Can’t remember your PIN number? Or the name of that film you love? Or why you just walked into the kitchen? We’ve all had those moments of forgetfulness, and, quite naturally, worry about what’s happening to our memory.
As our lives get more complicated and hurried, recollecting all the things we need to know seems to get ever tougher.
Healthy: Pecan nuts can help cut heart disease and reduce the risk of cancer
Eating pecan nuts can lower the risk of developing heart disease or cancer, say researchers.
A study showed their naturally occurring antioxidants help reduce inflammation in the arteries.
The nuts are particularly rich in one form of the antioxidant vitamin E called gamma-tocopherol, and the study showed that its levels in the body doubled eight hours after eating pecans.
The researchers analysed 16 men and women who ate a sequence of three diets, one of whole pecans, one of pecans blended with water, and a neutral‘control’ meal.
Even after three hours, unhealthy oxidation of‘bad’ cholesterol in the blood– which can cause heart problems– fell by up to a third.
‘Previous research has shown that pecans contain antioxidant factors. Our study shows these antioxidants are indeed absorbed in the body and provide a protective effect against diseases,’ said Ella Haddad, of California’s Loma Linda University, whose findings were published in The Journal of Nutrition.
‘This protective effect is important in helping to prevent development of various diseases such as cancer and heart disease.’
It is only the latest evidence that nuts can boost health. Walnuts help lower cholesterol, while almonds are a great source of bone-building calcium and Brazil nuts are high in the antioxidant selenium, linked to preventing some cancers.
'Our tests show that eating pecans increases the amount of healthy antioxidants in the body,' said LLU researcher Ella Haddad, associate professor in the School of Public Health department of nutrition. 'This protective effect is important in helping to prevent development of various diseases such as cancer and heart disease.'
Dr Habbad added: 'This study is another piece of evidence that pecans are a healthy food,"says Dr. Haddad. 'Previous research has shown that pecans contain antioxidant factors. Our study shows these antioxidants are indeed absorbed in the body and provide a protective effect against diseases.'
Research from Loma Linda University published earlier in the Journal of Nutrition showed that a pecan-enriched diet lowered levels of LDL cholesterol by 16.5 percent - more than twice the American Heart Association's Step I diet, which was used as the control diet in that study. Similarly, the pecan-enriched diet lowered total cholesterol levels by 11.3 percent.
The insensitive comments hurt Carol Smillie the most.‘Whatever is the matter with your skin?’ was a regular reaction to her flushed complexion.
Then there were the suspicious looks from make-up artists. Carol says:‘It was when I was filming Strictly Come Dancing in 2006.
They were too professional to say anything, but I know that people look at someone
with flushed, red skin and think,“Oh, they’re a drinker.” And I barely drink– I never have.
More benefits: A cup of tea can improve brain power, a new study has claimed
Having a cuppa could help you solve the crossword faster, according to the latest study.
Natural ingredients found in a cup of tea can improve brain power and increase alertness, it is claimed.
Researchers looked at the effect of key chemicals found in tea on the mental performance of 44 young volunteers.
The effects of these ingredients, an amino acid called L-theanine– which is also found in green tea– and caffeine at levels typically found in a cup of tea, were compared with a dummy treatment.
The active ingredients significantly improved accuracy across a number of switching tasks for those who drank the tea after 20 and 70 minutes, compared with the placebo.
The tea drinkers’ alertness was also heightened, the study found.
Tea was also found to reduced tiredness among the volunteers, who were aged under 40, according to the Dutch researchers reporting on their findings in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.
‘The results suggest the combination helps to focus attention during a demanding cognitive task,’ they said. Previous trials have shown that adding milk to a cup of tea does not affect the drinker’s absorption of flavonoids– or antioxidants– or disrupt the health benefits from these.
Tea drinking has already been linked with lowering the risk of heart disease, cancer and Parkinson’s. Other research shows drinking tea on a regular basis for ten or more years may help improve bone density.
Dr Tim Bond, of the industry-backed Tea Advisory Panel, said the latest findings backed a previous study which showed drinking two cups of black tea‘improves the ability to react to stimuli and to focus attention on the task in hand’.
‘Taken together, these two studies provide evidence that consumption of black tea improves cognitive function, in particular helping to focus attention during the challenge of a demanding mental task,’ he said.
‘As a result, all this new data adds to the growing science that drinking tea, preferably four cups of tea a day, is good for our health and well being.’
Doctors were amazed when they removed a man's appendix... only to have to perform the same operation on his identical twin a week later.
John Atkin was rushed to hospital at the Hull Royal Infirmary two weeks ago after he developed excruciating stomach pain.
Less than seven days later John's brother Chris was struck down with the same symptoms and he two was rushed to operating theatre.
A mother had a pacemaker fitted when she was heavily pregnant after she suffered from potentially deadly heart palpitations and blackouts.
Jennifer Thomas, 24, regularly passed out because of her erratic heartbeat and once even fell down a flight of stairs.
As a detective in the hard-bitten surroundings of Scotland Yard, Mark Cross usually had things other than his personal health to worry about.
It took a minor DIY injury at home and some serious persuasion by his wife to change his attitude . . . and probably save his life.
Detective Constable Cross stumbled into a wall during his improvement work and shortly afterwards realised the impact to his chest had inverted his nipple.
Strong reaction: Charlotte came out in itchy eczema when she met the love of her life Dean
When Charlotte Davies met her future husband there was an instant attraction.
Unfortunately for her, there was also an instant reaction– on her skin. Within weeks of meeting her soulmate, her eyelids erupted with eczema and her eyes had swelled to the size of golf balls.
Experts concluded that the euphoria she felt when she was with boyfriend, accountant Dean Strohm, was being played out on her skin.
She was allergic to love. Even more astonishing was that it disappeared after her wedding day.
The university administrator met Dean three years ago in a bar in Colchester, Essex, and the pair quickly became inseparable.
But a month into their relationship Charlotte, 32, awoke to find she could hardly open her eyes.
She said:‘I knew Dean was‘The One’ from the moment we met.
‘I could have described myself as a bit of a Bridget Jones before we met. I was always looking for love, but was hopeless at finding a decent man.
‘When I found him I was deliriously happy but neither of us could fathom out why, when I was so in love, my skin had reacted in such an awful way.’
She added:‘Dean told me he’d love me with red panda eyes or not, but I felt mortified. It was the time when you most want to look your best and I looked awful.’
Doctors struggled to explain the sudden reaction and it was a homeopath who eventually diagnosed the cause as love.
It is supposed to sweeten the chore of drinking a healthy eight glasses of water a day.
But the bitter truth is that a small bottle of flavoured water can contain as much sugar as a plate of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
The most popular brand, Volvic’s Touch of Fruit in lemon and lime, has 27.5g of sugar in its standard 500ml bottle– equivalent to almost seven teaspoons.
It is 9am and the morning rush is on at the DrThom surgery in Central London - but there's not a patient in sight. No screaming babies, no harassedlooking new mothers, no coughing pensioners.
Instead, the doctors - some dressed casually in shirts, jumpers and jeans - sit quietly at their computers. This is life at Britain's first online GP service.
Run in conjunction with Lloyds Pharmacy, it is the first national web clinic to be accredited by the Care Quality Commission, which regulates health and social care in England.
Former army officer thrilled to see his granddaughter for the first time
A blind pensioner who was told he would never see again has miraculously regained his sight - while kissing a photograph of his late wife as he prepared for bed.
George Hudspeth has been registered blind for 10-years after he was diagnosed with dry macular degeneration. He lost his sight completely one year ago and expected to live the rest of his life in darkness.
Junk food is causing rising numbers of children to develop type 2 diabetes, a disease once seen only in adults.
Despite millions of pounds being poured into taxpayer-funded health drives, the majority of youngsters are still not eating a balanced diet.
Up to a fifth of ten-year-olds are clinically obese and at risk of heart attacks, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.
Scientists are a step closer to creating a universal vaccine to protect against all strains of the killer bug that causes meningitis.
There are more than 90 strains of the streptococcus pneumoniae bug, which causes meningitis, septicaemia– or blood poisoning– and pneumonia.
It kills more than a million young children a year, mostly in developing countries.
Two-year-old Christopher Merrett has such severe food allergies that even the smell of pizza can send him into potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.
The toddler from Colchester in Essex, was rushed to hospital after touching a shopping trolley which had minute traces of milk on it and even the ingredients in Play Dough, paints and crayons can trigger a severe allergic reaction.
When Olympic athlete Andrew Steele steps up to the starting blocks of a race, his mind is focused solely on being the first across the finish line.
But, until recently, the 400m runner had another nagging concern, one that many might dismiss as minor, but for sufferers is utterly miserable— acne.
Then eight months ago, the 26-year-old could finally forget about the state of his skin, thanks to a new treatment using seaweed.
Expectant mothers will be taught to hypnotise themselves before giving birth as an alternative to painkillers.
They will learn to put themselves in a trance-like state during labour in the hope that they will not need costly drug treatments such as epidurals, laughing gas or morphine.
More than 800 first-time mothers will take part in the 18-month NHS trial study on the effectiveness of hypnobirthing.
A strong bond: Esther Rantzen with her daughter Emily who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome
You can never be happier than your least happy child, theysay, and it's true. In our family, for 14 desperate years, our least happychild was my eldest, Emily, who became ill with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis)and then seriously disabled.
It struck her down when she was 14, after an attackof glandular fever. She never fully recovered from the illness and we watchedhelplessly as she struggled with chronic fatigue which, like a sticky web,slowly paralysed her.
In the end she was imprisoned - bed-bound,lying in a darkened room, unable to read, write or even to speak.
At that point she went to hospital, where theypushed her by baby-steps, one word at a time, one more minute of light eachday, until she progressed into a wheelchair, and then on to her feet.
The greatjoy of my life was that her father, my husband Desmond Wilcox, saw her walkingagain before he died ten years ago.
And she continued to improve - slowly,year by year. But it was through management and willpower, not treatment andcure. As with many families battling an illness for which there is no knowntreatment, we were offered countless 'miracle cures'. Some people suggested weshould bring a dowser into the house so that we could realign her bed.
Others told us to give her transfusions ofvitamins, make her have ice-cold baths, give her oxygen at night or hangcrystals around her neck. Since neither she nor I are attracted by unprovencomplementary mumbo-jumbo, we politely refused. But when a friend and fellow MEsufferer told us about the positive results of the Lightning Process (a form ofcognitive behavioural therapy or neuro-linguistic programming), Emily decided totry it.
Plans to add fluoride to tap water in Southampton were endorsed by a judge yesterday
Plans to add fluoride to tap water in a major city were endorsed by a judge yesterday despite overwhelming public opposition.
Mr Justice Holman rejected claims that the decision-making process was defective and dismissed a legal challenge to the scheme in Southampton.
Hampshire council and three quarters of residents oppose the plans drawn up by the strategic health authority. But dentists say the scheme will cut tooth decay in children.
Just 10 per cent of England’s water is fluoridated, covering 5.5million people, mainly in the North East and West Midlands. The last fluoridation scheme was introduced in 1985.
Refusing a claim for judicial review by Southampton mother-of-three Geraldine Milner, the judge said there had been no illegality.
‘It is important to stress that our democratic Parliament decided long ago that water can, in certain circumstances, be fluoridated,’ he added.
‘It is not the law that fluoridation can occur only when a majority of the local population agree. Parliament has firmly entrusted area-specific decision making to the relevant strategic health authority.’
A teenager collapsed and died minutes after her boyfriend kissed her for the first time, an inquest heard today.
Shy Jemma Benjamin, 18, was kissed by fellow university student Daniel Ross, 21, at his home after a night out together.
But superfit hockey player Jemma then suddenly slumped onto the sofa - and died in front of Daniel's eyes.
Patients will be forced to ring NHS Direct call centres to make an appointment to see their GP.
The news is confirmation of what the Daily Mail revealed last November, but which was denied at the time by officials.
Patients would be put through to an operator hundreds of miles away who may even decide they don’t need to see a doctor at all.
The family of a teenage girl who starved to death after doctors failed to give her a life-saving drip have received a five-figure pay-out, after health chiefs were found guilty of 'gross failings'.
Stephanie Bell, 19, died after doctors sent her home instead of giving her vital nutrients which would have saved her life.
The teenager's weight plummeted to six-and-a-half stone following an operation after her bowel became blocked which left her unable to digest food.
Living near a petrol station can be a health hazard, researchers warn.
They say the air in the immediate vicinity of garages is often polluted with airborne particles from evaporated fuel and therefore harmful to local residents.
Scientists from the University of Murcia in Spain studied the effects of contamination at petrol stations.
Middle-class children are twice as likely to have peanut allergy as those from poorer families, a study has found.
Researchers believe GPs may see more children with allergies from better-off families, although poorer children may be protected in some way from developing them.
Some experts also think that an excessively clean lifestyle linked to rising levels of affluence is driving the rise in allergies and asthma because it fails to wake up the immune system.
Rare balance: Footballer David Beckham has great natural posture
Most of us will suffer from a bad back at some time - whether it's a slight twinge or a prolapsed disc that confines us to bed for weeks at a time.
The underlying cause of the majority of all back pain is a bad posture, but there is a method - used by thousands in the UK - that aims to increase our poise and reduce back complaints.
The Alexander-Technique is a self-help method that enables us to stop harmful patterns of movement and posture that interfere with the body working efficiently.
A 2008 study in the British Medical Journal showed how successful thetechnique can be in helping overcome the causes of back pain, although this is only one of the benefits.
It is renowned for helping overcome postural problems, relieving stress and eliminating back pain, neck pain, tension headaches and sciatica.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
While many treatments focus on the region of pain, this technique addresses the fundamental cause of poor posture and pain.
When back pain is caused by poor postural habits, it is rarely the result of tension just in the area of pain.
Musclesare compensating from moment to moment and if one area is out of natural alignment and balance, other areas of the body will be struggling to adapt.
MOVE FREELY
It is rare to come across someone with great natural posture as most of us pick up bad postural habits.
Sowhat is good poise? It is not about holding ourselves stiffly upright, rather it is when we are in good balance and can move with minimal effort.
When this happens, back pain will not occur. But we can have good balance only if our joints are free and supple as this allows the body to adapt to changing circumstances during movement.
A good example of this is David Beckham, who has balanced poise.
The skin gun is no longer science fiction. A doctor has created a prototype medical device that literally sprays skin cells onto burn victims to re-grow skin.
Once grafts took weeks, but now the skin gun does the work in under two hours and the burns heal within days. It has successfully treated over a dozen patients so far.
Doctor Jörg Gerlach, of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has discovered a method which regenerates healthy skin stem cells from the victim and sprays it on the burned skin.
Scroll down to view video
Scientists have unlocked the secrets of the potentially deadly spread of breast cancer to the bone in a breakthrough that could save thousands of lives a year.
The disease branches out to the bone in up to 80 per cent of cases advanced breast cancer and current treatments are mainly limited to relieving symptoms and extending the amount of time a woman has left with her family.
A drug that stops the cancer ever reaching the bone greatly would greatly improve the treatment of the disease that claims 1,000 lives a year in the UK alone.
A revolutionary spray gun which uses stem cells to heal severe burns in a matter of days has been developed.
Doctor Jörg Gerlach, of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has created a method which regenerates healthy skin stem cells from the victim and sprays it on the burned skin.
Though scientists have been able to regenerate sheets of skin for decades, it is a lengthy process and the resulting skin is extremely fragile.
Scroll down for a video report of the how the stem cell spray gun works
In the genes: Researchers believe that women may be more at risk of inherited forms of heart disease whereas in men it tends to be triggered by lifestyle factors
Women whose mothers have suffered strokes are at a far higher risk of having a heart attack, research shows.
They are also significantly more likely to have a stroke themselves.
Researchers believe that women may be more at risk of inherited forms of heart disease whereas in men it tends to be triggered by lifestyle factors such as diet, drinking and smoking.
The Oxford University scientists suggest that GPs should ask women specific questions about their family history of heart disease when trying to establish whether they are at risk of a stroke or heart attack– including which relatives were affected and how old they were.
They warn that it may be a more important predictor of future heart problems than obesity, blood pressure, heavy drinking or smoking.
The researchers looked at more than 2,200 female patients who had suffered a stroke, heart attack or angina.
They found that a far higher proportion of the women’s mothers had suffered a stroke compared to their fathers.
The study, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics, also found that the women with heart problems were more likely to have a sister who had suffered a stroke than a brother. In an earlier study on the same group of women, researchers found that they faced a higher risk of heart attack before the age of 65 if their mothers had also had a heart attack at an early age.
Other researchers have shown that a daughter’s stroke risk is linked to her mother’s history of stroke.
Lead author Amitava Banerjee, from the Stroke Prevention Research Unit at Oxford University, said:‘Our study results point towards sex-specific heritability of vascular disease across different arterial territories– namely coronary and cerebral artery territories.
‘Moreover, traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes don’t account for heart attack risk as clearly in women as in men, and tools to gauge risk in women are inadequate. There is clearly room for improvement in predicting heart attack risk in women.
