Wine may keep the doctor away
Moderate alcohol consumption can boost your immune system and potentially improve your ability to fight infections, a new study has claimed. A research team led by an immunologist at the University of California found that moderate consumption of alcohol can improve immune response to vaccination. The finding could pave the way for potentially new interventions to improve our ability to respond to vaccines and infections, benefiting vulnerable populations, such as the elderly for whom the flu vaccine, for example, has been found to be largely ineffective. Interestingly, it has been known for a long time that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower mortality.
Junk food can damage memory
Junk food not only hurts your health but also your memory, according to a new study. The study by Margaret Morris, the head of pharmacology at the University of NSW, has found that eating a diet loaded with saturated fat and sugar may have an immediate effect on the brain’s cognitive ability and may cause memory loss. Morris examined memory in rats and found that exposure to junk food over just six days reduced spatial recognition or ability to notice when an object had been moved to a new location. Morris found that after consuming a high sugar and fat diet for one week, the hippocampus, the brain structure which is critical for learning and memory, had increased inflammation. The study also suggested that the damage was not reversed when the rats were switched back to a healthy diet.
Coffee and its cancer connection
Nearly 10 per cent people mistakenly believe that coffee causes cancer, with 9 per cent of those polled thinking that drinking coffee can lead to developing the disease. The survey of 2,000 adults was done by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) to highlight misconceptions about coffee. Six per cent said that coffee can protect against the disease. 10 per cent think that caffeine could help with weight loss, despite, according to the WCRF, there being no scientific evidence for the assumption. More than 20 per cent believed that caffeine is the “most dangerous” substance in coffee. Dr Rachel Thompson said that new evidence from their Continuous Update Project (CUP) has discovered no proof to suggest that coffee ups or decreases the risk of any other cancers.