More than seven million people in Britain have long-term health problems linked to arthritis. The Arthritis Research Campaign estimates that more than 550,000 men and women have evidence of moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knees.

Now a daily dose of vitamin D is being used to protect knees affected by osteoarthritis. Doctors involved in a clinical trial believe the vitamin may prevent or slow the breakdown of cartilage, the protective inner lining of joints that becomes damaged by the disease, resulting in pain and inflammation.

Previous research has shown people with severe arthritis of the knee have lower levels of vitamin D. The 140 patients involved in the new trial, aged 49 and over, will be given either 50mg of vitamin D a day or a placebo over two years. During and after the trial, cartilage loss will be measured, as well as levels of pain and movement. ‘There is evidence that vitamin D supplementation, a simple and cheap intervention, may prove useful in slowing the progression of osteoarthritis,’ say researchers leading the trial at the New England Medical Centre, in the U.S. You can take vitamin D in liquid form which is easier than taking a capsule or tablet. Call 0845 8800915 for more information.

According to a study by Japanese scientists, sniffing lavender or rosemary oil for just five minutes a day can reduce levels of a harmful stress hormone called cortisol.

It is known to cause oxidative stress, a destructive process that damages healthy cells. In the latest study, researchers at Meikal University, Japan, recruited 22 healthy volunteers and took saliva samples to test for a range of substances including cortisol.

Each one had to spend five minutes inhaling lavender or rosemary oil before the tests were repeated. The results in the Journal of Psychiatry Research showed a sharp drop in cortisol levels after sniffing the oil.

Missing breakfast has been shown to raise cholesterol levels in a small study at the University of Nottingham.

The study also found that women tend to eat more calories during the day if they had skipped breakfast, with implications for weight gain if they continued to skip breakfast over the long term.

Ten healthy women of normal weight were asked to eat breakfast before 8 am for two weeks followed by normal mealtimes. They were later asked to eat breakfast at midday for two weeks. Cholesterol levels were found to be higher after skipping breakfast.