A great blender is a kitchen workhouse – I tested more than a dozen options including the Vitamix and Breville for budget, size, mulch factor, speed and whether they had plastic or glass jars

• In the UK? Check out Filter UK’s top-rated blenders here

There are few breakfasts that feel as healthy and refreshing as the ever-mutable smoothie. You can make them virtuous, with lots of greens and nut milk, or luscious, with full-fat dairy and cocoa powder – but in order to make a good one, you need a really good blender.

And while smoothies are the classic use for a blender, these appliances can do so much more; a truly great blender is a kitchen workhorse that can make your morning smoothie, your afternoon dip, your evening soup and even a frozen drink if you’re feeling frisky.

Best overall:
Breville Fresh & Furious

The very best blender (luxury):
Vitamix 5200

Experts say that if you’re eating any berry – strawberries, blackberries, currants, raspberries, blueberries – you are benefiting

Sprinkled on top of yoghurt, blended into smoothies or baked into crumbles, berries are among Americans’ favorite fruits.

Luckily, berries are as healthy as they are delicious and versatile: low in calories, full of vitamins and antioxidants, and a good source of fiber. Research shows that, depending on the type, berries support cardiovascular health, may boost gut health and fight inflammation and show promise as part of a “healthy dietary strategy for diabetes prevention and management”, to quote researchers. Meta-analyses also link compounds in berries with improved cognitive health.

Barbara O’Neill has previously claimed that cancer is a fungus that can be treated with bicarbonate soda

A controversial proponent of natural remedies who has been banned from providing any health services in Australia is due to embark on a series of events in the UK and Ireland despite criticism from scientists, health charities and academic bodies.

Barbara O’Neill, who describes herself as a naturopath and nutritionist, lectures internationally on “natural self-healing”.

Britain’s nursing union axes Teva UK as commercial partner over links to Israel’s military and corporate track record

Britain’s nursing union has cut its ties with an Israeli drug company over the firm’s links to the country’s military and track record of corporate misconduct.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has axed Teva UK as a commercial partner and as sponsor of a forthcoming event on migraine and headaches at the union’s London headquarters.

‘Day-to-day’ symptom of harmful emissions, which in turn can disrupt sleep, can be overlooked, say researchers

New research has found that increased air pollution is associated with more night-time coughing, leading to disturbed sleep.

Most air pollution research looks at symptoms that are severe enough for people to seek medical help, but day-to-day symptoms can be overlooked. Prof Cecilia Mascolo, who led the study from the University of Cambridge, said: “I come from an area in Italy with very high pollution and I am very aware of its not-talked-about effects.”

Rebuilding a complex and broken system into one that’s fair for all, and in the face of steely opposition: that will be the PM’s real challenge

Here is rare clearcut proof of the power of political persuasion. Party conference speeches, the lifeblood of political obsessives, rarely reach the public beyond a brief news clip. But this time was different. Andy Burnham’s speech spun the dial on public opinion on several political hot potatoes, defining who he is.

The pensions triple lock, which guarantees that pensions rise faster than average incomes, has been a no-go electoral minefield despite a groundswell of economists (and even a Times leader) calling for reform to prevent pensions skyrocketing. Touching this live rail was an act of bravery – or recklessness.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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Readers respond to George Monbiot’s article about how those with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, have been failed by the health system

George Monbiot (Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed, 24 September) is right about one important thing: people with severe ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome) deserve much better care than many have received. But two different questions are being conflated: how patients have been treated, and what the evidence tells us about the causes and treatment of ME/CFS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence no longer recommends the old form of graded exercise therapy, in which activity was increased according to a predetermined schedule regardless of symptoms.

Anna Bird says the decision by some NHS integrated care boards to impose a two-year minimum wait is harmful to young people and their families

Blocking assessments of children with neurodivergent conditions for over two years is cruel to children, deeply damaging to families and ultimately more costly to taxpayers (NHS bodies in England impose two-year minimum wait for ADHD and autism assessments, 25 September).

Imagine the long-term harm inflicted on a six-year-old child forced to wait two years for an assessment of a physical condition. Waiting for a diagnosis of autism or ADHD is no different. That’s a quarter of a child’s life, and ultimately their potential, put on hold by state bodies that should be supporting all children. It prevents young people receiving the medical and practical assistance they need to learn, make friends and achieve the ordinary things that other children can every day.

A side-of-the-bus calculation | GPs, nurses and preventive healthcare | House guests | Treasured kitchen tools | Hedgehog-flavoured crisps | Advance booking

A quick side-of-the-bus calculation reveals that the £18bn annual cost of a national care service (How will Burnham’s national care service work – and how will it be funded?, 29 September) equates to about £350m per week. How fortunate it is that an option declared by Andy Burnham of rejoining the EU would result in increased trade and hence greater public taxation revenues of £770m per week. A chance for some joined-up thinking, perhaps?
Mike Cashman
Milton Keynes

• Since the early 1980s, GPs have recruited the teamwork of practice nurses to manage preventive healthcare (Three in four UK GPs ‘too busy to talk to their patients in depth’, 27 September). There are now 23,000 providing excellent care.
Elaine Fullard
Oxford

Much is made of the decision to try to preserve fertility but less explored are the choices that come afterwards. We want to hear from people about what happened next

Oocyte cryopreservation, more commonly known as egg freezing, has been around for decades but the procedure stopped being considered experimental in 2012. Since then, elective egg freezing has boomed. Often represented as an insurance policy against age- or illness-related fertility decline, the process can be costly and complex.

While figures vary, research suggests most people who undergo egg freezing never access their eggs and results are mixed for those who do. Long-term storage poses its own costs and questions.

Judy Wearing has spent much of her life studying our follicles. She explains how our armpits betray our emotions, why some gentlemen really do prefer blondes and the reason we evolved to have eyebrows

As a PhD student at Oxford studying mating behaviour, Judy Wearing was suddenly struck by a thought: what was the purpose of pubic hair? The point of armpit hair? The function of each of our body’s furry patches? When the published literature failed to produce satisfying answers, Wearing began her own investigation. Her aim was to shed light on why exactly we evolved these particular patches, with pubic hair the most puzzling of all: was it for warmth, protection … or something else?

Wearing is still tangling with those questions, some 30 years after her student days. Now an author and editor (largely in the education sector), she has revisited her fascination with hair in Anxious and Hairy: The Evolution and Culture of Human Hair, exploring its unexpectedly dense and layered place in our history and psyche. Even Wearing was surprised by the places her research on hair took her, and the mysteries that still remain to be solved. “A lot of these questions, no one’s actually looked at,” she says over Zoom. Here is a mere snip of the fascinating facts she’s uncovered about hair.

Exclusive: ADHD UK may seek judicial review of West Yorkshire NHS integrated care board’s ‘unlawful’ policy

ADHD UK has threatened legal action against an NHS organisation over its decision to impose a minimum two-year wait for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism assessments.

In a legal letter to West Yorkshire NHS integrated care board (ICB), seen by the Guardian, the charity alleges that the decision to force patients to wait at least two years for such assessments was unlawful and says it will seek a judicial review if the board fails to reverse the policy.

In today’s newsletter: Reversible male hormonal contraception could reach the market within five to 10 years. But why has this development been so slow?

Good morning. Since the first vasectomy was performed in the 1890s (imagine being that volunteer), the male contraceptive armoury has barely advanced. The last reversible method was added to this repertoire centuries ago: while rubber condoms hit the mass market in the 1850s, earlier versions date back beyond ancient Egypt.

This looks on the cusp of change. In a landmark announcement last week, the World Health Organization said it expects reversible male contraceptives to be available on the market within five to 10 years.

Politics | Senior Downing Street officials have been reaching out to thinktanks and pollsters as they look to test public support for the UK rejoining the EU.

Middle East | One of the pilots of a plane flying from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed his co-pilot and appeared to try to crash the aircraft, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, as Israeli officials said they were investigating whether the incident was an attempted terror attack on Israelis.

UK news | There are “strong indications” that Iran played a role in events in which five men were arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire as part of a terror investigation, Andy Burnham has said.

Immigration and asylum | The UK government’s “one in one out” deal with France, which was supposed to help deter small boat arrivals, is expected to expire on Thursday, as talks stall over French demands for an EU-wide scheme.

Television | Esther Rantzen, the Bafta-winning TV presenter and founder of Childline, has died aged 86. In a statement, her family paid tribute to “the most wonderful mother” and “cherished grandmother”.

Measles outbreak in the state has now reached 39 counties, with 943 confirmed cases and 176 hospitalizations

Pennsylvania has reported its fifth measles-associated death of 2026 as the state’s ongoing outbreak climbs to 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties.

The Pennsylvania department of health said on Wednesday that an unvaccinated Lancaster county resident who tested positive for measles had died. Health officials did not release further information about the individual, citing privacy protections.

Readers respond to the Labour leader’s conference speech and plans for changes to social care and the state pension triple lock

In the aftermath of Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour conference, media discussions are focusing on how to define social care and estimate its cost (How will Burnham’s national care service work – and how will it be funded?, 29 September).

Most arguments assume that any new system will look like the existing one, with services outsourced to large companies, using contracts without scope for innovation, with rigidly defined targets, often delivered using poorly rewarded, precariously employed migrant workers.

Exclusive: Campaign comes amid backlash against tech company’s involvement with Israeli military and Trump’s ICE crackdown

• UK politics live – latest updates

Tens of thousands of people have formally demanded NHS England blocks the Palantir-powered national medical data platform from handling their personal information.

More than 44,000 people have filed legal objections to their health data being shared with, stored in or used by the nationwide Federated Data Platform (FDP) operated using the US company’s AI technology.

This live blog is now closed

• ‘Oozing everyman charm’: what the papers said about Burnham’s speech

Andy Burnham has suggested that it would not be legitimate for a party to form a majority government with less than 30% of the vote.

In his Today interview, asked why he wanted electoral reform and a move towards proportional representation, Burnham replied:

I found it better being elected under a different system as mayor of Greater Manchester, where people had one or two, they could put that on the ballot paper.

Because you had a reason to stop on every doorstep and chat to people who might not always support your party and try and get their second preference.

No, it could happen with any political party. It’s whether that would be a legitimate government.

I think you’ve got it completely wrong really, if you don’t mind me saying, to put it like that, because I have put out … a vision for a national care service.

There are pensioners out there who watch your programme who are paying for care costs from their basic state pension. Now, is that right or fair?

Cross-partisan support in Washington on issues like pesticides and food additives pose a threat to the industry’s bottom line

Some of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.

The ascension of RFK Jr to secretary of health and human services has boosted his putative campaign to end chronic illness in the US, which he believes is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices, along with an overuse of what he falsely claims are dangerous vaccines. The “Maha” movement blends long-running mainstream concerns about food and farm safety with conspiracy theories about everything from medicine to milk. A Maha “summit” in Washington this week will feature JD Vance and several members of Trump’s cabinet.

Many products aimed at women over 45 lack meaningful quantities of key nutrients, consumer watchdog Which? found

Menopause supplements costing more than £400 a year are no better than a £22-a-year multivitamin, according to analysis by the consumer watchdog Which?.

Which? found that many popular supplements that are aimed at women over 45 going through menopause or perimenopause lack meaningful quantities of key nutrients, yet cost 20 times more than standard multivitamins.

A bad breakup had made me afraid I would be mired in anger for ever. But on that family hike, in our fear and horror as we awaited the air ambulance, my old hurts took on a different hue

To steal a well-known line, 2023 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. My annus horribilis began when a long-term relationship broke up in January, only six months after we had bought our first home together. I was about to turn 38 and the future I thought was mine – marriage, children – all fell apart. What followed was blow after blow: my sister announced her engagement, I was told by a fertility doctor that I was “not a suitable candidate” for egg freezing, and I soon began having multiple panic attacks a day.

Ordinarily, my work would have been my solace; when I wrote, it was as if time was suspended. But now, my words abandoned me. They would not come, no matter how much I tried. So, in April, I decided to take the rest of the year off to recover. As I was self-employed, this was not a choice I made lightly – but my heart was broken and so too, it seemed, was my brain.