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A glass of wine each evening is enough to increase your risk of developing cancer, women are being warned.\nConsuming just one drink a day causes an extra 7,000 cancer cases - mostly breast cancer - in UK women each year, Cancer Research UK scientists say

Being overweight or seriously underweight as a teenager curbs life expectancy as much as smoking 10 cigarettes a day, a study suggests.\nSwedish researchers followed 46,000 men from the age of 18 for 38 years.

Eating a curry once or twice a week could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, a US researcher suggests. The key ingredient is curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric.

Scientists say a natural supplement made from tomatoes, taken daily, can stave off heart disease and strokes. The tomato pill contains an active ingredient from the Mediterranean diet - lycopene - that blocks "bad" LDL cholesterol that can clog the arteries.

The Maltese and the Greeks are the heavyweights of Europe, figures from the European Commission reveal. The Italians and French the most trim, while the average Briton - like the average European - is slightly over the ideal weight. Obesity, which is linked to a range of health problems, including heart disease, is a growing problem across much of the developed world.

A chemical found in green tea appears to slow the progression of prostate cancer, a study has suggested. Green tea has been linked to a positive effect on a wide range of conditions, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin D, found in fish and produced by sun exposure, can help stave off the mental decline that can affect people in old age, a study has suggested. UK and US researchers looked at 2,000 people aged 65 and over.

Probiotics could be used to protect critically ill patients from developing pneumonia, according to scientists. The friendly bacteria can block the colonisation by dangerous bugs of the airways of ventilated patients, the Swedish study concluded. The probiotic solution performed just as well as normal antiseptics used to keep pneumonia-causing bacteria at bay, the journal Critical Care reported. Being more natural it could pose fewer side effects, the authors said

Scientists have discovered the key to the ability of spicy foods to kill cancer cells. They found capsaicin, an ingredient of jalapeno peppers, triggers cancer cell death by attacking mitochondria - the cells' energy-generating boiler rooms.

"Eating high levels of some soy products - including tofu - may raise the risk of memory loss, research suggests. The study focused on 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java. ' The latest study suggests phytoestrogens - in high quantity - may actually heighten the risk of dementia. Lead researcher Professor Eef Hogervorst said previous research had linked oestrogen therapy to a doubling of dementia risk in the over-65s. She said oestrogens - and probably phytoestrogens - tended to promote growth among cells, not necessarily a good thing in the ageing brain. Alternatively, high doses of oestrogens might promote the damage caused to cells by particles known as free radicals. A third theory is that damage is caused not by the tofu, but by formaldehyde, which is sometimes used in Indonesia as a preservative. The researchers admit that more research is required to ascertain whether the same effects are found in other ethnic groups. However, previous research has also linked high tofu consumption to an increased risk of dementia in older Japanese American men. The researchers found high tofu consumption - at least once a day - was associated with worse memory, particularly among the over-68s. "