The Checkup: Hot Dogs Are Killing You, Study Says

• While I could take or leave a hot dog (just never had a thing for ’em), I could go to town on some sausage. But a new study on processed meat is giving me second thoughts. As HealthDay reports, a study found that people who ate the most hot dogs, sausage and other processed meat faced a 44 percent higher risk for premature death than those who ate less of the stuff. The study compared those who ate 160 grams of processed meat a day (the equivalent of about three-and-a-half hot dogs) to those who hate 10 to 20 grams. So why the correlation? Researchers aren’t entirely sure—the study found an association between meat and death risk, not a cause-and-effect relationship—but it could have something to do with some of the preservatives and additives in them, like nitrates, which cause the formation of carcinogens and may lead to cancer. Researchers recommend limiting your hot-dog intake to one ounce a day—which is like, one tiny bite.

• Guys, if you’re looking to, um, get some this weekend, maybe lay off the housework? A study found that men who do more household chores, like washing clothes and cooking, have less sex. More here.

• If somebody offered you $20 a month to lose weight, would you do it? A new study says yes. It found that dieters in a yearlong program who were offered a monthly weight-loss bribe dropped nine pounds—four times more weight than the penniless controls. More here.

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