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Behind the Headlines 2014 Quiz of the Year
In 2014, Behind the Headlines covered more than 500 health stories that made it into the mainstream media. Test your knowledge of 2014's health news with our month-by-month quiz. If you've been paying attention, you should find this quiz both easy and fun. Answers are at the foot of the page (no peeking!).   In January 2014's health news... What was said to help make bones stronger? 1) Swimming 2) Marriage 3) Listening to classical music Warnings were issued about the possible return of what? 1) Swine flu 2) The Black Death 3) Smallpox   In February 2014's health news... What activity was said to lower your ...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 29, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Special reports Medical practice Source Type: news

Can HRT in early menopause cut heart disease risk?
ConclusionThis double-blind RCT found that women taking HRT less than six years after the menopause had slower artery wall thickening than those taking a placebo. This represented the main measure of atherosclerosis progression tested; other measures showed no difference, so the results were not as conclusive as they could have been. Women taking HRT 10 or more years after menopause also showed no difference in atherosclerosis progression compared with a placebo, further complicating the picture.An important limitation of this study is the lack of a patient relevant endpoint, such as cardiovascular events or mortality. Pre...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

Behind the Headlines 2016 Quiz of the Year
In 2014, Behind the Headlines has covered more than 500 health stories that made it into the mainstream media. If you've been paying attention you should find this quiz easy and fun. Why not test your knowledge of 2014's health news with our month-by-month quiz? Answers are at the foot of the page (no peeking!).   In January 2016's health news... In a controversial study, monkeys were genetically engineered to develop what disorder? 1) Sex addiction 2) Bi-polar disorder 3) Autism In a similarly controversial study, what psychological condition was dismissed as a "myth" 1) Seasonal affective disorder...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 5, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Special reports Source Type: news

Does coffee make you live longer?
Conclusion This study, conducted on a large number of people across Europe, was backed up by similar findings in the US. It appears to show some association between people who drink higher amounts of coffee and a reduced risk of death. But the "potentially beneficial clinical implications" need to be considered carefully for a number of reasons: Although the analyses were adjusted for some confounding variables, there may be a number of other factors that differ between the groups that account for the differences in death, such as socioeconomic status, family history, other medical conditions, and use of medic...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

Exercise may cut breast cancer risk, study finds
ConclusionThis large study has shown that increased exercise is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer for postmenopausal women. Strengths of the study include the large number of women and that self-reports of breast cancer were verified by a pathology report in 94% of cases.However, as the authors point out, a limitation of this study is that it was conducted on a group of teachers who were mainly of a healthy weight. This means the results may not be applicable to women of a different weight with different occupations, including more or less sedentary jobs.The study also relied on self-reported exercise levels,...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 11, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Being happy 'won't help you live longer' survey finds
ConclusionThis large prospective study aimed to assess whether happiness or related measures of wellbeing are associated with risk of death, after allowing for the influence of the poor health and lifestyles of people who are unhappy.The study found poor health was linked with unhappiness in middle-aged women. However, after allowing for this association and adjusting for the influence of other factors that may be associated, such as smoking and poor socioeconomic status, happiness and related measures of wellbeing do not appear to have any direct effect on death. This suggests that, as has sometimes previously been specu...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news

Some types of vegetarian diet can raise heart disease risk
Conclusion This large pooled cohort study seems to demonstrate an association between a healthy plant-based diet and reduced risk of coronary heart disease, and an increased risk of heart disease with an unhealthy plant-based diet. This adds to the evidence base supporting the possible benefits of healthy plant-based diets in protecting against certain illnesses. However there are some limitations to the research: The cohort included only health professionals from the US so might not be representative of wider populations in the UK or elsewhere. The study can't provide information on the benefits or otherwise of this d...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 18, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

Drugs to be offered to women at high risk of breast cancer
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today released updated guidelines on the care of women who are at increased risk of breast cancer due to their family history. One of the main changes to the original guidance from 2004 is that NICE now recommends drug treatment with tamoxifen or raloxifene to reduce risk of breast cancer in a specific group of women who are at high risk of breast cancer and have not had the disease. They say that these treatments could help prevent breast cancer in about 488,000 women aged 35 years and older. The updated guideline has also made changes to the recommende...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 25, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medical practice QA articles Source Type: news

NICE: 'schools should provide morning-after pill'
Conclusion Everyone makes mistakes, but if you find yourself relying on the morning-after pill as a regular method of contraception, you may want to speak to a healthcare professional about what would be the most suitable form of ongoing contraception for you to use. This could include methods that do not involve needing to take a daily pill, such as contraceptive patches, injections or an implant. However, none of these methods will protect you against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Condoms are cheap, free of side effects and they will protect you against STIs such as chlamydia. For more information about your ...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 26, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Pregnancy/child Source Type: news

Could curry spice boost brain cell repair?
ConclusionThis laboratory and animal research has found that an extract from turmeric (aromatic turmerone) seems to increase the growth and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs). However, this research is in the very early stages. So far, the extract has only been added to brain stem cells in the laboratory, or directly injected into the brains of only three rats. Though NSCs have some ability to regenerate brain cells after damage, this is usually not enough to have an effect in degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The hope is that by boosting the number of NSCs, they could be more effective at repairi...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 26, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Neurology Source Type: news

HRT increases ovarian cancer risk by small amount
Conclusion This systematic review and meta-analysis showed that ovarian cancer risk was significantly increased in current HRT users, even in those with less than five years of HRT use (the average was three years). In ex-users, risks decreased the longer ago HRT use had stopped, but risks during the first few years after stopping remained significant. Furthermore, about a decade after stopping, long-duration hormone therapy use (average nine years of HRT use), there still seemed to be a small excess risk. The review has a few limitations, however. The main one is that the review was heavily influenced by just two of t...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 13, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medication Older people Source Type: news

Young women with high-fibre diet may have lower breast cancer risk
ConclusionThis large and long-term cohort study showed that women with the top fifth highest average fibre intake during adolescence and early adulthood were around 25% less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer decades later than those in the bottom fifth.This raises the suggestion that young women might be able to significantly lower their risk of breast cancer – the most common cancer in the UK – simply through eating more high-fibre foods such as fruits and vegetables.However, it’s worth noting a few points before accepting these promising results at face value. Total dietary fibre intake in adolescen...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Food/diet Source Type: news

Exercise 'most proven method' to prevent return of breast cancer
Conclusion This was a helpful summary of recent research into how lifestyle changes impact on the risk of breast cancer returning, but it does have some limitations. Researching lifestyle factors separately is always difficult as they tend to clump together, making it difficult to pick apart individual factors. For example, people who are more physically active tend to have a healthier diet and are less likely to drink excessive amounts of alcohol or smoke. While the researchers say many studies attempt to make adjustments for these confounding factors, it is difficult to know which studies did this and how successful they...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 22, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer QA articles Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news