The charity Alcohol Concern has issued a stark warning about the number of children drinking at dangerous levels.
It has published a report estimating the cost of hospital treatment for underage drinkers in England to be about £19m a year.
And the number of under-18s ending up in hospital after drinking too much is rising, the charity has warned. Read the rest of this entry »
More than one billion people in the world are now undernourished, according to latest figures.
The 2010 Global Hunger Index shows that child malnutrition is the biggest cause of hunger worldwide, accounting for almost half of those affected.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were shown to have the highest levels of hunger.
The report’s authors called on nations to tackle child malnutrition in order to reduce global hunger. Read the rest of this entry »
The scourge of premenstrual tension, which affects more than half of women and causes physical as well as emotional trauma, could soon be eradicated by a safe, low-dose pill, scientists said yesterday.
A laboratory-based study has found that very low doses of the anti-depression drug Prozac can eliminate the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, which include mood swings, tiredness, irritability, headaches and joint pains. Read the rest of this entry »
The National Institutes of Health is launching two major research efforts, totaling $72.5 million, to examine ways to curtail the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic.
One will study long-term approaches to prevent or treat childhood obesity, and the other will examine community efforts to reduce childhood obesity rates. Read the rest of this entry »
Pharmacists could reduce “unacceptably high” medication errors in care homes by more than 90 per cent if they were given responsibility for the task, according to a pilot study.
In January the Department of Health issued an alert after a report found that people in care homes were far more likely to be given the wrong medicine than those in the community. Read the rest of this entry »
Many parents are incapable of giving their children the correct dose of liquid medicines, claim Australian researchers.
Using household spoons to measure them out could mean a potentially dangerous overdose, they say.
Children under five are at the highest risk of accidental overdose. Read the rest of this entry »
