What the papers say – weekly digest (24/05/24)

Your weekly digest of the top healthcare stories, covering news published from 20/05/2024 – 24/05/2024.

The Daily Telegraph

Artificial intelligence that is twice as fast as doctors at spotting deadly diseases will be rolled out across the NHS to ‘’tackle the scourge of cancer’’ as part of a £15.5 million investment. The technology will be introduced to every hospital radiotherapy department in England within weeks, in a move that Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said constitutes a ‘’historic moment in our treatment of this terrible disease’’. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said the measures announced before a global summit on AI would help the UK to cut waiting lists and ‘’become the number one place for AI innovation’’.The techniques allow for far more precision in directing radiation beams in order to kill cancerous cells while sparing as many healthy ones as possible. Medics can spend up to two hours working through 100 different scan cross-sections to ‘’contour’’ the bones and organs and work out where to target. A trial at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, which trained the AI programme with Microsoft, was able to work up to 2 and a half times as quickly. Such moves free up radiographers to treat far more patients, speeding up efforts to slash waiting lists backlogs. Radiotherapy treatment is used in about half of people who recover from cancer. AI techniques are expected to be used in about 70% of such cases in future. Ms Atkins told The Telegraph: ‘’We need to use all the tools at our disposal to tackle the scourge of cancer. NHS staff already carry out fantastic work, but I’m determined that we go further, faster to support patients and ultimately save lives. That’s why we’re using groundbreaking AI to revolutionise the way we deliver radiotherapy – speeding up the time between referral and treatment to benefit tens of thousands of people across the country. Make no mistake, this is a historic moment in our treatment of this terrible disease – never before has AI been deployed so widely across the health service, with so many who stand to benefit.’’ Today (Tuesday), Mr Sunak will attend a virtual meeting of world leaders as part of the AI Safety Summit in Seoul, South Korea, a follow-up to a gathering he hosted at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire last autumn. The meeting resulted in the Bletchley Declaration, which was signed by 27 countries and the EU, committing the signatories to take a global approach to the technology. Mr Sunak said: ‘’Thanks to Bletchley we have created a legacy of international collaboration which means we are matching the pace of the technology. AI-powered medical advances – like in radiotherapy – are evidence of this and we must take advantage of them. That’s why we are pumping £15.5 million into the NHS so it can be rolled out across England – to help cut waiting lists and make the UK the number one place for AI innovation.’’ The technology has been evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which published draft guidance on the technology last year concluding that it can be used in the NHS while more evidence is generated. The guidance says all contours created by AI must still be reviewed by a trained healthcare professional and edited as needed, before being used in radiotherapy treatment planning. Dr Imogen Locke, the national specialty adviser for radiotherapy at NHS England said: ‘’We are seeing a record number of referrals for suspected cancer and game-changing tools like AI will help the NHS continues the significant progress made in tackling the longer waits for patients.The NHS is embracing AI and its benefits for cancer patients and every radiotherapy department will soon be able to offer the latest technology to help diagnose and treat patients more quickly.’’

The harm caused by alcohol costs £27.4 billion a year in England, research from the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) has shown. This is far more than the £12.5 billion raised by tax on alcohol in the UK each year, according to the IAS, which says alcohol duties are ‘’dwarfed by the financial cost of harm’’. The data also show a more than 40% increase in the cost of alcohol harm since 2003. It cost the NHS alone £4.9 billion a year, enough to pay the salaries of almost half the nurses in England, the IAS has claimed. Dr Katherine Severi, the chief executive of the IAS said, ‘’Year after year, we have seen steady increases in alcohol consumption, and deaths are at a record high. Now we have data to show that the financial cost of harm has risen too. As a country, we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing. The Government should develop a comprehensive alcohol strategy to tackle this rising harm which would have a knock-on effect of reducing the financial burden too.’’ The IAS said £14.6 billion of the annual £27.4 billion figure is the result of alcohol-linked crime and disorder. Employees missing work or being less productive because of alcohol, and other wider economic harms, cost £5.1 billion per year. The IAS calculations suggest the region with the highest cost per head of alcohol harm is the North East, where every person contributes £562 a year. Dr Severi told the BBC: ‘’What is really concerning is that these cost figures go alongside trends that have been moving in the wrong direction regarding alcohol related deaths and health harms. Since the pandemic, we’ve seen quite a big escalation in alcohol deaths, increasing by 33%, between 2019 and 2022. And what these broader figures show is the cost to society. So this isn’t a problem for a small minority of people. This is actually a much bigger problem that we’re all having to pick up the pieces for our social channels and taxpayer-funded services. We saw a very big spike in heavy drinking during the pandemic. And whilst this was expected to have dipped off after things started to go back to what we now call the new normal, we unfortunately haven’t seen the health associated trends start to abate. These figures show that this is a very wide social issue and we’re all paying the price for it.’’ Turning Point is a charity that supports people with drug and alcohol issues. Julie Bass, its chief executive, said: ‘’Too many people have lost their lives because of alcohol-related dangers. Deaths from drinking are at record levels, yet each tragedy is preventable if people at risk are identified early and given appropriate support.’’ A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘’Through our 10-year drug strategy, supported by £532 million, we are helping up to 54,500 more people receive alcohol and drug support. We are also funding specialist alcohol care teams in hospitals in England with the highest rates of alcohol harm and socio-economic deprivation. Last August, the Government also introduced reforms to alcohol duty – meaning products are taxed directly in proportion to their alcohol content, and we are reviewing the official cost of alcohol harm estimates to support us in our efforts to address the harms associated with alcohol.’’

People who want to change their gender could have their transition signed off by a single GP under Labour plans. The party is considering how to make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate, while still keeping doctors involved in the process. The current system for obtaining the document, which allows transgender people to have their affirmed gender legally recognised, involves two medical reports. One of those reports must be from a specialist that says the person has ‘’gender dysphoria’’, which means they are distressed because of the mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. Then the application is considered by a panel, which involves doctors and lawyers. Labour’s plans include removing the panel from the process, and only requiring one doctor to be involved. It is understood that the party is considering the possibility that the one doctor could be a GP. Labour would also remove the ability of a spouse to object to someone changing their gender. A source told The Times, which first reported on the plans, that the party wanted the process to become ‘’less medicalised’’ but that the proposals would still have a doctor involved, and would not allow people to self-identify in order to obtain legal changes. They added that it had not yet been decided whether the medical professional would be a GP or a gender specialist, and the plans would likely be put out to a consultation if Labour wins the next election. If a specialist had to sign off on someone changing their gender they would have to be referred by a GP. This would mean that obtaining a gender recognition certificate would retain the two-step process that the party wants to ditch. Anneliese Dodds, the shadow women and equalities secretary, said Labour wanted to remove the ‘’futile and dehumanising parts’’ of the process. ‘’Labour is the party of equality. We believe everyone should be treated with dignity and respect,’’ she said. ‘’We want to see the process… modernised, while protecting single-sex spaces for biological women. This means stripping out the futile and dehumanising parts of the process for obtaining a gender recognition certificate, while retaining important safeguards.’’

Nestle is launching a new range of protein-enriched pastas and pizzas for people taking weight-loss drugs, amid fears such treatments will hammer sales. The food maker, whose brands include KitKat, Haagen-DAZS and Nescafe, has created a new line of products to give people taking anti-obesity treatments ‘’the right nutrition – high protein, good fibre, the right minerals’’. The range, which will launch in the US later this year, is expected to include frozen pizzas and toasted sandwiches, Reuters reported. Nestle bosses said the products have been developed specifically for people on GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic, a diabetes treatment which is used off-label to treat obesity. These drugs have been shown to be effective at helping people lose weight by suppressing appetite. Research suggests that people on the treatments consume as much as 30% fewer calories. Morgan Stanley found that patients taking the treatments cut back significantly on both alcoholic and sugary non-alcoholic drinks. It has led to fears among investors that food companies could suffer big declines in sales.

Britain’s biggest drugmaker, AstraZeneca, has set out a bold ambition to reach $80bn (£63bn) in revenues by 2030 from treatments for cancer, rare diseases and other conditions, by launching 20 major new medicines before the end of the decade. As the company presented its growth plans to shareholders at its headquarters in Cambridge, its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said 12 of the 20 new drugs would have the potential to generate more than $5 bn in annual revenues at their peak, including in five cancer treatments. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm made revenues of $45.8bn last year, achieving a year early the goal it had set out as part of its defence against a £70 bn hostile takeover approach from US rival Pfizer in 2014. ‘’Today, AstraZeneca announces a new era of growth,’’ Soriot said. He added that the firm’s strong position in emerging markets would be vital to achieving its targets. It is the largest drugmaker by sales in China and has a major research and development centre in Shanghai. With Soriot at the helm, the firm has revamped its drugs pipeline and developed a strong portfolio of cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory and rare disease medicines. However, its share price growth has been sluggish in the past year, slowing to just under 2%. Its best selling diabetes pill, Farxiga, starts to lose patent protection from next year, and revenues will also come under pressure from reforms to enable the US government to negotiate drug prices for the first time. It has also begun withdrawal of its successful Covid-19 jab, which cannot be adapted to new variants very easily. But on Monday, it announced plans to build a $1.5 bn factory in Singapore to manufacture a new generation of promising cancer-killing drugs. It is also making a push into the weight-loss market with an obesity and diabetes pill licensed from China.

The Guardian

The number of people under 40 in the UK being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has risen 39% in six years, fuelled by soaring obesity levels and cheap junk food. Britain has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe, with two in three adults overweight or obese and the NHS spending £6 billion a year treating obesity-related ill-health – forecast to reach £10 billion a year by 2050. The new figures from Diabetes UK show cases of type 2 diabetes among under-40s have increased to almost 168,000 from 120,000 in 2016/17.Diagnoses are rising at a significantly faster pace than among older people, with a 39% rise in six years, compared with 25% for over 40s. The Guardian recently exposed how ministers had been warned they were putting children and young people at risk of life-changing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, because they had shelved policies to tackle obesity and junk food until 2025. Many of the measures promised in the 2020 national food strategy have been ditched, watered down or kicked into the long grass. The chief executive of Diabetes UK, Colette Marshall, told the Guardian the uptick in type 2 diabetes among children and young adults was ‘’alarming’’ and called on ministers to urgently address the crisis. Labour said the figures were an ‘’outrage’’. ‘’Drastic changes to the environment we live in and the food we eat over the last 25 years are taking a toll on our health,’’ said Marshall. ‘’We are bombarded by adverts for cheaper, unhealthy food. The foods on our shelves are increasingly high in fat, salt and sugar. And rising costs up are pushing a healthy diet out of reach for millions. These conditions, combined with genetic factors and stark inequalities, are driving rising levels of obesity, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.’’ The report published today (Wednesday) said people faced a more aggressive and acute form of diabetes when it develops at a younger age, with thousands of people and children living undiagnosed with the condition across the country. ‘’It is also associated with an increased risk of more rapid onset of devastating complications such as heart disease, kidney disease, sight loss and even an early death,’’ it said. The report’s author wrote: ‘’We estimate nearly 168,000 people under the age of 40 are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK, with nearly 150,000 people under 40 diagnosed in England alone. Thousands more are living with the condition undiagnosed, with analysis suggesting half of people aged 16 to 44 with type 2 diabetes are unaware they have it. The report also blamed ‘’gross inequalities’’, with people from the most deprived areas and from black and south Asian backgrounds more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. It warned of a growing impact on the economy, with 43,000 people out of work due to long-term sickness ‘’primarily because of their diabetes, a 79% increase since 2019.’’ Diabetes is also listed as a secondary condition for hundreds of thousands more people unable to work, the study said. The number of people living with diabetes in the UK now tops 5 million. The Guardian revealed in December how a report – commissioned by the government – had warned that vulnerable children were being put at risk of serious health conditions because ministers had shelved anti-obesity policies until 2025. The independent report said ultra-processed foods (UPF) and products high in fat, sugar and salt had become ‘’normalised’’ in children’s diets, with poorer parents powerless to stop it. The government insists it is tackling child obesity. But ministers have postponed measures including a 9pm junk food advertising watershed and bans on online ads and unhealthy buy-one-get-one-free deals until October 2025. A spokesperson for NHS England said ‘’The NHS has invested significantly in services to help people prevent, manage and in some cases, reverse type 2 diabetes, including specific support for people under the age of 40 – but it is clear that reversing this trend requires concerted action.’’ Marshall called on ministers to ‘’put the building blocks of health in place for every child and young person, including access to green space, affordable, healthy food and quality housing’’. She said the report was ‘’a damning indictment’’ of the barriers that many people face to living a healthy life, where good food is affordable, and exercise isn’t a luxury. ‘’There is a generational opportunity to stop this crisis in its tracks and we are calling on all political parties to seize it, she added. The health minister Andrew Stephenson insisted the government was committed to tackling the causes and effects of type 2 diabetes. ‘’We’ve invested more than £200 million into diabetes research to accelerate the development of new treatments and improve care since 2019,’’ he said.

Having an epidural during labour can reduce the risk of serious childbirth complications by 35%, according to research that suggests expanding access to the treatment may improve maternal health. An epidural is an injection in the back to stop someone feeling pain in part of their body. Making them more widely available and providing more information to those who would benefit from one is even more important than previously thought, researchers said. The study by the University of Glasgow and University of Bristol involved 567,216 women who were in labour in Scottish NHS hospitals from 2007 and 2019, and went on to give birth vaginally or by an unplanned caesarean section. Of the total, 125,024 of the women had an epidural. Researchers analysed the rate of serious complications, including heart attacks, eclampsia, and hysterectomies during childbirth. Having an epidural cut the risk of these events by 35%, the study found. The findings were published yesterday (Wednesday) in the British Medical Journal. Epidurals were also more effective in women who went into labour prematurely, or who had previous medical or obstetric conditions. Researchers said their findings suggest ‘’expanding access to epidural analgesia for all women during labour, and particularly for those at greater risk, could improve maternal health’’.The lead author of the study, Prof Rachel Kearns of the University of Glasgow, said: ‘’This finding underscores the need to ensure access to epidurals, particularly for those who are most vulnerable – women facing higher medical risks or delivering prematurely. By broadening access and improving awareness, we can significantly reduce the risk of serious health outcomes and ensure safer childbirth experiences.’’ Instances of severe complications during childbirth almost doubled between 2009 and 2018 in the UK, according to researchers. They said this reflected the trend of people waiting until they were older to have babies or being obese. Prof Deborah Lawlor, of the University of Bristol, said: ‘’That women and their partners have control over their treatment during pregnancy, including the use of an epidural during labour, is important. It is also important that women who would benefit from an epidural to prevent them becoming seriously ill are provided with easy to understand information to help them make an informed decision.’’ The study was funded by NHS Research Scotland, the Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation. The findings suggest that epidural analgesia may be a viable protective option for at-risk pregnancies and decision makers should consider this new benefit to improve maternal health outcomes, experts said in a linked editorial. They point to the importance of understanding the mechanisms behind this protective effect and recognising inequalities in uptake, with much lower rates in, for example, minority-ethnic groups and socioeconomically deprived communities. These findings ‘’might serve as a catalyst for initiatives aimed at improving equitable access to epidural analgesia during labour, potentially mitigating (morbidity) and improving maternal health outcomes across diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds’’, they said.

Fish oil supplements may raise the risk of developing a heart condition or stroke, but could reduce the risk for those who already have cardiovascular disease, according to research. Fish oil is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. The NHS advises at least one portion of oily fish a week to help prevent cardiovascular disease. To find out how much protection the oil affords, researchers in China, the US, UK and Denmark monitored the health of more than 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank for an average of 12 years to judge the association between fish oil supplements and new cases of atrial fibrillation, heart attack, stroke, and heart failure, and death in those with no known cardiovascular disease. They also assessed if the supplements affected the progression of heart conditions. Published in the journal BMJ Medicine, the study found that for those with no known cardiovascular disease regular use of fish oil supplements were linked to a 13% heightened risk of developing atrial fibrillation and a 5% heightened risk of stroke. But for heart disease patients fish oil supplements were associated with a 15% lower risk of progressing from atrial fibrillation to a heart attack, and a 9% lower risk of going from heart failure to death. The risk of healthy people having a heart attack, stroke or heart failure was 6% higher in women and 6% higher in non-smokers. There was a greater benefit for older people and men with existing heart conditions, where the risk of transition from good health to death was 11% and 7% lower, respectively. Tracy Parker, a dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘’Supplements such as omega-3 fatty acids are no substitute for a healthy diet and it’s important to look at your diet as a whole to help lower your risk.’’

Jersey is to move ahead with allowing assisted dying for people with a terminal illness after a vote in its parliament yesterday (Wednesday). Legislation is expected to come before the States Assembly by the end of 2025, with an assisted dying service for Jersey residents in place by mid-2027. The Isle of Man is also expected to legalise assisted dying in the next 18 months. In the Scottish Parliament, a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults could have its first vote later this year .At Westminster, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have promised to allow time for a back-bench bill in the next parliament. Jersey legislators voted roughly two to one in favour of a service for adults with a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease. They rejected a proposal to allow assisted dying to people with an incurable physical condition that may not be terminal but is causing unbearable suffering. Sarah Wootton, the chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: ‘’Today’s vote is a victory for compassion.’’

The Times

An increase in nightmares or daytime hallucinations could be an indicator of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, scientists have said. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and King’s College London found that disrupted sleep, nightmares and hallucinations also preceded a ‘’flare-up’’ of lupus – where symptoms got worse – in the majority of the patients they surveyed. Three in five lupus patients surveyed reported disrupted dream sleep many years before the onset of other lupus symptoms. Just under 25% of patients reported having hallucinations during the day, which for 85% did not occur until other symptoms had also started. Lupus is an autoimmune condition affecting up to 50,000 people in the UK. The disease occurs when the body’s immune system attacks itself, causing a diverse range of possible symptoms. There is no cure for the condition, but it can be treated with anti-inflammatory medicine and steroids. The researchers said that these findings could allow patients to recognise lupus flares earlier, allowing them to seek treatment early. This ‘’early warning system’’ could also help clinicians improve care, the researchers said, adding that earlier treatment could even help reduce waiting times in lupus clinics. In the study, published today (Tuesday) in eClinicalMedicine, researchers surveyed 676 people living with lupus and 400 clinicians. Dr Melanie Sloan, from Cambridge University’s department of public health and primary care, the lead author of the study, said: ‘’It’s important that clinicians talk to their patients about these types of symptoms and spend time writing down each patient’s individual progression of symptoms. Patients often know which symptoms are a bad sign that their disease is about to flare, but both patients and doctors can be reluctant to discuss mental health and neurological symptoms – particularly if they don’t realise that these can be a part of autoimmune diseases.’’ The researchers also conducted detailed interviews with 69 people with various autoimmune conditions and 50 clinicians. The dreams reported were often distressing and involved being attacked, trapped, crushed or falling. Professor David D’Cruz from King’s College London, a senior author on the study, said: ‘’For many years, I have discussed nightmares with my lupus patients and thought that there was a link with their disease activity. This research provides evidence of this, and we are strongly encouraging more doctors to ask about nightmares and other neuropsychiatric symptoms – thought to be unusual, but actually very common in systemic autoimmunity – to help us detect disease flares earlier.’’ The research, funded by The Lupus Trust, is part of the Inspire project (investigating neuropsychiatric symptom prevalence and impact in rheumatology patient experiences.)

British children are among the least active in the world as day-to-day exercise ‘’largely disappears from young people’s lives’’, a report has found. The study, published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and covering 44 countries, showed that England, Wales and Scotland performed poorly on markers such as day-to-day exercise. It also revealed that middle-class children in the UK were significantly more likely to eat well and exercise than those from poorer backgrounds. The survey looked at the lives of children aged 11, 13 and 15 living in Europe, central Asia and Canada, including more than 4,000 in England. By age 15, just 11 per cent of girls and 16% of boys in England did the recommended 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, which can include things such as brisk walking, cycling or rollerblading. The figures put England and Wales near the bottom of the global table and below Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Norway and Croatia. Dr Jo Inchley of the University of Glasgow, international co-ordinator for the study, called Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, said: ‘’In the UK, we’re consistently low on physical activity. We do relatively high levels of young people involved in what we call vigorous activities, that might be sort of organised sports. But we’ve got big gender differences and big socioeconomic differences. At age 15, we’ve got two thirds of boys in the UK, roughly who are taking part in vigorous physical activity four or more times a week, but only a third of girls. On more day-to-day moderate to vigorous physical activity, where the heart is beating a little bit faster but it’s not high-impact exercise, that’s largely disappearing from young people’s lives. Previously, when young people would have spent a lot of time outdoors … that (figure) would have been a lot higher. Now we’re really seeing that coming down very low. I think that’s quite worrying, because that can have a big impact on young people’s health and wellbeing.’’ The study also found that 27% of 11-year-old girls and 24% of 11-year-old boys in England thought that they were too fat. By age 15, those proportions had increased to 43% of girls and 29% of boys. When it comes to eating breakfast before school, which experts say is a healthy eating habit for children, only 37% of 13-year-old girls and 59% of boys in England ate breakfast on weekdays. This was below the global average. Girls in England, Wales and Scotland were less likely to eat breakfast than the average for all countries in the study. Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said: ‘’Regular physical activity, healthy eating habits and maintaining a healthy weight are essential elements of a healthy lifestyle. The report’s findings signal a need for targeted interventions to enable adolescents to adopt healthier behaviours and avoid habits that affect not only their current health and well-being, but also their future trajectories as adults.’’

The risk of severe depression may be increased by fragments of DNA that infiltrated our genetic code thousands of years ago when viruses infected our ancestors, a study has found. The research, which also found links between ancient viruses and susceptibility to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, may pave the way for new treatments. About 8% of the human genome – our genetic code – is not, in a sense, human at all but is formed from what are known as human endogenous retroviruses, or ‘’hervs’’. These sequences of DNA originally came from viruses that circulated among our ancestors. After infection, the viral sequences inserted themselves into the human genome, where they have remained ever since. These ‘fossil viruses’’ were once dismissed as dormant ‘’junk DNA’’. However, a new study from researchers at King’s College London, published in Nature Communications, has shown more than 4,000 hervs are active in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain responsible for personality and mood. The study also linked a number of hervs with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders, although they are thought to have only a minor influence on the chances of somebody developing one of these conditions. The new study analysed data from genetic studies involving tens of thousands of people.

Hundreds of NHS patients have been prescribed fruit and vegetables by GPs in a pioneering scheme that has been found to help them lose weight and lower blood pressure. The initiative, which was piloted in the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Lambeth, provides patients who have long-term illnesses and are living in poverty with weekly £8 vouchers to buy fruit and vegetables. Results published yesterday (Wednesday) showed that after eight months, nine in ten saw improvements in their physical health, and the number of GP visits among the group nearly halved. Eight in ten ate their ‘’five a day’’ when receiving the prescriptions, compared with fewer than three in ten at the beginning of the programme, which was led by the Alexandra Rose Charity. Campaigners are now calling for the government to roll out fruit and vegetable prescriptions across the NHS for households on low incomes, as a way to tackle obesity and prevent chronic diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Henry Dimbleby, a former government adviser who led the National Food Strategy, said ministers should ‘’look at the impressive results from these pilots and explore how these can be replicated and scaled’’. He added: ‘’Food-related ill health costs the UK £98 billion per year in costs to the health service and to the economy. All of this is inflicted disproportionately on those living in poverty. By taking this one simple action… the government could do so much to assuage that’’. The initiative gave GPs the option of prescribing fruit and vegetables for patients from deprived backgrounds with poor diets, working with NHS social prescribers at the Bromley by Bow Centre in Tower Hamlets and the AT Beacon project in Lambeth. About 194 participants were given weekly £8 vouchers for their families, helping 672 people in total. 91% had multiple health conditions including obesity, depression and heart disease, while 85% were unemployed. The results showed that getting fruit and veg on prescription had significant benefits for health and wellbeing. It also reduced pressure on NHS services. Participants ate an extra three portions of fruit and veg each day, on average. Three quarters lost or maintained their weight and a similar proportion saw significant fall in blood pressure . Six in ten were able to reduce or come off medications, saving the NHS money. More than half said their mental health had improved.

Eating a diet high in ultra-processed food could harm brain health, according to a large trial linking the products to stroke and dementia. Middle-aged adults were more likely to report memory problems if their diet included mainly mass-produced items such as fizzy drinks, burgers and cakes. The stroke risk rose the more of these items were eaten, with the research concluding: ‘’Food processing plays an important role in overall brain health.’’ The study, published in the journal Neurology, argued that ultra-processed foods appear to be harmful because of the way they are manufactured, rather than just because they are high in calories. Researchers warned that industrially produced foods, which are high in additives, can disrupt gut bacteria and lead to inflammation in the body, which is linked to several chronic diseases. Scientists at Harvard Medical School looked at data over 11 years from more than 30,000 adults aged 45 and over, adjusted to take into account other factors that influence dementia and stroke risk. They filled out questionnaires about what they ate, and were divided into four groups, from those who ate the most processed foods to those who ate the least. By the study’s end, 1,108 participants had had a stroke and 768 had had signs of early memory loss diagnosed. The risk of memory problems was 16% higher in those who ate a large proportion of ultra-processed foods than in those who ate a largely unprocessed diet with lots of fruit and vegetables. The risk of stroke increased by 8% the more highly processed food people ate, regardless of calorie intake.

A Chinese drug manufacturer has agreed to take on facilities at a science park in Kent being vacated by Pfizer as part of the American company’s plan to cut about 500 jobs. Asymchem Laboratories will operate the former small molecule active pharmaceuticals ingredient pilot plant of Pfizer, as well as some development laboratories, as part of a lease agreement with Discovery Park, owner of the 220-acre campus in Sandwich. It comes after Pfizer announced its intention in November to cut about 500 jobs at the park, more than half of its remaining workforce there. It is part of a wider global $3.5 billion cost-cutting programme by the Big Pharma group, which plans to consolidate work carried out at sites in Connecticut in the United States and in Chennai, India. The announcement by Pfizer, one of the region’s largest and most important private sector employers, provoked ‘’shock and anger’’ locally. The 69-year-old site was established shortly after the Second World War to make antibiotics. Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, was the guest of honour when the first batch of antibiotics was produced in 1954. Its scientists went on to discover Viagra and the facility became Pfizer’s largest in Europe.