IVF Until 42 On The NHS

Fertility problems affect thousands of couples. Often it is related to age. The unpalatable truth is that after 35 fertility drops off rapidly so help such as IVF is more likely to be needed.

Until now IVF was only available on the NHS until the woman was 39. Older than this and couples had to seek private treatment, which needless to say is very expensive.

About IVF

However the National Institute for Health and Clinical excellence has just issued guidelines increasing the upper age limit to 42. This gives hope to thousands currently not allowed NHS treatment.

Although of course they are only guidelines and there is no guarantee that health authorities will implement them nationwide.

Do Very Low Calorie Diets Work?

Obesity is a major problem and getting worse. Being so overweight has many health implications from the mild to potentially fatal.

When you are fat a lack of energy and increased tiredness are common. Everyday activities are harder. Sleep is poor often with snoring. More seriously problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease are commoner. They all shorten life so are best avoided.

Many struggle to lose weight and are attracted by very low calorie diets. These typically allow no more than 600 calories a day for weeeks and even months. But are they healthy?

A study at Newcastle put overweight patients on a very low calorie diet for 8 weeks. The results were impressive. Not only did they all lose plenty of weight, their health markedly improved.

Blood pressure levels dropped significantly and amazingly type 2 diabetes was not only far better controlled but medications were able to be reduced. It seemed the body reset itself and started to correct the insulin problems that cause type 2 diabetes.

So perhaps a short sharp low calorie diet followed by healthy eating at normal calorie levels will become the treatments of choice for obesity and its' complications.

Time To Run Marathon?

Many of us want to get fitter. One of the more tiring ways is to run a marathon.

Of course if you do it as part of an effort to raise money it is a bit easier. Along with the aches and pains you experience as the miles build up is the psychological warmth of knowing you are doing a good thing and helping others.

Paris marathon anyone?

If you are going to undertake the task then maybe it is better to do it somewhere with nice views as you go round. Paris is a beautiful city and they have a marathon usually a week or two after London.

With it being so difficult to gain entry to the London marathon a trip to Pris is a great back-up plan.

Does Being A Vegetarian Lower Your Heart Attack Risk?

For years vegetarians have claimed that their diet is much healthier and good for you. Now scientists at Oxford university have just published a study looking at the vegetarian diet.

After studying more than 40,000 peoples health records they concluded that the risk of heart disease is around 33% less in vegetarians compared to carnivores.

 Easy Falafel

They produced figures for the risk of death or serious heart problems of 6.8% for carnivores and 4.6% for the rest. These were reached after adjusting for all the other well known factors such as smoking, lack of exercise,alcohol, sex, age and social class.

The presumed reason for the difference is the lower obesity levels in vegetarians and beneficial effects on blood pressure and blood cholesterol of a vegetarian diet.

So perhaps we should all turn veggie!