One in every 30 people in the UK is now classed as morbidly obese, and the NHS budget is starting to feel the strain. Obese people cost the NHS billions every year in surgical procedures (hip replacements and knee replacements), as well as expensive medication for weight related conditions such as diabetes and cancer. If read more »

According to figures from the charity Cancer Research, 157,000 11 to 15 year olds are taking up smoking every year – that is enough children to fill over five thousand classrooms. Cancer Research have said that these figures further highlight the current scale of the UK’s tobacco problem, and drive home the importance of taking read more »

How do you cope with unemployment?  The BBC recently met with a young man named Ben Gillet to discuss how he deals with his unemployment, and how he lives every day in a constant state of pessimism. 25-year-old Ben Gillet of Wootton Bassett hasn’t held down a job for four years. He tells BBC reporter read more »

Kate Middleton certainly has the Midas touch at the moment, so after paying a visit to a dry-bar in Liverpool on Tuesday could ‘drinking the bar dry’ be a thing of the past? On Tuesday, the Duchess of Cambridge marked valentines day by paying a visit to Alder Hey Children’s hospital and an Action on read more »

15.5lb Chun Chun was born in a 20-minute long caesarean section last Saturday. The baby is currently the biggest newborn in China. The baby’s mother, Wang Yujuan, 29, said: “I clearly felt that my body was more clumsy than when I had been pregnant with my daughter. My belly was bigger than it was then.” read more »

 ‘I’ll just have a drop more’, or ‘we might as well finish that bottle’, are the famous last words of many a regular drinker – but what are the potential perils of turning that one glass into two? According to the government, drinking “just a little more than they should” could put individuals at an read more »

A new study has found that certain inherited brain abnormalities can make some people more prone to addiction than others. The study, conducted by the University of Cambridge and published in the journal ‘Science’, used scans from 50 cocaine addicts and their non-addict siblings to look for differences in brain functioning. Scientists found that abnormalities read more »

A poll carried out on behalf of the Co-operative Pharmacy has revealed a climb in the number of smokers who attempt to hide their habit from loved ones. The poll of 2,000 individuals conducted by One Poll has found that since the public smoking ban was introduced, 57 per cent of smoking respondents admitted to read more »