Post Archive by Month

Even though some people find it draconian, I’m all in favour of government preventive health measures, be it fluoride in drinking water to prevent tooth decay or folic acid added to flour to prevent birth defects in babies. With regard … Read More

Using deep brain stimulation to treat epilepsy is the subject of much discussion. Rightly so. It sounds scary, doesn’t it? Well, 13-year-old Oran Knowlson, from Somerset, has made history as the first patient in the world to have this delicate procedure. Three … Read More

One of the exciting ways ­diseases can be studied is to create “mini” organs in the lab, instead of having to ­experiment on a person. The latest lab-grown mini-guts have been helping us ­understand complex ­conditions such as Crohn’s disease … Read More

When I first qualified, we were saying periods were arriving early and we’ve continued to say that over several generations. But now Harvard University in the US is telling us, in more detail, how it’s changing puberty. Researchers point out that the average … Read More

When I first qualified, we were saying periods were arriving early and we’ve continued to say that over several generations. But now Harvard University in the US is telling us, in more detail, how it’s changing puberty. Researchers point out that the average … Read More

Up to 1,000 children in the UK are living with a potentially fatal hereditary heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes thickening of the heart muscle. There’s currently no cure and, although rare, it can cause sudden death in children and young … Read More

Living with inflammatory bowel disease isn’t easy. It’s ­unpredictable, with attacks of ­inflammation striking out of the blue, bringing severe pain and ­traumatic toilet visits. It can be a ­condition that never leaves – ­grumbling on day by day with … Read More

The leading cause of vision loss among older adults is age-related macular ­degeneration. Affecting the central vision of the eye, around ­200 million people worldwide suffer from it and this number is expected to rise to 288 million by 2040 … Read More

Problems ­controlling emotions – which can be expressed as ­depression, anxiety and ­explosive outbursts – may be a core symptom of attention deficit ­hyperactivity disorder, Cambridge ­scientists have shown. The team found as many as half of all children with … Read More

Recently I wrote that I felt personalised nutrition is better for health than general diet advice and I said I’d return to it. PN is the brainchild of Professor Tim Spector and he has set up the ZOE foundation which runs the largest PN … Read More