What Have Some of the Latest Health Studies Discovered?

Photo by Ewan Robertson on Unsplash

Every day it seems a new health study is published claiming one item of food or drink can cause cancer, while another could help prevent it. As technology has advanced, many of these studies are backed up by more substantial evidence than before, meaning it can be worthwhile to pay more attention to them. These are four of the latest health studies to come out in early 2018 that cover a variety of common health issues.

Positive Impacts of Vaping

Government health officials have ruled that e-cigarettes should be available on the NHS on the back of the Public Health England’s first ever review into the science of vaping. The report concludes that health professionals should go much further in encouraging smokers to vape as a healthy alternative to smoking. While it doesn’t go as far as claiming e-cigarettes should be prescribed, it did find that the likes of a VIP electronic cigarette or any other such model only offer five per cent of the harm of actual cigarettes.

Acidic Drinks are Bad for Teeth

Plenty of studies and basic science have pointed out how damaging sugar can be to our teeth. One of the latest investigations by scientists from King’s College London focused on acidic drinks such as fruit teas and flavoured water. Perhaps unsurprisingly it discovered that drinking these between meals and savouring them could increase the risk of tooth erosion from acid. Continuous sipping and holding such drinks in the mouth before swallowing was seen as the main cause.

Depression and Birth Control

Over 30 years of research was studied and compiled at the Ohio State University into the link between progestin-only birth control methods and depression. These birth control methods include the ‘mini’ birth control pill and an implant, for example. Led by Dr Brett Worly, it found that there was no correlation between the two, highlighting the safety of such methods and suggesting that any negative effects may be down to an individual basis.

Yogurt is Good for the Heart

Finally, for all you yogurt lovers out there, here’s some good news. A study published in the American Journal of Hypertension discovered that an increased consumption of yogurt could reduce high blood pressure and the chance of heart disease. Women who had two or more servings of yogurt a week were 30 per cent less likely to experience a heart attack. It’s not advising eating three tubs a day though, as that could possibly have the opposite effect.

New studies into our health are constantly going on, so it’s always worth checking the news for the latest health advice and information.

Grand National Sweepstake Kit - Printable Race Cards & Betting Slips

The Grand National will see forty horses line up in a bid to become the next winner of what is one of the UK’s most prestigious horse races. Taking place on Saturday 14th April, the National currently sees Blaklion as the favourite, although having been favourite last year and finishing fourth, he is far from a dead cert to win.

Total Recall is making his debut at Aintree and is the second favourite on Paddy Power Grand National odds. Cause of Causes will be hoping to go one better than last year, having finished in second place behind One For Arthur.

If you think you can predict who is going to win the National this year then why not print off this handy sweepstake kit and use it with your work colleagues or friend and family? Included are race-cards, rules and betting slips for you to print off to help you make this year’s Grand National a little more interesting.

The First Kiss

I sat alone, glancing furtively to the left, willing him to make the first move. I was shy; I always had been. He stood up and flicked his eyes in my direction. I quickly looked away but it had happened – our eyes had met for a split second.

He stood up and attempted to casually kick a stone away. He missed. He shoved his hands into his coat pocket and whirled around on his heel. He walked up to me, leaned over and pecked me on the cheek.

I felt that patch of skin burn and tingle. My face flushed and I coyly looked at the ground. I mustered up all my courage, rose from my seat, walked over to him, tiptoed up and gently brushed the corner of his mouth with my lips. I rushed back to my original seat.

My sister jumped off the adjoining swing and shouted, “YOU KISSED ANTONY SHIELDS! I’M GOING TO TELL MUM!” She jumped on her bike and peddled as quickly as her chubby little legs would carry her.

I focused on Antony’s face, feeling slightly sick, mumbled something about awful six-year old sisters, shrugged slightly and said, “See you at school tomorrow? Please don’t tell anyone?”

He stood there and said nothing in return. He just stared at me. I picked up my scooter and followed in the direction of my sister. I glanced over my shoulder just once and he was still stood there, watching me.

I caught up with my sister and, using the advanced knowledge that only a 10-year old older sister has, threatened to smash up her beloved her Sindy doll up and tear up her Twinkle comic if she didn’t keep her mouth shut.

To be fair, neither of them have mentioned it again. Ever! I have though... it formed part of my speech at my sister’s wedding. And mum never knew until then either!

¨¨°º©©º°¨¨

I thought this as a fun way to introduce this Valentines-themed infographic from The Independent Pharmacy.  It's got some great facts and figures in it about Valentines Day. 

Save Money On Your Energy Bills... Forever!

I'm a sucker for a good tip that helps me save money so was over the moon when Look After My Bills approached me to help them spread the word about their free (YES, FREE) new service from energy switching site, The Big Deal. 

Some background, so you know they're not just a 'new kid on the block', The Big Deal has over 400,000 members, established over four years.  They use clever research tools and bargaining power to negotiate exclusive deals in energy and broadband.  Members save, on average, over £300 per year by switching to better, cheaper deals. 

Website  | Facebook |  Twitter

The new initiative, Look After My Bills, has been launched to help reduce your energy bills without you doing a thing - saving you even more time and money! You simply sign up to the Look After My Bills website, fill in the simple form and let them do all the hard work for you (this entails continuously assessing the best energy deals and switching you to another good deal when your current contract is about to come to an end). 

So...

✔ Free

✔ The best deal

✔ No effort from you, the customer

⇉ Win Win Win

I've already signed up and can totally recommend the service. With the best will in the world - and all the advice about swapping energy suppliers to save money - I always put off that research until "next weekend". I've been in my current house for 12 years and never changed energy supplier! I now know I've currently got the best deal for me and all the switch-over kerfuffle was handled by Look After My Bills with three short, informative emails so it's one less thing for me to worry about.

Now... what can I spend the savings on...?

Website  | Facebook |  Twitter

Turning A Corner

I've turned a corner.  Feeling negative about running has been locked away and if it threatens to rear its ugly head again I'm going to look back over the past couple of weeks and remember exactly what it was that changed my attitude. 

First and foremost, hard running - and running further - is paying off.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I ran my furthest ever distance last week... EIGHT MILES!  Claire - my training partner - arranged a Sunday run but initially wouldn't tell me how far we were going so I couldn't psyche myself out. It was Really Fucking Hard Work and I could feel my body having to push beyond any boundaries I had experienced before after six miles but I did it!  At the end I got overly emotional and sobbed in the street.  

I also hit my goal of running 50 miles in January.  It actually ended up as 63 miles in total, even with a run totally written off because of tight calves. This was a club challenge but I'd also signed up for a medal and compression top from Race At Your Pace to keep me focused. I've decided to keep the momentum going and aim for 60 miles in February. It's a shorter month but hopefully achievable. 

Next... born over the dregs of a bottle of gin and named in a flash of inspiration, The First 10 Minutes Are The Worst launched with its first episode in January.  It's basically just myself and my friend, Rowena, talking about running in a relaxed, truthful and humorous kind of way. The podcast will be monthly for now so make sure you're all tuned in ready for the next episode which will be published on 25th February. There were a couple of teething issues with the first episode but we know how to fix those, we have original theme music composed by Peter Clarke and you can find us by subscribing as follows:

iTunes | search for us in any podcast app | RSS 

Follow us on Facebook  |  Subscribe to the newsletter 

Listen to the first episode on Podbean 

And finally, this month's race has already been run.  On Sunday morning I laced up my trainers and headed to Witton Park in Blackburn for the Blackburn Road Runners Winter Warmer 10k.  Club members aren't normally allowed to enter unless they have a charity place or have been given a place by a race sponsor.  My place was gifted last year but, after officially joining the club, I was given the option whether to run or not.  The route is a tough one with the first 3k totally uphill but, if I've learnt one thing over the past few weeks during my 10 mile training, it's that I HAVE to battle my demons.

Blackburn Road Runners members are THE BEST cheer team ever - even more so on home turf. The way in which they are situated around the course means that you only have to run for a couple of minutes before there is another team in place to give you a few words of encouragement or a 'high five'. 

Another great part of the day was finally meeting Pat.  She's a Fylde Coast Runner and we've been chatting and supporting each other on Twitter for ages.  We ran together for the whole race and it was like we'd been friends forever.  Her friend, Chez was running just a short way in front of us and was listening to my podcast for most of the race. Give them both a follow if you're on Twitter... @patsylou59 and @chezpete 

Apart from that first three kilometres, it was the best race I've run in a very long time. Friends noted that I looked happy as I ran (a rare occurrence for me) and Anna even said that she didn't recognise me coming over the brow of one hill because my running style has changed a bit - hopefully because I felt so confident. And... I somehow managed to get three 'personal best' times for specific distances (probably on the downhill bits but if Strava says it is so, then we're taking it as proof!) PLUS I knocked  a whole 6 minutes off last year's 10k time!

February is only four days old and already I'm loving it.  10 miles... I'm coming to get you!