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BEER TOXINS: Big beer drinkers who down as much as two pints a day may be exposing themselves to harmful levels of fungal toxins, a study has found. 

Researchers analysed the amounts of mycotoxins produced by microscopic fungi in 154 brands of beer sold in Europe.

They found that their levels were low enough not to pose a risk to the average beer lover. But anyone quaffing a litre or more of beer a day could be consuming a potentially hazardous quantity of the substances.

The two most abundant toxins, deoxynivalenol, or DON, and HT-2, appeared respectively in 60% and 9% of the samples tested.

The researchers, whose findings appear in the journal Food Chemistry, point out that someone drinking a litre of beer a day would probably experience liver problems before suffering symptoms of fungal toxin poisoning.

CANCER RISK: Smoking can almost double the risk of prostate cancer returning after surgery, a study has found.

Ex-smokers were also at greater risk of recurring cancer, but not those who quit the habit 10 years or more before having their prostate glands removed.

The findings, published in the journal European Urology, make it seem more likely that there is a link between smoking and prostate cancer.

Lead scientist Professor Shahrokh Shariat, from the University Clinic of Urology at MedUni, Vienna, said: “Our study findings underline the importance of informing a prostate cancer patient about the negative effects of smoking. It is never too late to quit smoking.”

VITAMIN D CHALLENGE: A belief that a lack of sunshine caused increased heart disease and deaths through a deficiency in vitamin D has been challenged by Scottish scientists.

Research from the University of Dundee suggests that vitamin D in not important in cardiovascular disease and winter deaths.

In a large study, it was found that people with lower vitamin D levels did have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, and people with low vitamin D levels did not have a greater increase in winter disease rates compared to others.

Study leader Professor Tunstall-Pedoe said: “If vitamin D deficiency were a major cause of heart disease and death, we would have expected it to show up. But it did not.”