Can you really trust a robot surgeon?
GOOD HEALTH
sources are oily fish or walnuts, but if your partner isn’t a fan, and can’t be relied upon to take a supplement, sneak a fish oil supplement into his food every day — open the capsule and mix with butter or peanut butter, blend it into a smoothie, or mix with pasta sauce.
SWAP MASHED SPUDS FOR BUTTER BEANS
VEGETARIANS tend to have healthier hearts than meat-eaters — being vegetarian could reduce risk of heart disease by 19 per cent. Other benefits include lower cholesterol levels and lower risk of bowel cancer, which strikes 23,000 men in the UK each year.
But there’s a definite gender bias within vegetarianism — an estimated 59 per cent of veggies are women. For confirmed carnivores, you might struggle to get further than ‘meatfree Mondays’.
However, you can massively increase vegetable intake by adding fruit and vegetables to every meal.
Take a tip from parenting guides for veg-refusenik toddlers — grate courgette, carrots, cauliflower or broccoli into sauces, casseroles, salads and even sandwiches.
Try mashing a tin of black beans into meatballs or burgers and serve buttery mashed butter beans, parsnips or celeriac instead of potatoes (they aren’t one of his five-a-day).
Make cauliflower ‘rice’ (grate or blend raw) and courgette spaghetti.
you could scatter berries over an almond pie filling, and blend frozen raspberries into a nutrient-rich coulis to pour over ice cream — and remember that even tinned peaches count.
SAVE HAM FOR AN OCCASIONAL TREAT
A STUDY in 2014 by the highlyregarded Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found men who ate the most processed red meat (75 g — the equivalent of two slices of ham or one sausage or more a day) were 28 pc more likely to develop heart failure, compared with men who ate the least (25 g or less a day).
Researchers calculated that for each 50 g dail y i ncrease in consumption of processed meat (just one or two extra slices of ham) the risk of death from heart failure increased by 38 pc.
It’s the smoking, curing, salting and preservatives that are problematic, so swap ham, bacon, sausages and salami for sliced chicken, tuna and cheese (with salad, naturally).
BUY BROWN-ISH BREAD AND PASTA
CARBS that release energy slowly — brown rice, pasta and bread — will slow the insulin response that puts your partner at risk of type 2 diabetes; these wholegrains will also boost his fibre intake that will protect him from bowel cancer. If your household insists on everything white, try going part wholegrain with the 50/50 options available in bread, bagels, wraps, pasta,past noodles and crackers. The shift to full wholegrain will be a small step away.
KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN IN BED
MONITOR any drop-off in performance, suggests Dr David Edwards, an Oxfordshire-based GP and specialist in sexual health.
‘Erection issues can be an early warning sign of vascular disease or dropping testosterone levels,’ he says. In a recent study he presented to the Society for Endocrinology, Dr Edwards found men experienced symptoms — low sex drive and erectile dysfunction — for up to two years before seeking advice.
‘The main reason stated was a belief that theirs was not a serious problem, and just something that was part of life — embarrassment loomed large, too.’
Dr Edwards says the only way to get your partner to a GP in this case may be to make the appointment for him. ‘Our study showed the man’s partner is often an important influencer of treatment seeking,’ he says.
AND YES, HAVE MORE SEX
STUDIES show that men who have sex at least twice a week are 45 per cent less likely to develop life-threatening heart disease than those who get lucky once a month or less (according to a 2010 study conducted by the New England Research Institute in Massachusetts).
Doing your bit could also help protect him against prostate cancer, according to a long-term study published by the Chan School Of Public Health in Boston.
Researchers found that frequent sexual activity (five times a week) can reduce a man’s risk of prostate cancer by up to 20 pc.