BANGKOK — For the first time, an experimental vaccine has prevented infection with the AIDS virus, a watershed event in the deadly epidemic and a surprising result. Recent failures led many scientists to think such a vaccine might never be possible.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. agency UNAIDS said the results “instilled new hope” in the field of HIV vaccine research.

The vaccine — a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines — cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the world’s largest AIDS vaccine trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, researchers announced Thursday in Bangkok. (more…)

Slowly but surely, the death rate from cancer is going down in the United States, thanks to better methods of preventing, detecting and treating the disease. Between 1990 and 2005, about 650,000 lives were spared from cancer, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report, “Cancer Facts and Figures 2009.” During the fifteen-year period, the cancer death rate among men dropped by 19.2 percent, while the cancer death rate for women fell by 11.4 percent. Cancer incident rates also declined; 1.8 percent a year among men from 2001 to 2005 and 0.6 percent a year from 1998 to 2005 among women. (more…)

As debate rages in Britain about the relative benefits of organic food, international development charity Progressio says that ‘going organic’ is changing the lives of poor farmers and their families across the developing world.

Following a recent report by the UK’s Food Standards Agency, which suggested that organic food has little difference in nutritional value and “no health benefits”, debate has been raging about whether organically grown produce is superior to non-organic food. (more…)

A new service provided by the Government will help to keep tabs on food safety and recalls via a website that is constantly updated with the most recent happenings.

The website is easy to navigate and full of great information for parents and kids.
Email updates can be set up for all news and recalls. (more…)

It is a daily routine for millions of Italians – the morning cup of espresso brewed on the kitchen hob or downed swiftly in a cafe on the way to work.

Forget the scare stories, says dietician Chiara Trombetti, of the Humanitas Gavazzeni institute in the northern Italian town of Bergamo.

There is sound scientific reason to enjoy your morning espresso without worrying about the health effects.

Coffee can be good for you – she says – and the stronger, the better. (more…)