How to eat same foods but trim the calories

Want to eat mostly the same foods but cut the calories? Prevention magazine’s August issue has rounded up tons of good ways to swap less-healthful foods for more healthful ones. For example:

•Swap a 4-inch chocolate chip cookie for four 1-inch squares of dark chocolate and you’ll save 180 calories.

•Swap a cup of (about 15) potato chips for 2 cups of air-popped popcorn to save 95 calories.

•Swap 3 ounces of beef meatloaf for 3 ounces of turkey meatloaf and save 115 calories.

•Swap a 4-ounce pork chop for 3 ounces of pork tenderloin and save 100 calories.

•Swap a blueberry muffin for a whole-grain English muffin with 1 tablespoon blueberry fruit spread and save (gasp!) 270 calories.

•Swap a 16-ounce iced Mocha Frappuccino for a 16-ounce iced coffee with fat-free milk and save (another gasp!) 270 calories.

Yogurt for gum health

If you want healthy gums, brush your teeth — and eat your yogurt. AARP Bulletin reports that in a study of men and women ages 40 to 79, those who consumed fermented milk products such as yogurt (at least 2 ounces a day) had significantly improved gum health. The study was done at Japan’s Kyushu University. Go beyond yogurt, too, because “insufficent calcium in the diet is associated with periodontal disease,” Boston University’s Salomon Amar said.

5-in-1 vaccine can save babies needle sticks

Sanofi Pasteur’s Pentacel is the first five-in-one vaccine that protects babies against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and “Haemophilus influenzae” type b, or HiB. The combination vaccine reduces by seven the number of shots for babies in the first two years of life, said Texas pediatrician Dr. Jason Terk.

— With Journal wire reports