Eating most of your calories at breakfast can help weight loss, suggest Italian researchers.
In a three-month trial at San Raffaele Rome Open University, two groups of women had identical diets (healthy Mediterranean-style with 600 fewer calories than participants normally ate), but at different times of the day.
One group had 70 per cent of their calories at breakfast, morning snack and lunch; the second group had 55 per cent, with the rest of their calories in the afternoon and evening.
People lost more weight by eating more, earlier. It's thought food eaten early is burnt off in the day
Both lost weight, but the morning eaters lost an average 1st 3lb, compared to 1st in the afternoon group. The morning group also lost an average 3in from their waists, compared to 2¼in the afternoon group. It's thought food eaten early is more likely to be burnt off in the day.
Drug that could curb urge to shop
Compulsive shoppers could kick their buying habit with the help of a pill.
Doctors are testing an epilepsy drug as a treatment for reducing the buzz that drives compulsive shopping
Doctors are testing an epilepsy drug as a treatment for reducing the buzz that drives this behaviour.
Those with compulsive buying disorder, an acknowledged obsessive condition, become anxious before buying something, then experience a surge of relief when they do. It's estimated almost 6 per cent of people suffer with it at some point.
In a new trial, 42 people with the disorder will be given the anticonvulsant drug topiramate, or a placebo, every day for 12 weeks.
The trial, at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, follows small studies that have shown that topiramate can help with similar disorders such as compulsive gambling.
Topiramate acts on the brain chemicals dopamine and glutamate, which have been linked to addictive behaviour.
Gel speeds up the recovery of burns
A gel that acts like a tiny scaffold for new skin to form on may help burns heal faster.
The gel is made from tiny fragments of protein molecules known as peptides - when added to water they form a porous, moisture-rich gel that mimics the natural structure that supports new cells and keeps them in place in healthy skin.
The gel is designed to treat moderate to severe burns, where the top and underlying layers of skin are destroyed, leaving very few skin cells to regenerate.
Current treatment using silicone dressings can take up to ten weeksto be effective and the risk of scarring and infection increases with the length of healing.
In animal studies, the gel, developed at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore, closed wounds after just two weeks. Human trials are planned.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2653256/Why-big-breakfast-helps-lose-weight.html#ixzz34GC4Uv9B
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