“Lungs ‘magically’ heal damage from smoking,” reports BBC News. This encouraging headline is prompted by a new UK-based study. Researchers examined lung cells from children, adults who had never smoked, smokers and ex-smokers to look for DNA mutations. As expected, they found thousands of mutations in cells of smokers and ex-smokers, including mutations known to
"Drinking alcohol during pregnancy really does lead to poor brain function in babies, study confirms," reports the Mail Online. The Chief Medical Officers for the UK currently advise women not to drink any alcohol at any point during pregnancy, to keep risks to the baby to a minimum. A new review of studies found some
"New blood test can predict when women will hit the menopause two years in advance, scientists claim," reports The Sun. Researchers in the US tested the ability of a blood test for anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) to predict when a woman would have her final period. AMH is released from a woman's ovaries. When levels drop
“Sunscreens leach up to 360 times more toxic chemicals into the blood than the FDA allows, raising risks for liver and kidney failure,” reports the Mail Online. Researchers from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested the absorption of 6 ingredients used in 4 different types of chemical-based sunscreen, into the bloodstream of 48
“Going to university and becoming a parent are two key life events that ’cause weight gain’” reports the Metro. The headlines are prompted by 2 related reviews looking at the impact of ‘significant life events’ on people’s body mass index (BMI). One review focused on the effects of parenthood. Researchers gathered the results from 11
“Having sex weekly may delay your menopause: Scientists say not getting enough action ‘makes the body choose to stop ovulating’,” reports the Mail Online. Women enter the menopause when they stop releasing eggs, usually in their 40s or 50s. Some of the timing seems to be down to genetics, while lifestyle factors such as smoking
“Miscarriage can lead to ‘long-term post-traumatic stress’,” reports BBC News. Early pregnancy loss affects many women. This can happen through miscarriage, or the less common condition of ectopic pregnancy, when a pregnancy develops outside the womb (usually in the fallopian tube) where it cannot grow. Losing a baby in the early stages of pregnancy has
“Packed lunches worse for kids than school dinners” Sky News reports, while Mail Online reports they are as unhealthy as they were a decade ago. In 2006, researchers looked at the contents of lunchboxes from around 1,000 children aged 8 to 9 years old from primary schools across England. In 2016 they repeated this assessment,
“Healthy habits extend disease-free life ‘by up to a decade’,” reports The Guardian. More people are living longer, thanks to the rise in life expectancy. The downside is that more people are living with diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Yet many of these diseases are linked to lifestyle-related risk factors like poor diet,
“Using talcum powder does NOT raise the risk of ovarian cancer as study of 250,000 women debunks fears after decades of uncertainty,” reports the Mail Online. Some women use talcum powder on their vulva (external genital area). The practice has been linked to ovarian cancer, with high-profile lawsuits in the US against manufacturer Johnson &
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