Some of the things they said were good for us… …and some the scientists said might do uwshhatanerxmt?
● Fruit is well known to keep people healthy, but it may have an additional benefit in later life: staving off middle-aged spread. For a study published in January, researchers tracked 124,000 people over 24 years, and found that they typically put on 1-2kg every two to four years in middle age. However, those who ate diets rich in flavonoids – compounds found in grapes, strawberries, blueberries and apples, as well as onions and peppers – had tended not to gain any weight, despite consuming similar overall numbers of calories; some had even got slightly leaner.
● Turning the lights off was another weight-loss tip put forward this year, after researchers found that people eat less when they can’t see their food. In the study in Germany, blindfolded volunteers reported feeling full after consuming 9% fewer calories than those who could see their plates; they also over-estimated how much they had eaten, by up to 88%, and said they’d enjoyed their food – a bowl of ice cream – less than the other participants. A month later, a new study came out, suggesting that dieters should not only turn the lights down, but also switch the television off: it found that people tend to eat less when they can hear the sound of their own chewing.
● Coffee has been slowly rehabilitated over the years. Once thought to cause cancer, it is now generally agreed to be harmless – and in April, researchers in Israel suggested it might in fact help ward off cancer of the colon. They quizzed 5,100 colon cancer patients, and a further 4,000 people without cancer, about their coffee habits and wider lifestyle, and found a broad correlation between increased coffee consumption and significantly decreased cancer risk (of up to 50%, among those drinking at least two and a half cups a day). This remained the case whether the participants favoured espresso, instant or even decaf. The only thing to watch out for is not drinking the coffee too hot: high rates of oesophageal cancer in some South American countries have been put down to the local taste for mate – a tea-like brew, which is traditionally drunk very hot, through a metal straw. ● Apples are so packed with goodness that, as the old adage suggests, eating one a day can significantly reduce a person’s risk of early death. In March, a study at the University of Western Australia found that people who eat one small apple every day are 35% less likely to die prematurely than people who eat only one a month. Again, it may have been the flavonoids doing the good work: apple skins are particularly rich in these compounds. It’s relatively simple to establish correlations between apples and good health because so many people eat them, but other flavonoid-rich fruit probably have the same effect, the scientists said.
● Thumb-sucking has always been seen as a bad habit, but children who do it are less likely to suffer in later life from common allergies (such as those caused by dust mites, cats, dogs and mould); if they bite their nails too, even better, researchers claimed in July. The findings of their longitudinal study, based on 1,037 people born in the 1970s, lend credence to the “hygiene hypothesis”: that exposure to potentially harmful bacteria strengthens children’s immune systems.
● Vitamin D supplements were given a major boost when public health officials announced that adults, and children over the age of one, should consider taking a 10mcg dose every day – especially in autumn and winter. Vitamin D is difficult to derive from foods alone, and owing to the British climate and the nature of modern life, many Britons are rarely exposed to its other main source: sunlight.
● Acne is a source of misery for many teenagers – but they could end up getting the last laugh: those prone to spots in their youth often have more youthful complexions than their peers in middle age. This is something that dermatologists have long observed, and in September, scientists from King’s College London claimed to have worked out why this is so. A study of twins showed that acne victims tend to have longer telomeres – cup-like structures on the ends of chromosomes that protect DNA from damage – than other people. Previous studies have found that people with longer telomeres are less likely to show the outward signs of ageing.
● Breakfast is not bad for you – but it’s not as important as it has been cracked up to be, research suggests. It’s said that breakfast boosts the metabolism, and that people who skip it end up hungrier. But when this was put to the test, the benefits of breakfast turned out to have been oversold. For the study at Bath University, one group of people were asked not to eat until lunchtime, and another to have a 700-calorie meal before 11am. In subsequent tests, having breakfast did not lead to a metabolic boost; nor did skipping it increase levels of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin. The breakfast-skippers did eat more calories later, but still ate less overall.
● Being married confers health benefits – but for women they may not last. Indeed, women can be better off widowed than shackled to an elderly spouse, according to a study in Italy. Researchers tracked almost 2,500 people aged 65 and over for four-and-a-half years. Based on previous research, they expected to find lower rates of depression and physical frailty among the married people: and among men, they did. By contrast, women tended to be happier, and more robust, when they were widowed. The researchers speculate that in traditional marriages, women are left with the burden of household chores, and – as they tend to live longer – may also end up caring for their elderly spouses, leaving them frustrated and physically exhausted.
● Baked potatoes are often seen as a healthy option, but in May, a study in the US found a link between baked, mashed and boiled potatoes, and high blood pressure. The team analysed data on 187,000 people and found that those who ate four servings a week were 11% more likely to suffer from hypertension than those who ate one a month. Among those who ate chips four times a month, the increased risk jumped to 17%. There didn’t seem to be a similar effect with crisps, however.
● Fruit juice contains almost as much sugar as fizzy drinks – but many parents may still be giving it to their children thinking it’s healthy. Researchers quizzed the parents of 1,000 children, aged five and six, in the West Midlands to try to assess their intake of “free sugar”: this is defined as “added” sugar, and also sugar that occurs naturally in juices, syrups and honey (but not whole fruit). They found that the children consumed 19 teaspoons of “free sugar” per day, on average – four times more than recommended. Fizzy drinks were the biggest source, accounting for almost 24.8% of the sugar. But juices and smoothies weren’t far behind, on 15.4%.
● Desk jobs are so harmful that office workers need to take an hour of daily exercise to undo the damage wrought by sitting down all day, scientists warned in July. For a study published in the Lancet, researchers looked at data on more than one million people, mainly aged over 45, who had been tracked for 18 years. They found that office workers who exercised for an hour a day had an early mortality rate of 6.8%, whereas the rate for those who managed less than five minutes a day was 9.9%.
● Sleeping policemen have been installed outside countless schools, to protect children from accidents. But they may be exposing them to another danger: pollution. Engineers say that as cars decelerate rapidly, brake pads rubbing against tyres produce particulate matter, and when they speed up again, their exhaust emissions increase. A team at Imperial College London, found that at 20mph, a petrol car produces 47% more particulate matter, and 60% more carbon monoxide, on roads with speed humps than those with road cushions (which are placed in the middle of the road, and don’t cause drivers to brake as sharply).
● The Pill was given a knock in October, when Danish scientists produced the best evidence yet that it makes at least some women depressed. Analysis of medical data on a million women aged 15 to 34 showed that those on the combined pill were 23% more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant than those not taking hormonal contraception; among those on the progestogen-only pill, the figure rose to 34%. The researchers admit they have not proved a causative link, but they suspect that progestogen is the culprit; it has been linked to a lowering of mood by other studies.