The body’s healing system could be “supercharged” after a new discovery which gives people with heart disease or broken bones new hope of a better, faster recovery. By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent British researchers have developed a technique that boosts the number of repair cells released by the body after a major injury or disease. The discovery means more than 100 times the amount of cells are released, and the scientists hope the breakthrough could lead to speedier recoveries from serious injuries, heart attacks and other organ failures. When a person has a disease...

The humble egg should be considered a superfood thanks to its ability to boost health and even help tackle obesity, according to researchers behind a new study. Nutrition scientists have found that eggs are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available and are recommending that we eat at least one egg a day to get the optimum benefits. In the study, to be published in the journal Nutrition and Food Science, researchers discovered that eggs can play an important role in maintaining health as well as help with weight-loss and dieting. Read More…

Philip Morris, the tobacco giant, is planning to take the Norwegian state to court in an attempt to overturn a law in the Scandinavian country banning the display of cigarettes in stores. Following in the footsteps of several other Western countries like Ireland and Iceland, Norway on January 1 this year banned the display of cigarettes in stores in an attempt to cut impulse buys of tobacco products. In Norway, cigarettes have been banished to closed cases, while cigarette dispensers may no longer display brand labels. The company, which manufactures Marlboro, said in a statement on Tuesday:...

A Facebook application to help people quit smoking has been launched by a charity. WeQuit will help people and their friends challenge each other to give up nicotine as well as create rewards for success and forfeits for failure. Quitters will also be able to raise money for charity and track each other’s progress by accessing www.WeQuit.co.uk/facebook and adding the application to the social networking site. The launch, by the No Smoking Day charity, is supported by Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne, who is president of national No Smoking Day. He said: “We feel that quitting...

By Deborah Kotz The advice for losing those stubborn extra pounds seems so simple: Eat less, and exercise more. But as anyone who’s ever tried to lose a few pounds knows, putting that advice into practice is very tough. Cut back on calories too much, and you’re overwhelmed by hunger and your metabolism may slow. Exercise like crazy, and the hunger pangs you feel a few hours later may trigger you to eat back all you’ve burned off—and then some. And let’s be honest, no one really wants to keep track of every bite of food. Read More…

When someone you love is depressed, what are the warning signs that suicide is a possibility? Every 17 minutes, someone dies by suicide in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death for Americans, and while it often comes as a surprise to friends and loved ones, it is largely considered to be preventable if warning signs are heeded. “The tragedy of completed suicide is that most could have been prevented if family members knew what to look for,” says Lisa Boesky, a psychologist and author of When to Worry:...

Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system – T cells – will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body. For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be ‘triggered’ into action and ‘transform’ from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of a foreign...

Drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks has been linked to an increase in new cases of diabetes and heart disease. By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent More people now drink soft, sport and fruit drinks daily, and the increase has led to thousands more diabetes and heart disease cases over the past decade, according to research presented to the American Heart Association’s annual conference. The study estimates the increased consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks between 1990 and 2000 contributed to 130,000 new cases of diabetes, 14,000 new cases of coronary heart disease (CHD), and 50,000...

By Ed O’Keefe A Food Safety and Inspection Service veterinarian blew the whistle on his agency Thursday, telling lawmakers that managers repeatedly failed to heed his warnings about unsafe slaughterhouse practices, claims supported by government auditors who said the agency had failed to consistently enforce humane slaughtering standards. Dean Wyatt, an FSIS supervisor based in Vermont, described several instances in which he witnessed and reported the mistreatment of pigs at an Oklahoma slaughterhouse. Read More…

Washington DC will become the first city in the US to make female condoms available for free, the Washington Post has reported. The contraceptives will be handed out in beauty salons, convenience stores and high schools in areas with high rates of HIV/Aids infection. Male condoms have long been handed out but infection rates remain high among Washington’s black residents. Read More…