Fast food just got a little lower. A study out of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that the big restaurant chains are adding so many new lower-calorie offerings that their menus are shrinking, caloriewise.

On average, the researchers said, core menu items added in 2012 and 2013 contain 60 fewer calories than existing choices. That's only a 12 percent cut, but given how often Americans consume high-fat, high-sodium fast food, it's notable nonetheless.

"If the average number of calories consumed at each visit was reduced by approximately 60 calories — the average decline we observed in newly introduced menus in our study — the impact on obesity could be significant," said Sara N. Bleich, associate professor of health policy and management and lead author of the study.

To be sure, most of the reduced-calorie menu items weren't slimmed-down versions of high-calorie favorites, such as burgers and pizza, but rather things such as new salads. Sorry. You probably still need to think twice before you gobble down that Hardee's/Carl's Jr. 2/3-pound Monster Thickburger (1,290 calories, 92 grams of total fat, 1,840 milligrams of sodium).

Body of Knowledge

Your brain constitutes roughly 2 percent of your body mass but consumes 20 percent of the oxygen in the bloodstream.

Get Me That, Stat!

People who live alone are twice as likely to have a heart attack or sudden cardiac death as those who live with a partner or roommate, according to author Lawrence Chilnick in "Heart Disease: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed."

Counts

480,000: tobacco-attributable deaths in United States in 2010.

25,692: alcohol-attributable deaths. (Listed alcohol deaths do not include indirect causes, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, traffic accidents and homicide.)

16,651: prescription painkiller overdoses.

16,195: nonprescription drug overdoses.

0: marijuana-attributable deaths. (Listed marijuana deaths do not include indirect causes, such as traffic accidents.)

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Mania of the Week

Micromania: pathological self-deprecation or belief that one is very small.

Never Say Diet

The speed-eating record for cheese pizza is 12.9 slices (slice weight: 8.5 ounces each) in 10 minutes, held by Molly Schuyler. Note: Schuyler also holds the record for pumpkin pie: 42 slices, or 13.65 pounds, consumed in 10 minutes. Her Pie-ness achieved the latter without lifting a finger, literally. The pumpkin pie contest was hands-free.

Best Medicine

Wife: So, how did your visit to the doctor go?

Husband: Well, apparently, my memory's not so sharp as it used to be.

Wife: That's all?

Husband: Also, my memory's not so sharp as it used to be.

Observation

"The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook." — American chef and author Julia Child (1912-2004)

Epitaphs

"Lost life by stab in falling on ink eraser, evading six young women trying to give him birthday kisses in office Metropolitan Life Building."

This lengthy epitaph belongs to George Millet, who died at the age of 15 in 1909. The full story is a bit more complex. Go ahead and Google him.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.