END TO SUPERSIZING: "Supersize" portions of French fries and fizzy drinks at the world's largest fast food retailer are being taken off the menu.
McDonald's has announced it will put a stop to supersizing by December.
It plans to introduce more lower calorie and lower fat options alongside its milk, yoghurt and fruit range. The company has faced legal action over obesity in the US, where one group of children claimed its food was responsible for health problems.
In the UK last week, McDonald's responded to the announcement by saying it was mindful of the obesity debate but supersizing alone - where drinks and fries are upgraded from a large portion to an even bigger one - does not cause obesity.
DOCTORED TEST: A DNA test devised by French and US biotechnologists can tell whether cheap meat has been used to bulk up foie gras, if beef was illegally added to cattle feed and whether a rat tumbled into the grinder when your hamburger was being made.
The "FoodExpert-ID" is the first commercial application of the microarray chip, hitherto a lab technology that has specimens of DNA that are unique to each species of animal, according to New Scientist magazine. Genetic strands from the food sample are tagged with fluorescent chemicals and then are washed over the chip.
Any matching sequences stick together, and the fluorescent zones, read by laser, indicate which species are present. Made by Affymetrix, a California company, and bioMerieux of France, FoodExpert-ID is principally designed to detect food fraud.
HEROIN SURVEY: The latest findings from the NewsTalk 106 'in the City' survey suggests one in four 21 to 40-year-olds in Dublin have tried cocaine and almost one in 10 have tried heroin. One in 10 admit to taking these drugs regularly. Its survey indicates 21-29 year-olds are more likely to have tried cocaine (29 per cent) in comparison to 30-40 year-olds (19 per cent).
Heroin is almost three times as likely to have been tried by men rather than women (13 per cent versus 5 per cent). Some 59 per cent of people have tried cannabis, with more than one in 10 doing so regularly.
STATINS AND STROKE: Statins - drugs that lower LDL cholesterol - substantially reduce the incidence of stroke among high-risk individuals. Using statins is of known benefit for people at increased risk of heart attack.
Rory Collins from the Clinical Trial Service Unit, Oxford, UK, and colleagues report in the Lancet notable results from a five-year study of the effect of simvastatin or placebo among 20,536 people with either a history of stroke or other cerebrovascular disease (3,280 people) or at high risk of stroke for other reasons (17,256 people).
CHALLENGING VIEW: A study of nomadic tribes in Africa has challenged the established view that a diet high in saturated fats raises cholesterol levels. The Fulani of Nigeria had healthy cholesterol levels despite diets comprising almost 50 per cent saturated fats.
In the Western world, people are advised to consume no more than 30 per cent fats in their diets, with no more than 10 per cent coming from saturated fat sources (meat, eggs). The researchers suggested the findings were attributed to the population's high activity level, low calorie intake and lack of smoking.
GENETIC LINK: Researchers at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children at Crumlin have discovered a possible genetic reason for the severity of meningococcal infection in some Irish people. Meningococcal septicaemia has a high death rate when it causes major disruption to the body's normal clotting mechanisms.
Prof Owen Smith and his colleagues have now found a link between certain gene types and a poor outcome for those patients with meningococcal infection.
FAT-FREE FRUIT: In an effort to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity the UK government is partly funding an initiative to establish a programme of free fruit in schools. Children aged 4-6 years in state schools will be entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day in accordance with the NHS-backed plan. This programme will see 440 million pieces of fruit and vegetables distributed to more than 2 million children.