It is the question that has foxed dieters and scientists alike: Why do we crave sugary snacks or fat-laden junk foods and not more healthy options such as, say, an apple?
Some claim to have 'a sweet tooth', or 'a salt tooth'. And many believe cravings are the body's way of telling them what they need. But how true is that really?
Under threat: Scientists claim a major European ruling on the morality of stem cell research will have catastrophic consequences
Stem cell research could be put in jeopardy by a European ruling on the morality of its use in medicine, scientists fear.
They claim that a decision to ban the patenting of treatments based on cells derived from embryos will have catastrophic consequences for the multi-billion pound European biotech industry and the UK economy.
It will also leave patients powerless to obtain the latest treatments for conditions such as blindness, Alzheimer’s and Motor Neurone disease, they claim.
But critics of stem cell research say it is immoral to plunder an unborn baby to advance medicine– and we cannot create a‘spare parts trade’ in which one human life is sacrificed for the good of another.
The scientists’ fears centre around a test case being heard at the European Court of Justice which could result in a EU-wide ban on patenting techniques that use human embryonic stem cells as a‘repair kit’ for the body.
The cells, which are taken from embryos in the first days, are capable of turning into any of the cell types found in the body and could therefore have great potential for treating and curing disease by replacing cells and tissue.
Despite the controversial origins of the cells, the research has been invested in heavily by governments, charities and universities in recent years and the first trials on blind and paralysed patients are under way.
But the case, triggered by Greenpeace, could put all European research of this kind on ice, 13 leading scientists state in a letter published in the journal Nature.
A preliminary ruling by the court has stated that patenting the technology would be tantamount to making industrial use of human embryos, which‘would be contrary to ethics and public policy’.
The final decision is due in the next few weeks but few preliminary options are reversed and any ban on patents would be binding across the EU.
Schoolboy Harvey Hole has his fellow pupils in stitches with his ability to tell jokes while keeping a completely straight face.
But his quick wit and deadpan delivery hide a tragic secret - he is unable to smile because of a rare medical condition that only affects 200 people in the UK.
The happy and cheerful nine-year-old has battled a rare form of facial paralysis since birth, called Moebius Syndrome, which means he cannot blink, smile or frown.
New guidelines: Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women
A blood test for ovarian cancer that could save hundreds of lives a year is being introduced to GPs’ surgeries.
It is hoped that the£20 procedure, which will become available over the coming months, will detect the disease far earlier.
Around 6,800 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, of whom two-thirds will not survive beyond five years.
Britain’s survival rates for the illness are among the lowest in the Western world. It is known as the silent killer because it is notoriously difficult to spot and is often detected in its final stages when it is incurable.
There are fears GPs are missing too many cases, with many women having to wait up to six months before the cancer is spotted.
Sufferers are frequently misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. In an effort to improve survival rates, NICE, the health watchdog, is now telling GPs to use the blood test on women over 50 with symptoms similar to IBS.
The test, normally carried out only in hospitals, measures the level in the blood of the protein CA-125, which is raised in women with ovarian cancer.
If the presence of CA-125 in a patient’s blood is high, she will be referred to a hospital for an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis.
As the blood test is only 50 per cent accurate, women with negative test results will be told to return to their GP if their symptoms persist.
New guidelines: Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women
A blood test for ovarian cancer that could save hundreds of lives a year is being introduced to GPs’ surgeries.
It is hoped that the£20 procedure, which will become available over the coming months, will detect the disease far earlier.
Around 6,800 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, of whom two-thirds will not survive beyond five years.
Britain’s survival rates for the illness are among the lowest in the Western world. It is known as the silent killer because it is notoriously difficult to spot and is often detected in its final stages when it is incurable.
There are fears GPs are missing too many cases, with many women having to wait up to six months before the cancer is spotted.
Sufferers are frequently misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. In an effort to improve survival rates, NICE, the health watchdog, is now telling GPs to use the blood test on women over 50 with symptoms similar to IBS.
The test, normally carried out only in hospitals, measures the level in the blood of the protein CA-125, which is raised in women with ovarian cancer.
If the presence of CA-125 in a patient’s blood is high, she will be referred to a hospital for an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis.
As the blood test is only 50 per cent accurate, women with negative test results will be told to return to their GP if their symptoms persist.
It is one thing getting a job in these tough times– it’squite another handling the stress that comes with it. A survey carried out by an internet job finder has rankedthe most stressful and the least stressful careers. According to CareerCast, 70 per cent of all employees say thatwork is the main cause of their stress, with nearly half of those questionedattributing it to worries about job stability.
Despite endless Government promises to end the neglect of the elderly on wards, the situation has not improved in a decade, a damning report reveals.
Almost a fifth of patients felt they were not treated with dignity or respect by doctors or nurses. A further one in five said they were not given any help with their meals, and one in six had to wait more than five minutes for help after pressing their emergency call button.
These figures have not changed since 2002 when the Care Quality Commission watchdog carried out a similar survey.
A swine flu vaccine which has been given to thousands of children in Britain may cause the sleep disorder narcolepsy.
Symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness and nodding off suddenly without warning.
All packets of the vaccine Pandemrix will have to carry a warning about the risk following a ruling by the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
A woman who admits her sunbed addiction left her looking like an‘Oompa Loompa’ was left with a gaping hole in her leg after a battle with skin cancer.
Doctors were forced to gouge away part of Stacey Pickess's leg when her twice-weekly sunbed habit left her with a malignant melanoma.
The 28-year-old beautician managed to beat the cancer - but has been left with a hole the size of a golf ball in her lower leg as a constant reminder.
Deadly: Doctors were forced to gouge away part of Stacey Pickess' leg when her twice-weekly sun bed habit left her with a malignant melanoma
Ms Pickess, from Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was just 16 when she started to spend hours basking in the sun on foreign holidays and topping up her tan back home with regular sunbeds.
But after contracting skin cancer she now covers up in the sun and has opened her own fake tanning salon - where sun beds are barred.
‘I always thought I was too young to get cancer. I was only bothered about getting a tan like all my mates,’ she said.
‘I'd lie in the sun for hours - I didn't realise that the factor 8 oil I was slapping on was just frying my skin.
‘I worked at a salon that had sunbeds - so in between beach holidays, I'd top up my tan twice a week, going on the beds for 12 minutes at a time.
‘My friends said I looked great - we'd always compare tans to see who was brownest.
Constant reminder: Miss Pickess has been left with a large hole in her leg after treatment for skin cancer
'But my boyfriend, Luke, would sometimes tell me I'd overdone the tanning.
‘Looking back, I now realise I was the same colour as an Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Ms Pickess cut back on her sunbed usage in her mid-20s when she noticed her skin was ageing but only feared for her health in 2006 when her boyfriend’s mother spotted a mole on Ms Pickess’ ankle.
Her GP immediately referred her to a skin specialist who removed two moles for tests but seven days later, Ms Pickess was called to Burton hospital to learn she had a malignant melanoma.
‘Doctors told me they'd have to operate on me under a local anaesthetic - so I'd be awake for the operation,’ she commented.
‘I told all my friends and family what was happening - they were all terrified for me, but I don't think it had really sunk in.
‘I went through the operation thinking everything was going to be fine.'
She continued:‘It was only four days later when nurses took off my bandages and I saw the gaping hole in my leg that it really hit me.
‘It was a huge hole full of mush. I was devastated. I couldn't believe that my desperation to get a tan had ended up with me having a brush with death and left with a deformed leg.
‘I've only beenon holiday once since I had the cancer removed, for a friend's hen do -I covered up constantly, wearing maxi dresses and sun hats.’
She has since opened her own salon - Safer Sun - to provide sun worshippers a safer alternative to sun beds and bathing.
‘Idon't know whether I got cancer because of sunbeds or because I sun bathed so much on holiday. It was probably a combination of the two.
‘Now, I want to do all I can to warn other people of the dangers of tanning.
‘I offer people spray tans rather than sunbeds - and tell my customers what happened to me, and show them the hole in my leg.
‘I know everyone has their own opinion on sunbeds, and I can't change everyone's way of thinking.’
Almost half of NHS acute trusts are still putting patients in mixed-sex accommodation despite facing financial penalties, new figures show.
March figures revealed 5,446 breaches of mixed-sex rules across England, down from 7,583 in February.
As of April 1, trusts are being fined£250 per patient per day for breaking rules on mixed-sex sleeping on wards.
Older women taking calcium supplements to improve bone strength could be at higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, claim researchers.
A new study adds to previous research suggesting extra calcium - with or without vitamin D - may do more harm than good.
Hundreds of thousands of women take supplements because they are recommended for preventing osteoporosis, or thinning bones.
But a research team led by Professor Ian Reid at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, says the practice should be reassessed as it may result in more heart attacks than fractures would be prevented.
A 26-year-old mother who lost her right hand in a traffic accident several years ago has reuniting with her doctors to show off her new donated hand.
Emily Fennell from California received the donor limb in a marathon operation after her hand was damaged in a car crash.
'It has been surreal to see that I have a hand again, and to be able to wiggle my fingers, Ms Fennell said.
Last week, it was revealed that eating the equivalent of four apples a day can dramatically cut your cholesterol levels.
But that’s not the only incredible health boost the fruit can give you— as a new book by former family doctor DR PENNY STANWAY reveals . . .
Few of us can help turning the air blue when we stub our toe and are left in agony. But while our bad language may embarrass us, it seems that it is also helping us beat the pain.
Researchers have found that swearing in such circumstances can act as a powerful painkiller– at least, for those who don’t normally use expletives.
For them, swearing in the face of genuine pain is up to four times more effective than it is for more regular swearers.
It all started with a sore throat. Yet after two years of worsening symptoms, West End star Helena Blackman was facing the toughest decision of her career.
Her cough had become so severe she had sprained her ribs, and singing through the pain had led to a benign growth on her vocal cords.
An operation to remove it risked permanently destroying her voice, but leaving it would have meant her singing ability would slowly deteriorate.
A mother who was wrongly diagnosed with a frozen shoulder for three years was finally told she was actually suffering from cancer - the day before she died in a hospital toilet.
Care home worker Jean Cross, 60, repeatedly complained about the pain in her arm and was eventually left in total agony and unable to move it.
But GPs at her local surgery prescribed painkillers and told her to get physiotherapy and alternative therapies.
A 'universal' vaccine that could revolutionise the treatment of cancer could be available in just two years.
The TeloVac jab is part of a new generation of drugs that use the body’s own defences to fight the disease, stopping tumours in their tracks.
TeloVac has already been given to hundreds of Britons with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease.
Brain scans could help detect changes leading to Alzheimer’s disease up to a decade before the symptoms develop, claim researchers.
A study suggests that areas of the brain affected by the disease start shrinking many years earlier.
Detecting the illness in its earliest stages would enable new treatments to be tested on those who would benefit most.
Dentists are advising patients to come back for check-ups far more often than they need to, the Government has warned.
Many are suggesting people return in six months’ time when they in fact need to be seen only every two years.
And concerns have been raised that some dentists are‘exploiting’ the system and inflating their pay by encouraging healthy patients to come for check-ups more often than is recommended.
Small amounts of arsenic and other toxins found in the soil are getting into the ingredients used in top-selling baby foods, it has emerged.
Manufacturers insist the levels are so low they do not pose a health risk.
However scientists and food campaigners are calling for efforts to eliminate the chemicals from mass-produced products eaten by millions of youngsters.
Writer Neil Ansell lived alone in the Welsh hills for five years
At the age of 30 I was made an offer that I found impossible to resist.
A dilapidated cottage in the mountains of mid-Wales, for a peppercorn rent of just£100 a year.
The cottage was a thousand feet up in the hills, far from any road, and it had no electricity, gas or running water.
I saw it as a challenge. My first book, Deep Country, published last week, is an account of the five years I spent living in this cottage, walking in the hills, chopping wood and cooking over a log fire, drawing water from a well and growing enough food to become almost self-sufficient.
Friends did visit occasionally but the vast majority of my time was spent in seclusion - it was possible for weeks to go by without my seeing another person, even in the distance.
By my fourth year at the cottage I was completely at ease with myself and with my way of life. I didn't plan my days, I just occupied myself with the necessities.
I had no telephone, no car. Every now and again I would undertake the three-hour round trip to the village shop for supplies.
What I had not allowed for was illness. It was late autumn when I suddenly developed a whole array of symptoms - although at first I didn't even recognise that I was unwell.
I became restless and agitated, unable to sit still for a moment. And I found it almost impossible to sleep; I would lie awake all night in a sweat, tossing and turning and intensely aware of a strange tremor that seemed to run through my entire body from head to toe. I began to wonder if I was having a nervous breakdown but could not see any possible source of stress in my life.
What ultimately took me to the doctor was the weight loss. Not that I owned a set of weighing scales - I finally noticed that my ribs were protruding as though I was starving.
In fact, I was hungry all the time, and was often eating five meals a day. I am sure I would have realised the problem much earlier if there had been someone else to see me - I had only a small shaving mirror with which to see myself.
I walked down into the valley and crossed the footbridge over the river to the main road and hitchhiked into town. My doctor saw me from his window as I crunched up the gravel drive to his surgery, and I think he had made a provisional diagnosis before I had even opened his door.
A young heart transplant patient can go home after his mother became the first relative of a patient in Britain to be trained to use a special heart scanner.
Laura Richards, 31, has been taught by specialists to carry out the cardiac scans on her three-year-old son Iolan.
Laura then emails the results to doctors 330 miles away to make sure little Iolan's new heart is beating properly. His heart will need regular monitoring over the next few months.
Drinking a‘safe’ amount of alcohol below the recommended daily limit increases the risk of developing cancer, with the danger remaining even if you become teetotal, experts say.
New research shows that one in ten cancers in men and one in 33 in women in Britain is caused by drinking– and the figures are on the rise.
Alcohol is blamed for at least 13,000 cases a year, including cancer of the breast, mouth, oesophagus and bowel.
Ecstaasy users risk damage to the brain leading to significant memory loss, a groundbreaking study has found.
The research is the first to show how long-term use of the Class-A drug causes the hippocampus, the brain’s‘memory store’, to shrink.
Experts at the Academic Research Centre in Amsterdam scanned users’ brains to examine changes to the hippocampus.
A young woman who always took extreme care in the sun has died from skin cancer at the age of 21.
University student Cerys Harding, from Cardiff, died just four months after being diagnosed with the disease.
Her motherBeverly, 50,said dark-haired Cerys had always tried to avoid sunburn - and never used sunbeds.
'Cerys was so careful,' she said: 'She was the onlyperson on the beach that had a towel over her as well as under her.
Soaring numbers of women are drinking hazardous amounts of alcohol, figures show.
The proportion consuming more than the recommended limit of 14 units a week has grown by a fifth in a decade.
Almost one in five women drinks in excess of this amount, with one in 20 downing more than 35 units a week– the equivalent of four bottles of wine.
By contrast, men’s drinking habits have remained constant over the ten years, with a quarter– 26 per cent– consuming more than their recommended limit of 21 units a week.
Breakthrough: Scientists are hopeful their artificial heart will be beating within days
Scientists are growing human hearts in laboratories, offering hope for millions of cardiac patients.
American researchers believe the artificial organs could start beating within weeks.
The experiment is a major step towards the first‘grow-your-own’ heart, and could pave the way for livers, lungs or kidneys to be made to order.
The organs were created by removing muscle cells from donor organs to leave behind tough hearts of connective tissue.
Researchers then injected stem cells which multiplied and grew around the structure, eventually turning into healthy heart cells.
Dr Doris Taylor, an expert in regenerative medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said:‘The hearts are growing, and we hope they will show signs of beating within the next weeks.
‘There are many hurdles to overcome to generate a fully functioning heart, but my prediction is that it may one day be possible to grow entire organs for transplant.’
Patients given normal heart transplants must take drugs to suppress their immune systems for the rest of their lives.
The stabbing facial pain is so intense, it is often referred to as the suicide disease.
And for sufferers of trigeminal neuralgia (TN), the slightest movement or even a kiss on the cheek can trigger crippling shockwaves of agony.
Treatment traditionally involves heavy doses of painkilling medicine, yet these cause severe side effects and leave many patients in a zombie-like state of sedation.
Lisa Higgs, 39, with sons Archie and Harry. She had the micro-vascular decompression (MVD) surgery four years after developing TN
Now an implant consisting of tiny strands of Teflon is offering a permanent solution to the nerve condition.
Theversatile, non-stick plastic material, used to coat frying pans and also known as polytetrafluoroethylene, has a number of medical applications, mainly in the manufacture of equipment.
It is now being used in a radical surgical procedure, called microvascular decompression(MVD), to help patients crippled by TN.
There are two trigeminal nerves, one in each side of the face. Each splits into three branches. The upper branch (ophthalmic) runs above the eye, forehead andfront of the head, the middle branch (maxillary) runs through the cheek, side of the nose, upper jaw, teeth and gums. The lower branch (mandibular) runs through the lower jaw, teeth and gums.
Most children are only supposed to eat cream cakes and cheesy snacks as occasional treats.
However, one eight-year-old girl has been prescribed such a high-fat diet... because it will help stop her coma-causing epileptic fits.
Jessica Banks, from Epworth in South Yorkshire, has endured 40 seizures a month for three years and spent two weeks in a coma which doctors feared would kill her.
