Five million babies have been conceived through IVF around the world since Lesley Brown gave birth to the first ever test tube baby in 1978, several UK news papers report this morning. The significant number of IVF births was recently estimated after the treatment has become a "socially acceptable" alternative route to conception as we increasingly delay starting a family until later in life. However, reproduction specialists say we should instead opt to get to it earlier – IVF success rates drop from over 30% to just 12.5% for women over the age of 40.
But the rest of the news this morning is filled with damning reports of the behaviour of the young.
The Daily Telegraph chooses to highlight the binge drinking culture among the young, after a Department of Health report showed teenage girls in the UK were more likely to binge drink than anywhere else in Europe. The paper reports that British teenage girls drink binge drink more frequently than their male peers, with over half of 15-16-year-old girls in the country admitting to drinking to excess at least once a month.
And if all that drinking makes you hungry then you're in luck - the BBC reports that a Scottish university professor, the aptly named professor Mike Lean, has invented the first-ever nutritionally balanced pizza. Professor Lean, also a consultant physician at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, said incorporating seaweed and red peppers into the pizza's composure helped reduce sodium levels and add a vitamin C boost, while magnesium, potassium, folates and vitamin A have also been added.
Perhaps the pizza will become a hit in Wales, where a new anti-obesity campaign seeks to encourage families to follow the example of the Olympic athletes to make them more active, as recent figures showed over a third of Welsh children are overweight.
