Life Line

According to the WHO, people must not consume more than one millionth of a gram of acrylamide per litre of drinking water. But the team from Stockholm University and the National Food Administration (NFA) found one microgram of acrylamide in just half a gram of crisps (potato chips) or two grams of French fries. Margareta Turnqvist, who led the team, estimates that the average person eats dozens of micrograms of acrylamide a day. The scientists advise people to eat more greens and cereals, and less French fries and potato chips. Apparently, boiled foods and raw products showed negligible levels of acrylamide.

Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in rats and mice, though two studies done on people exposed to high levels of acrylamide through their work showed no significant link between the chemical and cancer. Nonetheless, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies it as a "probable carcinogen" because of its effects on animals.

The Swedish researchers began looking for acrylamide in food following a study of construction workers who suffered from impotence, motor control problems and numbness after using caulking gel in a railway tunnel. Investigators found that acrylamide in the gel might have been to blame. But they were surprised to find that people in the control group who had not used the gel also had relatively high levels of acrylamide in their systems.

Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health in New York, says: "I’m not surprised at all. The more we test food, the more natural carcinogens we find."

If you are a woman just turned 27 or a man hitting 35, it’s time to make a baby without much ado. Until now, it was thought that women’s fertility begins to dip in the early 30s, with a big plunge after 35. But a new US-French study, involving 782 healthy couples from across Europe who were using only the rhythm method of family planning, suggests that on average female fertility begins to slide at age 27. And, while the decline in human fertility tied to aging had traditionally been attributed to the female factor, the study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, showed that men’s fertility starts dwindling after 35. Nevertheless, experts said the findings should not raise undue concern. The results mean it may take a month or two longer to conceive than it does for younger people, they say.

A holistic therapy based on traditional Indian medicine was able to reverse the thickening of arteries, a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, in healthy older people, a new report shows. The programme includes Transcendental Meditation, antioxidant herbal supplements, a diet low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables, yoga exercises designed to reduce stress, and walking.Participants meditated twice daily for 20 minutes, and walked for 30 minutes a day. Scientists at the Center for National Medicine and Prevention in Fairfield, Iowa, randomly assigned 20 healthy individuals age 65 and over to the traditional therapy, 14 to usual care and nine to a modern medicine intervention. The latter approach included aerobic walking and exercises for an hour 5 times a week, dietary advice and a standard multi-vitamin supplement. After a year, those in the traditional medicine group were nearly four times as likely to exhibit a decrease in thickness of arteries than participants in the other two groups combined.

In India, we tend to take all new drugs for granted without a thought about their long-term side-effects. Like in the US, we do not even have a system of weeding out ineffective or dangerous drugs. A new US study, conducted at the Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, has shown that up to 20 per cent of all new prescription drugs may ultimately be recalled or produce potentially harmful side effects.The study found that 56 of 548 new drugs evaluated were later termed "suspect" or banned from the market altogether. In some cases, those side effects can be deadly: Since 1993, seven drugs that were approved, then later withdrawn, may have contributed to over 1,000 deaths.