Your weekly health news snapshot
NEWS:
Teasing linked to eating disorder: Children who are teased about their weight may try to shed pounds in any number of unhealthy ways, a study published yesterday shows. The study, which followed a group of US middle school and high school students for five years, found that those who'd been teased about their weight were more likely to try fasting, skipping meals, vomiting, or using diet pills or laxatives.
They were also at greater risk of binge eating - a problem that is linked to depression, which may explain its connection to teasing in this study, the researchers speculate. The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Cancer case: A woman with early stage breast cancer went to the High Court in Britain yesterday, in an attempt to force her local health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug, Herceptin.
Ann Marie Rogers (54) was refused the drug after Swindon Primary Care Trust said it would not fund the £20,000-a-year treatment.
Her counsel, Ian Wise, told the court the refusal had left Rogers feeling she had been given a "death sentence". Her challenge is the first over Herceptin treatment to reach the High Court and could set a precedent for patients seeking access to the drug and other expensive treatments not normally available on the NHS. The case will resonate with governments worldwide who increasingly have to weigh up the benefits of modern medicines against their price.
QUOTE:
"Obviously this goes straight on the hips and is not for regular use," celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, commenting on his recipe for Snickers pie which has been designated as one of the unhealthiest ever published, by an independent food watchdog.
A single slice of the rich dessert contains more than 1,250 calories, according to the Food Commission's calculations. Each serving contains the equivalent of 22 teaspoons of fat and 11 teaspoons of sugar, the Food Commission said.