London - Yoga is being tested as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. The condition, which causes bloating, cramping, constipation and diarrhoea, affects as many as four million people in the UK.
Stress is thought to play a part as a trigger, or by exacerbating symptoms. Researchers believe that yoga could help by reducing stress and pain. In a new study at the University of California, 64 patients with IBS will do one or two sessions of yoga a week, to investigate the potential benefits.
Yoga, which involves stretching, meditation, breathing and relaxation, has previously been shown to be better than drug therapy for treating IBS-related diarrhoea.
* Eating fruit and vegetables may cut your risk of cancer of the gullet. This is based on an analysis by Changhai Hospital of the Second Military Medical University, China, of the diets of 1 500 people. Those who ate the most fruit and veg had a 32 percent lower risk than those who had the least.
This could be down to the protective effect of flavonols, antioxidants that produce the colour in fruit and vegetables. - Daily Mail