Free Republic

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom — As winter arrives, hot tea and cocoa naturally become popular drink choices with a lot of people. A new study finds drinking cocoa is not just the popular choice, it may also be the “smart” choice as well. Researchers at the University of Birmingham say consuming flavanol-rich products, such as cocoa, increases one’s mental performance. Flavanols are a group of molecules which occur naturally in fruits and vegetables. They’re a member of the plant flavonoid family and are common in cocoa, grapes, apples, tea, berries, and even wine. While previous studies reveal these molecules can improve...

As doctors see more and more COVID-19 patients, they are noticing an odd trend: Patients whose blood oxygen saturation levels are exceedingly low but who are hardly gasping for breath. These patients are quite sick, but their disease does not present like typical acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a type of lung failure known from the 2003 outbreak of the SARS coronavirus and other respiratory diseases. Their lungs are clearly not effectively oxygenating the blood, but these patients are alert and feeling relatively well, even as doctors debate whether to intubate them by placing a breathing tube down the throat....