Nutritional health centre opens
Scotland's first nutritional health clinic opens in Glasgow today. The Essential Health Clinic describes itself as "the only facility in Scotland to offer conclusive nutritional tests to examine the status of patients' blood and recommend appropriate nutritional guidance".

To mark the opening, the television GP Dr Chris Steele, who appears on This Morning, will take an omega 3 test to measure the level of omega 3 fatty acids present in his blood stream. Currently, analysis of tests takes place in the United States, but will in future be done in Glasgow thanks to a link between the clinic and Glasgow University.

The clinic is run by GPs Tom Gilhooly and William Graham. Dr Gilhooly says: "We understand people might be wary of just ditching the traditional routes to health, which is why we look at the pharmaceutical drugs they are taking and work with them to see where nutritional medicine can help."

Dr Steele adds: "Nutrition has been brought heavily into the public eye in the past few years, with many people realising that their diet has a great influence on the way that they feel. However, it is important to realise that with more difficult conditions, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia and multiple sclerosis, levels of supplementation need to be carefully controlled, and sometimes tied in with the prescription of pharmaceutical drugs."

Got an ulcer? Go for olive oil
Olive oil is known for being a "good" fat, and now research suggests it may have a role in helping to prevent and treat peptic ulcers and gastritis. Researchers used laboratory experiments to show that healthy phenolic compounds in extra virgin olive oil remain stable in the acidic environment of the stomach for hours. In laboratory cultures, those substances had a strong antibacterial effect against eight strains - including antibiotic-resistant ones - of Helicobacter pylori, which cause peptic ulcers. More tests are needed on living organisms, but researchers concluded that the results open the possibility of considering extra virgin olive oil a protective agent for peptic ulcer or gastric cancer.

No smoke without lung disease
It may not contain tobacco, but it's still bad for the lungs: long-term exposure to marijuana smoke is linked to many of the same problems, such as coughing, build-up of phlegm and wheezing, all symptoms that suggest lung disease.

There is convincing data about the effects of tobacco smoke on lung function, but marijuana's effects are less well understood. A team at Yale University reviewed 34 studies over 40 years and concluded that there was no reason to think marijuana users are spared the symptoms suffered by cigarette smokers. "Clinicians should advise their patients of the potential negative impact of marijuana smoking on overall lung health," said the lead author, Dr Jeanette Tetrault.

Obesity puts pressure on breathing
Obesity is known to be linked to a large range of health problems, from diabetes to heart disease. Now research suggests that a large waist to hip ratio affects breathing in the morbidly obese. Canadian researchers from McGill University gathered arterial blood samples from 25 morbidly obese patients. Age, body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio were recorded.

According to the study, large waist to hip ratios indicate substantial amounts of fat surrounding the thorax, which could lead to breathing abnormalities. While there was no relationship between BMI and pulmonary gas exchange, researchers found oxygenation problems and minor ventilatory constraints in the participants.

The men in the study had larger waist to hip ratios and were more likely to have a poorer gas exchange, compared with the women. Researchers concluded that a significant part of the blood-gas status in all participants was associated with their waist to hip ratio.