was an even bigger motivator than seven dollars, which Clark thinks is funny because it's not really all that much money as an incentive for three months of exercise and diet. The authors of the study now plan to do more research to find out the optimal amount of money it will take to bribe workers to health!

Should you buy antibacterial soaps for your home? People routinely pay more for them, but are they really a benefit? The answer is no, according to a new report in The Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The report found that you won't get any more sanitary with antibacterial soap than you will with plain soap. There's even a stunner of a finding that suggests antibacterial soap can harm you by making you resistant to antibiotics. About two or three years ago, Clark championed early reports about people developing antibiotic resistance from antibacterial soap. He got a lot of pushback from his crew at that time. People don't seem to want to hear that antibacterial soap isn't as good for them as it's cracked up to be. They often wonder why hospital staffers always use antibacterial soaps and lotions. It turns out that the concentration they use in medical facilities is much higher than what's available at retail. So if you're wondering what soap Clark recommends, he thinks Ivory is great because of its affordable price. However, even he doesn't use this soap in his home. He admits to instead overpaying for Irish Spring!

With medicine and science, what we think is true may be completely wrong. Knowledge is a continuous quest, and, over time, we get better. Take, for example, the fact that we used to believe the Sun revolved around the Earth. We considered it a scientific fact at the time. But science and medicine are always changing, which is both good and bad. The latest about face involves vitamins. For years, companies have encouraged us to take Vitamins A, E and beta carotene supplements to prolong life. Well, a recent study conducted to prove that these anti-oxidants would do just that turned out to be completely false. And that isn’t it. The study conducted by the Journal of American Medicine also proved that those vitamins actually curtail your life. JAMA’s study says that taking those vitamins could cause you to die at a younger age. Joni, Clark’s pit bull producer, takes lots of vitamins every day. She thinks another study will come out soon disproving this one. We’ll see. The bottom line is that exercising and eating healthy foods, including produce that naturally contain these ingredients, will prolong and improve your life.

Can you get a cold from being in cold weather? Doctors have rolled their eyes and said “No” for years. Only germs cause colds. But a new study from the University of Cardiff shows that it’s possible to catch a cold from cold weather. The school hires students on campus and pays students to get sick. They expose them to cold weather, to germs and to certain remedies to figure out what is causing the cold and what cures it. So, what causes colds most often? Children! If you have kids, you are more likely to get sick than people who don’t. So, apparently Mom knows best!

Going back one generation, cancer was considered an automatic death sentence. People had trouble just speaking the word. But, science and medicine have finally converged. Today, roughly two in three people survive cancer. That means that they haven’t had a relapse in more than five years. So, we’ve gone from cancer being hopeless to something very hopeful. The biggest improvement in survival rate has been among children, which is wonderful news. But even with the new medicines and science, people still need to take preventative steps and have diagnostic tests. Early detection in breast cancer can be the difference in life and death. For men, the most important screenings are for colon and prostate cancer. Eating well is important too, despite recent studies showing that what you eat is not that important. Lastly, please don’t smoke. Girls and women are now smoking more than men, and smoking is the biggest contributor to cancer.

Clark has some great news for you on the insurance and health care front. Many insurance companies are now writing policies to current and former cancer patients, according to the Dow Jones News Wires. One major life insurance company announced this week that it will offer insurance to women with early stage breast cancer at the same rate as women who are cancer-free. It used to be that having cancer meant you were not insurable. But actuaries are finding that survival rates for cancer are so high these days that they’re happy to sell you life insurance. So, if you’ve been denied health insurance because of cancer, you should shop around and see if you’re eligible now.

So, are those anti-bacterial soaps effective or not? When they first came out, everyone bought them in droves. Then reports showed that people will build up resistance to good bacteria by using them So, which is it? The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the FDA is so concerned about people using these soaps that it is trying to publish warnings about them. That’s enough for Clark. Plain soap is just fine for getting your hands clean, and it is perfectly safe. The report even said products such as Purell are not safe. So, stick to the traditional methods and avoid potential harm. The only places that need these kinds of products are health care offices and hospitals.

Clark’s 6-year-old, Stephanie, has been taking generic ibuprofen for a cold she’s had. She has a particular kind that doesn’t taste awful. Store brands and generics have been winning out over brand label medications, in part because stores make more money and promote them more often. So, manufacturers are coming up with new, hip ways to deliver medicines to us. There sprays, strips and squares that are supposed to do the same work as the nasty tasting medicines we dread taking. It’s similar to the popular breath strips that Listerine invented as an alternative to gurgling mouthwash. All these gimmicks are designed to make it more convenient for you, so they are going to cost more. By coming up with a cute way to deliver that medicine, they can differentiate it from the other meds and charge more for them.

New statistics out from the Mayo Clinic show that the number of people under 40 who are getting skin cancer has tripled. Overwhelmingly, it’s females not males getting skin cancer. And the No. 1 cause is tanning beds. Women in their 20s and 30s who spent a lot of time in the tanning bed when they were younger are prime candidates and need to see a dermatologist at least once a year. Skin cancer used to affect older people who spent years in the sun and were affected years later. But young people are especially susceptible because tanning beds accelerate the process so much. Dermatologists have been accused of being aggressive with moles or freckles in recent years. But it’s better to overreact than not to react at all. The other side of the coin is that people who get skin cancer become ineligible for health coverage once they get cancer. So, be smart and use sunscreen when you’re outside. And stay out of tanning booths all together.

A couple months ago, Clark talked about smoking bans that were taking place around the country in bars restaurants and sometimes in public places. Statistics have showed that smoking bans have not hurt restaurant sales in Florida and New York, but several people have commented vehemently anyway. Clark’s message boards were filled with complaints about how patrons should be able to smoke if they want to. Other people set out to prove that the statistics were wrong. One woman researched the topic and found that many restaurants had to close because they lost between 25 and 30 percent in sales. She called into the show to protest the bans because her bar is losing business. Clark tried to assure her that sometimes bars just go out of business; it’s a natural evolution. We’ll continue to see what happens with this dramatic change.