Carrying extra body fat around the middle could be linked to brain shrinkage, according to new a study by Loughborough University. Researchers measured BMI, waist-to-hip ratio and overall body fat of 9,652 people with an average age of 55 and surveyed the participants about their health. Of that group, 19% were determined to be obese. The team found that those...

Young children who spent more than half an hour a day online were almost twice as likely to pester their parents for junk food, according to a Cancer Research UK report. And primary school children who spent more than three hours on the web were more than four times more likely to spend their pocket money on chocolate, crisps, sugary...

It's clear exercise has health benefits both physical and mental -- but what if we could actually prove it was more important to your mental health than your economic status? According to a study carried out by researchers at Yale and Oxford, we may have done just that. In the study, published in The Lancet, scientists collected data about the physical behaviour...

This interactive map has been created by Healthy London Partnerships and displays the various social prescribing services across London boroughs.

Young people aged 10–24 make up approximately a fifth of the population of most high-income countries and there are strong health and economic arguments for improving their health outcomes. This report summarises how 17 key indicators of the health and wellbeing of young people aged 10–24 vary in a selection of 19 similar high-income countries both within and outside of...

The Menu of Interventions (MOIs) for productive health ageing is a guide that pharmacy teams working in different healthcare settings can use to support older people to improve the quality of their lives. It suggests opportunistic, evidence-based interventions that can help provide benefits for healthy ageing. For example, supporting older people and their carers to prevent or reduce falls, increasing...

Wide availability of unhealthy food and drink in more than 1 in 4 (29%) non- food retail environments such as clothing and cosmetics stores with confectionary and sugary drinks dominating. Seven out of ten consumers (70%) reported seeing food or drink in non-food retail stores, with 42% making a purchase while shopping in these stores in the previous month. Two...

The health of today’s children and young people (CYP) will be one of the key factors in determining whether England is healthy and prosperous over the next 50 years. We used long-term historical data on key CYP health outcomes and various projection modelling methods to estimate CYP outcomes in 2030 in England compared with other wealthy European and western countries....

Swimming has significantly reduced the symptoms of anxiety or depression for 1.4 million adults in Britain, according to new research released today. In addition, almost half a million (492,000) British adults with mental health conditions who swim say that they have reduced the number of visits to a medical professional regarding their mental health as a result of swimming. The YouGov poll,...

A new study of college students from not-for-profit health body ukactive and AoC Sport has found that physical activity could be a major tool in battling rising levels of loneliness among younger people, with active students 21% less likely to report feeling lonely all the time. The research also found a raft of additional mental health benefits for students who regularly...