Our Early Ancestors Ate Mostly Plants And Vegetables

Multi-Vitamin Products Could Increase The Chance Of Cancer.
A charity has warned that some multivitamin products should carry the same warning stickers as tobacco, as they could increase the chance of cancer by as much as 30%.
Killing Cancer Kindly says supplements “bombard the body with huge doses of wholly unnecessary nutrients”.
As a result, they can enable cancerous cells to grow and multiply.
Natural vitamins found in foods meanwhile pose no danger because they are absorbed slowly, and the body takes only what it needs before flushing out the rest.
Synthetic pills however ‘flood’ the bloodstream with up to twice the recommended daily dosage of nutrients, becoming a ‘superfood’ for cancers, says NHS oncologist Dr Mohammad Muneeb Khan.
Multivitamin supplements could increase the risk of developing other cancers such as prostate, bowel, and breast cancer.
( Anthony Clements-Thrower, 07.11.2023 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

Hydroxychloroquine May Have Caused Thousands Of Deaths During Covid.
Nearly 17,000 people may have died after taking hydroxycholoroquine during the first wave of Covid-19, according to a study by French researchers.
The anti-malaria drug was prescribed to some patients hospitalised with Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, “despite the absence of evidence documenting its clinical benefits”, the researchers point out in their paper, published in the
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.
Now, researchers have estimated that some 16,990 people in six countries — France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.S. — may have died as a result.
That figure stems from a study published in the Nature scientific journal in 2021 which reported an 11% increase in the mortality rate, linked to its prescription against Covid-19, because of the potential adverse effects like heart rhythm disorders, and its use instead of other effective treatments.
Researchers from universities in Lyon, France, and Québec, Canada, used that figure to analyse hospitalisation data for Covid in each of the six countries, exposure to hydroxychloroquine and the increase in the relative risk of death linked to the drug.
In fact, they say the figure may be far higher given the study only concerns six countries from March to July 2020, when the drug was prescribed much more widely.
( Mari Eccles, 04.01.2024 )  ..  politico.eu

A Care Quality Commission Report.
More than half of England’s A&E departments fail to meet minimum standards.
106 out of 197 units were rated “inadequate” or as “requiring improvement” to be good.
One hospital was blasted for the “misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of sepsis”.
Another hospital had 16 ambulances queuing to hand over patients.
A child lay in a resuscitation bay at another hospital for six hours before being sent to a children’s ward at a nearby hospital.
An elderly patient suffering a fractured hip waited for over three hours in an ambulance.
Staff failed to follow up a case of a child whose injuries were caused by abuse.
Four consultants were working at one unit when 10 were needed.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine says one in nine A&E patients in England faced 12-hour waits in October.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the pressures on A&E were made worse by a lack of beds and by the crisis in adult social care.
( Nick Sommerlad & Andrew Kersley, 29.11.2023 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

Our Early Ancestors Ate Mostly Plants And Vegetables.
Early human hunter-gatherers ate mostly plants and vegetables, according to archeological findings that undermine the commonly held view that our ancestors lived on a high protein, meat-heavy diet.
The evidence, from the remains of 24 individuals from two burial sites in the Peruvian Andes dating to between 9,000 and 6,500 years ago, suggests that wild potatoes and other root vegetables may have been a dominant source of nutrition before the shift to an agricultural lifestyle.
Some have previously suggested that the shift to agricultural economies was driven by over-hunting, but the latest findings raise the possibility of a more gradual transition from foraging to farming.
Jennifer Chen, the first author of the paper, said: “A lot of archaeological frameworks on hunter-gatherers, or foragers, centre on hunting and meat-heavy diets, but we are finding that early hunter-gatherers in the Andes were mostly eating plant foods like wild tubers.”
The researchers also found evidence of burnt plant remains from the sites and distinct patterns of dental-wear on the upper incisors of several individuals that indicate tubers, possibly wild potatoes, were the most prominent food source.
( Hannah Devlin, 24.01.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Children Suffering From Tooth Decay Due To Tory Government Cuts.
The latest data shows 40% of children don’t have regular NHS dental check-ups and that 104,133 children went to hospital with rotten teeth over the past five years.
In 2022 alone there were 116 extractions every day.
Dental chiefs blame Tory Government cuts for the crisis, which is preventing children getting vital checks to identify early signs of tooth decay.
British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch said: “These children are paying the price for this government’s indifference to dentistry. Tooth decay, a preventable disease, remains the number one reason for hospital ­admissions in children. This is the result of ­political choices.”
The hospital admission for tooth decay figures were obtained under Freedom of ­Information laws by the Lib Dems.
But responses were only received from around half of NHS trusts and the BDA warns the number could be as high as 200,000.
( Martin Bagot, 19.01.2024 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

A Man With A suspected Heart Problem Waits 16 Hours In A&E For Treatment.
A hospital A&E department was described as a “war zone” after a man had to wait 16 hours for treatment for a suspected heart problem.
Under-pressure medics at University Hospital Monklands in Lanarkshire had to deal with corridors filled with patients lying for hours on trolleys due to a shortage of beds.
David Baxter, 69, was having heart problems and had to sit overnight on a hard plastic chair in a waiting room before he saw a medic.
He said: “People were lying on trolleys in corridors, there were at least 20 lined up”.
One woman sat for six hours before being seen despite having suffered a suspected stroke.
Another elderly woman sat all night waiting to be given intravenous antibiotics for a serious bladder complaint and ended up delirious, unable to recognise her own daughter.
Another patient who had suffered a suspected heart attack left at 9.30am after a night on a chair, saying she could no longer sit on the plastic seat.
( Vivienne Aitken, 22.01.2024 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

Tory Cuts And Failure Are Blamed For The Return Of Victorian Diseases.
The Tory Government have been accused of having a “Dickensian attitude” to healthcare after data revealed there have been 30,000 cases of rickets and scurvy since 2019.
Damning research shows there were 28,379 cases of rickets and 269 cases of scurvy since 2019.
Malnutrition hospital admissions have risen by 7.7% since 2015 to 798, according to separate House of Commons Library research.
Scurvy is caused by not having enough vitamin C in your diet over a long period of time.
According to the NHS, symptoms of the condition include feeling very tired, weak, irritable, sad, suffering from severe joint pain, swollen and bleeding gums, with teeth sometimes falling out, and having skin that bruises easily.
Rickets is a condition that affects bone development in children, most commonly due to a lack of vitamin D or calcium.
It causes bone pain, poor growth and soft, weak bones that can lead to bone deformities.
Lib Dem Daisy Cooper said: “In 21st century Britain no one should be suffering with these Victorian era diseases. It is high time that the Conservative Party dropped their Dickensian attitude toward healthcare and took public health seriously. These latest figures are a symbol of this Conservative government’s complete failure to look after the health of the next generation. Under their watch we have seen nothing but waiting lists rise, hospitals falling down, and endless ambulance delays. The Conservative party is not fit to run our NHS.”
( Sophie Huskisson, 27.12.2023 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

Millions Of People In England Are Unable To Get Free Earwax Removal Services.
Nearly 10 million people in England are no longer able to access free earwax removal services offered by the NHS.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), the charity which provides support to the 12 million people in the UK who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, said there was “no medical reason” for withdrawing services across parts of England since 2019.
It also warned that those who can’t afford private treatment were turning to self-removal methods considered to be “dangerous”.
Roughly 2.3 million people in the UK will require earwax treatment each year, according to the NHS – particularly those who are older, use hearing-aids, or have a learning disability.
When excess wax builds up in the ear canal and is not removed, it can result in painful symptoms, including earaches, tinnitus and even hearing loss.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence advises that wax removal services should be available in GP surgeries, or other local ear clinics.
The RNID’s Freedom of Information request to all 42 integrated health boards across England found that of the 40 that responded, 18 funded a full service, 15 limited eligibility or did not offer the service in all of their GP surgeries, while seven boards commissioned no treatment at all.
Crystal Rolfe, director of health at the RNID said: “For the 10million people who live in areas where there is no provision, the only option is to pay for it, which we know can cost up to £100 for just one procedure.
( Zahra Khaliq, 24.01.2023 )  ..  mirror.co.uk