Health & Beauty

Over half of people in the South West have someone in their family with risk factors that put them greater risk of heart disease, according to new statistics released ahead of the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) Wear it. Beat it. campaign to get the nation wearing red to fight heart disease on Friday 5th February.

The BHF poll revealed over half of people in the South West (53%) fear that a loved one could be struck down with a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke in the future. Over two fifths (41%) have already lost someone or know a loved one affected by heart...

A new clinical imaging method developed in collaboration with a University of Exeter academic may enable doctors to tackle one of the main killers of patients with weakened immune systems sooner and more effectively.

The spores of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus are tiny, everywhere in the air and breathed in by humans every day.

They do not usually cause a problem for healthy people as their immune systems kill the spores before they can grow and infect the body. But in patients with an immune system weakened by leukaemia or bone marrow transplantation, the fungus faces...

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is calling for a ban on all junk food TV advertising before 9pm, as part of the Government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy, to help improve children’s health.

Millions of children across the UK are being exposed to junk food adverts during popular shows such as the X Factor and Hollyoaks.

Analysis by the BHF shows that weak regulations are creating loopholes that mean that food companies can advertise junk food - high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt - during programmes watched by children in the South West.

Shockingly, 13 junk...

In January, the most depressing month of the year, researchers are urging people to take up free therapy courses in a bid to help them find a definitive answer to what works best in online treatment for depression.

It has long been known that online cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) can be effective in treating depression – but scientists do not know which aspects work best. Now researchers at the University of Exeter are using Blue Monday, which has been labelled the most depressing day of the year, to raise awareness of a trial which will provide free online CBT for people with...