By Amy Fallon
Our round-up of the health headlines on Thursday 5 May.
Anyone out there with a fruitology degree? According to The Daily Mail, if you are you could possess the recipe for a longer, healthier life. French scientists claim a cocktail of seven fruit juices could be a lifesaver, todays paper reports.
The good news: the super smoothie contains grapes, apples, blueberries and strawberries. The bad: you'll also need to hunt down superfoods cowberry, a red fruit related to the cranberry, and acerola, similar to a cherry, as well as aronia, aka chokeberry. Sound familiar? If youre successful in finding them, your chances of stroke and heart attack could be lowered. Research by The University of Strasbourg found that in tests using pig arteries, heart artery walls relaxed when they were exposed to the cocktail.
On the subject of heart disease, the tabloid also reports that those aged over 55 should be offered statins to cut their risk of heart attacks and strokes, no matter how high their cholesterol or blood pressure readings. This is according to studies by researchers at Barts and The London Medical School.
While the over 55s are debating the benefits of statins, those in their 20s and 30s can expect to have a quarter-life crisis any day now, if they havent already experienced one. Greenwich University researcher Oliver Robinson says that greater fluidity in the job world, greater fluidity in marriage and pressure to meet parental demands are to blame.
A daily pill to control asthma symptoms is easier to use and just as effective as traditional therapies, researchers from the University of Aberdeen has found. According to studies, reported in todays Times, sufferers should now considering switching to leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs), already available in the UK, as an alternative to steroid inhalers.
On the subject of childhood obesity, The Telegraph says that children should not be bottle-fed after turning one year. American research found that toddlers who drank a lot of milk had a greater chance of becoming seriously overweight.
Spotted a story we've missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll update the digest throughout the day...
Daily Digest
