TOXICITY STUDY A pan-European study into the long-term, low-level exposure to toxic metals like mercury has just begun. Researchers from the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, based on the University of Ulster Coleraine (UU) campus are taking part in the five-year study funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme.
One strand which will be investigated by the UU team is the risk/benefits of fish consumption in pregnant women in the Seychelles. Women there consume around two meals of fish per day during pregnancy and the study will examine whether the benefits of such high consumption of fish outweighs the dangers of organic mercury exposure.
MARRIAGE COUNSELLING Accord Dublin, the Catholic marriage counselling service is seeking volunteers to present marriage preparation and marriage enrichment courses.
The service is particularly interested in hearing from men who believe they can help others make a success of their marriage. Volunteers will receive training to become marriage education facilitators. Information meetings will be held in Accord, 39 Harcourt St, Dublin on Monday, March 27th at 8pm; in the Parish Centre, Church of St Therese, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin on Tuesday, April 4th at 8pm and in St Mary's Parish Centre, Lucan, Co Dublin on Monday, April 10th. Tel: 01 4784400 for more details.
COLD REMEDY Products using the leaves of the Echinacea purpurea plant have been found to be the most effective for the early treatment of colds, according to a Cochrane Library review of 16 clinical trials.
Another study published in Clinical Therapeutics found that the risk of catching a cold increases by 55 per cent in the absence of preventative treatment with Echinacea. The same study found that colds tend to be milder in people taking Echinacea rather than a placebo.
MENTAL HEALTH Grow, Ireland's largest mental health organisation, has expressed concern at the increase in the use of prescriptions to treat mental illness in Ireland. Figures compiled by the HSE's Primary Care Reimbursement Service show that at least 3.5 million prescriptions for drugs to treat psychosis were written in 2005 - an increase of half a million on the 2003 figure.
Almost 290,000 people, or about 7 per cent of the population, are now medicated for depression, insomnia or other mental illnesses.
Mike Watts, national programme co-ordinator of Grow said: "We urge doctors to look at the alternatives available to them, including referral to mutual help organisations such as Grow that empower people to . . . recovery rather than encourage long-term dependence on medication."
(Lifelines is compiled by Sylvia Thompson)