What's New

Latest information:

Special feature on asthma in pregnancy:

Mild or well-controlled asthma will usually cause no major health problems for a pregnant woman or her unborn baby. Poorly controlled asthma can have consequences for mothers and babies, though. Women can find out what they can do to protect themselves and their baby in our fact sheet and research summary: Asthma in pregnancy


Special feature on lymphoedema

Preventing and treating lymphoedema

Between 10 and 20% of women who have breast cancer surgery or radiotherapy develop lymphoedema after treatment. Find out what women can do if that happens in our new fact sheet, and read about what treatments have been shown to help relieve lymphoedema symptoms in our research summary.

Special feature on osteoporosis

Fact sheet about osteoporosis

What are the main risk factors for osteoporosis? Why do some people's bones break more easily in old age? Could smoking influence the health of your bones? Does avoiding physical activity protect your bones, or is the opposite true? You will find answers to these and other interesting questions in our new fact sheet.


Lowering the risk of osteoporosis with simple strategies

Australian researchers wanted to find out whether dietary supplements can really prevent the breakdown of bones and, if so, how much supplementation is necessary. To do this, they analysed trials involving almost 64,000 people who took calcium supplements with or without Vitamin D. To see what conclusions they came to, click here.


Calcium calculator: Am I getting enough calcium?

Calcium is an important part of our diets throughout life. It strengthens our bones, as well as our teeth and nails. Calcium is found in the food and drinks we consume, but you can also get it from dietary supplements. It is generally recommended that adults get 1,000 mg of calcium per day. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), women who are past their menopause and men who are older than 65 need at least 1,300 mg calcium a day. Use our online calculator to find out roughly how much calcium you are getting! You will find a text version of the calculator here.


Special feature on sleep and insomnia

Bedtime habits: 10 basic principles for managing insomnia

Does napping during the day improve sleep at night? Can exercise before going to bed make it easier to fall asleep and feel refreshed in the morning? Insomnia can be managed without taking medication. Our new fact sheet provides helpful information on this topic.


Insomnia - what really helps?

This research summary provides an overview of the current evidence on behaviour therapy and relaxation techniques for people with chronic insomnia. Do relaxation techniques help people fall asleep more quickly and get enough sleep? How effective are approaches that aim to change sleep habits? The main research results are summarised here.


From childhood to old age: How does "normal" sleep change over time?

Sleep is considered to be "normal" if you fall asleep easily, sleep through the night, do not wake up too early and feel refreshed in the morning. Our sleep patterns change throughout life. Researchers analysed studies that looked at what normal sleep is in healthy people at different ages. Find out what they concluded here.


Fatigue in autoimmune diseases: Which non-drug treatments can help?

In autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, the body constantly mounts an immune response against itself. Along with the typical symptoms, this kind of illness often causes severe fatigue. There are several non-drug treatments that can help. These include so-called "energy conservation programmes", which you can read more about here. We describe what such approaches typically involve here.


Depression after stroke:

Grief and sadness are normal after a stroke, but some people get clinically depressed. People who have had strokes, as well as their family and other caregivers, need support to cope after a stroke. You can learn more in our new feature on coping after stroke: here.

Dietary supplements and complementary medicines

The same is true for complementary and prescription medicines: some help, but others do not - and they can have adverse effects. Our new fact sheet helps you find your way through this large market. And we have new information on complementary medicines for depression, premenstrual syndrome and nausea after operations: More


Special feature on allergies

Specific immunotherapy for hay fever and other airborne allergies

Sneezing, blocked nose, runny eyes - and that at just the time of year when people want to be outside more. It is no wonder that many people with hay fever want to find alternatives to allergy medication. Some choose to try specific immunotherapy, which is called de-sensitisation or hyposensitisation. What is specific immunotherapy (SIT) and what are the adverse effects? Are there alternatives to the allergy shots? You can read answers to these questions in our fact sheet and research summary: see our new feature on allergies

Preventing allergies in children: a new fact sheet for parents

Which children have a higher risk of developing allergies? Can pregnant women do anything to try to prevent their child developing allergies? Is childhood immunisation responsible for the increase in allergies? There are some things parents can to lower the chance their child will develop allergies. Also in our new feature: Allergies

A comparison between some antihistamines

Four antihistamines are among the most commonly used medicines for allergies. A research team wanted to find out if any were better than the others. You can read about what they found in our summary: Antihistamines

Quiz on allergies

What really causes allergies? What are the myths, and what are the facts? Test your knowledge about allergies in our latest quiz: here



What's coming next?

Coming soon: full-length features on asthma, endometriosis, insulin and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and much more.

What topics would interest you?

We can't cover everything, but we would very much like to know what our readers want, so it can help us decide future topics. If there is a topic you would like to read about, let us know about it using our Suggest a Topic online form.