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Heavy smoker on how NHS helped quit after cancer diagnosis
A woman from Lancashire who was smoking 30 cigarettes a day has shared how she quit her habit after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Quit Squad, a stop smoking service in Lancashire, is reminding people they are three times more likely to quit smoking with support from its service.
The reminder coincides with ‘love your lungs’ week which runs from June 21 to 27 and focuses on raising awareness of the importance of good lung health.
Kathryn Moulder recently used the Quit Squad services after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
She said: “I’ve always been a smoker, smoking on average 30 cigarettes a day but after my diagnosis I knew I wanted to stop and my family inspired me.
"When I first reached out to Quit Squad I was apprehensive and wasn’t feeling overly confident but now I am amazed and so thrilled to say I’m smoke free.
“Quit Squad guided me through the process, but self-belief is so important, tell your head you’ve stopped, use patches and a vape if needed and you’ll succeed.”
Smoking and breathing in second-hand smoke causes many lung conditions so Quit Squad advise if you smoke and have a lung condition the most effective treatment is to stop.
Source: Lancashire Telegraph, 27 June 2023
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Wales to clamp down on junk food meal deals to tackle obesity
Clampdowns on unhealthy meal deals and supermarket temporary price reductions for foods high in fat, sugar or salt are to be introduced in Wales to help tackle the obesity crisis.
With almost two-thirds of adults in Wales overweight or obese, the Labour-led government announced it would go further than England in framing laws designed to tackle the promotion of ultra-processed foods.
The Welsh deputy minister for mental health and wellbeing, Lynne Neagle, said: “Rising levels of obesity are creating the serious burden of preventable ill health in Wales. The situation is urgent and we have to act now.
Research from Public Health Wales found that three-quarters of lunchtime meal deals exceed the recommended level of calories and salt for lunch.
The least healthy lunchtime options contain two-thirds of daily calorie intake, more than 122% of daily fat intake, 149% of sugar and 112% of salt. The majority of dinnertime meal combinations exceed average energy requirements.
Last week, the UK government put off by two years its planned ban on buy one get one free junk food deals, citing the cost of living crisis. The Welsh government is planning to bring in its restrictions by 2025 and said it would press ahead even if the UK government did not.
Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2023
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Opinion: Rishi Sunak ‘will fail on NHS unless he ditches nanny state fears’
Writing in The Times, Health Correspondent Eleanor Hayward, reports on Lord Bethell’s comments to the Times Health Commission on preventative anti-obesity schemes. Lord Bethell was a health minister under Boris Johnson.
Bethell says that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to fix the NHS is “destined to fail unless he introduces tough anti-obesity measures” and urged the government to not “shy away from public health interventions”.
Bethell goes further to say that Sunak’s current approach to solving the NHS crisis of “getting an existing system to work harder” is fundamentally flawed, and taking a preventative approach to treating chronic illnesses would be better in reducing their prevalence.
With the rise in chronic diseases like diabetes, Bethell refers to this rise as a “millstone around the health system’s neck” and that the NHS should not be used as a scapegoat for the nations declining health.
Bethell says “There are millions and millions of people getting iller and iller all the time, 25 per cent of the country has a chronic disease of some kind. And there is no way that you can devise a sickness service that can possibly keep up with that growing stock of illness.”
The article goes on to discuss the rise in obesity in England, with two thirds of adults now being classed as overweight or obese, Sunak’s plan to place restrictions on junk food advertising has been pushed back to 2025.
An inquiry has been set up, The Times Health Commission, to look into the future of health and social care in England, and during a hearing on obesity this week the commission was told that “ultra-processed food should be treated like tobacco and labelled with health warnings.”
Source: The Times, 26 June 2023
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Egypt bans smoking across all health facilities
Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar permanently banned smoking in all Egyptian health facilities – those providing treatment, preventive or rehabilitative services – and any bodies affiliated to the Ministry of Health.
The move aims to preserve the health and safety of citizens from the dangers of smoking.
These laws govern the prevention of smoking harms, and includes a final ban on smoking of all kinds within various health and educational facilities, government agencies, clubs, social centers, youth centers and others.
Source: Egypt Independent, 27 June 2023
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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