Further good news for greengrocers: eating plenty of fruit and vegetables can halve your risk of developing pancreatic cancer, claim University of California San Francisco researchers in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention (Sept). Onions, garlic, beans and yellow and dark-leafed vegetables seemed to have the most positive preventive effect. At least five fruit and veg servings a day were needed to give protection, the study says.

Patients who take antibiotics to treat acne for more than six weeks at a time double their risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection. Pennsylvania University researchers report in the Archives of Dermatology (Sept) that the therapeutic value of antibiotic acne creams and tablets should be balanced against their increased infection risk.

Long-term alcoholics who have heart surgery are four times more likely to have a post-operative infection than other patients, according to a study by University Charite Hospital, Berlin. The report, in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (Sept) suggests that alcoholics should be given immunity- boosting treatments before and during surgery to reduce their mortality rates.

People who care for family members at home and fear that they live in a dangerous neighbourhood face an increased risk of poor blood-sugar levels, say researchers at Duke University. They report in Psychosomatic Medicine (Sept/Oct) that, while neither being a caregiver or fearing bad neighbourhoods in itself puts people at increased risk of diabetes, the two factors combined raised people's chances of becoming diabetic considerably.

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