Health News

Coffee can protect from dementia in old age

Coffee can protect from dementia in old ageStockholm - Drinking moderate amounts of coffee may protect people from dementia in later life, according to a study by Finnish and Swedish researchers.

Coffee drinkers ran a lower risk of dementia in middle age and Alzheimer's disease later in life compared to those who drank little or no coffee.

The researchers at the University of Kuopio, Finland, and Karolinska Institutet of Stockholm, Sweden, studied 1,409 individuals aged 65 to 79 who were members of a group surveyed in 1972, 1977, 1982 or 1987 and who completed a re-examination in 1998.

Surgery to remove cataracts proves highly successful

Surgery to remove cataracts proves highly successfulHamburg - Sensitivity to light, a steady decline in eyesight or blurred vision can all indicate the formation of a cataract.

Cataracts, a thickening of the eye's lens, impairs vision and can occur at any stage of a person's life, though they are more common among the elderly.

Involuntary retirement can be a health hazard

Bonn, Germany - Retirement once meant imminent death in many cases. People stopped working at age 65 and some dropped dead a few months later.

"This was a much greater problem in former times," remarked Uwe Kleinemas, director of the Centre for the Cultures of Ageing at the University of Bonn. Thanks to improved working conditions, people today were no longer so physically exhausted at the end of their working lives.

Kleinemas noted a wholly different problem faced by many older people, however: "They want to continue working but are not permitted to do so." This, too, can be hazardous to health.

High caffeine consumption linked to hallucinations

High caffeine consumption linked to hallucinationsDurham, England - A study conducted on 200 university students has linked high caffeine consumption to a higher tendency to hallucinate.

The study, carried out at Durham University in England and reported in a German magazine for physicians, asked students to outline the amount of coffee, tea, caffeine tablets and energy drinks consumed. Their stress levels and tendency to hallucinate were then recorded.

Prince Charles adds herbal medicines to his organic product range

Prince Charles adds herbal medicines to his organic product rangeLondon, January 24: "Healthcare enthusiast" Prince Charles' organic brand is set to launch its complementary medicines made of traditional herbal ingredients.

The Duchy Originals brand, acclaimed for it upmarket organic biscuits, sausages and marmalade, will sell three products, all priced at
10 pounds.

Antigen-laden disks rally immune system against tumours in mice

Antigen-laden disks rally immune system against tumours in miceLondon, January 23 : Harvard University researchers have shown that small plastic disks, when impregnated with tumour-specific antigens and implanted under the skin, can coax the mammalian immune system to attack tumours.

The researchers claim that their research represents the most effective demonstration to date of a cancer vaccine.

They have revealed that the study involved mice with an aggressive form of melanoma that would usually kill them within 25 days.

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