Insight

The Global Initiative on Ageing and Longevity has launched a North American chapter to boost innovation and economic transformation in the longevity sector. The organisation, known as GIA-L, said the new chapter will strengthen its mission to help people of all ages thrive across longer, healthier lives and tap into the growing longevity economy. Building [...]

The UK has banned junk food adverts on TV before 9pm and online at all times to tackle childhood obesity. The rules are expected to remove up to 7.2bn calories from children's diets each year, reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000 and deliver around £2bn in health benefits over time. Evidence [...]

Exposure to natural light through a window appears to improve blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes, a small study suggests. Our cells and tissues follow circadian rhythms, 24-hour cycles of metabolic activity that regulate functions such as blood sugar levels. Previous studies have shown that exposure to artificial light at night disrupts [...]

A decline in personal confidence or concentration during midlife could signal an elevated risk of developing dementia later in life, new research suggests. Researchers identified six specific symptoms in middle age that may serve as early markers of underlying neurodegenerative processes, meaning gradual damage to brain cells. The findings stem from an analysis of data [...]

Adopting a few healthy habits could reduce brain age by up to eight years, new research suggests. Scientists at the University of Florida found that optimism, good deep sleep, stress control and strong social support were linked to a younger-looking brain on scans. The study tracked 128 adults in midlife and older age from four [...]

Teenagers with negative body image are more likely to develop symptoms of eating disorders and depression in early adulthood, a new study suggests. The research, believed to be the first of its kind, followed more than 2,000 twins born in England and Wales. It found that higher body dissatisfaction at age 16 predicted greater symptoms [...]

Fewer than one in 10 people who could benefit from GLP-1 drug treatment can access it, the WHO warns in its first guidance on obesity medicines. With more than one billion people now obese and projections suggesting this could exceed two billion by 2030, the UN health agency is calling for wider and fairer access [...]

Dementia has overtaken cancer as the disease Britons fear most, with one in three adults naming it their greatest health concern, new research finds. The findings come from the New Ageing Index, described as the first project to track how the UK thinks and feels about ageing and care over an extended period. Fear of [...]

UK deaths from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias hit their highest level since records began, with 6,612 fatalities last year, new research has revealed. The death rate has more than doubled over the past two decades, making dementia one of Scotland's leading causes of death, responsible for one in ten fatalities. Nearly two-thirds of those [...]

Childhood loneliness increases the risk of dementia in later life, according to new research. Adults who recalled being lonely and without a close friend in childhood faced a 41 per cent higher risk of developing dementia, even if they were no longer lonely as adults. People who frequently felt lonely without close friends during youth [...]