DS from Manchester
A Shock, no. Symptoms, possibly. There is little scientific evidence that shows detox diets are any more effective than taking commonsense nutritional measures such as eating less junk food, drinking more fluid and watching what you eat.
Detoxing diets help with weight loss because they are usually low-calorie regimes. Side effects when starting can include tiredness, nausea and headaches but this is usually due to a lack of food rather than the body going into shock. There’s still no substitute for a healthy diet and regular exercise.
Q Women all know to look for lumps in their breasts, but what are the symptoms of prostate cancer, the biggest cancer in men?
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WB from Sevenoaks
A If very early, there may be no symptoms. Typical signals, however, tend to include a need to urinate frequently (especially at night), a weak flow, difficulty in starting to urinate and painful urination. There may also be erection difficulties, pain during sex and blood in the urine.
However, there are a great many other possible causes for such symptoms, most harmless, so their presence does not automatically mean you have cancer. If in doubt, get checked.
Q My mother always told me that cracking my knuckles would result in arthritis when I was older. Is this true?
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GS from London
A No. This is a classic old wives’ tale. The few studies on this have shown that the joints of knuckle-crackers are no more damaged than those people who never crack them. There may be lower grip strength and a degree of swelling in some knuckle-crackers, however.
The crack is probably caused by the release of a carbon dioxide bubble in the fluid surrounding the joints, which is why you cannot crack your knuckles again immediately because the gas bubble takes time to reform.
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All questions are answered by a practising doctor. To consult Dr Know, e-mail your question to drknow@sunday-times.co.uk. E-mails cannot be replied to individually.