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Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
You're washing your towels wrong! Microbiologist reveals how often you should really clean your bath towels - so, are you doing it enough?
With so many distractions around the home, forgetting to clean your towels is an easy thing to do. So it's little surprise that some Brits go a whole year before finally bunging them in the washing machine. But according to a scientist, you may want to start doing it every day if you don't want to jeopardize your personal hygiene. Dr Primrose Freestone, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says you should be laundering towels after two uses at the very most. That's once every two days for people who shower or bathe once a day. However, for those with infections or a weakened immune system, towels should be washed after every single use, the expert claims. 'Clean towels are no longer clean after drying skin,' Professor Freestone told MailOnline. 'Dirty towels will make freshly washed skin dirty again, negating the point of washing.' When we dry ourselves with a towel, we deposit thousands of skin cells and millions of microbes like bacteria and fungi onto it. And then when we reuse the towel, we shed yet another layer of these invisible cells and organisms, eventually creating a thriving community. One study analysing repeated use of bath towels by a single user in a hostel revealed high levels of several bacteria species that can cause dangerous infections in humans, including E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella. Exposure to these microbes in your towels can cause fever, asthma, allergic skin irritations, other skin infections and many more symptoms. A towel is also regularly damp, not only because we use them every day after we bathe and shower, but because towel fabric is much thicker than something like bed linen. Unfortunately, bacteria and fungi thrive in damp environments, which in turn make it harder for towels to dry – further encouraging their growth. 'Bath towels are particularly good at accumulating microorganisms as they contact all areas of a body,' said Professor Freestone. 'If the towels are repeatedly used without laundering, sweat, skin cells and bodily fluids will build up and provide a nutritious, moist and warm environment for bacteria and fungi to grow.' Towels quickly pick up an unpleasant musty or sour smell, similar to wet dog fur, and the reason for this is rather hard to stomach. 'The musty smell from overused under-washed towels is thought to be due to residual detergent or clothes conditioner which trap body sweat or fluids which is then fed upon by bacteria and fungi which are making volatile organic compounds,' Professor Freestone said. 'In other words it is bacteria and fungal waste products making the smell.' According to Professor Freestone, we should 'never ever' share a bath towel to minimize the risk of spreading infections. Viral infections such as monkey pox – which causes fever, headache and blisters – can be spread by doing so. And not just bath towels we should be laundering regularly; hand towels may not be used all over the body like bath towels, but the contact with the skin still transfers microbes and skin cells from the hands. 'Bath towels need more frequent laundering than hand towels due them having a higher microbial content,' said the expert. 'But hand towels will still from repeat use accumulate bacteria and fungi – so do a hot detergent wash every three to five days.' Hand and bath towels should be washed with laundry detergent at 140°F (60°C) and be left to dry completely before they are used. 'This hot wash kills most bacteria and fungi, inactivates viruses and stops towels smelling unpleasant; it also ensures towels do not pose an infections risk,' she said. 'For storing the towels make sure they are thoroughly dried before stacking in a cool, dry environment.' According to Rietie Venter, associate professor of clinical health at the University of South Australia, towels need to be washed even more often than bed linen. Towels are best washed every few days, she said in a piece for The Conversation last year, while facecloths should be cleaned after every use. If towels still smell after being laundered, they may have been left in the washing machine for too long once the cycle had finished. 'If possible, hang your towels and bedding out in the sun,' Professor Venter said. 'That will dry them quickly and thoroughly and will foster that lovely fresh, clean cotton smell. 'Using a dryer is a good alternative if the weather is bad, but outdoors in the sun is always better if possible.' Why do towels get so smelly so quickly? Towels are the perfect home for a swarming community of bacteria and fungi. They hold many of the key ingredients for hosting microbial life - water, warm temperatures, oxygen, a neutral pH, and even food in the dead skin people leave behind after a thorough dry. The human body also boasts these ideal living conditions, which is why our bodies are host to trillions of bacteria throughout our lives. As a towel is used to dry the body, microbes sitting on the surface of the skin are deposited onto its damp, warm surface. When we smell towels, we often perceive a musty or sour odour, which is from the waste products deposited by growing communities of mould and bacteria. Don't throw a wet towel into the laundry basket, as the damp and dirt will still be an ideal place for microbes to breed. By the time you get to doing your washing, the towel and the other laundry around it may have acquired a bad smell. And it can be difficult to get your towels smelling fresh again. Instead, put the damp towel straight into the washing machine, or, if it's a while before it's getting laundered, hang it to dry first.
Gizmodo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Mysterious Signals From Deep Space Expose Aftermath of Failed Cosmic Eruptions
Whenever we study space, we're usually talking about long-lasting objects, like our own solar system or faraway galaxies that occasionally catch our attention when something extraordinary happens. But sometimes, the universe sends us quick, random bursts of energy that are usually too far away and too ephemeral for scientists to make any sense of—like fast X-ray transients (FXTs), whose elusive origins have long evaded astronomers. Recently, however, astrophysicists had a lucky strike: spotting an FXT flashing unprecedentedly close to Earth and for a marginally longer time than usual. Not only that, but the X-ray burst, later named EP 250108a, seemed to be a faint spillover signal—likely the result of a cosmic jet—that barely escaped the powerful gravitational binds of a supernova. Using multiple space telescopes around the world, an international team of astrophysicists from Northwestern University and the University of Leicester in England found compelling evidence that EP 250108a may have originated from the 'failed' jets of a gamma-ray burst, likely triggered by the explosive death of a star around 2.8 billion light-years from Earth. Their results—presented in two papers set for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters—offer some of the best evidence yet for at least one potential origin for fast X-ray transients (FXTs are distinct from fast radio bursts (FRBs), brief, extremely energetic bursts of radio waves with wavelengths much longer than those of X-rays). When a star explodes in a fiery supernova, it swallows almost everything in its vicinity, eventually collapsing into a black hole. In this process of accretion, the star takes on an onion-like form, with different layers of gas, dust, and other cosmic material jostled around by gravitational forces. Some of this material escapes, usually in the form of jets that generate gamma-ray bursts, a class of the most powerful and luminous explosions in the universe. But sometimes, the outer layers of an 'onion-shaped' supernova exert a strong gravitational barrier on the gamma-ray bursts. In the case of this FXT, the tiny bits of energy that managed to leak through probably created EP 250108a, explained Jillian Rastinejad, a PhD student at Northwestern University and lead author of the new paper, in a video call with Gizmodo. 'As the jet is being launched, that extra material from the star that didn't collapse into the black hole [interacts] with the jet in such a way that sort of suppresses the jet from actually breaking out of the outer layers,' she said. Rastinejad and colleagues first spotted EP 250108a in January using data from the Einstein Probe, a collaborative project between China and Europe tasked specifically with the observation of FXTs and other 'fleeting' cosmic phenomena. Einstein Probe detects on average 'maybe one [FXT] every three days or so,' Rastinejad recounted, but some of her collaborators followed it up with optical telescopes and found that this particular transient was unusually close to Earth. 'When something's really nearby, it means that it's going to be a lot brighter,' she explained. 'So we can do a really detailed, beautiful, comprehensive, super exciting study of what else is going on at the location of the fast X-ray transient.' 'It's always very exciting when there's a transient object, just because it's like there's this sound of the record stopping, and you've got to stop what you're doing and move over there,' said John O'Meara, deputy director and chief scientist at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, during a video call with Gizmodo. Keck Observatory was one of several huge space telescopes Rastinejad and colleagues pointed toward EP 250108a, allowing the team to capture a high-resolution view of the ephemeral object before it fades to oblivion. Unlike most astronomical phenomena of interest to scientists—which lie on timescales that far exceed human lifespans—fast X-ray transients are part of the rare family of cosmic phenomena that evolve on a 'human timescale,' Rastinejad said. 'If you took a picture of our Milky Way today, and you took a picture of it maybe a thousand years ago, it would look the same,' she explained. 'But if you studied one type of massive star like we studied here, it changes a lot in what it looks like across the wavelengths on very human timescales.' 'The universe keeps trying to tell us very interesting things,' added O'Meara. But the universe 'doesn't care what telescope you build, but [EP 250108a] is a good example of proving that we're ready to rise to the challenge of whatever the universe wants to throw at us—and I hope we get to keep doing that into the coming decades.' In fact, Rastinejad, who just finished defending her PhD thesis, already has her eyes on another odd signal from the universe. 'Just a few days ago, [Einstein Probe] saw a fast X-ray transient that occurred in the same part of the sky at the same time as a signal from neutron star mergers,' she said excitedly. 'Astronomy is like art. It doesn't really affect our day-to-day lives. But it answers these questions that humans have always wondered about: where we come from and where we're going.'
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Experts discover popular spice could help beat bowel cancer - daily dose wards off tumours, study suggests
Adding a dose of turmeric to your daily diet might help keep bowel cancer at bay, scientists say. A study has found that curcumin—the compound that gives turmeric its bright orange colour—can block the growth of early cancer cells in the bowel. Experts at the University of Leicester say the spice appears to disarm rogue cells before they can multiply and form tumours, potentially preventing the disease. They discovered that curcumin latches on to a key protein used by these dangerous cells to spread—and stops it working. In lab tests, the team applied supplement-level doses of curcumin to bowel tissue. The results showed the compound halted the growth of cancer stem-like cells, which are believed to be behind both the development and recurrence of tumours. The findings, published in the journal Cancer Letters, suggest curcumin pushes these cells into a more benign state—reducing their ability to divide and take hold. Although more research is needed, experts say the study strengthens evidence that turmeric could one day form part of bowel cancer prevention, particularly in those at higher risk. The scientists also conducted separate tests and studies on mice who had been purposefully infected with cancer cells. They found that curcumin slowed tumour growth and extended the animals' lifespan. The equivalent human dose to the one used in the tests would be between one-and-a-half and two grams of curcumin a day. Turmeric powder contains roughly two to five per cent curcumin by weight—meaning a person would need to consume between 40g and 100g to get 2g of pure curcumin. This is far more than would realistically be found in a normal diet—and for this reason, most studies use supplements which are far more concentrated. The researchers added that turmeric has 'low toxicity and is inexpensive, satisfying many of the requirements of an ideal preventive therapy'. Turmeric, commonly used in Indian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern cooking, has long been regarded as a cancer-fighting super food. It is also a popular supplement, after numerous studies suggested it may have pain-relieving qualities—particularly in easing the symptoms of knee arthritis. Cancer Research UK agrees that curcumin could have huge potential in the fight against cancer, but more investigation was needed, particularly into dosage. On its website, it reads: 'There is some evidence that curcumin, a substance in turmeric, can kill cancer cells in certain cancers. 'At the moment there is no clear evidence in humans to show that turmeric or curcumin can prevent or treat cancer. Larger studies are needed.' In the UK around 44,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year—around one person every 12 minutes—and 17,000 die from the disease. Concerningly, The Lancet reported that there's been a 3.6 per cent rise in cases in England, and an increase in younger adults (aged under 50) being told they have the disease. Colorectal (bowel) cancer, long considered a disease of old age, is increasingly striking people in their 20s, 30s and 40s in the US and UK in a phenomenon that has baffled doctors. The disease does still predominantly affect older people, with risks including a poor diet, obesity, eating too much processed meat and not enough fibre. In April, researchers at the University of California San Diego revealed that had found a potential link between bowel cancer and E. coli, a foodborne bacteria that infects around 75,000 to 90,000 Americans each year and at least 1,500 Britons. By analyzing DNA from young colon cancer patients, the team found unique genetic changes in their digestive tracts that appear to raise the risk of tumors forming—likely triggered during childhood, when the body is still developing. They also detected traces of colibactin, a cancer-linked toxin produced by certain strains of E. Coli, lurking in tumors from patients under 40. The most common source of E. Coli is undercooked ground beef, where bacteria can spread during processing. But leafy greens like romaine and spinach are another major culprit, often contaminated in the field through tainted water or contact with livestock.
The Sun
27-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
The £1 spice in your favourite curry that ‘slashes your risk of killer bowel cancer'
EVERY 12 minutes, someone in the UK gets the news they have bowel cancer. And with cases rising, especially in younger adults, trying to prevent the disease is more important than ever. But what if the secret to slashing your risk didn't lie in a new drug or fancy health food - but right there in your spice rack? Scientists from the UK have discovered that curcumin, the bright yellow ingredient in turmeric, commonly used in curries, could help stop bowel cancer in its tracks. The spice, which costs as little as £1 in some supermarkets, has been prized for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. And modern science has now begun to explore its potential benefits. It is not currently recommended by doctors to treat any health issues. But new research published in Cancer Letters this month supports earlier findings, that this spice could be a promising, low-risk way to help prevent cancer. The team from the University of Leicester studied tumour samples from 66 bowel cancer patients who agreed to donate their tissue. They exposed these cells to tiny amounts of curcumin over four weeks, mimicking long-term exposure through diet. They discovered that the compound suppressed aggressive, stem-like cancer cells by up to 95 per cent, particularly those found in pre-cancerous growths called adenomas. New Deborah James cancer lab In separate lab tests and studies on mice with cancer, scientists observed that curcumin slowed tumour growth and extended the animals' lifespan. They discovered curcumin works by attaching to and blocking a protein called NANOG, which plays a key role in helping cancer stem cells spread and multiply. To match this dose in humans, you'd need around 1.6 to 2 grams of curcumin daily - the equivalent of about two teaspoons of turmeric powder. That's far more than you'd get from cooking alone so would likely need a supplement. This isn't the first time curcumin has shown potential. Previous research from Temple University in Philadelphia found curcumin's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects could help halt the development of several cancers, including breast, lung, and stomach. While these findings are promising, experts stress that more human trials are needed to determine the exact dose and long-term benefits of curcumin supplements for bowel cancer prevention. "There is some evidence that curcumin, a substance in turmeric, can kill cancer cells in certain cancers," Cancer Research UK says on their website. "At the moment there is no clear evidence in humans to show that turmeric or curcumin can prevent or treat cancer," it added. "Larger studies are needed". Bowel cancer is one of the UK's most common cancers, with around 44,000 people diagnosed each year - around one person every 12 minutes - and 17,000 deaths. Rates of the disease are rising among younger adults, with no clear reason why, experts are warning. Although the disease still affects older people far more often, the increase in many countries among the under-50s is concerning, the cancer charity says. England is one the countries with the biggest rise, averaging a 3.6 per cent increase per year, researchers report in the journal Lancet Oncology, Poor diet and obesity may be among the risk factors involved, the researchers say. Eating too much processed meat and not enough fibre can increase the risk. Early symptoms include changes in bowel habits, blood in your poo, weight loss, and stomach pain or lumps. Cancer Research UK says half of cases could be prevented through healthier lifestyle choices. 2 Other foods that could lower your risk of bowel cancer SO tumeric might have protective benefits, but what else can you try? Charities like Bowel Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK recommend the following: Eat at least five portions of vegetables and fruit every day Choose wholegrain varieties of bread, rice and pasta Eat more pulses, such as beans and lentils Eat some fish, chicken, eggs and tofu, but limit red meat and avoid processed meat Drink some milk and eat other dairy foods, but choose low sugar and fat options Choose unsaturated oils and spreads instead of butter, and use in small amounts Avoid food and drinks high in fat or sugar, such as sweets, cakes, crisps and fizzy drinks Eat at least 30g of fibre a day Stay hydrated - aim for six to eight glasses of fluid daily Lower your alcohol intake
The Independent
26-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘Deeply worrying' rise in mental health conditions in England, figures show
Levels of mental health are 'deteriorating', leading charities have warned, as a survey suggests one in four young adults in England suffer from conditions such as anxiety and depression. There has also been a particular rise in mental health problems among women, while the proportion of people reporting ever having self-harmed has quadrupled since the year 2000, figures show. Health leaders said the findings 'paint a deeply worrying but sadly unsurprising picture' amid warnings that the system is 'overwhelmed, underfunded and unequal'. It is the first time since 2016 that data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, which is carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the University of Leicester, and City St George's, University of London, on behalf of NHS England, has been released. It found that more than one in five people aged 16 to 74 had reported so-called 'common mental health conditions', which include generalised anxiety disorder, depressive episodes, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and panic disorder. Problems were more common in young people, with more than a quarter of those aged 16 to 24 reporting having any of these conditions, up from 17.5% in 2007. There was a particular rise among people in this age group reporting OCD, which rose from 1.8% in 2014 to 5.7% in 2023/24. There was also a sharp increase in the number of women aged 16 to 24 reporting these mental health problems. Some 36.1% said they had any one of the conditions listed, up from 28.2% in 2014 and 22.2% in 2007. The hike among women was evident across all age groups. Outside those aged 16 to 24, the biggest rise was among women aged 35 to 44, which increased from 22.3% to 29.1%. Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said: 'The nation's mental health is deteriorating, and our current system is overwhelmed, underfunded, and unequal to the scale of the challenge. 'After the trauma of the pandemic, the relentless cost-of-living crisis, and persistent racial inequalities, it is no surprise that mental health has suffered, especially for the young. 'But it is unacceptable that services still aren't meeting people's needs.' Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of Sane, said: 'The most shocking and often overlooked fact is that people with serious mental illness continue to lose 15-20 years of their lives due to underfunded and under-resourced mental health services. 'The majority of people diagnosed with mental ill health either receive no treatment at all or the help they are given is mostly in the community and is patchy and inadequate. 'This report exposes the huge scale of need facing a system that is already in breakdown, particularly involving the services available to young people.' Elsewhere, there was a rise in the number of people who reported ever having self-harmed, as well as an increase in those who experienced suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in the 12 months leading up to the survey. The survey found: – Some 10.3% of adults reported ever having self-harmed, more than four times the 2.4% reported in the year 2000 and up from 3.8% in 2007 and 6.4% in 2014. – The proportion of those reporting self-harm was highest among 16 to 25-year-olds (24.6%), with more than one in three (31.7%) women in this age group saying they had self-harmed. – The number of adults who told the survey they had experienced suicidal thoughts in the previous 12 months increased from 3.8% in 2000 to 6.7% in 2023/24. These thoughts were highest among 25 to 34-year-olds (32.9%). – The proportion of adults who reported attempting suicide also doubled from 0.5% in 2000 to 1% in the latest survey. – Elsewhere, the data suggests unemployed people and those in debt were more likely to have a common mental health condition or report non-suicidal self-harm. – Prevalence of these conditions, as well as suicide attempts, were also common among people living in the most deprived fifth of areas in England. – However, the survey found the number of 16 to 74-year-olds with common mental health conditions who reported having treatment rose from 39.4% in 2014 to 47.7% in 2023/24. Dr Hughes added: 'We are seeing some benefits of investment – more people are accessing support, and that's progress. 'However, waiting lists remain long, and care is patchy, and many are left to struggle alone while they wait for support.' Rebecca Gray, mental health director at the NHS Confederation, said the figures 'paint a deeply worrying but sadly unsurprising picture'. She warned there is 'still a wide treatment gap between demand and capacity'. 'The increased prevalence of self-harm is also very concerning and indicates the importance of being able to use data across services at a population level to be able to target services earlier, for example at young people who have experience of the care system,' Ms Gray said.
