Prostate cancer deaths have fallen by a fifth in 20 years, claim experts from charity Cancer Research UK.
They say there are now an estimated 24 deaths per 100,000 people every year, compared with around 30 per 100,000 two decades ago, according to a Sky News report.
The charity says this is thanks to earlier diagnosis through blood tests in GP surgeries and better treatment approaches, such as more widespread use of hormone therapy, surgery and radiotherapy.
But Professor Malcolm Mason, the charity’s prostate cancer expert, said more work needed to be done, in particular to help distinguish those men with more aggressive disease from less harmful cases.
The BBC says experts believe taxing sugary drinks would have a ‘modest’ effect on the nation’s health. Their estimates, reported in the BMJ, suggest a 20% tax would cut the number of obese adults in the UK by 180,000 (1.3%) and the number of people who are overweight by 285,000 (0.9%).
The tax would add about 12p to the costs of a can of pop, or about 40p to the price of two-litre bottles of the fizzy stuff.
Lead author Dr Adam Briggs said: ‘Such a tax is not going to solve obesity by itself, but we have shown it could be an effective public health measure and should be considered alongside other measures to tackle obesity in the UK.’
Chronic snorers, who snored both before and during pregnancy, were two-thirds more likely to have a baby weighing somewhere in the bottom 10% of birthweights. The authors say snoring could be a sign of breathing problems that could deprive the unborn baby of oxygen.
Dr Louise O’Brien, from the University of Michigan’s Sleep Disorders Centre, said: ‘We have a window of opportunity to screen pregnant women for breathing problems during sleep that may put them at risk of poor delivery outcomes.’
