Fasting twice a week could be the key to a longer life by slashing the risk of a host of killer diseases, a new study has revealed.

Research shows dramatically cutting the amount of calories you eat for two days can keep obesity, heart disease and diabetes at bay, the Daily Express reported.

The revolutionary weight-loss plan restricts calorie intake for 48 hours, like the 48 Hour Diet by top nutritionist Amanda Hamilton, published last week.

She shared her easy to follow plan which promises to not just shift the pounds but improve general health and mental wellbeing.

Researchers have backed her methods of intermittent fasting and say it is as effective as weight loss surgery, without the cost or risk.

The scientific review suggests fasting diets may help those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

A review published in the British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease by a team led by James Brown from Aston University in the West Midlands highlights evidence from clinical trials which shows fasting can limit inflammation, improve levels of sugars and fats in your circulation and cut blood pressure.

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For people who have ever regretted a bad haircut that seems to take age before growing out, help is at hand in the form of a shampoo that claims to boost hair length with every wash.

Scientists behind Fast, or Fortified Amino Scalp Therapy, say their product can grow hair by as much as two inches in just one month, which is double the usual rate.

Tests of the product suggest that the rate of growth increases the longer a person uses the products, the Daily Mail reported.

There is already a long waiting list of 5000 people for the shampoo and conditioner, which goes on sale in the UK on January 23.

The shampoo, which is made from natural herbs and organic amino acids, works by stimulating growth in the follicle.

However, while it helps those whose hair has fallen out through cancer, the shampoo is not a remedy for baldness because it cannot stimulate new hair growth, rather only promote the growth of existing hair.

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Fifteen embryos are made for every woman conceiving through in vitro fertilisation, and almost half of them are discarded during or after the process, new figures have revealed.

According to the shocking revelation, over 1.7 million embryos prepared with the aim of helping women become pregnant have been thrown away since records began 21 years ago.

The figures on the use of human embryos were gathered by the fertility industry regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which has recorded IVF processes since 1991, the Daily Mail reported.

Embryos are created from female eggs and male sperm during the IVF process. Some are then introduced into the womb of the prospective mother. Others, however, are put into storage, discarded as unwanted, or, in some cases, used in scientific experiments.

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Even though yoga is a highly independent and personal practice for most fans, a new book has shed light on the emerging world of the yoga competition.

Though it may sound like an oxymoron, author Benjamin Lorr says that the concept is not an impossible one, and is simply a system for determining who was demonstrating a posture best.

In an article for The Daily Beast about his new book, ‘Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga’, Lorr explains that winning is not the goal as much as allowing others to inspire us to our best.

Indeed, at the yoga competitions that have been cropping up across the U.S., the atmosphere is not one of a typical contest, the Daily Mail reported.

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A plastic surgery treatment that uses extreme cold to blast away love handles and spare tyres is rapidly gaining popularity in America.

The CoolSculpting treatment, which can be done during a lunch hour, is proving particularly popular with men who do not want surgery or liposuction, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The procedure is done with a machine that uses vacuum pressure and deep cooling to target fat. It freezes unwanted fat cells in the waist, hips, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, arms and back.

Patients can even read a book or watch a film while undergoing the treatment.

It is used for small areas of fat that refuse to budge with exercise, and is done without anaesthetic or medication.

Dr Grant Stevens, a plastic surgeon at Marina Plastic Surgery, which has so far done 4000 procedures in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, claimed he had his love handles done himself.

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Doctors saved a man, who developed ventricular tachychardia, or an unusual heart rhythm, by giving a shot of neat alcohol, or pure ethanol.

According to BBC News, the alcohol shot was given to Ronald Aldom, 77, from Portishead in England, via a catheter through the blood vessel in the groin that connects to the heart, Fox News reported.

The ethanol triggered a “controlled heart attack,” and actually killed the part of Aldom’s heart muscle that was problematic, as reported by BBC News.

Doctors decided to try this approach after several unsuccessful conventional treatments. “Ethanol ablation” as it is called, has only been done a handful of times in the United Kingdom.

The procedure saved Aldom’s life, making his heart beat regularly again.

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The latest addition to the list of unusual additions to beauty lotions and potions is literally out of this world – an anti-ageing range that contains powdered meteorite.

For centuries, meteorites have fascinated scientists and researchers worldwide. Every particle is more than 4.5 billion years old and rich in minerals unknown on our planet.

Along with otherworldly minerals, meteorite dust is also said to be packed with calcium, iron and magnesium – all of which can help benefit skin.

The meteorites used in Celestial Secret are picked up by nomadic tribes in the Sahara desert before being sent to Spain for powdering and processing.

Combined with extracts from semi-precious stones including haematite, rodochrosite, olivine and smithsonite, as well as botanicals such as beech bud extract, it is said to have potent anti-ageing effects.

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Taking a major step forward in the decade-long search for a biological therapy to correct erratic and failing heartbeats, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have reprogrammed ordinary heart cells to become exact replicas of highly specialized pacemaker cells by injecting a single gene (Tbx18).

“Although we and others have created primitive biological pacemakers before, this study is the first to show that a single gene can direct the conversion of heart muscle cells to genuine pacemaker cells. The new cells generated electrical impulses spontaneously and were indistinguishable from native pacemaker cells,” said Hee Cheol Cho, PhD., a Heart Institute research scientist.

Pacemaker cells generate electrical activity that spreads to other heart cells in an orderly pattern to create rhythmic muscle contractions. If these cells go awry, the heart pumps erratically at best; patients healthy enough to undergo surgery often look to an electronic pacemaker as the only option for survival.

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For most of you who have spent sleepless nights worrying whether your child is breathing properly while tucked up in their cots, a new device has been developed that may help parents rest easier while their baby sleeps, and keep the little one’s feet warm at the same time.

A team from Brigham University, Utah, have created a sock-like baby monitor which straps around an infant’s foot and uses pulse oximetry to monitor the heart rate and blood-oxygen levels, the Daily Mail reported.

If the child stops breathing or has a significant change in heart rate the monitor will notify parents by alerting them on their smart phone.

Jacob Colvin and his five colleagues hope the device, which is completely wireless and uses safe, non-invasive technology, will reduce the annual cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which sees at least 300 baby deaths unexpectedly in the UK every year.

“Our hope is that we can give parents time to react and see that something’s wrong before it’s too late,” Colvin said.

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Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a molecule that regulates the differentiation of all epidermal cells.

The surface of your skin, called the epidermis, is a complex mixture of many different cell types – each with a very specific job. The production, or differentiation, of such a sophisticated tissue requires an immense amount of coordination at the cellular level, and glitches in the process can have disastrous consequences.

Now, the Stanford researchers have identified a master regulator of this differentiation process.

“Disorders of epidermal differentiation, from skin cancer to eczema, will affect roughly one-half of Americans at some point in their lifetimes. Understanding how this differentiation occurs has enormous implications, not just for the treatment of disease, but also for studies of tissue regeneration and even stem cell science,” said Paul Khavari, who is the Carl J. Herzog Professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology.

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