2019-07-16 18:00:00
'Doctors should prescribe statins to patients at a younger age to slash their odds of heart disease in later life, a study suggests' reports The Sun
2019-07-15 17:00:00
"Bad dementia genes can be overcome through healthy living, study finds," reports The Daily Telegraph.
2019-07-11 17:00:00
"Drinking a third of a fizzy drink a day 'increases risk of breast cancer by 22% – and fruit juice is just as dangerous'," reports the Sun. The headline is based on a large ongoing study that assessed sugary and artificially sweetened drink intake in more than 100,000 adults in France. All drinks with high levels of sugar were considered, including 100% fruit juices and sugary fizzy drinks.
2019-07-10 17:00:00
"Having too few 'friendly' vaginal bacteria may increase a woman's chance of ovarian cancer, and swabs can be used to spot this, say researcher," BBC News reports. The news is based on a study that compared the make-up of vaginal bacteria in women with and without ovarian cancer.
2019-07-09 17:00:00
"Multivitamins do not reduce risk of cardiovascular disease or prolong life, study finds," the Sun reports, while The Daily Telegraph warns that, "Some vitamin supplements can increase risk of a stroke". Both headlines were prompted by a major new review looking at evidence from 277 trials on the effect of 24 different nutritional or dietary supplements in nearly 1 million people.
2019-07-04 15:41:00
Various media sources report on the worrying extent of the alcohol problem in the UK, with the BBC and the Sun reporting that 1 in 5 people in hospital beds are heavy drinkers. This follows a review that pooled the results from 124 studies that looked at the rate of alcohol-related conditions among 1.7 million patients in UK hospitals.
2019-07-03 10:55:00
"Child asthma cases can triple at the start of the school year as returning to the classroom exposes pupils to coughs and colds," reports the Mail Online. Doctors have suspected for years that children are more likely to need medical help for asthma in the weeks after returning to school from the summer holidays.
2019-07-02 12:00:00
"Leg fat 'better than belly fat' for older women," reports BBC News. Researchers looked at the body composition of 2,683 women in the US who were a healthy weight and had been through the menopause.
2019-06-27 17:00:00
"HPV vaccine programme in schools 'could wipe out cervical cancer for good'," reports the Mail Online.
2019-06-26 17:00:00
"Chemical found in soap and toothpaste linked to osteoporosis in women," reports The Daily Telegraph. Chinese researchers used data from US surveys to look for a link between levels of the chemical triclosan in the body and bone strength (bone mass density). Triclosan is an antibacterial chemical used in some hand washes and gels, and also in some types of mouthwash and toothpaste.
2019-06-25 17:00:00
"Common drugs taken by millions 'increase risk of dementia by 50%', experts warn," The Sun reports.
2019-06-20 17:00:00
"Scientists say they have identified the earliest signs of Parkinson's disease in the brain, 15 to 20 years before symptoms appear," BBC News reports.
2019-06-19 18:00:00
"Millions at risk of breast cancer as 1 in 5 don't realise booze can be to blame," reports The Sun.
2019-06-18 17:00:00
"Reality TV encourages children to drink and smoke, experts warn," The Guardian reports. A new study measured the amount of smoking and alcohol shown in the complete series of 5 reality TV programmes aired last year: Celebrity Big Brother, Made in Chelsea, The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore and Love Island.
2019-06-13 17:00:00
The Daily Telegraph reports that "swapping one portion of red meat a day for fish or nuts could cut risk of early death by almost a fifth".
2019-06-12 17:00:00
"Music festival lighting 'can trigger epileptic fits'," reports BBC News. Dutch researchers used records from a company providing medical services to music festivals to investigate the number of festival goers treated for epileptic seizures (fits). They looked at 28 electronic dance music festivals held in the Netherlands in 2015. They compared the number of seizures during concerts held in daylight with the number during night-time or indoor concerts, where strobe lighting is more intense.
2019-06-11 17:00:00
"Falling asleep in front of the TV could increase the risk of obesity," The Daily Telegraph reports.
2019-06-06 17:00:00
"Drinking tomato juice can reduce your risk of heart disease, study reveals," the Daily Mirror reports.
2019-06-05 17:00:00
"Self-harm in girls and young women rising at 'alarming' rate," reports Sky News. A study based on 3 surveys of people in England aged 16 to 74 found a worrying rise in people who say they have ever self-harmed. The overall numbers rose from 2.4% in 2000 to 6.4% in 2014. The increase in reported self-harm was biggest among women and girls aged 16 to 24, with 19.7% of those questioned in 2014 saying they'd self-harmed.
2019-06-04 17:00:00
"A hormone most commonly produced during pregnancy could be used to treat a painful joint condition according to new research," the Mail Online reports. The research involved rats who'd undergone surgery to replicate what's commonly called frozen shoulder in humans.
2019-05-30 17:00:00
"Heavily processed food like ready meals and ice-cream linked to early death," reports The Guardian. The headline comes from 2 large observational studies, which found people who ate the most "ultra-processed" food were more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, or to die sooner, compared with those who ate the least ultra-processed food.
2019-05-29 17:00:00
"Night shifts do not increase breast cancer risk, study concludes," reports The Guardian. This reassuring headline follows analysis of information about more than 100,000 women in the UK over a 10-year period. A link between night shift work and breast cancer risk was first proposed 30 years ago.
2019-05-28 17:00:00
"Honey is 'just as effective at treating cold sores as anti-viral creams'," the Mail Online reports. Cold sores are skin infections around the mouth caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). You catch the virus through direct skin contact with another person who has the virus. Once you have it, HSV lies dormant in the nerve cells and can reactivate at another time, which is why some people get recurrent cold sores, particularly when they're run down.
2019-05-23 17:00:00
"Stroke deaths in England halved in a decade," reports The Guardian, but the Sun warns us that, "Stroke rates are rocketing among young Brits due to obesity and cocaine use". Both headlines were prompted by a new study where researchers looked at NHS stroke data from between 2001 and 2010. They found the number of people in England dying from stroke fell sharply during this time, with drops each year of about 6%.
2019-05-22 17:00:00
"Snoring or waking up exhausted 'could be linked to cancer'," reports the Sun. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a relatively common condition where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing. This makes people wake up briefly to catch their breath, though many people with OSA do not remember doing so.