Hello and welcome back to the weekly news summary blog. This blog post will cover the highlights in medical news form the 5th to the 11th of September.
This week has seen leaders of the Brexit Leave campaign withdraw their pledge to give the NHS an extra £350 million a week, the publication of new figures that show the UK is not following healthy eating advice and new research that indicates weekend lie-ins could be damaging to our health.
Brexit promises withdrawn
Leaders of the Brexit campaign that persuaded England to vote to leave the European Union have dropped their pledge to an extra £350 million a week spending for the National Health Service. The pledge for extra funding for the NHS was one of the key messages of the Vote Leave campaign.
At the time of a campaign there was controversy over the pledge from the Remain team who deemed the figure to be unrealistic. An open letter written by 30 labour MPs is calling for Leave campaigners to admit that the NHS pledge was a lie and apologise to those who voted to Leave the EU for this reason.
Unhealthy eating on the rise in the UK
New figures show that the message of healthy eating is not getting across to many people in the UK. The figures show that the number of people eating five-a-day has fallen since 2008 in all age groups. Currently, fewer than one in ten teenagers meet the recommended fruit and vegetable intake advised by Public Health England.
The study also indicated that the public are eating too much sugar, fat and processed red meat. A large concern is that children aged between four and ten are still consuming over double the recommended amount of sugar, despite the consumption of sugary drinks falling in the UK. The British Dietetic Association have suggested that the rise in food prices has made it difficult for people to meet their five-a-day especially for low-income families. Although the price of food has generally fallen between 2014 and 2015 this has not included the price of fruit which has increased during this time.
Lie-ins make you feel more tired
A research study published by Swedish researchers has shown that weekend lie-ins can make you feel more tired. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute claim that sleeping in late on a Saturday or Sunday upsets the natural rhythm of your sleep cycles and makes you feel worse.
This is thought to be because it upsets our circadian rhythm, our natural body clocks. The researchers recommend that we should get up and go to bed at the same time every day. This is especially important during the winter and autumn months as the days get shorter. Previous research published last year has linked sleeping in at the weekends to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Uploaded by Joelle on 13 September 2016
