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Health groups and MPs call for action on sugar, girl dies after taking the pill and the merits of a beard

The Government must impose a 20% tax on all sugary soft drinks in its childhood obesity strategy, leading health groups have said.

The Guardian reports that more than a dozen organisations, from the BMA to the Royal society of Public Health have demanded action from David Cameron ahgead of the launch of his plan to curb obesity and diabetes in the next few weeks.

This comes after GP and health select committee chair Dr Sarah Wollaston called for similar measures in a parliamentary debate on Thursday, saying it was ‘staggering’ that 40% of UK food and drink spending went on promotions that could exacerbate the problem of obesity.

In sad news, the Telegraph reported that a 16-year old girl has died from a blood clot as a result of taking the contraceptive pill. 

Sophie Murray became ill last September around a year after she was prescribed the pill and died on 8 November. 

Blackburn Coroner’s Court described it as a ’very rare’ case.

Finally, good news for male residents of certain parts of east London – having a beard might be helping you avoid harmful bacteria.

The Metro reports that a study in the Journal of Hospital Infection involved researchers swabbing the faces of 408 male hospital workers in two teaching hospitals, and compared the prevalence of certain bacteria found on bearded and clean-shaven workers. .

They concluded:‘Our study suggests that facial hair does not increase the overall risk of bacterial colonisation compared to clean-shaven control subjects… Clean-shaven control subjects exhibited higher rates of colonisation with certain bacterial species.’