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Tag: Health

  • Acupuncture in the spotlight: A systematic review recently published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concluded that “Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain and is therefore a reasonable referral option. Significant differences between true and sham acupuncture indicate that acupuncture is more than a placebo. However, these differences…

  • Poor diet and Alzheimer’s Today, the Guardian reports that the evidence linking poor diet to the cause of Alzheimer’s supports the drastic need to reduce levels of sugar and fat in our diet.  With companies using hidden sugar, salt and many other ingredients in the foods we consume, the increase of diabetes and it’s connection…

  • Did you know that getting lost in a good book can help keep you healthy? In a recent article from the Daily Mail, Neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield says: ‘…reading helps to lengthen attention spans in children and improves their ability to think clearly. ‘Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end – a structure that …

  • Watch a video of Dr Robin Youngson, author of A Time to Care, as he talks about how compassion in healthcare is not only right, but also medically and cost effective. He also argues from the neuroscientific evidence that there is no such thing as ‘clinical detachment’ and that NHS staff who show compassion cope…

  • (Click here to watch the video above) Bowel cancer campaign gets celebrity backing  One in three people are embarrassed to talk to their doctor about poo even though having blood in poo is a key symptom of bowel cancer which can kill. Knowing the symptoms of bowel cancer and seeing a doctor early on can…

  • Why money can’t buy happiness, as reported in Psychology Today: In the past 50 or 60 years, real term incomes in countries such as the USA and the UK have increased dramatically, but happiness has not kept apace. In fact, people today are considerably less happy than back then: they have less time, they are…

  • Chocolate reduces stroke risk in men According to a recent article from the Guardian, research in Sweden shows that men who eat a standard-sized chocolate bar each week could lower their chance of suffering a stroke in later life by 17%. The study carried out by Susanna Larsson at the Karolinska Institute, also suggests that eating more than a bar per week could lower…

  • Could broccoli really be a superfood? A recent article published by the Daily Mail says that sulforaphane, a chemical found in broccoli, could prevent the spread of breast cancer. A laboratory study at the University of Michigan carried out directly on breast cancer cells and mice injected with cancer cells found that sulforaphane halted the progression of tumours…

  • Echinacea has hit the headlines, based on a press release issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Further information can be found on the NHS, BBC and Daily Mail websites, links below. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/08august/Pages/echinacea-allergy-warning-for-children-under-12.aspx http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19318309 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2191024/Echinacea-trigger-allergies-children-12-warns-UK-drugs-watchdog.html

  • The truth about cereal bars: Recent research by the consumer group Which? has found that most cereal bars are high in sugar and fat, making their healthy image a “myth”, according to the BBC and The Independent. This story has been covered by a number of other newspapers, including the Sun, which calls the snack…

  • Update on The Royal College of Midwives e-petition for 5,000 more midwives

    A little while ago we posted about an e-petition from The Royal College of Midwives calling for 5,000 more midwives. The petition closed today (22nd August 2012) at 11:53am with a staggering 75,723 in support of the Government taking action to recruit more midwives. Although not the 100,000 signatures RCM was calling for, the petition…

  • New campaign urges middle-aged to check their sun-damaged skin: A striking new campaign was launched today urging people with the common condition actinic keratoses to have any suspicious lesions checked out by a GP for fear of developing a form of skin cancer. The national skin disease research charity, the British Skin Foundation is launching…