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You ‘can’t outrun’ obesity, Conservatives’ NHS £8bn is not enough and genetic odour link to mozzie bites

The benefits of exercise in weight loss have been overstated by the food and drink industry, when the ‘type and amount’ of calories consumed, in particular dietary sugar, IS more to blame for our expanding waistlines, the Guardian reports, among many others. .

Lead researcher and cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra says while regular exercise prevents heart disease, dementia and other conditions, it is time to ‘bust the myth of physical activity and obesity. You cannot outrun a bad diet’.

The research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has sparked a debate between other academics who highlight the most effective weight loss programmes use both exercise and diet interventions.

The £8bn NHS funding pledged by the Conservatives if they should win at the next election will not be enough to sustain the health service, a poll of NHS finance directors by the King’s Fund think-tank has found.

The Independent reports the think-tank’s quarterly monitoring report found 75% of NHS trust finance directors and more than two thirds of CCG finance leads said there was a high or very high risk they would fail to achieve the ‘productivity gains’ essential to hitting the finance targets in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View.

And finally, leave that insect repellent out of your suitcase and pack a genetic testing kit instead, as research has identified a link between body odours coded in our DNA and the likelihood of becoming a meal for mosquitos.

The BBC reports that the results of the pilot study working with 19 sets of non-identical twins and 18 sets of identical ones showed identical twins – who share the same sets of genes – were bitten equally.

Dr David Weetman, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, called for larger studies to develop this research, and said: ‘This is a novel and intriguing finding. It is the first time a genetic basis has been demonstrated.’


          

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