I have osteoporosis. I was told that I should be drinking a pint of milk a day to increase my calcium levels, but a friend says that doing so will put me at risk of a heart attack. What's the answer?

Some friend! Is he or she qualified to give such advice? A pint of milk contains enough calcium to maintain your bone calcium each day, so it will help in the battle against osteoporosis. And a pint of skimmed milk actually contains more calcium than a pint of whole milk, so you can drink that without consuming too much fat and without increasing your risk of a heart attack. Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables, too, because these will also help boost your calcium levels.

I have always thought two blue-eyed parents could have only blue-eyed children - but is that true?

Although everyone thinks of that rule, it isn't necessarily so. There are seven recognised shades of eye colour, from very light blue to almost black, with shades of green and brown in between them. The colours depend on several genes, not just on a dominant one for brown and a recessive one for blue, as we were led to believe at school. So some blue-eyed parents can have green- or brown-eyed children. It's rare, but it does happen. So don't blame the next-door neighbour.