Study says coughs have staying power

You've been hacking and coughing for a week now -- isn't it time that the coughing stopped? Sadly, the answer is often "no," and experts report that many people have a mistaken idea of how long an acute cough lasts. A team of researchers from the University of Georgia reviewed medical literature and found that the average duration of an acute cough is nearly three weeks (17.8 days). They then surveyed nearly 500 adults and found that they reported their coughing lasted an average of only seven to nine days.

BERRY GOOD ADVICE

Eating three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries each week may help reduce a woman's risk of heart attack, a large new study suggests. The study included nearly 94,000 young and middle-aged women who took part in the Nurses' Health Study II. The study can't say specifically what about the berries seemed to result in a lower risk of heart attack among these women, or that there was a direct cause-and-effect link between eating the berries and lower heart attack risk. But blueberries and strawberries contain high levels of compounds that may help widen arteries, which counters plaque buildup, the researchers said. Heart attacks can occur when plaque blocks blood flow to the heart. -- HealthDay