HEALTH

Australians are among the world’s fattest, a new report has revealed. The report on Australia’s health also shows that people Down Under suffer from alarmingly high blood pressure, diabetes and are dying by suicide in record numbers.

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have made a breakthrough in understanding how cancer cells spread around the body and form tumours. The study says that a cancer cell’s ability to survive as it spreads may well be the weapon to fight the disease. As per the scientists, cancerous cells depend on an unusual survival mechanism to spread around the body. Thus, how cancer spreads and survives could well be the key to curing it.

The director of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre at UNSW, professor Jan Copeland, revealed that a recent online market survey of 4,500 Australians showed more than half of those smoking cannabis struggle to control their use. Still people continue to believe that they can never become dependent on marijuana.

Nuts such as walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, cashews and almonds may significantly reduce prostate cancer mortality in men, a study has revealed. Prostate cancer is the second most lethal cancer and most commonly diagnosed cancer in men.

World Health Organisation’s (WHO) cancer agency, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has revealed that there is no conclusive evidence that drinking coffee causes cancer. This is kind of a reversal of the agency’s previous warning, which rated coffee as “possibly carcinogenic.”

Gluten-free diets are a fad these days and they have taken hold of health fanatics worldwide. According to the reports, gluten-free diet has surpassed all other searches on Google in the US, beating Palaeolithic diets, Atkins and South Beach.

Australian hospitals may be contributing to the creation of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Results of a survey have revealed some grave figures as hospitals continue to inappropriately prescribe antibiotics to patients. The drug is being wrongly prescribed in up to 20 percent of cases, the survey revealed.

Experts are worried over the fact that use of recreational drugs during sex, particularly gay sex, can lead to HIV and hepatitis infections. Doctors have warned that new chemsex drugs such as mephedrone and GHB, methamphetamine (ice) and gamma hydroxybutyrate may lead to improper condom use, increase in promiscuity and high-risk sexual practices.

The Cambridge Weight Plan, Australia’s new fad diet, is now being investigated by a government regulator to find out if the product can be legally sold in Australia. Health experts have already warned of serious side-effects such as general feeling of coldness, rash, nausea, leg cramps, hair loss, halted periods and even unexpected pregnancy from following a diet so low on nutrients.

Breast Cancer Care, a British charity organisation, has warned that women aged between 50 and 70 are too reliant on mammograms for detecting breast cancer signs.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has lodged an appeal against the size of fine imposed by the Federal Court on Nurofen makers Reckitt Benckiser for breach of consumer laws.

E-cigarettes will be treated as tobacco in Victoria. The Victorian Government is extending the smoking ban to e-cigarettes too.

Patients who had the magic mushrooms experienced a reduction in symptoms after a week. Eight of the 12 patients achieved full remission and were liberated from their depression temporarily.

Experts emphasised on the importance of preventive measures and the need for better weight management services. More research into alternative interventions is also crucial to take care of severe obesity.

Australians have negative stereotypes associated with strength-training. People look at these activities as super-masculine, and women believe they will put on a lot of weight.

The study should not be used as an escape route for not taking action against air pollution. If people start using “active transport” more, then pollution levels will come down automatically.

The researchers stumbled upon a vital supply route cancer cells use to obtain their nutrients. This discovery can lead to new treatments to stop tumour growth.

Insulin resistance is a major problem for those who have cardiovascular diseases. The researchers analysed a national sample of adults and included dietary and lifestyle factors and team/coffee consumption.

Human trials of the test have provided a 95 percent accuracy rate by picking up the key biological marker in the blood stream of a Parkinson’s patient.

Another Johnson & Johnson baby powder trial begins on Monday on a lawsuit filed by a woman who used the talc for 40 years and diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2011.

Actress Whoopi Goldberg was greatly affected to see her granddaughters suffer from menstrual pain and so she made it an objective to work on the lines of medical marijuana.

Although the father was wrong and went against law to use cannabis oil on his little daughter, Justice Peter Flanagan decided to not record a criminal conviction.

Scientists, after administering the initial dose in the HIV monkeys, injected them again on the fourth, seventh and 10th days. The virus disappeared and never came back after two weeks.

An astounding 63.4 percent of Australian adults were obese or overweight in 2014-2015. It’s well over half Australia’s national population and almost two in three adults.

The Australian Federal Government has already spent more than $100 million in the past two years in a bid to combat weight gain and obesity.

Although significant medical research has transformed HIV/AIDS from being a terminal disease to being a manageable condition, the stubbornness and persistence of HIV infection is a major concern.

According to Cancer Council Queensland, in 1982, there were 8,274 cancer cases, and in 2013, it rose to 26,335.

A Catholic pro-choice group has appealed to Pope Francis to stop condemning the use of contraception and abortions as the Zika virus, which affects babies, continues to spread around the world.

A woman developed a hump back after years of alcoholism but refused to see a doctor for five years, post the condition, as she found it cool.