Politics
13 Everyday Foods And Drinks Linked To Healthy Brain Ageing
We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how the modified Mediterranean, or MIND, diet has been linked to a 53% lower risk of dementia among its strongest followers, and a 35% reduced likelihood among moderate adherents.
And now, a new analysis published in Nutrients has reviewed hundreds of studies about interventions like these.
Researchers looked at lab, animal, clinical, and population-based studies and found polyphenols (antioxidants naturally present in some foods) “represent a biologically plausible and increasingly supported, yet not fully established, strategy for promoting healthy brain ageing”.
This included some specific foods and drinks, though the researchers stress that this isn’t so much about “superfoods” as it is maintaining a healthy overall diet.
Which foods are rich in polyphenols?
“Polyphenols are not miracle cures, but research suggests they may be promising tools for supporting healthy brain ageing,” said the study’s senior author, Dr Mónika Fekete, an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, of Semmelweis University.
“The focus, however, should not be on dietary supplements but on a varied diet rich in plant-based foods.”
With that caveat, the study listed the following as polyphenol-rich food and drink sources:
- berries,
- grapes,
- apples,
- onions,
- flax seeds,
- sesame seeds,
- vegetables in general,
- fruit in general,
- tea,
- cocoa,
- coffee,
- whole grains, and
- extra-virgin olive oil.
These featured a variety of polyphenol sub-classes, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, stilbenes, and lignans.
Not all of these were absorbed in the same way by different people, though, possibly due to differences in individuals’ gut microbiomes.
“This may help explain why the same diet does not affect everyone in the same way,” said lead author Dr Noémi Mózes, an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of Semmelweis University.
“In the future, personalised nutrition could help us better understand who is most likely to benefit from a polyphenol-rich diet.”
Green tea might help too
EGCG, a compound found in green tea, appeared in a lot of the studies this paper reviewed and seemed to be linked to better memory.
A 2017 trial found that consuming oolong or green tea daily could slash your risk of cognitive decline in half, while more recent research suggested that the compound might help to give our brain cells more energy.
Again, Semmelweis University reminded us that there’s no anti-dementia “miracle diet”.
However, they did say “existing evidence suggests that regularly eating more vegetables, fruits, berries, fibre-rich foods, fish, and nuts” in addition to limiting highly-processed foods “may help support healthy brain ageing and preserve cognitive function over time”.
BERLIN — As the World Cup comes to a close, there’s one group of politicians who’ve remained unusually quiet about the fate of their own national teams: Europe’s far-right party leaders.
Top officials from France’s National Rally, the Alternative for Germany, England’s Reform UK and others faced complicated dynamics in deciding how to talk about the World Cup. The broad, socially acceptable form of patriotism inspired by international sporting events like the World Cup seems at first glance like an easy fit for parties whose core message includes a return to strong national pride.
But in many of the countries where these parties are growing, increasingly diverse teams with immigrant backgrounds are at odds with the way these parties think about national identity — making it tougher for them to vocally support the home team without implicitly supporting the individual players who are part of it.
“For the right, for whom national identification and identity has always been more salient than for the center and the left, soccer fandom was a natural conduit to express its passion and commitment,” said Andrei S. Markovits, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies the intersection of sports and nationalism. “This has become a tad more difficult when the players hail from multicultural backgrounds, many of which the right sees as inferior.”
(Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy learned the hard way how people react when someone points out those multicultural backgrounds: The center-right pol came under fire for saying ahead of Spain’s semifinal match against France that the French national team was “without Frenchmen,” a not-so-subtle dig at the African origins of many of the team’s star players.)
“It would not be good in terms of their electoral strength for [far-right parties] to be critical of these teams,” said Alan Bairner, a professor at England’s Loughborough University who has researched sports and national identity. “But the fact that they might seem a bit lukewarm is in itself a telling thing.”
That’s perhaps why criticism from far-right leaders has been directed not at their own teams, but at other teams — or at using the tournament to chime in with nationalist narratives that serve their own purposes.
Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ far-right Freedom Party, posted an image of himself in a bright-orange suit to cheer on the Dutch team in the early stages of the World Cup. It was a sharp contrast with his comments a day earlier, when he’d reposted a picture of members of the Moroccan squad praying on the field with an anti-Islam insult as the caption. (Several players of Dutch-Moroccan origin opted to play for Morocco, rather than the Netherlands this year.)
And after the Netherlands lost to Morocco in a penalty shootout late last month and post-game celebrations led to clashes with police in The Hague, Wilders — long a vocal supporter of stricter immigration controls in Europe — used the occasion to call for the deportation of all Moroccans involved in the clashes.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, too, used England’s semifinal match against Argentina on Wednesday to hearken back to the two countries’ 1980s-era war over the Falkland Islands: “Let’s do it all over again just like 1982,” he posted on X.
(Farage got in trouble earlier in the tournament for posting a photo of himself celebrating an England win by chugging a pint in a Three Lions jersey … only for observers to note it was a picture from the 2024 Euros.)
But in most cases, far-right leaders have swallowed their criticism of their diverse national teams and offered the basic messages of support expected of them, or in some cases, just stayed quiet.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella, despite his past jabs at French striker Kylian Mbappé, congratulated the French team on a good run after losing to Spain earlier this week and said they “thrilled an entire nation” with their World Cup performance.
And AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla sought to downplay criticism of the German team’s diversity from within their party: Asked about one AfD state-level politician’s assertion that Germany’s national squad “has lost the quality of an authentic German national team” due to its diverse roster, both Weidel and Chrupalla were dismissive of those comments.
“If a player of an ethnic group whom you deem inferior scores goals for you, what are you going to do? Disavow him as belonging to the nation that you love?” asked Markovits. “No … you may deep down still doubt the genuine essence of his nationality, but you accept his goals and appropriate them as your own.”
The Democratic National Committee is betting the world’s biggest sporting event can help build its voter base.
The DNC is launching a nationwide voter registration effort for Sunday’s World Cup final, dispatching organizers, volunteers and campaign staff to FIFA Fan Zones, sports bars and community watch parties with the goal of registering more than 3,000 new Democratic voters.
The effort underscores how both political parties are increasingly viewing major sporting events as opportunities to reach voters — particularly young Americans who may be less likely to attend traditional political events but are gathering in large numbers around the monthlong tournament. In the case of the World Cup final, more than 80,000 people are expected to attend in person.
“From outside FIFA Fan Zones and at World Cup watch parties to bars, restaurants and parks, we’ll spend the weekend registering thousands of new Democrats and having conversations about how we win races up and down the ballot,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
The weekend push spans nearly two dozen states, with Democratic organizers attending events in battlegrounds including Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida. In Arizona, Democrats plan registration efforts in Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, Tucson and Yuma.
The campaign builds on the DNC’s broader “When We Count” initiative focused on young voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Unlike traditional registration drives centered on college campuses, the program deliberately targets young Americans who are already in the workforce.
About one-third of the program’s fellows are native Spanish speakers.
The party is pairing the registration effort with a four-part national training series that it says will equip more than 1,500 organizers, campaign staff and volunteers with best practices for partisan voter registration.
Professional sports leagues have increasingly embraced civic engagement around elections, and the NBA and WNBA are some of the most visible examples, using arenas as polling locations and partnering on nonpartisan voter registration drives. And conservatives have previously registered voters at NASCAR events.
“The power in sport is that people gather. It creates a sense of belonging,” said Lee Igel, a professor of global sport at New York University. “If you want to get 3,000 people registered to vote at a watch party for a sports mega-event, you’d be hard-pressed not to get closer to 30,000 people” registered.
Igel said the DNC’s initiative takes that relationship between sports and civic participation a step further.
“There’s some precedent when it comes to voting and sports,” he said. “But this picks up on a more recent trend of politicians, elected officials and the organizations they’re connected to tapping into the power of sport.”
He pointed to leaders across the political spectrum, including President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as examples of politicians increasingly recognizing sports’ cultural reach.
“Sport is fun and games,” Igel said, “but the attention it attracts in communities — from eyeballs to people in person — is enormous.”
Andy Burnham’s government intends to scrap Keir Starmer’s plan to implement digital ID, a close ally to the incoming prime minister has confirmed.
Dropping the controversial scheme is part of Burnham’s bid to put his own stamp on government and distance himself from his predecessor’s most divisive policies.
Starmer announced plans for a digital ID scheme last September to crack down on illegal working, but it sparked fears about whether personal data might then be at risk.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said scrapping the programme move would allow ministers to be “laser focused on the cost of living, laser focused on rewiring the economy, rewiring the political system in this country, and clearing the decks, if you like, from of all of the other things that might distract and take away from that in terms of the focus of the government”.
Asked how much money would now be freed up for other means, Powell said: “The OBR said it would cost, I think, £1.8 billion over the over the coming years.
“That’s not an insignificant amount of money. That will obviously be re-prioritised and redistributed in different ways.
“But as I say, it’s not just about the money.
“It’s actually about the attention and the focus, so that the the whole of government machinery can work in service of the agenda and the vision that the Labour government is setting out under under Andy Burnham, and I think that is important.”
She also claimed Burnham will deliver on the Labour manifesto by being “bolder” and “clearer” about what the party stands for.
Powell confirmed there would be a “change of emphasis” on North Sea oil and gas drilling under Burnham as well.
There has been widespread speculation that the new prime minister might issue new drilling licences to boost the UK’s energy security, even though the 2024 Labour manifesto pledged not to.
Though she did not confirm what Burnham intends to do on the divisive topic, Powell said the new PM would take a “more pragmatic approach” towards North Sea drilling.
Powell said: “We’ve been really clear that the way to achieve, in the long term, energy security and lower bills is by ensuring that we do have our our own homegrown, clean, much cheaper energy.
“But we’ve been absolutely clear that North Sea gas and oil is an important part of that transition.
“It’s an important part of the mix, and I think what Andy’s talking about is taking a more pragmatic approach and working with the industry to make sure that it can contribute to that transition and to the the mix that is needed over the long term.
“So let’s see what he’s got to say about that. But I don’t think it’s a change of policy. It’s more a change of emphasis.”
Lucy Powell has claimed speculation about Andy Burnham’s cabinet has been “horrible” in an attack on the media.
The deputy Labour leader blamed the press for reporting on the briefings coming from within the party about who might be in the incoming prime minister’s top team.
Burnham was confirmed as the leader of the Labour Party on Friday after running uncontested to replace Keir Starmer, and will be announced as prime minister on Monday.
He said last week he has not yet decided on his ministers because he thinks it would “cause complete chaos if you start half a reshuffle before you’re in position”.
His refusal to confirm who might be in his cabinet and at the heart of his government operation has led to widespread confusion – even though Burnham has pledged to make Labour more united and to stop in-fighting.
BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg asked Powell, a close ally to Burnham, about the particularly mixed reports about whether energy secretary Ed Miliband might get a senior position.
The presenter said: “Burnham has promised to end factionalism in the Labour Party but there has been quite a lot of briefing already, a lot of briefing against Ed Miliband.
“It doesn’t bode, very well, does it, for Andy Burnham’s promise of ending all that unhappiness and in-fighting within the party?”
Powell replied: “There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about various individuals which has been really quite horrible, to be honest, and unedifying.
“I know that as political journalists, maybe you’ve not had the story of the Labour leadership crisis to write about for the last few weeks, because actually I’m really proud of the way in which the Labour Party has come together in a consensus around Andy Burnham being the next leader.”
She claimed the media is “looking for other personalities and other disagreements” to write about.
Kuenssberg hit back: “Journalists write about things they are told about.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Tory minister, then criticised Powell’s response while sitting on Kuenssberg’s panel.
“Lucy Powell, an admirable person in many ways, was saying something she knows isn’t true at the end, when she said these stories are coming from disgruntled journalists because they didn’t have a big enough story to write,” he said.
Rees-Mogg added that reporters “do not make things up” and only write “what they are given by politicians”.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Did you know there are at least three different types of vaginal orgasm?
These include a “wave”, a “volcano,” and an “avalanche” (wave seems to be the most common).
But before we get to classifying the big Os, it’s probably a good idea to work out how to get them in the first place.
Though sex experts stress that fixating on climax can make sex less enjoyable overall, the “gender orgasm gap” remains undeniable. Some research found that within heterosexual couples, men report orgasm in 95% of sexual encounters, while heterosexual women say they only “finish” about 65% of the time.
There’s even a gendered masturbation gap.
A 2024 study, conducted by the University of Essex’s psychology lecturer Dr Megan Klabunde and psychology undergraduate student Emily Dixon, may have found why some women orgasm more than others, however.
Their study suggested it could be down to “interoception”.
What’s “interoception”?
Interoception is a way of understanding your own body’s internal senses. These include being attuned to your heartbeat, hunger levels, bladder fullness, and more.
The Cleveland Clinic says that rather than being a predetermined ability, interoception is “a learned skill that you develop as you grow” – though it can be impaired by certain conditions.
The 2024 study, published in the journal Brain Sciences, asked 360 women to fill in questionnaires about their sexual satisfaction and interoception levels.
Participants were 20% more likely to orgasm through masturbation than partnered sex, and these climaxes were deemed more satisfying, too.
Women who self-reported more frequent and satisfying orgasms were also consistently likelier to describe higher levels of attunement with their body.
“Our study empirically demonstrates that women need to get out of their heads and into their bodies in order to have more frequent and satisfying orgasms,” Dr Klabunde said.
“Orgasms are more frequent and satisfying when a woman is able to focus on how her body is feeling… This study is important because most research looking at orgasms in women have focused on their dysfunction,” rather than focusing on what does work.
How can I improve my interoception?
Dr Klabunde added, “The ability for women to focus their attention on their internal bodily sensations, and trust these sensations, was… associated with increased orgasm satisfaction. Therefore, it is important for women and their partners to trust the woman’s internal bodily experiences during sexual encounters.
“This is critical for fostering orgasmic satisfaction for both solo but also especially for partnered sexual contexts.”
The Cleveland Clinic added that specialised therapy and practicing mindfulness can help, too.
They ended, “Have patience with yourself as you learn new techniques. This learned skill takes time to develop and doesn’t come naturally to everyone”.
Boris Johnson has hit out at Reform UK for consistently taking credit for getting Brexit over the line.
The former Conservative prime minister, who campaigned in the 2019 general election on the promise to “get Brexit done”, claimed Nigel Farage’s party did not do a “bean” towards actually securing our EU exit.
Both Johnson and Farage were part of the Leave movement in the run-up to and shortly after EU referendum in 2016, though on different campaigns – the then-Tory MP Johnson was in Vote Leave while Farage led Leave.EU.
Farage and his party Reform UK – formerly the Brexit Party – have consistently attacked Johnson’s legacy after migration soared once the UK left the EU.
Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips asked Johnson on Sunday: “Are you at all embarrassed by the way that Reform and others are using the term ‘Boriswave’?
“Because it is true that net migration, for better or worse, has been higher as a consequence of decisions you took than any time in our history.”
Johnson said Brexit gave the UK power to “control immigration”.
He continued: “We have the power under Brexit, and under Brexit, which I secured and which those people didn’t – they didn’t even exist!”
“They did not have a single MP,” he said, referring to Reform UK. “They did not do a bean to get Brexit through the House of Commons. Not a bean.
“ And they swank around claiming to have been responsible for it.
“They did, they did nothing to deliver Brexit.
“The hard Brexit I went through the House of Commons I want to move, enables us, enables this country not only to have as few people because we want overall, but also under our laws, to decide who comes from where.”
Reform UK spokesman hit back at that criticism, telling HuffPost UK: “Boris only had his majority because we put country before party in 2019.
“Boris then broke Britain so badly that the Conservatives haven’t led a single opinion poll since.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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From our sense of fashion, to our interiors, injecting playfulness and child-like imagination into your style is in – and it’s perhaps no wonder the trend has taken off given the impending doom of war, or the imminent threat of beyond-return climate change, that overshadows our lives.
So, if your home still feels decidedly like the third floor flat it is rather than an enchanted fairy cottage, I’ve made it my job to find 27 pieces of furniture and decor that will transform your space faster than you can say ‘bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’.
This way to floating through life.
Boris Johnson has claimed Donald Trump could “be the guy” to force Vladimir Putin to end his illegal war in Ukraine.
The ex-prime minister made the bizarre claim more than a year after the US president pledged to bring the conflict to a close in just 24 hours.
The war entered its fifth year back in February.
Trump also famously kicked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House last year after his team attacked his outfit and said Kyiv did not “hold any cards” in the war.
Since then, the US has oscillated between pushing Kyiv to give up more land to Moscow in the name of peace, and supporting Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Putin’s land grab.
But, speaking on Sky News, Johnson – who is an ardent supporter of Ukraine – said: “I think that, paradoxically, you know, Trump could be the guy really, to put the hard word on Putin and get this thing done, and there’s no doubt that when it comes to foreign policy initiatives, this is a guy who’s willing to do some, some pretty tough things, right?
“Nobody thought he’s the first American president to use violence against Iran, right?”
Trump chose to join Israel in launching strikes on Iran earlier this year, triggering a significant international conflict and sending the global economy into turmoil.
Johnson continued: “You know, whatever you think about about his logic and how that’s worked out, you know, he is I think he is the guy and I’ve said this to him and I said this repeat.
“I think, paradoxically, although I think that his instincts on on Ukraine haven’t always was language about Ukraine hasn’t always been, you know, put it mildly on, you know, totally on all fours with what I think I think he could he really could fix it. And that’s what I’ve always told him.”
Johnson also acknowledged that Trump has not actually been promoting a push for Ukraine’s sovereignty.
He said: “It would be a very powerful thing if the United States declared that it was, a strategic objective of the United States for Ukraine to be free, sovereign and independent country.”
“No, but you don’t hear that much from Washington, right? And number two, that Ukraine should be part of Nato.”
Asked by presenter Trevor Phillips how Trump responds when Johnson advocates for Ukraine, he said: “I mean, he’s, very good at listening. He’s very good listening.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Voters continue to punish Nigel Farage amid the row over his finances as Reform UK slips back in the polls.
According to strategic insight company Opinium, the right-wing party has fallen back to its lowest rate since 2024, having held a comfortable lead with voters for more than a year.
In a survey for the Observer, the pollsters found Reform are currently on 23%.
That’s just one percentage point away from Labour, who on 22%, are at their highest level since April 2026.
It comes as party leader Farage is fighting a by-election he triggered in his constituency of Clacton.
He chose to step down as an MP earlier this month amid heightened scrutiny over his finances.
A parliamentary probe into a £5 million donation he received shortly before he ran in the 2024 general election – but failed to declare – is currently on pause while he is outside of the Commons.
Farage claims he is fighting in a “people versus the establishment” contest, but all major parties have refused to put up a candidate.
The Reform UK leader is now mainly in a race against comedy candidate Count Binface.
Opinium also found the Conservatives are enjoying their highest poll rating since April 2025 on 20%.
Meanwhile, the Green Party lags behind on 14% and the Liberal Democrats are on 11%.
The survey comes after researchers at Survation put both at Labour and Reform UK at 24%.
Polling by More in Common from last week also undermined Farage’s claim not to be part of the establishment.
It showed that 45% of the public believe privately-educated Farage, who is a former MEP and stockbroker, is himself part of the establishment.
That is slightly below Keir Starmer (52%) and Kemi Badenoch (54%), but more than the 41% who think incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is in the establishment.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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