Women still take sun-tanning risk

ONE woman in ten admits to sunbathing for five hours a day on two-week holidays – dramatically increasing the risk of deadly skin cancer. One in four of the 2,000 British women polled said tanning is so important, the holiday isn’t ‘successful’ if they don’t return home bronzed. Previous research has shown that getting sunburnt once every two years could triple the risk of melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer. Experts say that nine in ten cases of melanoma could be prevented by limiting sunbathing, including sunbeds.

YOUR sensitivity to caffeine might be written in your DNA. An Australian study has discovered that people who carry genes for heart health problems, such as high blood pressure, angina and arrhythmia, drink less coffee than those who don’t have these genes, or avoid drinking it. Professor Elina Hypponen says their findings show our genetics regulate the amount of coffee we drink and protect us from consuming too much. ‘Someone who drinks a lot of coffee is likely [to be] more genetically tolerant of caffeine, as compared to someone who drinks little. A non-coffee-drinker is more likely prone to the adverse effects of caffeine, and more susceptible to high blood pressure.’

ANTIBIOTICS are as effective for treating appendicitis as surgery to remove the appendix, a US study has found. Appendicitis – a painful swelling of the organ connected to the large intestine – is usually diagnosed at severe stage, resulting in a hospital admission and the removal of the organ. But the new study found no difference in outcome between those treated with antibiotics and those given the full surgery. Doctors said: ‘More than 70 per cent of patients in the antibiotics group avoided surgery.’