Paris - Bad news for Britons: adding milk to tea ruins the health benefits of the drink, according to a Germany study. Tea has complex compounds called polyphenols which are believed to help the arteries to relax or dilate, thus enabling a smoother flow of blood. Scientists led at the Charite Hospital in Berlin tested black Darjeeling tea on 16 healthy women volunteers aged more than 50, placing an ultrasound probe on their forearm to measure arterial response. When the women drank half a litre of tea, their arteries relaxed significantly more than when they drank hot water or tea with milk - tea in which skimmed milk, comprising 10 percent of the drink's volume, was added. The results were confirmed in lab-dish tests on rat aorta. The study, which appears online in the European Heart Journal, points the finger of blame at three casein proteins in the milk.

Diet and medications may assist prevention of prostate cancer

Recent investigations of medications, diet and the molecular understanding of prostate cancer are defining potential prevention strategies for the disease, and herald a new stage in the management of this cancer, according to a new review.

Writing in the November 1, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Neil Fleshner and Dr. Alexandre Zlotta from the University of Toronto say that available medications, such as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors and selective estrogen receptor modifiers, show promise in reducing malignancies. In addition, there is strong evidence that dietary fat significantly impacts disease development and promising data that other compounds, such as soy, selenium and green tea, offer additional possibilities for disease prevention.