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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 6th Jan 2002 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||||
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Did you Have Red Or White Wine with your Turkey ?
Medical researchers at London University may have solved the mystery of why red wine is good for you and therefore possibly explaining why people in France live so long, despite a diet high in saturated fats. Roger Corder and his team from Barts and the Royal London medical school have found that red wine reduces the levels of a substance called endothelin-1, which plays an important part in furring up arteries. People have known for 2 centuries that people in France are healthier than they should be but it was never clear why. Now the researchers have shown that substances present in high levels in red wine, but not white wine or rose, can reduce the levels of endothelin-1 by over 50% in cells cultured in a dish. So is red-grape juice as good ? Apparently not, as 7 times more grape juice is needed to produce the same effects as a small amount of red wine. But do we know what it is in the red wine that causes the beneficial effects ? Although it is not known for certain, the authors of the study suggest that chemicals called polyphenols are probably responsible but since there are quite literally thousands of them in wine, finding the correct one might take a while. Now the really good news - vin de table is every bit as good as vintage wine at producing the effect, so it need not hurt your pocket to benefit your heart !
6th Jan 2002
Did you Add Salt to your Christmas Dinner ?
We should try not to add salt to our food, according to research published this week, because it leads to higher blood pressure, heart disease and strokes. The body needs about a gram of salt per day, but most of us eat at least 9 times that much, and in some parts of the world, such as Japan, people often eat over 25 grams per day and have substantially higher blood pressure, stroke and heart attack risk as a result. Cutting salt intake can reduce blood pressure enough for people on blood pressure medications to no longer need tablets, and even benefits people with normal blood pressure. The major problem is that many of us simply do not realise how much salt is added to the food we eat. A packet of crisps alone, for example, contains a day's salt requirements. Therefore, the best way to benefit your health is to add as little salt as possible to your food, increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables that you eat, cut down on salty foods like crisps, and go out for a brisk 30 minute walk 3 times a week.
6th Jan 2002
From One Fussy Eater to the Next
German botanists working in Brunei have discovered a surprising fussy-eater - a plant. Most insect-eating plants like Sundews and Venus fly traps, will consume any small creature unlucky enough to come their way, but a pitcher plant in Brunei's rainforest only eats termites ! The plant uses parts of itself as bait to lure a certain kind of termite into its funnel-shaped leaves where they fall into a pitcher of digestive juices. Another surprising finding is that the plant actually uses part of itself as 'bait', growing fine white hairs around the tops of its pitchers. The termites find the hairs irresistible and even alert their nest mates to the location like lambs to the slaughter !
6th Jan 2002
Britannia Rules the Brainwaves
Britons are more intelligent that we were 60 years ago, according to recent research ! According to James Flynn and his colleagues from the University of Otago in New Zealand, we are about 27 IQ points brighter since world war 2. Americans are only 24 points cleverer, he reports. Psychologists suspect that about 80% of our intelligence is genetically determined, but at least 20% is down to the environment we grow up in and our education. They suggest that our IQ has gone up because we live in a technologically complex modern world which stimulates brain development more effectively than in the past. That British people have done the best, and beaten America, because we have better nutrition and lower truancy rates, they say.
6th Jan 2002
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