Stress in children alters their genome

Children growing up in stressful and socially-disadvantaged households had altered genomes- i.e. genetic material. In a study published by Daniel Notterman and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/04/02/1404293111), the DNA of 40 nine year old Africa-American boys was examined in relation to their upbringing. Factors including household income, family stability, … Read more

Seven is the new Five

If an apple a day is meant to keep the doctor away, it probably won’t be for very long. We should now be aiming for 7 or more portions of fruit or vegetables a day, say the authors of a large public health study conducted in the UK. Out of the 65,000 adults surveyed in … Read more