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** 29 July 2020
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** UK
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** The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s obesity strategy: too slimmed-down (#1)
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** David Hockney criticises Boris Johnson over health plans (#2)
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** International
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** Study: Women smokers four times as likely to have unruptured brain aneurysm (#3)
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** US: Study seeks to explain the decline in hip fracture rates (#4)
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** UK
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** The Guardian Editorial publishes its opinion on Boris Johnson’s obesity strategy and the need for a far more comprehensive approach, including recognising the role of inequality.
The obesity strategy unveiled by the prime minister deserves a qualified welcome. The measures to be introduced are overdue in a country that has the most prominent weight problem in Europe; almost two-thirds of adults in England are overweight. The government’s measures will involve the use of calorie information to promote healthier choices, and the banning of shops’ two-for-one offers on unhealthy foods. The government has decided to take a step further by including a public health advertising campaign.
Boris Johnson has confirmed a tv and online ban on junk food adverts before 21:00 for the whole UK, which is another important step in tackling child obesity. However, as presented, the government’s obesity strategy still places the burden of responsibility overwhelmingly on individual decision-making. Choices are not freely made, limited by factors such as income and an increase in sedentary jobs especially in more deprived communities where obesity rates are highest.
Much more must be done, at both national and local level, to address these structural and social drivers of obesity, and poor health in general. The decision not to extend the successful levy on sugary drinks is a mistake. A more extensive range of taxes could be balanced by new subsidies on healthier foods to make a better diet more accessible to more impoverished families. The government should consider extending powers and funds to local authorities, allowing them better to control the spread of fast food outlets and subsidise leisure activities.
In conclusion, a more rounded and comprehensive strategy would not only be more effective; because it would go to the social core of the problem, it is also likely to be very popular.
Source: The Guardian, 27 July 2020
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** The Prime Minister is attempting to curb obesity levels, with an end to confectionery displays at store checkouts and a ban on adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt on TV before 9 pm. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that if everyone who is overweight loses five pounds, it could save the NHS more than £100 million over the next five years.
However, British painter David Hockney, 83, has written a letter to The Daily Telegraph criticising the government’s strategy. Hockey said: “If no-one smokes, eats chocolate or butter, cheese and bacon, they might live to be 104. Call that living?”
Earlier this year, the artist was criticised for suggesting that smoking helps protect people from COVID-19. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said: “David Hockney is a very heavy smoker... but this is risky advice for others to take. Quitting smoking has immediate benefits. If you quit, endothelial function in the linings of small arteries in the blood system improves rapidly.”
Source: Telegraph and Argus, 28 July 2020
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See also: Today is the day ([link removed] )
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** International
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** Findings from new research suggest women smokers are four times as likely as their non-smoking peers to have an unruptured aneurysm—a weakened bulging artery—in the brain. The risk increases, seven times as high, if they also have high blood pressure.
The researchers studied 545 women aged 30 to 60 undergoing brain scans at five large teaching and research hospitals in the USA and Canada between 2016 and 2018. The most common prompt for a brain scan was a persistent headache, a symptom in nearly two-thirds of those with brain aneurysms (62.5%) and in almost half of those without (44%). Most of the aneurysms were in the carotid artery, and on average, they measured 2-5 mm in diameter.
High blood pressure was more common among the women with abnormal brain scans (46% vs 31%) as was current or previous smoking (57.5% vs 37%). Women with brain aneurysms also tended to be heavier smokers than those with normal brain scans, averaging 20 cigarettes a day compared with 12, and they had smoked for longer: 29 years vs 20 years, on average.
The researchers concluded their findings by suggesting “Consideration should be given to screening for (unruptured brain aneurysms) in women aged between 30 and 60 years who smoke cigarettes.”
Source: Medical Xpress, 27 July 2020
See also: BMJ – Cigarette smoking and risk of intracranial aneurysms in middle-aged women ([link removed] )
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** Researchers who analysed data from the multigenerational Framingham Osteoporosis Study have concluded that declines in smoking and excessive alcohol consumption may in part explain why the incidence of hip fracture in the US has declined over the last decades.
The study researchers looked at decades of hip fracture data, which allowed statistical differentiation of changes in the incidence of hip fractures arising from the year of birth, ageing, and the time in which the data was collected. The researchers examined reasons for the decline in fractures beyond treatments for osteoporosis. They found that a reduction in smoking and excessive alcohol consumption explained some of the declines in rates, emphasising that ongoing public health policies help to prevent fractures.
Dr Kiel, a lead author of the research, said: “While there is still a need to treat patients with osteoporosis, health care providers should continue to encourage public health interventions, specifically smoking cessation and preventing heavy drinking of alcohol.”
Source: ScienMag, 27 July 2020
See also: JAMA - Incidence of Hip Fracture Over 4 Decades in the Framingham Heart Study ([link removed] )
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