health

Scots are drinking far more than people in the rest of the UK. Figures from NHS Health Scotland show that adults bought 24 per cent more alcohol than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland — the equivalent of 100 extra pints of beer each a year.

People who drank more than six cups of tea or coffee a day cut their risk of heart disease by a third, a 13-year-long study of 40,000 people in the Netherlands has found. The Dutch tend to drink coffee with a small amount of milk and tea without.

The old advertising slogan "Guinness Is Good for You" may be true after all, according to US researchers. A glass a day of the black stuff may work just as well as a dose of aspirin to prevent the blood clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

The seasonal flu vaccination in the United States this autumn is going to include the H1N1 strain (sometimes called "swine flu"), which means that people will need only one injection in order to be protected.

Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and Kolo Touré are globally famous African footballers. On Sunday, World Malaria Day, they will be leading a campaign to make people aware of the disease that infects up to 500 million people every year.

Christopher McDougall, whose book Born to Run is driving interest in barefoot running, had been told by top US sports specialists that his injuries would force him to quit running. He went to Mexico, threw away the running shoes and never looked back.