Pharmacy Daily | Dispensary Corner 02 Sep 10

RUSSIAN citizens have been urged to increase their smoking rates and consumption of alcohol in a bid to boost the country’s finances. Finance minister Alexei Kudrin said higher revenues from taxes would enable more spending on community services. “If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates,” he said. “People should understand: those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state,” he told the Interfax new agency. Currently 65% of Russian males smoke, while the average citizen consumes more than 18 litres of alcoholic beverages a year. TELL your patients to get out pounding the pavement! The World Cancer Research Fund has issued a report which estimates that about 10,000 cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year in the UK if people did more brisk walking. “There is now very strong evidence that being physically active is important for cancer prevention,” said spokesperson Dr Rachel Thompson. She said that other activity including gardening, cycling, swimming, vacuuming and even dancing would also help. BAD breath from garlic can be cured by drinking a glass of milk, according to a report published recently in the Journal of Food Science. The authors said that in tests with both raw and cooked garlic cloves, milk “significantly reduced” levels of the sulphur compounds which give the herb its pungent odour. Water and fat in the milk was said to deodorise the breath, with the trial finding that the optimum effect was achieved through sipping the milk at the same time as eating the garlic.

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