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There has been a significant increase in people suffering from high cholesterol which is being exacerbated by the UK’s obesity epidemic, it has been claimed.

Heart Research UK, the national charity responsible for research into heart disease, has stated that high levels of cholesterol are a direct result of deteriorating dietary habits.

The group explained that obesity leads to several occurrences in the body, one of which is an increased presence of cholesterol.

Denise Armstrong, lifestyle manager at Heart Research UK, said one of the most effective ways that people can reduce their cholesterol levels is substantially reduce the amount of saturated fat in their diet.

"It is an increasing problem and it’s made worse by the obesity epidemic. The problem with obesity is that it leads to a number of things happening in the body, but one of them is raised cholesterol level," she said

Heart Research UK was founded in 1967 by heart surgeon David Watson who is now president of the organisation.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with obesity.

Childhood obesity statistics that were published last month are flawed, a public health expert has claimed.

The Community Practitioner’s and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) has stated that school nurses should be given control of obesity management in schools in order to improve the standard and use of data.

According to figures published by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, some 23 per cent of children in reception classes and 32 per cent in year six were overweight or obese in 2006-7.

However, Ros Godson, professional officer for school and public health at the CPHVA, has refuted the validity of body mass index (BMI) measurements on children.

She commented: "There is no definitive BMI for children; only for adults. Children develop at different times: an 11-year-old summer-born boy may be three years from puberty, but an 11-year-old autumn-born girl may have been pre-pubertal since she was seven, and may be almost at her adult height and weight. You are simply not comparing like with like."

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with obesity.

Diabetes UK is looking to raise its profile among healthcare professionals by introducing a direct mail postcard with an accompanying CD.

Some 20,000 CD postcards are to be sent to healthcare professionals across the UK, to prepare for the 2008 Diabetes UK annual professional conference in March.

The card acts as a digital introduction to the organisation and aims to encourage people working with diabetes to join the professional membership programme.

Joe Chown, professional membership manager for Diabetes UK, said: "The Serious card enables us to promote the individual membership benefits, as well as draw attention to the important work we do on behalf of the professionals working in the field of diabetes."

He added that the user will be able to access content which is of direct relevance to their particular discipline, thereby allowing his organisation to "target messages" to various audiences through a single campaign.

Diabetes UK is the UK’s charity for the care and treatment of people with diabetes.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with diabetes.

New research has revealed that there is confusion between health visitors and GPs as to who is supposed to detect and treat postnatal depression.

The study is published in this month’s British Journal of General Practice and comprised some 20 GPs and 14 health visitors across nine primary care trusts in Bristol, London and Manchester.

It discovered that both groups thought the other was responsible for detecting and managing postnatal depression, according to Healthcare Republic.

Several health visitors felt that the issue of postnatal depression was "no longer part of their work" or had become less of a priority to things like child protection obligations, childhood obesity, and corporate working.

However, this has led to confusion among GPs who are used to being informed about women’s health through health visitors, says the report.

Commenting on the issue, the Royal College of General Practitioner’s clinical champion for mental health Dr Carolyn Chew-Graham said: "Current policy is redirecting the emphasis of health visiting away from the management of postnatal depression."

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with depression.

New figures have revealed the growing problem of childhood obesity with almost a quarter of four and five-year-olds falling into the category.

Additionally, statistics from the Department of Health have revealed that 31.6 per cent of ten to 11-year-olds are dangerously overweight, reports Nursing in Practice.

Some 80 per cent of children within the age ranges were weighed and measured as part of a government initiative to tackle the problem, says the report.

Commenting on the findings, Stuart Barber, head of policy and public affairs at the British Heart Foundation, said: "These distressing figures confirm that a whole new generation of children are paying the price for decades of inaction."

He warned that youngsters are particularly vulnerable to junk food advertising that encourages them to "put their long-term health at risk".

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said that knowledge about the scale of the problem is imperative if the government is take the appropriate measures in fighting the problem.

The British Heart Foundation was founded in 1961.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with obesity.

Those people suffering from depression may reap some long-term benefits, an expert has claimed.

While the condition is crippling to many people, psychiatrist Dr Paul Keedwell claims that sufferers may find themselves more able to deal with problems in the future.

This reflects conflicting opinions about depression in the medical profession, with some academics feeling that doctors are too quick to diagnose the condition and prescribe drugs, reports the Daily Mail.

Some 32 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were given out in the UK last year, according to the report.

Former sufferer Dr Keedwell said: "In the severe form it is terrible and life threatening, but for many it is a short term painful episode. It can help people to find a new way of coping with events or your situation - and give you a new perspective, as well as making you more realistic about your aims."

However, Marjorie Wallace, of mental health charity Sane, stressed that not everyone has the strength to deal with the condition and will require professional help.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with depression.

There is new hope for diabetes sufferers as the latest stem cell research means doctors are moving ever closer to finding a cure for the condition.

Cells taken from a human embryo have the ability to turn into any kind of tissue and experts have successfully converted them into cells callable of tackling the disease.

The study, reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology, has found that immature ‘beta’ cells injected into mice became insulin-secreting cells within one to three months.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Emmanuel Baetge, who led the research, said: "By all measures examined, the embryonic stem cell-derived cells are functionally very similar to adult human islets, providing compelling evidence that embryonic stem cells may serve as a renewable source of islets for diabetes cell replacement therapies."

Diabetes UK has said that, while there is still some way to go, it hopes this kind of treatment may offer hope to the UK’s 2.3 million diabetes sufferers.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with diabetes.

Children who have a salt-rich diet could be at an increased risk of becoming obese, it has emerged.

A new study by researchers at the University of London on 1,600 children has revealed that many children with a salty diet tended to supplement it with sugary soft drinks, reports the BBC.

The research, reported in the journal Hypertension, also found that 250 calories could be cut from a child’s diet by halving the average daily salt intake of six grams.

Professor Graham McGregor, one of the paper’s authors and the chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health, claimed that there was still a lot of work to be done by the food industry to reliably inform people about the salt content of food.

The British Heart Foundation agreed, saying: "When children regularly swill down salty foods with sugary, calorie-laden soft drinks, it can mean double trouble for their future heart health," according to the report.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with obesity.

Today’s food culture of extra free content and ’supersizing’ has resulted in many consumers no longer being unaware of what a normal portion is, an obesity expert has warned.

A spokesperson for the Association of the Study of Obesity (ASO) has stated that this means we are no longer paying attention to "our hunger cues" which can subsequently lead to excessive weight gain.

Dr Beckie Lang, spokesperson for the ASO, commented: "If we’re buying food that’s already portioned, do we really know how much to give? We know that we override our appetite control system all the time. We don’t listen to our hunger cues, we are not aware of them any more."

She added that portion sizes for a packet of crisps, for example, have effectively doubled, with most consumers highly unlikely to eat half and save the rest for later.

Dr Lang stressed that it is imperative that people are aware that consuming foods high in fat content will dramatically increase calorie intake and weight gain.

The ASO was founded in 1967 and specialises in the understanding and treatment of obesity.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with obesity.

New research published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research has found that a new anti-cancer agent which treats breast cancer can negate resistance to cancer drugs.

Studies into the disease have shown that many tumours which contain the protein pump P-glycoprotein are able to become resistant to cancer treatment.

However, the recently discovered anti-cancer agent STX140 is not able to be removed from cancer cells, and is able to force a "cell suicide" in those cells that express the P-glycoprotein pump.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Simon Newman, lead author of the paper from the Oncology Drug Discovery and Women’s Health Group at Imperial College London, said: "Whilst the research is still at a very early stage the results of our studies show that STX140 may, in the future, have a role to play in difficult to treat advanced drug-resistant breast cancer."

He added that this is a "very exciting" discovery given that the drug can be administered orally at regular intervals and it could prove highly effective in targeting tumours that are resistant to current treatment.

The Insurance Helpline specialises in obtaining cover for people living with cancer.