Ice cream esteem

up to a fifth lower than other participants by the next morning.

Doctors warned ex ‐tensive research is needed to back up these results, especially as previous research has suggested that taking sleeping pills can actual ‐ly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Blast of fresh air

APPROXIMATELY 10 million people suffer from mi ‐graine in the UK and more than five million in Spain.

A face mask that delivers blasts of oxygen could soon help to alleviate their agonising headaches that are often accompanied by nausea, disturbed vision and sensitivity to light, sound and smells.

It is hoped that the device, which is currently being trialled by 160 patients, will help to reduce inflam ‐mation in the nerve cells in the same way as medica ‐tion.

The exact cause of migraines is not fully under ‐stood.

Nor is there a cure for them, which is habitually treated with painkillers and triptans to alleviate the pain.

TWENTY ‐ YEAR ‐ OLD re ‐search in the US has linked dairy ‐ based desserts like ice ‐ cream to heavily reduced chances of developing insulin ‐ resistance syn ‐ drome.

This is a precursor to diabetes in overweight people, but although ice cream has a lower gly ‐caemic index than super ‐healthy brown rice, doc ‐tors in the UK have given the recently resuscitated findings an icy reception.

“It may contain some nutrients which could be beneficial, like calcium, and it has a low gly ‐caemic index,” said Dr Duane Mellor, a senior lecturer and dietitian at Aston Medical School.

“But this is likely to be