1 minute read
Menopause game changer
A NEW nonhormonal drug will revolutionise menopause treatments.
As long ago as the 1950s a study found that bus drivers were twice as likely to have heart attacks as busconductors.
Since then, research has consistently tied prolonged sitting to multiple ailments, not least because this immobilises some of the body’s largest muscles, putting it into standby mode.
When sitting for long enough, the metabolism will slow, constricting circulation and affecting the ability to deal with glucose.
If sitting is unavoidable at work, keeping your computer screen at eye level and your feet flat on the floor will help, allowing you to keep your spine and hips in less painful positions. The simplest way to make a noticeable difference, though, is to get up every 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
The drug, fezolinetant, which acts directly on the brain to prevent hot flushes, was licensed in the US earlier this month and could be prescribed in the UK by the end of this year.
Made by Astellas Pharma, the medication could transform the misery that hot flushes cause for hundreds of thousands of women who are unable or do not want to use hormone replacement drugs (HRT).
“This is a completely blockbuster drug,” declared Prof Waljit Dhillo, an en docrinologist at Imperial College London who headed 2017 trials which opened the door for developing the drug.
SEVERAL UK cancer charities want to see VAT removed from sunscreen.
This is classed as a cosmetic product, incurring a 20 per cent tax which adds an average £1.50 (€1.72) to the cost.
Highfactor sunscreen should be free of VAT, the charities said. The cost of living crisis meant there are items which people now think twice about buying, and a survey by Melanoma Fo
“It’s like a switch, the flushes go away in a day or two,” he told the UK media. “It’s unbelievable how well these drugs work.”
