Turns out there’s actually a good reason to spend $150,000 on Sarah Palin’s clothes and $10,000 to her make-up stylist.

For women political candidates looks matter. A lot.

Both men and women, it seems, are strongly influenced by the perceived attractiveness of female candidates. In fact, the looks of a female candidate was pretty much the only thing that mattered to male voters, according to a small research study published today.  If a woman candidate is lucky enough to be perceived as both attractive and competent, well, then look out. She could win in a landslide among both genders, the study found.

For male politicians, on the other hand, looks don’t matter a bit.  The thing that matters most for them is looking competent - though they get a slight edge among women if they also seem approachable.

All of this helps answer the question of why in this enlightened age only seven women held the highest office in any country in 2006. And why less than 50 women have won those top positions since 1960, the researchers say. It also may explain why Palin is so popular with men.

Humans are culturally biased toward thinking that male faces are always more competent - i.e, dominant - so in an election they have the advantage. Regardless of reality, men’s facial features signal qualities that we humans associate with effective leadership.

That fascinating study was published today by PLoS ONE, an on line scientific journal. To read the full research paper, go here. The lead researcher, Joan Chiao, an assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern  University in Chicago, studies how culture and biology influence behavior.

She tested the perceptions of 73 university students by showing them photographs of real congressional candidates. The students were asked to rate each candidate according to attractiveness, competence and approachability. Then they were shown pairs of photos and asked which one they would vote for.

It all comes back to mating, she says. We choose political candidates the same way we choose mates. Men are most interested in attractive women. Women are most interested in men who are competent (high social status and good providers), and who are easily approached.

She describes those gender biases as “cognitive short cuts,” which is a scientific way of saying gender stereotype. That will change only as the number of women in politics increases, she said.

Can you overcome your inate gender bias and vote for candidates on their real policies and competence? Or are we doomed to rule by our most ancient instincts?

It is true, as it says on my blog bio, that I can talk about anything. Even stool transplants.  I do have sensibilities, but they’re overpowered by my fascination for the ingenuity of biology.

I first heard about stool transplants from my brother-in-law, who is an infectious disease doctor. He’d heard about it at a medical conference. What struck me at the time is that my brother-in-law thought it was a badly needed solution to a really tough medical problem caused by that sneaky little bug known as Clostridium difficile. (C. difficile for short.)

They look kind of pretty here, don’t they?

photomicrograph of Clostridium difficile bacteria

Hard to imagine that they could wreak such havoc inside the large intestine.

What really amazed me was the brilliance of the treatment –  aiding the good guys in the fight for survival of the fittest inside our intestines. I mean, once you get through the disgust aspect of it, a stool transplant is really an elegant medical idea. It’s cheap, readily available, and simple.

Think about it. There’s now a huge industry out there now to sell us pro-biotics, supplements that contain the beneficial bacteria that supposedly keep us healthy.  But those supplements contain a fraction of the bacteria we need. One doctor called a stool transplant “the ultimate pro-biotic.”

So what do you think? Is there anything else you’d like to know about the procedure, the infection, the patients who experienced it? Ask away. I’ll answer as many questions as I can here on Monday.

 Here’s  gut check nutritional fact: There is as much sugar in a serving of Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal as there is in glazed donut from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Ugh. The sad part, of course, is that Honey Smacks is heavily marketed to kids. And it’s not alone in that sugar content. According to a new analysis by Consumer Reports Health, there are at least 10 cereals that have that much sugar. Honey Smacks and Post Golden Crisp are more than 50 percent sugar by weight.

Based on sugar content, calories, fiber, sodium, iron and calcium, here are CRs best pics for kids cereal. For the complete listing, go to www.consumerreports.org/health. But  you have to be a subscriber to get complete access to the report.

Cheerios, General Mills:  1 cup; 100 calories; 1 gram of sugar.

Kix, General Mills: 1 1/4 cups; 110 calories, 3 grams of sugar.

Life, Quaker Oats: 3/4 cup; 120 calories; 6 grams of sugar.

Honey Nut Cheerios: 3/4 cup;110 calories; 9 grams of sugar.

So cold meds are out. For kids, they not only don’t help, they can be dangerous. Pediatrician groups want the the Food and Drug Administration to just out and out ban marketing antihistamines, decongestants and cough suppressants to kids through age 6, but so far health officials are balking at that.

You gotta’ love their reasoning. The head of the FDA’s office on new drugs says that without drugs aimed at kids, parents might just end up doing something worse –  they’d give adult cold medicines to their kids instead.

Never mind the FDA. .

Dr. Karl Chun

There’s is a growing body of research that  over-the-counter medications are not effective for colds anyway, or at least no more effective chicken-soup. Dr. Karl Chun, a pediatrician at Fairview Children’s Clinic, says he prescribes the least medical remedies of all.

Here are his tips for helping little kids (or not so little) through a cold, just in time the sneezy season.

Keep their heads up in bed.  That reduces the cough reflex. And secretions won’t pool in the back of their throats. Sleeping on the stomach can do the same thing.

Get steam to back of their throats. That means chicken soup, or broth, herbal teas, and a humidifier. That helps loosen things up.

Lemon and honey for a cough. Warm, diluted lemonade can help coughing spasms.  So does honey, but don’t give it to kids under the age of one year. Honey could carry spores from the bacteria that causes tetanus, but unlike older kids, infants don’t have the right stomach acids to kill them.

That’s the basic list. Do you have any tips you can share?

Check back next week for new posts. BodyTalk is on vacation until then.