The Guardian reports on a Labour Party study which claims that children with hearing problems caused by glue ear are being denied surgery to relieve the condition because of NHS rationing.
It says that NHS cost-cutting meant almost 52,000 fewer patients underwent treatment for eight common conditions in 2011-12 compared to 2009-10, according to research by the party.
In total 3,823 fewer people had an operation called a myringotomy last year compared to 2009-10, according to statistics from the NHS’s hospital episode statistics data analysed by the House of Commons library. There were also falls over the same period in the number of people who had cataracts (down 3,307), varicose veins (8,842) or skin lesions (22,942) removed, or had their tonsils out (3,588), the data shows.
Meanwhile the Daily Mail reports on a study which found that just one soft drink a day could increase the risk of prostate cancer by 40 per cent.
It is thought that sugar triggers the release of the hormone insulin, which feeds tumours.
Prostate cancer is the most common type in British men, affecting almost 41,000 a year and killing more than 10,000.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, tracked the health of more than 8,000 men aged 45 to 73 for an average of 15 years. The men, who were in good health at the start of the study, were also quizzed about what they liked to eat and drink. The researchers said that although genetics plays a bigger role in prostate cancer than in many other tumours, diet also appears to be important.
