Health News continued
More headlines from the world of Medicine and Healthcare.
Cat owners at lower risk
of Heart Disease
Many
cat owners would say that their fury friends offer them enough
happiness as it is. But a new study carried out at Minnesota University
shows that owning a cat can actively reduce the risk of suffering a
heart attack.
Researchers discovered that owning a cat
severely reduces levels of stress and anxiety many people experience in
their everyday lives. Stress and is one of the most common contributing
factors of fatal heart attacks.
This reduction in stress levels, researchers found, is caused in mnay
cases simply by stroking your feline friend.
Professor
Qureshi at Minnesota University was surprised by findings saying "the
magnitude of the effect was hard to predict,". In fact researchers
found that the results could lower the risk of a fatal heart attack by
as much as 30%.
The findings were unveiled at the National Stroke Conference
Source: http://www.newslocale.org/health 19th March 2008
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Folic Acid could help with
male fertility
Traditionally thought of as a useful supplement for pregnant women,
Folic Acid could improve fertility in men.
Folic
Acid is traditionally taken by women during pregnancy to help reduce
the potential for some birth defects in their unborn child, such as
Spina Bifida. It now seems that there could be also be benefits for men
that suffer from partial infertility.
Researchers in
California found that men who consumed higher than recommended levels
of Folic Acid were more likely to show a lower frequency of abnormal
sperm.
In the study published in the Human Reproduction journal, men showed up
to a 30% reduction in abnormal sperm.
Folate
is a water soluble B vitamin that occurs naturally in food such as
pulses, beans and spinach while folic acid is its synthetic form.
Source: www.independent.co.uk 20th March 2008