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COLDS AND FLU

1 ACCORDING to U.S. researchers, which part of your body should you keep warm to ward off colds?

A. Nose B. Neck C. Chest D. Feet

2 How often do adults over 30 typically get flu?

A. Once a year B. Once every five years C. Once every ten years D. Once every 20 years

3 ACCORDING to Finnish research, which Two of these are true: Eating oranges is more likely to ward off a cold if you...

A. Eat them in a fruit salad

B. Exercise regularly

C. Are a child

D. Are a man

4 TRUE OR FALSE: Moderate exercise can protect you against catching the flu? 5 WHICH one of these statements is true:

A. Flu can be treated with antibiotics

B. Once you’ve had the flu vaccine, you’re protected for life

C. The flu jab won’t protect you against swine flu

D. Pregnant women should have the flu vaccine

6 TRUE OR FALSE: ‘Man flu’ is real?

ANSWERS

1 A. nose Researchers at Yale University say the virus behind the common cold thrives in cold noses. The immune system becomes weaker in a cold nose and gives rhinoviruses (one of the main groups of virus that cause sniffling and sneezing) opportunity to replicate.

2 C. Once every ten years Flu is much less common than we think and we often confuse it with flu-like symptoms caused by other respiratory viruses, according to researchers at Imperial college, london, and the london school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It is more common when we are children, but we gradually build up immunity.

3 B. Exercise regularly C. Are a child Researchers at the University of Helsinki found vitamin c halved the risk of a cold, but only in people taking short-term exercise. They also found youngsters were more responsive to the vitamin: a daily 1g dose reduced the average length of colds in children by 18 per cent and in adults by 8 per cent.

4 FALSE Moderate exercise does not appear to have a protective effect, researchers at the london school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found. Doing weekly vigorous exercise for at least 2½ hours does, however, cut your chance of developing flu. The researchers believe that 10 per cent of cases could be prevented this way.

5 D. Pregnant women should get the flu jab THE NHs website says you should have the vaccine at any stage of pregnancy. The jab can also protect your baby after it is born and in the early months of life. all of the others are false.

6 TRUE THE american Journal of Physiology says scientists found female hormones better protect women against the worst symptoms. They took body fluid samples from men and women and exposed them to the flu virus. Female samples with higher levels of oestrogen fought off the flu virus much faster.