Apples, Tomatoes Reduce Damage Caused by Smoking

Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic.
Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic.
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Apples, Tomatoes Reduce Damage Caused by Smoking

Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic.
Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic.

Following three new studies, scientists said consuming apples and tomatoes can help restore lung damage caused by smoking.

Other scientists said eating a daily diet of leafy vegetables reduces brain aging by about 11 years.

A third scientific team said: "Children who eat fish weekly will have better IQ and better sleep.

Apples and Tomatoes

The study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US found that adults who on average ate more than two tomatoes or more than three portions of fresh fruit a day had a slower decline in lung function. It added that this kind of diet heals damages caused by smoking.

The study concluded that the natural decline in lung function over a 10-year period was slower among former smokers with a diet high in tomatoes and fruits.

The scientists compared those who ate three servings of fruit and two fresh tomatoes a day to monitor the slowing down of lung function, to those who ate less than one serving of fruit and less than a tomato.

The researchers found such positive aspects even in individuals who continued to smoke but ate large amounts of tomatoes, but the result was not the same with other dietary sources such as processed foods containing fruits and vegetables like tomato sauce.

This study is part of another study funded by the European Union on lung aging, with researchers from the Imperial College of Britain, was published in the December issue of the European Respiratory Journal, which is dedicated to respiratory studies.

The researchers published their findings on December 20 in the neurological journal Neuroscience of the American Academy of Neurology.



Olympic Balloon to Rise again in Paris

The iconic symbol of the 2024 Paris Olympic will take to the skies during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique. Thomas SAMSON / AFP
The iconic symbol of the 2024 Paris Olympic will take to the skies during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique. Thomas SAMSON / AFP
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Olympic Balloon to Rise again in Paris

The iconic symbol of the 2024 Paris Olympic will take to the skies during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique. Thomas SAMSON / AFP
The iconic symbol of the 2024 Paris Olympic will take to the skies during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique. Thomas SAMSON / AFP

A giant balloon that became a popular landmark over the skies of Paris during the 2024 Olympics is set to rise again, with organizers hoping it will once again attract crowds of tourists.

During the Games, the Olympic cauldron tethered to a balloon flew above the Tuileries garden at sunset every day, with thousands flocking to see the seven-meter (23 feet) wide ring of electric fire, AFP said.

Last summer's version "had been thought up to last for the length of the Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Mathieu Lehanneur, the designer of the cauldron.

After President Emmanuel Macron "decided to bring it back, all of the technical aspects needed to be reviewed", he told AFP on Thursday.

Lehanneur said he was "very moved" that the Olympic balloon was making a comeback.

"The worst thing would have been for this memory to become a sitting relic that couldn't fly anymore," he said.

The new cauldron will take to the skies on Saturday evening during France's annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique.

The balloon will rise into the air every evening until September 14 -- a summer tradition set to return every year until the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

"For its revival, we needed to make sure it changed as little as possible and that everything that did change was not visible," said Lehanneur.

With a decarbonated fire patented by French energy giant EDF, the upgraded balloon follows "the same technical principles" as its previous version, said director of innovation at EDF Julien Villeret.

The improved attraction "will last ten times longer" and be able to function for "300 days instead of 30", according to Villeret.

The creators of the balloon also reinforced the light-and-mist system that "makes the flames dance", he said.

Under the cauldron, a machine room hides cables, a compressor and a hydro-electric winch.

That system will "hold back the helium balloon when it rises and pull it down during descent", said Jerome Giacomoni, president of the Aerophile group that constructed the balloon.

"Filled with 6,200 m3 of helium that is lighter than air," the Olympic balloon "will be able to lift around three tons" of cauldron, cables and attached parts, he said.

The Tuileries garden is where French inventor Jacques Charles took flight in his first gas balloon on December 1, 1783, Giacomoni added.

He followed in the footsteps of the famed Montgolfier brothers, who had just nine days earlier elsewhere in Paris managed to launch a similar balloon into the sky with humans onboard.

The website vasqueparis2024.fr is to display the times when the modern-day balloon will rise and indicate any potential cancellations due to weather conditions.