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« Previous | Main | Next » A spoonful of sugar helps wounds heal faster Post categories: Pain ,  Sugar David Gregory Can sprinkling sugar into a wound speed up the healing process? The papers are today reporting on some new research we touched on back in August . When Moses Murandu was a child in Zimbabwe and gashed his leg his father sprinkled sugar into the wound when dressing it. Well now Moses is a senior nurse and lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and he's been conducting clinical trials to see the impact sugar has when used as a dressing on infected wounds. He funded the initial study at Selly Oak on a few patients himself. Treating problems like open infected wounds and bedsores. And the results were so promising he's now been awarded £25,000 to expand the trial with up to 300 patients in different hospitals across the Midlands. His initial paper has also just been accepted for publication in the N

Spending time with loved ones with dementia is important even after they fail to recognize the faces of friends and family, a dementia charity says. A survey found that 42% of the public think there is no point in keeping up contact at this stage. But the Alzheimer's Society said family visits stimulated feelings of happiness, comfort and security. Even as the condition progresses, it said people with dementia can still hold an "emotional memory". This means they continue to feel happy long after a visit or experience that they may have forgotten. The charity is calling on people to visit friends and relatives with dementia regularly and help them take part in activities they enjoy. In a separate survey by the charity of 300 people affected by dementia, more than half said they were no longer taking part in any, or hardly any, social activities. And 64% said they felt isolated following their diagnosis. 'Bleak and lonely' Jeremy Hughes, chief ex

    Scientists believe they have discovered a way to "steer" the immune system to kill cancers. Researchers at University College, London have developed a way of finding unique markings within a tumour - its "Achilles heel" - allowing the body to target the disease. But the personalised method, reported in Science journal , would be expensive and has not yet been tried in patients. Experts said the idea made sense but could be more complicated in reality. However, the researchers, whose work was funded by Cancer Research UK, believe their discovery could form the backbone of new treatments and hope to test it in patients within two years. They believe by analysing the DNA, they'll be able to develop bespoke treatment. People have tried to steer the immune system to kill tumours before, but cancer vaccines have largely flopped. One explanation is that they are training the body's own defences to go after the wrong target. The problem is cancer

Obesity is the biggest threat to women's health and the health of future generations, warns England's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies. Her annual report , which focuses on women this year, said tackling obesity should be a national priority to avert a "growing health catastrophe". She said the food industry needed to do more or it should face a sugar tax. Dame Sally is also calling for better treatment of ovarian cancer and more open discussion on incontinence. England's top doctor said obesity was so serious it should be a priority for the whole population, but particularly for women because too often it shortened their lives. In England in 2013, 56.4% of women aged 34-44 and 62% of women aged 45-54 were classified as overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases including breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Sugar tax Dame Sally warned that if the food

BY RUTH HARRISON Coud your kid be a child genius? Getty EVERY parent thinks their child is a genius but there’s a way to be sure from an early age – and it involves a RAISIN. Scientists have found that by placing the fruit under a cup and telling a toddler not to touch it, they can tell how clever the youngster will turn out to be. While most two-year-olds make an immediate grab, those who resist for one whole minute will score an average 19 per cent higher on tests by the time they are eight, the University of Warwick found. Here, RUTH HARRISON reveals other tell-tale signs of a high IQ from birth up to the age of ten. Newborn EXTRA HEAVY Chubby baby ... you might have a genius on your hand

Before you reach for that second piece of bread at dinner, consider this: the foods you are eating are showing up in your face as wrinkles, blemishes, bags and more. If you can identify and eliminate your skin-aging triggers, you are also able to heal your gut, stop the process of “digest-aging” and reverse these effects on your skin. As a naturopathic doctor, I noticed some secondary effects when treating my patients’ primary health concerns. Patients frequently came in for consultations and health advice on how to eradicate nagging issues, such as eczema. When discovering the root cause of chronic symptoms, I prescribed a lifestyle change, including foods to incorporate and to avoid, all according to the patient’s unique DNA. I realized that by applying these principles, my clients have since commented on the way their skin glows, increased levels of energy and an overall increased sense of well-being, which included a minimization of the originally treated ailment.

Urinary incontinence is leaking of urine that you can't control. Many men and women suffer from urinary incontinence. We don't know for sure exactly how many. That's because many people do not tell anyone about their symptoms. They may be embarrassed, or they may think nothing can be done. So they suffer in silence. Urinary incontinence is not just a medical problem. It can affect emotional, psychological and social life. Many people who have urinary incontinence are afraid to do normal daily activities. They don't want to be too far from a toilet. Urinary incontinence can keep people from enjoying life. Many people think urinary incontinence is just part of getting older. But it's not. And it can be managed or treated. Learn more here. Talk to your doctor. Find out what treatment is best for you. Key Statistics A quarter to a third of men and women in the U.S. suffer from urinary incontinence. That means millions of Americans. About 33 million have

Vitamin D supplements may help people with diseased hearts, a study suggests. A trial on 163 heart failure patients found supplements of the vitamin, which is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight, improved their hearts' ability to pump blood around the body. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals team, who presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, described the results as "stunning". The British Heart Foundation called for longer trials to assess the pills. Vitamin D is vital for healthy bones and teeth and may have important health benefits throughout the body but many people are deficient. The average age of people in the study was 70 and, like many people that age, they had low levels of vitamin D even in summer. "They do spend less time outside, but the skin's ability to manufacture vitamin D also gets less effective [with age] and we don't really understand why that is," said consultant cardiologist Dr Klaus Witte.

The world is facing an "unrelenting march" of diabetes which now affects nearly one in 11 adults, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. In a major report it warned cases had nearly quadrupled to 422 million in 2014 from 108 million in 1980. High blood sugar levels are a major killer - linked to 3.7 million deaths around the world each year, it says. And officials said the numbers would continue to increase unless "drastic action" was taken. The report lumps both type 1 and type 2 diabetes together, but the surge in cases is predominantly down to type 2 - the form closely linked to poor lifestyle. As the world's waistlines have ballooned - with one-in-three people now overweight, so too has the number of diabetes cases. How diabetes has taken its toll 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014 - that's 314 million more than there were in 1980