But things have changed. Now it seems that not a week goes by without a new study from a group of earnest scientists patiently explaining why the things that we're used to eating, drinking and doing are actually very bad for us and should be stopped immediately before we do even more damage to ourselves.

Nothing is safe. Vegetables are covered IN pesticides, wine causes heart disease, fibre doesn't protect from bowel cancer, vitamins don't do much good and drinking coffee will increase stress levels.

But somehow, conversely, beer can be good for your brain, eggs are healthy again and chocolate can reduce blood pressure. Confused yet?

The truth of the matter is that despite all the studies and new discoveries, most food and drink is still fine, as long as it's taken in moderation. Splurge on beer and fried foods over a sustained period of time and you'll understand why researchers say that those two things go hand in hand with heart disease.

So while you don't need to be planning a gluten-free, lactose-free, sucrose-free and, most likely, taste-free diet just yet, it's worth having a look at what's been discovered about food and other things that you may enjoy . . . if only to determine what exactly you're missing out on.

WINE

HEART

GOOD news for wine-drinkers who are worried about their hearts: scientists from the University of Grenoble in France say that drinking wine daily is a great way to minimise the risk of a heart attack for anyone who's already suffered one.

And research by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden discovered that women who drank a small amount of wine every day for a year had a healthier heart-beat than those who didn't.

BUT

A number of studies have found that there is a significantly increased risk of heart disease in the long-term for people who regularly drink wine.

CANCER

Several studies have found that wine (especially red wine) has lots of cancer-busting properties. A substance found in red wine called resveratrol can help to prevent cancer, and may even form the basis of a cancer-treating drug in the future, according to a survey by the University of Leicester.

More specifically, a team of researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain have found that drinking a glass of red wine a day significantly reduces the risk of lung cancer.

BUT

A study released in Britain last week by Cancer Research UK found that drinking a glass of wine each day increases the risk of getting bowel cancer by about 10% (see http: //news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/health/6921998.stm). There is also evidence that regularly drinking large amounts of alcohol increases the risk of cancers of the mouth, larynx, pharynx and oesophagus, according to Professor Tim Key of Oxford University.

LUNGS

Good news for those who like their vices: it's been suggested that drinking red wine can help to protect against the harmful effects of smoking. A study conducted by doctors in Alexandra University Hospital in Greece found that two glasses of red wine counteracts the damage to the arteries caused by one cigarette. An earlier study by researchers in Imperial College London found that drinking a small amount of red wine could protect against a serious lung disease, and was more effective than existing medications for the condition.

BUT
Researchers at the British Heart Foundation have found that wine can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and lead to weight gain.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

A Harvard University study discovered that a substance found in red wine may actually be able to extend human life. The research found that the substance . . . resveratrol again . . . can significantly prolong the life of cells, and possibly lead to people living longer.

BUT

Drinking wine also contributes to liver damage and an increased risk of heart disease, both of which are likely to shorten your life expectancy.

BRAIN

It may not just be the effects of alcohol that make people think they're far more articulate and intelligent when they drink; a study by researchers for the New Scientist journal found that a glass and a half of wine every day can help improve the health of the little grey cells and stop the progression of brain disorders (see http: //www. newscientist. com/article/mg161 21682.000-why-wine-is-good-for-yourbrain. html). Furthermore, researchers at the Institute of Preventative Medicine at Kommunehospitalet in Copenhagen have found that people who drink wine weekly or monthly were two times less likely to develop dementia-related illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease.

BUT

The short-term effect of wine is more damaging. A study carried out at the University of Amsterdam found that just two glasses of wine rapidly confuses the brain and can leave judgement dangerously clouded.

COFFEE

SEX

RESEARCHERS from SouthWestern University in the US last year identified an unexpected benefit of coffee when a team of scientists found that it can help boost a woman's sex drive. The caffeine stimulated the part of the brain regulating arousal and increased female arousal.

BUT

Caffeine has also been shown to produce anxiety and nerves in drinkers. Tests carried out by researchers at the University of Chicago found that caffeine-induced anxiety affected a small proportion of tea and coffee drinkers . . . possibly negating any libido-enhancing side effects.

DIABETES

Not even the scientists are sure if caffeine is good or bad for diabetes. An 11-year survey of more than 28,000 people by the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota found that drinking decaffeinated coffee was associated with a much lower risk of developing diabetes. The people who drank more than six cups of decaf coffee a day had a 33% lower risk of diabetes compared to those who didn't drink coffee.

BUT

Caffeine may also make diabetes worse; a study by researchers at Duke University Medical Centre suggested that caffeine could interfere with the way the body deals with blood sugars which could have a detrimental effect for sufferers of Type 2 diabetes.

HEADACHES AND STRESS

A study by researchers at the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago found that a cup of tea or coffee could help tackle headaches. The research found that caffeine helped people gain relief from tension headaches specifically.

BUT

Drinking coffee also increases stress levels, which can contribute to headaches. A study at Duke University Medical Centre of regular coffee drinkers found that moderate caffeine consumption made people physically react in the same way as they would if they were having a very stressful day.

SKIN

Research published by US scientists last week found that a cup of coffee could protect your skin from the harmful effects of the sun. The National Academy of Sciences' study found that when combined with exercise, caffeine reduced the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation on the skin.

BUT

That benefit could be negated by the fact that, as many coffee-drinkers have found out, drinking caffeine can affect your ability to have a good night's sleep. A team of researchers at the Sapir Medical Centre in Tel Aviv University found that drinking a cup of coffee late in the afternoon halves the body's natural level of melatonin, the brain hormone that sends people to sleep.

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

Drinking coffee could help safeguard against getting gallstones, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, while another US study at Rutgers University suggested that caffeine could one day be used to cure skin cancer. It has even been suggested that coffee could improve women's tolerance to pain; researchers at London's Goldsmiths College had an increased tolerance for pain compared to men after drinking a double espresso.

BUT

A study of 4,000 people, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that there was an increased risk of heart attack for heavy coffee drinkers with a particular genetic profile. And caffeine may also affect your memory . . . a study at the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy found that a cup may affect short-term memory, making it difficult to recall certain words that you already know.

BEER

BRAIN POWER

STRANGE as it may seem to anyone who has ever witnessed the conversations that take place at closing time, beer may actually be good for the brain. A study carried out by researchers in Northumbria University in England found that half a pint of beer can increase brain power by 20%, and in small quantities it can actually boost memory function.

BUT

Long-term, heavy drinking can destroy brain cells and impair cognition, according to the University of Texas at Austin.

CALORIES

It would seem that beer has less calories than a similar measure of wine, milk or fruit juice . . . that's according to the British Beer and Pub Association at least which, albeit with perhaps just a little bit of bias, also says that spirits have more than six times the calories of beer.

BUT

Research by a team at the National Institute of Public Research in Copenhagen found that beer drinkers were also more likely to buy unhealthy food such as chips and ready meals than those who drink wine.

Wine buyers bought more olives, fruit and vegetables, while beer drinkers opted for fattier, meatier options.

SOCIAL

On the more social side of things, drinkers generally have more friends and stay healthier overall than people who do not drink, according to a study conducted by the National Addiction Centre in Britain.

BUT

It has been estimated by the British Medical Association that alcohol is responsible for 30,000 premature deaths in the UK every year. The BMA also found that alcohol is linked to half of all murders and 80% of suicides.

IMMUNE SYSTEM

Scientists at Keele University in Britain discovered that beer contains silicon, which can help the body strengthen the immune system and fight disease.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that people suffering from high blood pressure reduced their risk of a heart attack by having one or two drinks a day.

BUT

Heavy consumption can lead to liver disease and other illnesses; a daily pint of beer raises the risk of bowel cancer by 10%, according to research published by Cancer Research UK last week, while a study of nearly 50,000 men by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that beer drinkers were almost three times as likely as non-beer drinkers to develop gout.

CANNABIS

WORK SUCCESS

BUT ONE of the more unusual statistics about cannabis comes from a study of over 2,500 people by researchers at the University of Leicester. They found that not only does using the drug have no impact on work success once users are in a job but also, somewhat unexpectedly, cannabis users tend to earn slightly higher wages than nonusers.

Other research has shown that cannabis hampers the ability to hold a conversation, leads to memory problems and users are likely to have a poor attention span. These results come from a large British study on the impact of recreational drugs on psychological function, carried out by the universities of Newcastle, Northumbria, Teeside, East London and Westminster.

MENTAL ILLNESS

A team of researchers at Newcastle University in the UK found that cannabis relieves the symptoms of mental disorders such as bi-polar disease.

BUT

A study by researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand clearly found that cannabis doubles the risk of mental illness, while a team from Bristol and Cardiff Universities in the UK found that users were 40% more likely to suffer from a psychotic illness such as, er, bi-polar disease.

SMOKE EFFECTS

A study at the University of Colarado found that cannabis smoke was less likely to cause cancer than tobacco smoke.

BUT

A study in New Zealand published last week suggests that cannabis smoke is still dangerous. Carried out between the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Wakefield Hospital and the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, it found that one joint can damage the lungs as much as smoking five tobacco cigarettes, causing symptoms such as coughing and wheezing (see http: //news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/hi/health/6923642. stm).

ANTI-DEPRESSANT

A 2005 study by Canada's University of Saskatchewan found that cannabis can act as an antidepressant.

BUT

A number of other studies have suggested the opposite: the British Medical Journal ran a series of articles saying that frequent cannabis use triggers depression, particularly among young people.

EPILEPSY/BLACKOUTS

Researchers from Germany's MaxPlanck Institut in Munich have found that cannabis could help prevent epileptic seizures.

BUT

A poll last year in Britain by the YoungMinds charity found that over half of young people surveyed who'd used cannabis had suffered from side effects such as blackouts and paranoia.

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

Recent surveys have found that as well as relieving chronic pain, cannabis eases the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, provides pain relief after major surgery and reduces joint pain for arthritics.

BUT

Research shows that it also increases the risk of heart attack, damages male fertility and can stunt baby growth, while exposure to cannabis in the womb can make children hyperactive.

CHOCOLATE

GOOD news for all chocoholics: research has shown that there are a number of benefits associated with eating chocolate. A study published last month by researchers at the University Hospital of Cologne found that eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day could reduce blood pressure and cut the risk of a stroke.

Another study at Johns Hopkins University discovered an unexpected health benefit of chocolate: researchers found that dark chocolate can thin the blood, cutting the risk of clots in a way similar to the effect of taking aspirin.

And research from the Imperial College London has even suggested that chocolate could help stop coughs and could eventually lead to more effective cough medicines.

Chocolate can also be good for mental health: relaxing with some chocolate or a glass of wine makes people generally calmer, more relaxed and happier, according to the results of a survey by Reading University.

BUT

Chocolate is very high in calories and fat, and eating high amounts of it can contribute to heart disease and weight problems, according to a study carried out at Harvard University.

This research also suggests that people who eat too much chocolate have a lower life expectancy than those who eat it in moderation.

The high sugar content also increases the risk of tooth decay, especially among young children.

EGGS

A STUDY by the Egg Nutrition Centre in Washington found that an egg a day really was ok; the research found that the saturated fat that was found in foods such as red meat and dairy products was the major contributor to raised cholesterol, as opposed to the dietary cholesterol found in eggs.

BUT

Eggs have had a lot of bad press. In the 1980s, salmonella scares saw consumption drop dramatically, while in the 1990s, people who had high cholesterol were told to reduce or cut out eggs completely from their diet so as to prevent the risk of heart disease.

VITAMIN C

A NUMBER of studies have shown the benefits of vitamin C, most notably lauding its powers to ward off the common cold. Japanese researchers at the Medical Research Institute of Tokyo Medical and Dental University have also found that it may help to protect against stroke, while a study in the UK by the University of Manchester and Cambridge University suggested that the vitamin could protect against arthritis. It could even help to fight off cancer, according to the results of a recent study done by the Maryland Institute of Health.

BUT

The commonly-accepted idea that Vitamin C protects from the common cold was disputed last month in a study of almost 12,000 people. The research, carried out by the Australian National University and the University of Helsinki, found that Vitamin C did little to reduce the length or severity of colds. More seriously, a study carried out in Copenhagen in February found that certain vitamin supplements could actually shorten life expectancy. Another study by researchers at the Centre for Cancer Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that vitamin C may cause damage to cells that could lead to cancer.

FIBRE

EVER since the 1970s, fibre has been seen as a major way to protect against bowel cancer. Scientists from the Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge University suggested that a fibre-rich diet could reduce the risk of bowel cancer by 40%.

BUT

In 2005, researchers at the Journal of the American Medical Association examined all the studies in the area and found that the link between fibre and the prevention of bowel cancer didn't exist.

Scientists now suggest that although people who eat a lot of fibre do have less incidence of bowel cancer, they also tend to lead healthier lifestyles overall.

MILK

THE health benefits of milk are well-known; it's an important source of calcium which helps to build bone density and avoid osteoporosis, as well as essential vitamins to maintain overall health.

There are also less wellknown benefits: a 20year study carried out by the University of Cardiff found that drinking a pint of milk a day can help protect men against diabetes and heart disease.

BUT
It's also high in fat, and a study carried out earlier this year found that while drinking tea can help protect against cardiovascular disease, adding milk counteracts any beneficial effects, according to researchers at the Charite Hospital UniversitatsmedizinBerlin in Germany.

FRUIT & VEG

WE ALL know that fruit and vegetables are good for us . . . eating five portions a day gives us essential vitamins and minerals, while they're also low in fat and carbohydrates and help form part of a balanced diet. There are othe, more specific benefits too; for example a study published last week showed that the risk of getting deadly prostate cancer is greatly reduced by eating broccoli and cauliflower, according to the US National Cancer Institute and Cancer Care Ontario.

BUT
A study at Glasgow University suggested that the use of nitrate fertiliser on vegetables could be responsible for the big increase in cases of cancer of the gullet, which have more than trebled since the 1980s and which scientists blame on the mass production of vegetables in the past 50 years. A study by Friends of the Earth also found that much of the fruit and vegetables in supermarkets contain potentially harmful pesticide residues.

AND SOME OTHER THINGS THAT CAN BE GOOD FOR YOU (OR BAD)

SEX

AS WELL as apparently being good for the skin and the immune system, a study in the American Journal of Cardiology of over 1,000 men in Wales found that the risk of death among men having sex twice a week was half that of men who made love infrequently.

BUT

Don't go rushing off to test the theory just yet; the European Society of Cardiology has warned that men face twice the normal risk of a heart attack after having sex, regardless of whether they have heart disease or not. This risk is significantly increased for wild sex and adultery.

FILMS

FILMS can be good for you as well as entertaining . . .watching a film can boost endorphin levels and lead to an increased sense of wellbeing, according to research at the University of California.

BUT

Some films can expose audiences to noise levels 35% higher than the recommended levels, which could lead to hearing problems if sustained over a long period of time, according to the British Standards Institute.

LAUGHTER

LAUGHING out loud can boost the immune system and help to lower stress levels, according to research carried out by the British Psychological Society.

BUT
It's not always funny for people on the receiving end. People who laugh a lot are more likely to be rude, according to a study carried out in the University of New South Wales.