'Magic mushrooms' may help 'reset' depressive brains, study claims
Conclusion
For people with depression who are not helped by conventional treatment such as antidepressants and talking therapies, studies such as this one may offer a glimmer of hope. This and previous studies on psilocybin suggest it may one day become a treatment option for people with a range of psychiatric conditions.
It's important to note that this is experimental, early-stage research. The study lacked a control group, so it's hard to know whether the improvement in mood, or the changes seen on MRI scans, can be attributed to the drug.
The study is very small and we should bear in mind that half of those taking part...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 16, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news
Pregnant women 'should avoid sleeping on back in last trimester'
Conclusion
This observational study suggests a mother's sleep position may influence their baby's activity in late pregnancy.
Most mothers sleep on their left side, but babies were found to be slightly more likely to be actively awake if women slept on their right side.
If they slept on their backs, babies were slightly more likely to be quietly asleep.
These are interesting findings, but there are a few points to note:
In all maternal sleeping positions, the foetuses were in a state of active sleep more than 80% of the time. Although there was a statistically significant difference in the amount of time babies spent qu...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 13, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Hormonal fertility tests 'waste of time and money'
Conclusion
Anxiety about getting pregnant, especially at older ages, is common, and women may feel pressured into taking so-called fertility "MOT" tests to see whether they've left it too late.
But the results of this study strongly suggest that these tests don't predict how easily or quickly a woman will be able to get pregnant.
Some women may use the tests to find out whether they can delay pregnancy, and take a result showing a high ovarian reserve to mean that they have plenty of time to get pregnant.
But the tests only give a snapshot of ovarian reserve at one point in time – they don't tell you how quickl...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Childhood obesity soars worldwide
Conclusion
This is a huge report with data from around the world. It found that, while obesity among children has clearly increased globally, the picture is variable from one country or region to another.
It's encouraging that the report found obesity levels among countries such as the UK are levelling off. However, that still leaves millions of children obese or overweight, which could put their health at risk in years to come. More needs to be done to reduce those numbers. More urgent is the situation in countries that have seen a rapid rise in childhood obesity that shows no sign of slowing.
It is also important not to ...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Source Type: news
Youngest children in school year 'more likely' to get ADHD diagnosis
Conclusion
Previous studies have provided mixed findings on whether age in the school year is linked with ADHD. This new study benefits from its use of a large quantity of data.
It found some interesting trends, and suggests younger children in any given school year are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. This finding seems plausible. You can imagine that younger children may find it harder to keep up in a class with those almost a year older than themselves and may therefore get distracted more easily.
However, it is unclear how well these trends apply to the UK population for several reasons:
In Finland the school yea...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 10, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Is schizophrenia risk 'around 80% genetic'?
Conclusion
This study explores how much of the risk of developing schizophrenia or related disorders may be explained by genetics.
It shows that schizophrenia and related disorders are quite rare – affecting about 1% of the general population.
Their observed co-diagnosis rate in both twins – about a third for identical and less than 10% for non-identical twins – was lower than has been observed in other studies. This seems to suggest that while a high proportion of an individual's susceptibility may come down to hereditary factors, environmental factors must still be play a substantial role.
This type of study makes ...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 9, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Source Type: news
Three quarters of honey samples contain pesticide traces
Conclusion
As the researchers made clear, the concentrations of neonicotinoid pesticides measured were far below the maximum level allowed in food products.
Some previous studies have suggested these levels could harm bees and other pollinators that directly harvest the nectar, but we are not small insects. There's no evidence that the level of pesticides reported in this study would pose any harm to human health.
There are two other points to note, if you are concerned:
No particular brands or varieties of honey were found to be more at risk than others: it was a global sweep of honey samples.
Before singling out hon...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 6, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news
Vitamin D may prevent asthma worsening for some
Conclusion
This review gathers the available trial evidence to address the specific question of whether giving people with asthma vitamin D supplements could have an effect on how many asthma exacerbations they have.
The review has many strengths. It only included double-blind trials, where participants and assessors didn't know if people were taking vitamin D or a placebo.
Researchers also made careful attempts to gather all relevant data and information on confounding factors, and all but one trial had a low risk of bias.
But there are some limitations to bear in mind:
With the relatively small number of trials and pa...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Source Type: news
Many new cancer drugs show 'no clear benefit', argues review
Conclusion
Most of us assume that when a drug has been approved by a regulator for use, that means it has been shown to work. This study suggests that is not necessarily the case, or that even if it works they might not make a meaningful difference.
The absence of evidence about the two outcomes that matter most to patients and their families – how long they will live, and how good their quality of life will be during that time – from half of the cancer drugs approved during a five-year period, is worrying. Patients cannot be expected to make informed decisions about which treatments to take, without good quality infor...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news
Study links vegetarian diet in pregnancy to substance abuse in offspring
Conclusion
While having too little vitamin B12 in your diet during pregnancy can affect a baby's development, it remains to be proven whether a vegetarian diet in pregnancy can cause substance abuse problems in teenage offspring.
The findings do not mean that vegetarian pregnant women need to start eating meat. It is already recommended that vegetarian and vegan mums-to-be take special care to ensure they get enough of certain nutrients that are found in meat and fish, such as vitamin B12, vitamin D and iron. The study identifies a possible link between having little or no meat consumption in pregnancy (which may have led ...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 4, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Regularly skipping breakfast linked to hardening of the arteries
Conclusion
This study found a link between skipping breakfast and fatty tissue build-up in the arteries – an early sign of heart disease.
However, because it assessed people's diets and artery health at the same point in time, and fatty deposits build up gradually in arteries, we can't say their breakfast habits directly influenced their artery health. Also, as breakfast habits were only assessed over 15 days, we can't be sure they were representative of lifelong patterns.
It looks like people who skip breakfast tend to have other unhealthy habits, such as smoking and eating more. While the researchers did try to account...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 3, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news
People with type 2 diabetes should 'save carbs for last'
Conclusion
This crossover trial investigated the optimal time to eat carbohydrates during a meal to lower blood glucose levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes. It generally found that consuming carbohydrates last was better at lowering glucose levels and reducing insulin secretion when compared to having carbohydrates first or all nutrients together.
The researchers say that suggesting people with type 2 diabetes follow this advice may be an effective behavioural strategy to improve glucose levels after meals.
Although the findings are interesting, there are a few points to note:
Most importantly, this study was very s...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 2, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Source Type: news
Bedbugs thought to 'hitchhike' on dirty holiday laundry
Conclusion
This experimental study suggests a likely way that bedbugs get into luggage and travel long distances to spread between countries.
It found that bed bugs are more attracted to dirty laundry than clean laundry, highlighting that it is probably human body odour – regardless of whether a human is present or not – that is the magnet for bed bugs.
The researchers suggest that worn clothing left out in the open – even just in an open suitcase – is likely to attract any bedbugs that may be present in a hotel room or hostel, and be transported back home by holidaymakers.
But don't worry: a laundry bag in the ave...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 29, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news
Has measles really been 'eliminated' in the UK?
"Measles eliminated in the UK for the first time," reports The Telegraph.
This and other stories in the media are based on a new World Health Organization (WHO) report confirming the UK is now one of 33 countries in Europe to have "eliminated" measles.
"Elimination" is the official term used once a country has reduced the number of cases of a disease to a low enough level to stop it spreading through the general population for at least three years.
It doesn't mean that measles has been wiped out or eradicated in the UK. In 2016 there were more than 500 cases in England and Wales. However, the ...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
