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Activity levels in mums and children are ‘directly linked’, cancer and CV disease leads to 60% of deaths in Australia and the dangers of roadkill cuisine

We start with the BBC, which reports that activity levels in mums and children are ‘directly linked’

The more active a mother is, the more physically active her child will be, suggests a UK study of 500 mums and four-year-olds.

Researchers from Cambridge and Southampton universities used heart-rate monitors to measure activity levels over seven days.

Children are not ‘just naturally active’, it concluded, and parents have an important role to play in developing healthy exercise habits early on in life.

As part of the study, 554 four-year-olds and their mothers from Southampton wore a lightweight combined heart-rate monitor and accelerometer on their chests, for up to seven days.

Kathryn Hesketh, now a research associate at the Institute of Child Health at University College London, co-led the study and said the data from mothers and children showed a direct, positive association between physical activity in children and their mothers.

She said that for every minute of moderate-to-vigorous activity a mother engaged in, her child was more likely to engage in 10% more of the same level of activity.

Meanwhile, news from Down Under reveals that six out of ten die people from cancer or cardiovascular disease in Australia.

However, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are also taking an increasing toll on Australians, according to the latest Bureau of Statistics cause-of-death figures.

The Guardian reports that bad habits are possibly the biggest killer, with close to six out of 10 deaths in Australia caused by cancers and cardiovascular disease.

Overall, 147,098 people died in Australia in 2012, 166 more than in 2011.

Heart disease remains the leading killer, with 20,046 victims, although this has fallen steadily since 2003.

And finally the Telegraph reports that police have issued a public health warning about roadkill dangers after a surgeon feeds his family a badger balti.

Dr Austin Hunt a consultant in acute medicine and renal failure at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon has admitted serving his family animal carcasses found on the roadside into tasty, nutritious dishes including tenderloin of wild venison and badger balti.


          

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