Health briefing

A round-up of today's other news in brief

Quinn says siting of schools can harm diet

MANY SCHOOLCHILDREN are being deprived of proper nutrition because of the poor location of schools, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said.

Mr Quinn cited St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda, which he recently visited, as an example of a school where children did not have a proper choice where they could buy their lunch.

He told a conference organised by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland last week that the canteen for the 1,100 pupils was a garage shop and a food van that would be “otherwise engaged at gigs at Slane”.

He said this was not only bad for the pupils but also bad for Drogheda because the school’s location away from the city centre deprived many local businesses of their custom.

He urged planners to think twice about locating schools in isolated green-field sites, adding that it would be better if pupils were bussed to playing fields while retaining a town-centre location.

Mr Quinn said he and Minister for Health James Reilly had discussed ways in which both of them could tackle obesity in young people through the educational system.

Mr Quinn said he was concerned about the lack of choice faced by many children, who do not bring in their own lunches and who might otherwise find that their only choice is a chip shop or a garage.

The most recent survey of attitudes to the teaching of nutrition in Irish schools, carried out in 2008, found 97 per cent of schools made available information on a balanced diet, but only 57 per cent actively promoted healthy lunches and only 23 per cent had a health food policy.

Study links IVF drugs with Down syndrome

OVARIAN STIMULATION undertaken by women over 35 years of age receiving fertility treatment may be leading to IVF failure, pregnancy loss or, more rarely, the birth of children with conditions such as Down syndrome, according to a new study.

Researchers believe the procedure, which uses hormonal medication to prompt the ovaries to release a larger number of reproductive cells (oocytes) than normal, is disturbing a critical process of chromosome duplication called meiosis. This leads to abnormalities of chromosome copy numbers, resulting in adverse effects, they say.

Researchers will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Stockholm, Sweden, today that results of the research are leading to a new understanding about how such abnormalities are developing, and they believe the ovarian stimulation a woman receives might be playing a part.

Prof Alan Handyside, director of the London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics Centre, in London, and colleagues from eight countries have been undertaking a study of a new way of screening polar bodies, small cells that are the byproduct of oocyte development.

Prof Handyside said: “We need to look further into the incidence and pattern of meiotic errors following different stimulation regimes including mild stimulation and natural cycle IVF, where one oocyte per cycle is removed, fertilised and transferred back to the woman.

“The results of such research should enable us to identify better clinical strategies to reduce the incidence of chromosome errors in older women undergoing IVF.”

St James's run for fun in Liberties

THIS YEAR’S St James’s Hospital Liberties Fun Run takes place on Thursday, July 21st. The 6.5km race starts and finishes at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and takes in a circuit of the Liberties. The hospital’s department of physiotherapy will conduct the pre-race warm-up and provide post-race massages for all participants. Last year’s race attracted almost 700 walkers, joggers and runners. All proceeds will be dedicated to the hospital’s new heart support unit. See stjames.ie