Dr David Cox

Living with animals is thought to have profound effects on our immunity – potentially reducing the risk of allergies, eczema and even autoimmune conditions.
Since they first emigrated from Central Europe to North America in the 18th Century, the Amish have become known for their unique lifestyle. Today they are reliant on the same practices of dairy cattle farming and horse-borne transportation that were followed by their ancestors for centuries.
The Amish have gripped the imaginations of Hol...

When it comes to weight loss, we’re all after a magic bullet, a simple, stress-free way of shedding the excess pounds. And so for millions around the world, the arrival of the so-called GLP-1 class of weight-loss drugs in 2021 seemed like a godsend, especially for anyone who’s struggled to stick with dieting advice, commit to an exercise regime or simply find a weight-loss solution that works.
Named after the GLP-1 hormone they mimic in the brain, the drugs help you stay full longer and reduc...

For future generations, it’s quite plausible that their most important 50th birthday present will be an Ozempic prescription from their GP, designed to slow down the ageing process and prolong their years of good health.
That’s the provocative suggestion of Gaetano Santulli, Associate Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, one of the world’s foremost hubs of ageing research. He says evidence is increasingly pointing...

John Wiederspan is well aware of how things can go wrong in the high-pressure, high-stakes environment of an operating room.
“During situations such as trauma, or a patient doing poorly, there’s a real rush to try and get emergency drugs into the patient as fast as possible,” said Wiederspan, a nurse anesthetist at UW Medicine in Seattle. “And that’s when mistakes can occur, when you’re flustered, your adrenaline’s rushing, you’re drawing up drugs and you’re trying to push them.”
Despite ongo...

The miniature mouthfuls in front of me looked like any other small plates at an upmarket restaurant. First, a smoked chicken salad with raisins, pickles and celery on top of a brioche, followed by slices of grilled, glazed chicken breast on a bed of pomme purée, beetroot rings and cauliflower.
Each were flavoursome and utterly delectable, perhaps unsurprisingly as they had been dished up especially for me by a chef who once worked for Noma, the Copenhagen gastronomic mecca feted as one of the...

While 10,000 steps per day has become a standard target, even as few as 4,000 daily steps can offer significant health benefits for those with a sedentary lifestyle

Almost every smartphone, smartwatch, or wearable worth its salt now has a built-in step counter.
With experts warning that ‘sitting is the new smoking’, and organisations such as the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Sport Ireland devising campaigns to encourage the public to be more active, monitoring our total number of d...

Research indicates the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa with type 2 diabetes could surge by 2045.

Across the African continent, the focus on disease has long been on infectious killers such as HIV and tuberculosis. But in early February, around 700 policymakers, academics, and philanthropists convened in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the alarming rise of noncommunicable diseases in the region. Of particular concern: spiraling rates of type 2 diabe...

At last year’s British Society for Research on Ageing conference, an annual meeting to discuss the latest ideas for improving healthy ageing and lifespan, one theme kept cropping up – how best to rid the body of senescent cells?
They are often dubbed “zombie cells”, because instead of replicating and then dying off like most healthy cells in our body, senescent cells stop dividing and instead simply linger, refusing to disappear. They were first discovered in the 1960s but have attracted grow...

These days there is no escaping the popularity of taking a weight loss drug to shed the pounds. Over the past four years, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic (prescribed for Type 2 diabetes), Wegovy and Mounjaro, have emerged as the hottest commodities in town for anyone looking to lose weight, and by December 2024, an estimated 500,000 people in the UK were taking them for weight management.
Some people have seen incredible results, shedding up to a quarter of their body weight in little more than a...

Grip strength is associated with a range of health outcomes, from type 2 diabetes to depression. Here’s how to check yours.
In a world of technologically-driven longevity clinics with their increasingly sophisticated imaging scans, some of which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, it turns out that one of the best assessments of muscle strength and quality is to simply sit in a chair and squeeze a tennis ball.
That's the recommendation offered by Joshua Davidson, a strength and conditionin...

As we reach a certain age, many of us begin reaching for our pill bottles, as well as a nice glass of red.
With more than 10 million people in England now eligible for statins, the cholesterol lowering drugs (which are prescribed to reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases and prevent further damage for people who have already had a heart attack) it’s inevitable that some will want to keep enjoying the odd drink while taking their medications (although perhaps not simultaneously).
This is parti...

A new type of tobacco product is finding growing numbers of users around the world, but there are still serious questions about how it affects human health.

Having smoked for nearly 30 years since the age of 13, IT consultant and freelance writer Ben Taylor was intrigued by the sound of heated tobacco products.

Attempting to switch from cigarettes to vapes hadn't worked for Taylor. "Vaping liquids always left me wanting," he posted on his blog. So he decided to try IQOS, a sleek, pen-shaped e...

A gut toxin that’s been linked to colorectal cancers for more than two decades may be contributing to the sharp rise of the disease in younger people, according to landmark research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
A number of species of harmful gut bacteria — including certain strains of E.coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Citrobacter koseri — produce a toxin called colibactin. Since the mid 2000s, studies have repeatedly shown that this toxin can inflict distinct DNA damage on colon...

If you’ve ever reached for a Rennie after dinner you are not alone. Heartburn or acid reflux after a blow out meal is increasingly common. Anyone bothered by this unpleasant condition will be all too familiar with the sour taste and uncomfortable burn from their stomach contents being regurgitated back up their oesophagus and into their throat.
According to the NHS, an astonishing 20 per cent of the adult UK population have problems with severe acid reflux, with rising rates of obesity though...

Faecal transplants can boost the immune systems of patients with advanced cancer, improving their response to immunotherapy. Could this experimental treatment play a major role in the future?

In early 2022, the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston began enrolling patients with late-stage disease for a unique clinical trial.
With a matter of months to live, and all other treatment options exhausted, the centre’s oncologists offered these patients a chance to see whether manipulating thei...