HEALTH NOTES:  Take a shine to cheap sunscreen

Don’t waste cash on pricey sunscreen – supermarket own-brand bottles offer just as much protection, it has been claimed.

Researchers from review website Which? tested the efficacy of 12 SPF30 products. Each cream was applied to a patch of skin and an ultraviolet light was shone over it.

The team timed how long it took for the skin to turn red, both with and without the suncream, to see which product offered the longest-lasting protection.

The £3, 200ml Asda Protect Moisturising Sun Lotion topped the list. Meanwhile, the priciest cream – Ultrasun’s £22 bottle – was no better than Asda’s and just as easy to apply, according to testers.

Meditation can ease severe pain

Meditation and posture training can relieve pain as well as strong medication.

A team from the University of Warwick asked 300 patients on addictive painkillers, called opioids, to take part in a non-drug intervention, which included a two-month course of stress management, posture advice and mindfulness meditation.

After a year, a third of those in the non-drug group had come off medication and saw no difference in their severity of pain, compared to less than one in ten not on the course. Prof Sam Eldabe, pain expert at The James Cook University Hospital, said: ‘Our study shows opioids can be stopped within no actual worsening of the pain.’

About half of all drug poisoning deaths registered in 2021 involved an opioid.

A camera that can be swallowed can spot stomach cancer.

Scientists in the US have developed a tiny capsule containing the recording device that investigates stomach tissue for signs of disease. Unlike other models before it, this device can be directed around the stomach by a doctor.

It is attached to a magnet, which pairs with a joystick on the outside of the body – as the joystick moves, so does the magnet. Its developers say the capsule could replace endoscopies, where a tube with a camera is threaded down the throat and into the stomach.

Dr Andrew Meltzer, part of the team behind the tool at George Washington University, said: ‘Endoscopies are invasive procedures, not to mention costly with the anaesthesia and time off work. Magnetically controlled capsules could be used as a quick and easy way to screen for ulcers or stomach cancer.’