Walnuts, boobs, beauty sleep and snacking

Some of the wellness stories which have been making the news lately… and some which frankly should have politely made way for yet more room on Meghan/ Harry/ Impeachment/ Gwyenth’s vagina candle.

• Walnuts are making an early claim to be the nut of 2020, with research from Penn State showing ‘eating walnuts daily as part of a healthy diet was associated with increases in certain bacteria that can help promote health’ - especially improvements in some risk factors for heart disease

• Having a decent night’s sleep might help keep you looking younger by allowing tiny collagen structures to replenish overnight, Manchester University found.

• Snacking on high-fat foods in-between meals buggers up the brain’s biological clock and leads to major over-eating. “Anytime snacking eventually results in obesity,’ the Virginia study reveals.

And, erm…

• Apparently, ‘Women with big boobs suffer from much worse colds than those with flatter chests, research reveals’ - The Sun claims. The paper helpfully notes “those with the biggest breasts were 56 times more likely to take a course of antibiotic”. 

• Swedish (of course) researchers seem to have found “eating the equivalent of 450g of sweets every day for a week enhanced men's sperm quality” - though this might have more to do with the week before the sugar-binge, the blokes were ‘put on a strict seven-day healthy diet full of nuts, berries and vegetables’. Hyper-processed diets can send sperm-counts plummeting.