Daily digest April 29 2015

Ministers’ shame on killer salt

Efforts to cut the amount of salt in food have been ‘derailed’ by ministers in a move which may have cost 6,000 lives, doctors claim.

A damning article by experts in the British Medical Journal accuses the government of undermining a salt reduction programme which had saved thousands of lives and they say that replacing it with the controversial ‘responsibility deal’ – which focused on health initiatives led by the food industry – was a ‘major step backwards’.

As reported in the Daily Mail, the ultimate aim of the salt targets – set by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) – was to reduce intake to 6g per day among the adult population. But despite their initial success, the coalition government formed in 2010 refused to agree on new targets for 2014 and they transferred responsibility for nutrition from the FSA to the Department of Health, which disrupted the salt reduction programme.

Read more on the Daily Mail website: click here

Bullying worse for children than ill-treatment by adults

Children who are bullied by other children are at greater risk of mental health problems in later life than those who are maltreated by adults, according to research.

The authors of the study say it is time that bullying is taken more seriously. They found children who were bullied were five times more likely to experience anxiety and twice as likely to talk of suffering depression and self-harm as those who were maltreated at home, the Guardian has reported.

Study leader Dieter Wolke, of the University of Warwick’s department of psychology, said: ‘Since one in three children worldwide report being bullied, and it is clear that bullied children have similar or worse mental health problems later in life to those who are maltreated, more needs to be done to address this imbalance.’

Read more on the Guardian website: click here

GP shortages worse than feared as vacancies stay unfilled

The number of vacancies for GPs has risen by almost 50 per cent in one year, sparking concerns that a national shortage of doctors is worse than was feared, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

New figures show that almost one in ten posts for GP partners are now unfilled, a figure which has quadrupled in just four years.

Family doctors said increasing numbers were taking early retirement or considering emigration because they felt overworked and unable to cope with the extra demand from an ageing population.

Read more on the Telegraph website: click here

How alcohol fuels the obesity crisis

Britain’s obesity epidemic is fuelled by drinkers’ ignorance of the calorie content in alcohol, it was claimed last night.

As reported in the Daily Express, a large (250ml) glass of red wine is equivalent to a slice of Victoria sponge cake at 195 calories – and a pint of lager is around the same.

Professor Fiona Sim, chair of the Royal Society of Public Health, said drinkers were ‘unwittingly’ increasing the number of ‘invisible calories’ they consumed.

Read more on the Express website: click here