Loneliness, Statins, Feedback on glucosamine and gut instinct, Cycle lanes and air pollution, Coughs and antibiotics

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4 • 575 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2014

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr Mark Porter investigates the health effects of loneliness and why some researchers believe being lonely is worse for your health than obesity. Also in the programme, as proposed new UK guidelines mean as many as 5 million more people could be prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol how do you work out if you are in this new category of being at risk? Are the current calculators that work out your risk up to the job? Mark also investigates coughs. Does it really make a difference if your cough is viral or bacterial, and why eighty percent of people won't benefit from taking antibiotics for their cough. A recent study has found that long term, repeated exposure to air pollution increases the risk of heart attacks. What does this mean for people who live near busy roads, and who is most at risk? Mark Porter talks to Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King's College London about why the microscopic particles in air pollution cause problems for the heart and why he believes cycle routes shouldn't be on busy, main roads.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I am Ed Gamble, host of another BBC
0:04.6	podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like
0:09.9	Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylen,
0:15.0	and comedy specials from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Romesh Ranganathan.
0:19.9	However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked.
0:24.3	So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds.
0:29.5	Hello, I'm Dr Mark Porter and thank you for downloading this edition of Inside Health.
0:34.0	I hope you enjoy it.
0:35.3	Coming up in today's program, Statins, Dr Margaret McCartney will be here to clarify cholesterol.
0:41.6	How can you tell if you're one of the five million extra people in the UK that Nice
0:45.7	believes could benefit from taking a statin?
0:48.8	Air pollution. Following new research, linking heart attacks to particles in diesel fumes,
0:53.2	we look at what we can do to protect ourselves and treating a cough.
0:58.1	Why do so many people end up on antibiotics when the best evidence suggests
1:02.6	that they don't help in most cases and may make matters worse?
1:06.6	But first, loneliness and reports in the media this week that being lonely in old age is deadlier than obesity, a claim that piqued our interest here at Inside Health. Margaret McCartney's been taking a closer look. Margaret, press coverage said being lonely was worse for you than being obese. Were you happy with that comparison?
1:24.3	I think it's very difficult. The problem with these studies is that they haven't directly compared the impact of being obese with the impact of reporting that you're feeling
1:32.1	lonely. So I think it's very hard to be clear what the risk is in proportion with other risks,
1:36.6	but I think we can be clear that it is a risk factor that is present, has been found across
1:41.6	many different types of studies, and it does seem to be persistent
1:45.5	so it's not something that's picked up in some studies and not on others. It is a fairly
1:49.1	consistent research finding across the board, not just in the US but also in the UK.
	...

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