Politicians and industry experts described the practice as "shocking" and said it would put further pressure on parents who wanted their babies to be perfect. Magazines have been heavily criticised in the past for airbrushing images of women to make them look thinner – a practice which eating disorder campaigners claim can help push impressionable young girls into becoming anorexic and bulimic. But this is the first time the industry has admitted using the technique to alter images of babies.

Practical Parenting and Pregnancy, a monthly magazine, has said it has retouched photographs of babies to "put them across in the best light". The practice came to light in a BBC documentary, My Supermodel Baby. In footage of a photo shoot for the magazine, the casting director explained how the photograph of baby model Hadley Corbett, five months, was airbrushed: "We lightened his eyes and his general skin tone, smoothed out any blotches and the creases on his arms," he said. "But we want it to look natural."

Daniella Delaney, the editor of the magazine which sells nearly 40,000 copies, told The Sunday Telegraph that photographs were airbrushed but that it was kept to a minimum. "We'll remove things and even-up skin tone, that sort of thing. But very little is done, in fact, because obviously babies are beautiful the way they are and that is what we went to get across."

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"Babies are not like adults you can't stop them from dribbling, so you might remove that bit of dribble from the chin. Or if the baby has just been crying, and their eyes are red, we might lighten the eyes. Or if they have just woken up because they have had a nap on the way in and we photograph them, we might remove a little bit of sleep. It is just those kind of things, very little really."

Weight-watchers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Contrary to their image as slim models of restraint, French women, it seems, really do get fat. According to a 2009 study published on Tuesday, 15.1 percent of France's women are classed as clinically obese, while a further 26 percent are overweight.

The survey, conducted by TNS Sofres Healthcare and Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche, also pointed to similar trends among the male population, with 13.9 percent of Frenchmen obese and 38.5 percent overweight. The world has long marveled at the ability of the French population, and particularly its women, to remain thin in a country famed for its pastries, cheese and wine.

French author Mireille Guilano even published a diet manual in 2004 entitled "French Women Don't Get Fat," praising the eating habits of women who prefer to savour their food calmly and never snack between meals. But the reality is that over the past 12 years, the average French person has put on 3.1 kg (6.83 lb) and added a further 4.7 cm (1.85 inches) around the waist, the survey showed.

They split the participants into two types of diet - those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic diseases, they found a significant difference in future depression risk with the different diets.

Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who at the least whole foods.

By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods.

According to our source, "Madonna had grown tired of the baggage that Tracy always seemed to be carrying with her. Tracy had grown to be more of a distraction than anything else."

Also an issue were photos of Madonna that circulated in July that showed her arms to be grotesquely over-muscular. When Anderson was asked about the pictures on the CBS "Early Show," she laughed and called Madonna her "most devoted client."

Things between the Material Girl and Anderson might also have gotten personal. We reported last month that Philippe van den Bossche, the former head of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity, had quit his post in Los Angeles to move to New York to date Anderson. Van den Bossche was quoted as saying that Madonna was "happy" about his relationship with the trainer. But Madge was said to be disappointed when Anderson wouldn't travel with her on the final leg of her recent European tour until the very end so she could be with Van den Bossche.

The initial appeal of hooping is that it's fun, but its lasting value is that it works. An hour of intense hooping can burn as many calories as an hour-long run on a treadmill. Exercisers can get a full-body workout with moves like HoopGirl's "pulse," which stimulates the entire core; the "limbo," which targets the back and thighs; and the "Wild West," which helps tone biceps and triceps. "Anything that gets people off the couch and burning calories is a good thing," says Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. "Hooping can be a good way to mix up your routine and keep it from being boring."

In a scientific statement issued Monday, the organization says most women should limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; for men, the recommendation is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons. The recommendations are likely to prove challenging for many consumers to meet. Just one 12-ounce can of cola has about 130 calories, or eight teaspoons of sugar.

Data gathered during a national nutrition survey between 2001 and 2004 suggest that Americans consume on average 355 calories, or more than 22 teaspoons, of sugar a day. "We're trying to make reasonable recommendations around the amount of sugar in a diet that enables people to achieve or maintain a healthy weight," said Rachel Johnson, associate provost and professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington and lead author of the statement.

As the heart association's statement acknowledges, the science directly linking added sugar consumption to obesity is inconsistent. This in part reflects, the impact of such things as genetics, physical activity and diet have on weight. The heart association has encouraged consumers to moderate sugar consumption, but the new statement is the first time it has suggested specific limits. The recommendations apply only to what are known as added sugars—those that are added to foods during manufacturing, or by consumers. They don't include sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other foods.

The Devil does wear Prada. I ended up sitting a stiletto's throw away from Anna Wintour at the Monkey Bar, after the Museum of Modern Art screening of the new documentary about her. Nuclear Wintour looked summery in a floaty print Prada dress so au courant it hasn't yet hit the stores.

Just like Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, Wintour can be seen in the new film clutching a Starbucks cup in her office and the back of her chauffeur-driven car. It seems to be her only sustenance, so I was curious to get the skinny on what the Skinny One eats.

"I'll have what she's having," I told a startled waiter, who assumed I was kidding and pointed me to the part of the menu he thought suited me better: Chasen's chili and Mrs. Carter's butter tart.

"Anna eats steak and burgers, protein, and drinks a little wine," said the Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley, mesmerizingly mountainous in a navy Armani with a white saber-toothed tiger tooth necklace and Manolo framboise velvet Woodstock sandals.