Claire O'Connellexamines some of the whackier stories that emerged in health during 2008
DID YOU hear the one about the life-saving underwear? Or what about turning ungainly fat into implants for breast-cancer patients? And did you know that men now have a valid medical reason for leaving the toilet seat up?
Yes, 2008 has left us with a few stories to tell. But before all that, let's cut to the good news about chocolate. Where would the world of health journalism be without chocolate? Yet again we have had a bumper year for research on the treat that is perhaps not so forbidden after all.
Dark chocolate contains relatively high concentrations of antioxidants (albeit mixed in with less healthful sugar and saturated fat), and several studies published this year add fuel to the theory that eating a small amount of the good stuff every so often can help protect health.
An ongoing study in Italy looked at chocolate consumption in a group of more than 2,000 people who were apparently disease-free.
Their findings suggest eating dark chocolate in moderation can bring down levels of C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker in the blood associated with increased risk of heart disease.
"Consumers of up to one serving [20g] of dark chocolate every three days had serum CRP concentrations that were significantly lower than non-consumers or higher consumers," wrote the researchers in the Journal of Nutrition.
"Our findings suggest that regular consumption of small doses of dark chocolate may reduce inflammation."
Meanwhile, lucky participants in another Italian study demonstrated that eating small amounts of flavol-rich dark chocolate (but not white chocolate, which they also got to road-test) could reduce blood pressure and improve insulin sensitivity within just a couple of weeks.
Chocolate could even help protect the brain in older age. A Norwegian study of more than 2,000 elderly men and women found that eating about 10g per day of chocolate was associated with improved cognitive abilities.
But despite its health benefits, the lure of free chocolate was not enough to entice physiotherapists to contribute to a study on knee osteoarthritis, according to separate research in Norway. The experiment asked almost 2,800 physiotherapists in private practice to record patient details over 12 weeks for a prospective study on osteoarthritis and offered half of the physios a small incentive to take part - a bar of dark chocolate if they filled out and returned the form.
But the bait made no odds. "There was no difference between the chocolate and no-chocolate group in response rates of those who sent in completed forms," concluded the authors in BMC Research Notes in June. "Stronger incentives than chocolate seem to be necessary to increase the response rate among professionals who are asked to report about their practice."
Perhaps the physios turned up their noses at the goodies for fear they might gather excess wobble in those stubborn patches like the belly or inner thighs. If so, then they should get talking to Prof J Peter Rubin from the University of Pittsburgh who resculpts obese patients after they have lost weight following stomach bypass surgery.
He sucks out the excess fat, then with their permission he harvests their stem cells for research. His centre's newsletter this summer describes how he wants to use the fat stem cells to help generate breast tissue for cancer patients who have had mastectomies.
But if you can't suck out the unwanted fat and turn it into something useful, there's always the old-fashioned corset. In October the New York Times highlighted some rather dubious medical thinking from exactly a century ago, when a doctor told a presumably rapt audience in Los Angeles that corset-wearing had led to women's bodies atrophying, and the sturdy undergarments were now required to keep women upright.
"Dr LE Landrone . . . commended the modern corset," stated the report. "In an address before the members of the Women's Literary Club he declared that the stays were good for the reason that the torso muscles have been weakened for centuries through the generous support of the corset until now the average female form could not stand without its help . . ."
Perhaps the good doctor might have been uplifted by the news earlier this year that a stranded hiker owed her survival to her sports bra. US athlete Jessica Bruinsma fell off a cliff while hiking in the Bavarian Alps and sustained a raft of injuries, including broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. But she still managed to tie her bra to a nearby cable used to transport timber from a logging operation.
When the underwear sailed down the mountain on the cable, the lumberjack called the police and Ms Bruinsma was found and rescued by helicopter. "It certainly beats sending up a flare," a rescue worker later remarked.
But let's leave the last word to some cautionary advice from British doctors this month who extol the virtues of leaving the toilet seat up. It may irk the female members of a household, but it may also spare the male members. Literally.
A report this month from doctors in Crewe in England detailed penis-crush injuries in four pre-school boys who had recently been toilet trained. Each boy had lifted the toilet seat, which fell back down and crushed his penis so badly he needed to go to hospital.
Luckily the patients didn't suffer long-term physical damage, but the doctors advise householders to leave the seat up if there's a newly trained boy in the house, to opt for delayed-closing lids and to ban heavy or ornamental toilet seats.
"As any parent knows, toilet training can be a difficult time with any toddler," says the lead author of the report in the British Journal of Urology International. "We are concerned that the growing trend of heavy toilet seats poses a risk not only to their health, but to their confidence."