# Health news 9th March 2011



## Northerner (Mar 9, 2011)

*Mothers' diet linked to diabetes*
Poor diet during pregnancy can increase children's chances of being vulnerable to the effects of the ageing process, according to new research. Scientists at Cambridge University say their study on rats is an important insight into why offspring whose mothers had a poor diet when they were pregnant are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

http://www.webmd.boots.com/diabetes/news/20110308/mothers-diet-linked-to-diabetes

*Plans to target sale of tobacco products to be unveiled*
Tougher steps covering the sale and promotion of tobacco products are to be unveiled by ministers later. The Department of Health in England is expected to say that it will push ahead with a ban on the display of tobacco products in shops in the coming years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12680815

*Health concerns over recycled packaging*

Leading food manufacturers are changing the packaging they use for products such as breakfast cereal, after researchers raised concern about possible health risks from recycled cardboard, it was reported today. Researchers in Switzerland found that mineral oils in printing ink from recycled newspapers used in cardboard can get into foods such as cereal, pasta and rice - even passing through protective inner plastic bags. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...concerns-over-recycled-packaging-2235468.html

*Welfare bill 'penalises cancer patients'*

The coalition's radical plans to reform the benefits system has come under attack from an unprecedented alliance of 30 cancer charities, who warn that the welfare reform bill will leave tens of thousands of people with cancer worse off and risks "pushing some into poverty". The charities have written to Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, urging him to rethink plans in the bill that will mean a "significant number of people with cancer will be left without vital financial support at a time when they need it the most". The bill is due to receive its second reading in the Commons on Wednesday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/mar/09/welfare-bill-cancer-patients

*Hospitals cutting operations, while waiting times rise*

A survey of more than 60 hospital trusts has found that they carried out almost 11,000 fewer planned or 'elective' operations in 2010 than they did in 2009. The trusts that replied carried out 1,227 fewer knee replacements, a drop of six per cent, and 531 fewer hip replacements. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...ting-operations-while-waiting-times-rise.html

*Cuts put best hospitals and thousands of jobs at risk, say health trusts*

Some of England's best-performing hospitals could close and "many thousands of jobs" may go as the NHS struggles with "unprecedented" cuts, health trust leaders have warned. The Foundation Trust Network, which represents the 136 top hospital groups, has warned in a letter to the deputy chief executive of the NHS that, despite claims that hospitals should expect to make savings of 4% next year, in reality many have been forced to squeeze budgets by an average of 6.3%. This represents ?644m this year alone. At such a level, a big teaching hospital such as Sheffield would need to make ?50m cuts next year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/09/cuts-best-hospitals-jobs-risk

*Ovarian cancer survival rate has doubled to 41%*
Women suffering ovarian cancer were given a boost yesterday after figures showed survival rates have doubled over the last 30 years. Cancer Research UK said that 41 per cent of women with ovarian cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis, compared with only 21 per cent in the early 1970s.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/233416/Ovarian-cancer-survival-rate-has-doubled-to-41-


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