Tea 'healthier' drink than water - It's a great antioxidant

Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.

The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.

Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found. 


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They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack.

Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut.

Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening.

Dr Ruxton said: "Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it's got two things going for it." 


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Diabetes drug Avandia restricted by FDA & to be banned in Europe

One of the reasons I am very hesitant about artificially created drugs:

The controversial diabetes drug Avandia will stay on the market, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted its use to patients with type 2 diabetes who cannot control their illness with other medications.

The restrictions are based on studies showing an increased risk of serious heart problems, including heart attacks and strokes, in patients taking Avandia, the FDA said Thursday.

Just minutes after the FDA posted its decision on its website, its European counterpart, the European Medicines Agency, announced that it’s going further and suspending approval for the marketing of Avandia in Europe. If the decision is finalized by the European Commission, the drug will be removed from the European market, along with two medications Avandamet and Avandaryl that combine Avandia’s active ingredient with other drugs.

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Being short 'raises heart risk'

Short people are more likely to develop heart disease, researchers say.

Being under 5ft 4in or 165.4cm if you are a man and below 5ft or 153cm if you are a woman poses a risk, they say.

After analysing data on over 3m people, they found shorter adults were 1.5 times more likely to develop and die from heart disease than tall adults.

Shorter people may have smaller blood vessels to the heart that clog more easily, the Finnish team suggested in the European Heart Journal.

Or factors that can stunt growth, like poor nutrition during childhood, could play a role, they add.

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Heart patients with depression at greater risk

The combination of depression and coronary heart disease in a patient could be much more deadly than either condition alone, researchers say.

French and British experts say people with both conditions could be four times more likely to die from heart or circulatory disease.

The study, in Heart journal, tracked the mental and physical health of 6,000 middle-aged people over five years.

Experts said doctors must pay more heed to depression in heart patients.

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Multiple Sclerosis activity apparently alters with the seasons

BBC Report - 30 August 2010

The severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) may change with the seasons, say US researchers.

Brain scans of patients compared with weather patterns at the time showed higher levels of disease activity in the spring and summer.

The US researchers said the findings had implications for testing new medicines, which may show up different results depending on the time of year.

It is not clear why warmer weather would have this effect.

Other studies have shown that vitamin D from exposure to sunlight may have a protective effect against MS - a long-term inflammatory condition of the central nervous system.

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This really is intriguing, because you are more likely to be out in the sun (and create Vitamin D) in the Spring and Summer.