People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests. The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) – a measure of obesity. It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than [...]

Heavy drinking is a major cause of a 25% increase in deaths from liver disease in England in under a decade, according to the government’s specialist NHS unit on terminal care. The first report from the fledgling National End of Life Care Intelligence Network warns that the victims of liver disease are getting younger, with [...]

Taking a low dose of aspirin every day can prevent and possibly even treat cancer, fresh evidence suggests. The three new studies published by The Lancet add to mounting evidence of the drug’s anti-cancer effects. Many people already take daily aspirin as a heart drug. But experts warn that there is still not enough proof [...]

A diet high in saturated fat has been linked with a reduced sperm count. A study of 99 men attending a US fertility clinic found those eating junk food diets had poorer sperm quality. High intakes of omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and plant oils, were associated with higher sperm concentration. More work is [...]

The Department of Health was last night urged to review its guidance on red meat after a study found that eating almost half the daily recommended amount can significantly increase the risk of dying early from cancer and heart disease. Small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami can increase the likelihood [...]

One dose of the hallucinogenic drug LSD could help alcoholics give up drinking, according to an analysis of studies performed in the 1960s. A study, presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, looked at data from six trials and more than 500 patients. It said there was a “significant beneficial effect” on alcohol abuse, which lasted [...]

The speed someone walks may predict the likelihood of developing dementia later in life, according to researchers in the US. They also told a conference that grip strength in middle-age was linked to the chance of a stroke. The scientists said more studies were needed to understand what was happening. Experts said the findings raised [...]

The risk of birth defects increases four-fold if the pregnant mother has diabetes, researchers say. The Newcastle University study, published in the journal Diabetologia, analysed data from more than 400,000 pregnancies in North East England. The risk of defects such as congenital heart disease and spina bifida were increased. National guidelines already recommend having good [...]

If you’re eating healthy, exercising right, and still not losing weight, then we’ve got great advice for you: Snack smartly. Whether you eat three main meals or six minimeals through the day, the trick lies in never going hungry and never overeating either. By starving yourself, you’ll just eat more at the next meal while [...]

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients’ brains. Based on signals from listening patients, a computer model was used to reconstruct the sounds of words that patients were [...]