Daily digest September 11 2015

Unhealthy eating emerges as biggest contributor to early death

Poor diets that include high quantities of red meat and a lack of fruit, wholegrains and vegetables are the main contributor to early death around the world, experts say.

The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation says that these habits are having a major effect in the UK and across the world.

Globally, high blood pressure plays a part but so do obesity, smoking, excessive salt consumption, lack of exercise and drinking too much alcohol.

Read more on the Guardian website

Older people can strengthen bones through hopping, say researchers

Hopping two minutes a day can improve bone strength and cut the risk of osteoporosis among older people.

Researchers at Loughborough University have shown that bone density improves in the hopping leg after a year.

Some participants in their study – which involved 34 men aged between 65 and 80 – exhibited a 7% increase in bone density.

Lead research Sarah Allison said: ‘We know exercise can improve bone strength and so we wanted to test a form of exercise that is both easy and quick for people to achieve in their own homes.’

Read more on the Telegraph website

Pressure to remain on social media 24/7 affects teenagers’ mental health, say researchers

Teenagers’ sleep quality and mental health is being adversely affected by excessive use of Twitter and Facebook, researchers say.

Young people face pressure to be constantly available on social media and this leads to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, it emerged.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow made these conclusions after a study of teenagers' social media use.

Lead researcher Heather Cleland Woods said: ‘Evidence is increasingly supporting a link between social media use and wellbeing, particularly during adolescence, but the causes of this are unclear.’

Read more on the Sky News website

Consultants face losing right to opt out of weekend work

The British Medical Association has said it is willing to negotiate an end to consultants’ right to opt out of weekend work.

The BMA is in talks with the government on changes to the consultants’ contracts, and weekend work is one aspect of the discussions.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt had said previously that he would impose changes to contracts for newly-appointed consultants.

Read more on the BBC News website