Vital vitamins

WINTER woollies are all very well, but vitamins can help to keep colds and flu at bay. For the immune system to do its job, it needs four big hitters: Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Vitamin K.

As well as meat and blue fish, don’t forget potatoes and bananas as a Vitamin B6 source. Vitamin C is present in fruit and greens, but it’s there in potatoes, too.

BANANAS: A great source of Vitamin B6.

For Vitamin D take cod liver oil, eat sardines and calves’ liver while soaking up Spanish sun. And for Vitamin E, feast on avocado and reach for the olive oil.

Natural wonder

DRUGS containing butylphthalide, a chemical that occurs naturally in celery seeds, could assist the recovery of stroke patients.

Those prescribed the medication in China had less severe neurological symptoms and better mental skills than those receiving a placebo.

“This is the first trial to show the benefit of using medication that protects the brain from damage caused by a lack of oxygen to brain tissue,” said Dr Baixue Jia, from the National Clinical Research Centre for Neurological Diseases in Beijing.

Mask masquerade

AS face masks are gradually phased out ­ now necessary only in Spain’s health and social care centres ­ South Korean researchers discovered that some people are still reluctant to discard them.

As well as the ultra­cautious who fear Covid, they found that people who saw themselves as unattractive preferred to continue masking up.

“We saw that self­perceived attractiveness has significant effects on mask­wearing intentions in the post­pandemic era,” the Seoul National University investigators concluded after quizzing Americans with three different questionnaires. Their findings suggested that mask­wearing could sometimes shift from a Covid self­protection measure to a belief that face­coverings could enhance looks.