Research Archive

Being moderately overweight can reduce lifespan by two to four years, according to a major new study of obesity and mortality carried out in the UK. The huge collaborative study pooled data together data from 57 studies involving almost 900,000 people, mostly from Europe and North America. The results showed that people whose BMI was higher than 25 had shorter lifespans on average. Those with a BM ...

US researchers exploring the cognitive benefits of interacting with nature have found that walking in a park in any season, or even just viewing pictures of nature, can help improve memory and attention. They compared the restorative effects on cognitive functioning of interactions with natural versus urban environments. Participants walked on an urban route or through botanical gardens before und ...

Young women with high levels of oestrogen are more likely to be serial monogamists or to cheat on their partners and also see themselves as more attractive than other women, according to an American psychologist. Two salivary samples were taken from 52 normally cycling female university students at two points in their menstrual cycle. At both testing sessions, participants completed self-perceived ...

French psychologists have found out that women are most likely to give their phone number to a male stranger when they are most likely to get pregnant. Researchers recruited handsome young men to chat up women on a street corner, in order to determine whether fertility affects receptivity to male advances. Less than a minute after the encounter, a female researcher approached the women, revealing ...

Shopping spree? Must be that time of the month. It seems that women can now add binge shopping to their list of premenstrual symptoms. In the 10 days before their periods begin, women are more likely to go on a spending spree, according to new research presented to a meeting of the British Psychological Society. 443 women aged 18 to 50 were asked about their spending habits. Almost two-thirds of t ...

Animal research suggests that a diet high in inorganic phosphates (Pi), found in processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages, and bakery products, may speed growth of lung cancer tumours and even contribute to the development of tumours in predisposed individuals. Mice with an experimental model of lung cancer were studied for four weeks and were randomly assigned to receive a diet of eith ...

A comprehensive survey of US drinking water has detected widespread but low-level contamination by a number of drugs and hormonally active chemicals. Scientists tested tap water from 19 US water utilities, which supply more than 28 million Americans, for 51 different compounds, between 2006 and 2007. The 11 most frequently detected compounds, all found at very low concentrations, included: the bet ...

Breast-feeding reduces the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by approximately 50% at all ages throughout infancy, according to the results of a German case-control study. The researchers compared 333 infants who died of SIDS with 998 age-matched controls. Breast-feeding at age two weeks was reported for 49.6% of case infants and by 82.9% of control infants. Exclusive breast-feeding at a ...

Dutch investigators have found that mild sleep disruption that induces shallow sleep, but does not reduce total sleep time, is sufficient to reduce hippocampal activation and interfere with learning and memory. The study involved 13 healthy subjects, mean age 60, whose memory was tested following a night of undisturbed sleep and again following a night of shallow sleep. On the day before, the subj ...

The stress and exhaustion of working long hours can affect the brain's ability to process information, according to a UK/Finnish study. The study examined the association between long working hours and cognitive function in middle age. Data were collected from a prospective study of 2,214 British civil servants who were in full-time employment at baseline. A battery of cognitive tests was employed ...

Obesity gradually numbs rats tastebuds to sweet foods and drives them to consume larger and sweeter meals, according to American neuroscientists. Previous studies have suggested that obese people are less sensitive to sweet tastes and crave sweet foods more than lean people. The current study looked at the taste responses of two strains of rats. Compared with lean healthy LETO rats, the taste resp ...

Being physically active improves brain blood flow and cognitive ability in older women. A US study compared two groups of women with an average age of 65. One group took part in regular aerobic activity, while those in the other group were inactive. The research team measured the women's cardiovascular health, resting brain blood flow and the reserve capacity of blood vessels in the brain, as well ...

Breathing exercises can help asthma patients control their symptoms, according to a Scottish study. 183 asthmatic subjects were randomised to three sessions of either physiotherapist supervised breathing training or asthma nurse delivered asthma education. One-month post-intervention, similar improvements in Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire scores were seen in both groups, but six months post ...

Investigators from the US have carried out a randomised trial involving 74 patients with hypercholesterolemia who were either given 40 mg of simvastatin daily with routine counselling or an alternative treatment with therapeutic lifestyle changes, ingestion of red yeast rice and fish oil supplements for 12 weeks. There was a statistically significant reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholestero ...

Nutrition and lifestyle changes may modulate gene expression in the prostate and decrease men's risk of developing prostate cancer. In a pilot study, American researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who had decided against conventional medical treatment. The men underwent three months of intensive lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, ...

Binge drinking increases the risk of stroke, according to the results of a Finnish prospective cohort study. 15,965 Finnish men and women age 25 to 64 years who had no history of stroke at baseline were followed up for a 10-year period. Binge drinking was defined as consuming six or more drinks of the same alcoholic beverage in one session for men, or consuming four or more drinks for women. 3558 ...

Vigorous exercise may protect women against breast cancer. 32,269 women enrolled in the American Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project were asked about physical activity throughout the previous year and followed up over a 20 year period. Researchers found that regular activity such as running, aerobics or heavy housework was associated with a 30% reduced risk of developing breast cancer. T ...

More than 50% of deaths in women from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease could be avoided if they don't smoke, watch their weight, exercise and eat a healthy diet low in red meat and trans-fats. A prospective cohort study, part of the US Nurses' Health Study, followed nearly 77,782 women over a 24-year period. Participants completed detailed follow-up questionnaires every two years ...

The established Israeli practice of 'medical clowning' hit UK headlines in November when it was reported that entertaining women with clowns after embryo transfer could boost IVF pregnancy rates. A team studied 186 women aged 25 to 40 over 10 months, all of whom were undergoing embryo transfer treatment. They found that when women were entertained by a professionally trained clown, while they recu ...

Researchers from the USA have found that happiness can spread from person to person. The data analysed comes from the Framingham Heart Study and involved 4739 individuals followed from 1983 to 2003. Participants were asked to identify their relatives, close friends, place of residence, and place of work to ensure they could be contacted every two to four years for follow-up. Happiness was measured ...