“Abnormal cells not a sure sign of baby defects,” reports The Telegraph following the publication of a study on the development of healthy embryos. Embryos containing cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes can still develop into healthy babies, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge. Embryo cells with too many or too few chromosomes can give rise to Read More

“The anti-diabetic drug pioglitazone raises the risk of bladder cancer by 63 per cent,” The Daily Telegraph reports. While the actual increased risk in real-world terms is small, the results may help to inform prescription decisions for both doctors and patients. Pioglitazone is a drug that helps people with type 2 diabetes by making their cells more sensitive to insulin. Some Read More

“Women who take HRT drugs soon after going through menopause are ‘less likely to suffer heart disease’,” the Daily Mail reports. A new study found that early adopters ofhormone replacement therapy (HRT) might slow their progression towardatherosclerosis (hardening and thickening of the arteries) which can increase the risk ofheart disease, heart attacks or strokes. However, the study in question did not follow Read More

“One-fifth of adults worldwide will be obese by 2025,” The Guardian reports, while The Sun warns that the “UK’s population to be fattest in Europe” by the same date. These are just some of the conclusions of a major modelling study of global obesity trends. The study used data covering 19.2 million adults in 186 countries, which was then used to Read More

“Man flu really does exist,” reports the Mail Online in a massive leap from the results of a small study that didn’t look at flu at all. The study actually looked at why women are more likely to have autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Autoimmune conditions are when the immune system wrongly starts attacking healthy tissue. So, despite the suggestive headline, the Read More

“Meditation could ease the agony of back pain, a study suggests,” the Daily Mirror reports. A US study compared a technique called mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) with usual care and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for long-term non-specific lower back pain. The term “non-specific” refers to when there are no obvious causes, such as a slipped disc. MBSR is based on yoga Read More

“Fruit juices and smoothies contain ‘unacceptably high’ levels of sugar,” reports The Guardian. That was the stark conclusion of a new study looking at the sugar content of fruit juices and smoothies marketed at kids in the UK. Of the 203 kids’ drinks the researchers checked from major supermarket shelves, most (117, 58%) would receive a Food Standards Agency red colour-coded Read More

“A new blood test can detect a concussion up to a week after a head injury,” the Daily Mail reports. The test involved checking for biomarkers, which are substances created by a specific biological condition or state. In this case researchers looked at two biomarkers – proteins called glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1). These Read More

No matter where you are in the world, I’d bet good money that any parent you meet would tell you the same thing: Raising their child is the most important job they’ll ever have. Bringing a human being into the world and guiding him or her safely into adulthood is both an awesome privilege and a weighty responsibility – and Read More

If you had a nickel for every time you went on a diet … Or, scratch that, if you actually lost a pound every time you went on a diet, well, you’d have no reason to diet! Unfortunately, for a lot of people, diets tend to cause more frustration than actual weight loss. And the reasons are way simpler than Read More