Social media and bullying: how to keep young people safe online

For all the benefits to mental health a digital world can bring, such as a sense of belonging and information and support for those with problems, there are also myriad dangers associated with online activity. In the very worst cases, people have live-streamed their suicide and had people cheer them on in the comments section.

Meanwhile, cyberbullying and trolling, along with communities and groups on social media that foster, glamorise or even encourage self-harm are pervasive. Stephen Buckley, head of information at the charity Mind, acknowledges these risks: “It is vital to recognise the huge danger created by any site or social media trend that promotes self-harm, suicide or eating disorders. They can be hugely damaging and possibly dangerous to someone in a crisis.”

This has come to the forefront over the past decade as more and more children use smartphones and tablets. A Young Minds report, Resilience For the Digital World, says half of Europe’s nine- to 16-year-olds now own a smartphone; the vast majority go online at least once a week, and most daily.

Buckley says that people are now used to following their friends on social media and sharing news of a new job, relationship, or a holiday presented in the best possible light. But this can have an impact on individual self-esteem. “While low self-esteem is not a mental health problem in itself, the two are closely linked. If lots of things are affecting your self-esteem for a long time, this may lead to depression or anxiety,” says Buckley.

Pressure on young people may also come from situations where they are being bullied in daily life that then cross over into their digital lives, says Marc Bush, chief policy adviser at Young Minds. “For instance, victimisation in the school playground is replicated on their Facebook pages or their WhatsApp or Snapchat groups, so they relive the distress they’re experiencing in real life on the digital platform.”

So, what’s to be done? Bush says industry has an important role to play. Today, if you search certain hashtags on Instagram, for example, a helpline pops up. He also cites the report from the House of Lords communication committee, Growing Up With the Internet, which calls for a national digital champion who can look at the rights of young people online, educate parents and teachers on how to look out for warning signs, and support young people to understand the consequences of bullying someone online.

The greater part of the solution, though, lies with young people themselves. “Ultimately,” says Bush, “young people are active in the creation, consumption and distribution of these images or forms of behaviour, so they have to be part of the solution.”

Tamanna Miah: ‘I developed severe anxiety after being bullied online.’

Tamanna Miah is now a prominent anti-bullying activist

Tamanna Miah, 23, is a campaigner and public speaker from Kent. She describes how she coped with being bullied on social media and what it has been like to grow up in a digital world.

“I grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent, which is a very conservative, middle-class area. I suffered from severe bullying and racism from primary school to my all-girls secondary school until university. When I went home, the abuse continued online. It happened on my social media networks – Facebook, Bebo and MSN. People would comment on photos, status updates, anything that I was doing. Sometimes it was racist or Islamophobic, or attacking my appearance or the way I acted – anything. People would find a fault and take advantage of the situation.

I was a very shy, quiet child, I couldn’t stand up for myself, or look people in the eye. I would be bullied at school, come home and log on to the laptop and it would continue. You wake up in the morning to check again and it’s never-ending torment and hate. I couldn’t escape. I hated school and my time in education. I was never happy.

I developed severe anxiety and depression as a result. I tried to get support from my school and was unsuccessful. I visited my GP and they dismissed me and didn’t take me seriously. They said nothing was wrong and told me to do some exercise. It wasn’t until university that I was diagnosed.

Now I try and be careful when using social media, but I also use it for networking and meeting people. I’ve been through bullying online and offline, but I’ve also had a wealth of opportunities through social media.

I make sure that my personal activity, photos and comments are restricted, to avoid anyone attacking me publicly or harassing me. I don’t want to experience more abuse so I’d rather keep personal things private. I’d say to others in similar situations to always be careful about what you post and where.

Your online life is always going to be present. Google yourself to see what’s out there so you can check your settings and change them if needed. If someone is bullying you, always tell a responsible person as soon as possible. Make sure you have evidence of everything. Take screenshots or make audio recordings.

Whatever happens, don’t give up – just keep going. We absolutely need to speak about these issues, because if we don’t, who will?”

Social media and bullying: how to keep young people safe online

Drug scandals and the media – the unresolved case of Primodos

If the history of drug scandals teaches us anything, it is that fair compensation is typically achieved only through lengthy media campaigns and legal battles. Though lacking the direct powers of judges or policymakers, interventions by investigative journalists and broadcasters have sometimes proved decisive.

Take thalidomide: between 1957 and 1961 the widely prescribed morning-sickness treatment caused miscarriages, and many thousands of babies around the world were born with severe limb malformations. In the UK, an adequate settlement was negotiated with the British distributor, Distillers Company (now part of Diageo), only after the Sunday Times took up the cause in 1972.

The thalidomide disaster is the best-known drug scandal involving birth defects, but it is not the only one. In the late 1960s, suspicion fell on Primodos, a hormonal pregnancy-test drug marketed by the German pharmaceutical company Schering (now Bayer). I have previously written on the origins of Primodos and the still unresolved debate over whether the British government should have allowed it to remain on the market until 1978, despite widespread safety concerns and the existence of a highly reliable and perfectly harmless alternative: the laboratory urine test. As with thalidomide, the media played and continues to play a crucial role in the campaign for compensation for those who say they have been harmed by Primodos.

An advertisement for Primodos in The Practitioner from the early 1960s marketing campaign aimed at GPs that aggressively targeted the slower, more expensive toad test. Photograph: Practitioner, vol. 185 July 1960./The Practitioner, Practitioner Medical Publishing Ltd

Blowing the whistle on Schering

The Primodos scandal unfolded in the shadow of the thalidomide disaster and was shaped by it. Primed by thalidomide, the Sunday Times became involved early on. It was in response to a Sunday Times exposé that the British government issued the first official warning of a ‘possible association’ between Primodos and ‘an increased incidence of congenital abnormalities’ in 1975. Despite the warning many doctors continued to prescribe Primodos, and it remained widely available in Britain.

The media campaign took a dramatic turn in 1977 when a concerned employee of Schering’s British subsidiary leaked internal corporate documents to the press. These papers revealed a significant dispute between British and German executives over whether Primodos should continue to be marketed in Britain. Essentially, British executives wanted the drug to be taken off the market, but their hands were tied when the final decision was made in Berlin. The documents eventually reached the light of day by a circuitous route, involving a whistle-blower, a reporter, and a private investigator.

Scandal, leaks and spin

Ian Withers, a private investigator, was enlisted by a law firm to place the documents with one of the national newspapers. Withers was offered a fee of £500 and asked to generate £10,000 for the large folder of correspondence. This sum was intended as an insurance policy for the anonymous ‘whistleblower’, who fully expected to lose his job and forfeit any further career prospects in the industry. Withers spent around ten days hawking sample pages to journalists and media contacts. One was a reporter for the Sunday People, who expressed an interest in the story. But instead of exposing Schering’s internal dispute over drug safety, the reporter decided to portray Withers as a ‘rat’ trying to ‘cash in on a toddler’s suffering’. Withers considered suing, but refrained in order to safeguard his client’s anonymity, which endures to this day. Happily, the incident did not damage the detective’s reputation and he went on to a career as one of Britain’s most successful private eyes.

The leaked folder, meanwhile, soon made its way into the hands of journalist and broadcaster Greg Dyke, who quoted heavily from the documents it contained in his hour-long documentary for London Weekend Television’s The London Programme in 1978. By then, Labour MP Jack Ashley, who had spearheaded the thalidomide campaign in Parliament, had begun calling for a government inquiry into Primodos. Further coverage in The Guardian and The Sunday Times continued to apply pressure and culminated in a first debate, in the House of Commons, on 26 May 1978.

On 6 June 1978, Dyke reported in The Guardian that Health Minister Roland Moyle would that day ‘for the first time, come face to face with a group of parents who believe their children were born deformed because their mothers were prescribed hormone pregnancy testing drugs’. The parents, Dyke explained, wanted ‘just one thing from the Minister – a public inquiry into the way the drugs were used in this country’. But despite Ashley’s efforts, the parents did not receive the inquiry they wanted—until 2014.

The 1970s campaigns relied on just one folder; now there is much more evidence to be considered. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

New lines of evidence

The current inquiry, set to report in May, was launched by the Department of Health following a second debate in the Commons, on 23 October 2014. Its brief is to examine the evidence, including new sources that were not available in the 1970s. These include thousands of pages of documents that have resurfaced in London and Berlin and ongoing laboratory research on the effects of Primodos on developing fish embryos. A reenergised campaign, headed by Marie Lyon, now has the support of an all-party parliamentary group formed in 2014 by Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi. And Jason Farrell, a Sky News reporter who became involved in 2011, has made Primodos: The Secret Drug Scandal, an hour-long documentary and the culmination of his investigation.

Back in 1978, Dyke had access to just a single leaked folder of internal correspondence. Today, the evidence base is radically expanded to include new experimental results and masses of previously supressed documents. Farrell makes good use of these, as should the inquiry, which has vastly more material at its disposal than it would have done in the late 1970s. It is possible that legal proceedings, abandoned in 1982, will be started up again. The media, alongside campaigners and MPs, continues to play as vital a role as it did back then. It does so by bringing new evidence to light, using it to form public opinion, and, not least, by applying pressure to government and industry. Will today’s media campaign, armed with new lines of evidence, succeed where that of the 1970s faltered? Will Primodos: The Secret Drug Scandal make history?

Jesse Olszynko-Gryn is a historian of medicine at the University of Cambridge. He acted as historical consultant on Primodos: The Secret Drug Scandal.

Drug scandals and the media – the unresolved case of Primodos

Friends’ pictures on social media have biggest impact on body image

Seeing friends’ carefully curated selfies on Facebook is more likely to induce feelings of guilt or shame among young women, and lead to unnecessary dieting, than images of models or celebrities they see in magazines.

Academics found that young women are more likely to compare their appearance with that of their peers’ images on social media than they were with celebrities on TV, adverts or other forms of traditional media. When they then make an unfavourable comparison with the other woman they are looking at, the impact is more pronounced when the image is on social media.

Women are also more likely to diet and do exercise when negative comparisons take place on sites such as Facebook or Instagram, the research found. The vast majority of study participants were not overweight and did not need to diet.

Researchers said the study, which will appear in March in the journal Body Image, has implications for how schools should teach young people about the influences that might affect their self-esteem.

Jasmine Fardouly, lead researcher at the centre for emotional health at Macquarie University, Sydney, said there are several reasons why social media may be more damaging than traditional media. “Celebrities may seem more distanced and their appearance may seem less attainable than people you work with or see regularly.”

The study, which questioned about 150 young women who completed five daily surveys over a five-day period, found that participants overwhelmingly considered themselves less attractive than the people they saw both online and in traditional media.

The negative impact that thin models and airbrushed adverts have on young women has been a source of concern for decades, but increasing attention is being paid to the role of social media. Around 70% of women aged 18 to 35 regularly edit their images before posting them – as do 50% of men in the same age group, according to research by the Renfrew Center Foundation, a US organisation that specialises in tackling eating disorders. Airbrushing on social media has become commonplace: Samsung users have reported that their phones default to a “beauty” mode that alters their faces and smooths out imperfections.

Last month Be Real, a national campaign, was launched to improve body confidence by providing resources to schools, as well as calling on the diet industry, media and businesses to promote different body shapes and sizes. The campaign was launched in response to a report by the all-party parliamentary group on body image which found that girls as young as five were worrying about their appearance.

Natasha Devon, the former children’s mental health champion, and co-founder of the Self-Esteem Team, said that PSHE (personal, social and health education classes in schools) – which cover topics such as body image – should be made compulsory, if these issues are to be taught properly.

Friends’ pictures on social media have biggest impact on body image

The Mainstream Media: The Masters of Deceit

The mainstream media has mastered the “science of deceit”.

The mainstream media, not only being a hooker for the pharmaceutical industry, regularly reports on the “dangers” of herbal remedies and supplements. But, what is the reported number of people who have died from using herbs and supplements?

According to the FDA, between 1993 and 1998, federal, state, and local agencies reported a total of 184 deaths, most of which were associated with weight loss formulas.

Compare that to the reported number of people who die in hospitals because of the side effects of properly and improperly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs: more than 100,000 or so. You can add another 100,000 or so to that the number of patients killed in hospitals because of “medical errors”.

Here are some truths about the “scientific” testing of pharmaceutical drugs that you are probably not aware of:

*The drug manufacturers themselves supply the research information contained in the Physicians’ Desk Reference.

*The FDA approves drugs by simply reviewing studies submitted by the drug manufacturers.

*A drug manufacturer needs to submit only two studies showing satisfactory results to get a drug approved by the Fraud and Drug Administration (even if there are more studies showing the drug causes adverse reactions in an unacceptably high number of cases?)

*Most of the articles discussing the efficacy of drugs that are published in medical journals are studies paid for by the drug manufacturer.

*The New York Times reported that the academic scientists listed as lead authors are often just “window dressing”, lending credibility to papers that are really the work of drug companies.

*A study conducted by USA Today found that more than half of the experts hired to advise the government on the safety and effectiveness of medicine had a direct financial interest in the drug or topic they were asked to evaluate.

*An analysis of financial conflicts of interest at 159 FDA advisory committee meetings from 1998 through 2000, found that at 92% of the meetings at least one member had a financial conflict of interest, while at 55% of meetings, half or more of the FDA advisors had conflicts of interest.

*An article in the New York Times revealed that the pharmaceutical industry spent $ 177 million on lobbying in 1999 and 2000. That’s $ 50 million more than their nearest rival, the insurance industry.

*Big Pharma employs more lobbyists (625) than there are members of Congress, and more than half of the lobbyists are former members of Congress, congressional staff members, or government employees.

Reform will only come from you and how you spend your money. Get informed, take responsibility for your own health, and choose your doctors and medicines wisely.

Start an exercise program, no matter how basic. Those things below your waist are called legs. If you put one before the other it’s called walking. Do it for distance and do it for speed. When your body gets used to it, increase your distance and speed.

Eliminate saturated fat from your diet, which is found in everything that had a face and a mother and milk products.

Eliminate fiberless white flour products and white rice and stay away from “junk foods”.

Eat more vegetable salads, whole grains and natural foods with fiber. Drink more water than soda (soda creates an acidic condition in the body and we all know what acid does).

Buy organically grown foods and buy no products that contain pesticides, additives, stabilizers, preservatives, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, or GMOs.

Remember, there is a link between aluminum cookware and Alzheimer’s disease. Above all, remember, “if man made it, don’t eat it”!

The best thing that you can do is to continue reading everything on naturalnews.com and tap into www.healthtalkhawaii.com and listen to the radio shows. It could change your life.

Aloha!

To learn more about Hesh, listen to and read hundreds of health related radio shows and articles, and learn about how to stay healthy and reverse degenerative diseases through the use of organic sulfur crystals and the most incredible bee pollen ever, please visit www.healthtalkhawaii.com, or email me at heshgoldstein@gmail.com or call me at (808) 258-1177. Since going on the radio in 1981 these are the only products I began to sell because they work.
Oh yeah, going to www.asanediet.com will allow you to read various parts of my book – “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”, containing a wonderful comment by Mike Adams.
In Hawaii, the TV stations interview local authors about the books they write and the newspapers all do book reviews. Not one would touch “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Why? Because it goes against their advertising dollars.

The Mainstream Media: The Masters of Deceit

Statins: Patients are allowed to make poor choices but the media shouldn’t help them | Ranjana Srivastava

It’s clear that her symptoms are advancing and that she was right on the futility of further chemotherapy. She is having trouble staying awake, her appetite is deteriorating, and she is weaker by the day. This may well be our last appointment.

“We can get rid of a number of your medications,” I say, frowning at the long list that her daughter says is proving increasingly difficult to administer.

“Let’s do that,” she says joyfully.

So in one of my favourite acts, I slash half her list, explaining why as I go along.

But she stops me at the statin, an anti-cholesterol drug she was prescribed 20 years ago for a barely elevated cholesterol detected on an insurance test.

“I need that so I don’t die from a heart attack.”

“Not quite,” I say soothingly. “Statins exert their benefit over many years and we agree that now, it’s more important to maintain comfort.”

“I can’t imagine my day without my statin,” she declares, leaving me to wonder somewhat enviously how her cardiologist managed to evince such devout compliance for a questionable cause.

Just then her husband pipes up. He is a sprightly 74, still working, and unlike his wife, detests medications, including the statin he was prescribed after a serious heart attack some years ago.

“Well, I’ve decided that at 75, I am swapping the statin for sausages. From what I hear, the two are as bad as each other.”

She has heard this before because the wife adds with a smile, “At 75 or when I die, whichever happens sooner.”

I urge the husband to discuss his decision with his doctor before stopping treatment, I tell my patient to stop her statin and I bid them both a fond goodbye.

As they leave, I find myself thinking about many recent conversations I have had with patients about statins. With cancer patients who have a limited life expectancy, stopping the statin is both safe and right. But during my stints in general medicine, where we treat heart attacks, strokes and dementia, the answer is more nuanced.

Does everyone need a high-dose statin? How many will experience side effects? Is lifestyle modification a reasonable starting point or should every patient be commenced on a statin? The reality of most hospital management is that a drug is prescribed and the patient finds out as an afterthought. But if a statin, once started, is likely to become a lifelong drug, what considerations are important beforehand?

Many patients have heard of statins but awareness does not mean familiarity and it certainly does not mean being informed. For every person who trusts a doctor’s recommendation to take a statin, someone else suspects a conspiracy theory fuelling the prescription of the world’s highest-selling drug.

For the patient who wants to know more, things can get complicated. A cursory internet search warns that statins make women (but not men) more aggressive, accelerate ageing, damage stem cells, worsen heart disease, cause dementia and are “unhealthy and unethical” to prescribe.

Alongside are studies asserting that statins significantly reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes and improve mortality. Their benefits are evident within the first year of intake and accumulate over time, making them among the few drugs to have a dramatic impact on health outcomes. Considering that heart disease is the number one killer in many parts of the world, this is no ambit claim. But pity the hapless patient trying to make an informed choice – it’s hard to know which “expert” advice to heed because everyone sounds knowledgeable.

Very few patients needed to stop statins due to adverse effects.

When I recently prescribed a statin to a young woman with a heart attack and a host of coronary risk factors, she expressed concern. I explained that no drug was without side effects but a new, rigorous, non-industry funded, meta-analysis by the clinical trial service unit of Oxford University, shows that the benefits of statins have been underestimated and harms exaggerated. The results were published in the Lancet medical journal.

Treating 10,000 high-risk patients with a low-cost, generic statin for five years prevented 1,000 strokes and heart attacks and treating 10,000 lower-risk patients prevented 500. Of 10,000 patients, five might suffer muscle aches, up to 100 may develop diabetes and five to 10 may suffer a brain haemorrhage but these side-effects have been included in the estimate of the absolute benefit.

Very few patients needed to stop statins due to adverse effects. It may not be the absolute final word but the meta-analysis concludes that many problems have been misattributed to statins, therefore planting fear in the minds of those at high cardiovascular risk and dissuading them from taking a potentially life-saving drug.

But how did these rare toxicities garner so much attention in the first place?

In October 2013, the British Medical Journal, as part of its mission to promote rational prescribing, published a paper quoting the incidence of statin-related side effects being as high as 18% and thus concluding that statins did not provide an overall health benefit to those patients deemed at low risk. But the 18% figure was based on flawed research and it was apparent that even in the quoted research, the figure was closer to 9%, but without the inclusion of a placebo-controlled group, which meant even the 9% could not be genuinely attributed to statins. (The meta-analysis says that statins are “no less well-tolerated than placebo”).

Seven months later the BMJ corrected the erroneous statements but did not retract the entire paper. Sir Rory Collins, the lead author of the Oxford meta-analysis, warned at the time that without full retraction, doctors and patients would continue to be misinformed. It turns out he was prescient.

Medical journal editors … owe it to society to publish papers that “first do no harm”.

Misleading media reports followed and led to increased reticence among doctors to prescribe or even discuss statins and increased unwillingness among patients to take them. Statins were already being under-used but a new wave of adverse media meant a further reduction in use.

In the UK, 200,000 patients stopped taking statins. 60,000 fewer statin prescriptions were dispensed in Australia following a now-withdrawn television program. If those patients avoided statins for the next five years, researchers estimated that a few thousand would suffer a fatal heart attack or stroke. For a disease that kills 17 million people around the world each year, an ounce of prevention is not to be sniffed at.

So what does the statin saga teach us? For one, it underlines the power of the media and in turn, the responsibility of health reporters and newspaper editors to think twice before exploiting health news to suit their audience.

“Beloved grandma loses mind to cholesterol drug” and “How statins ruined my life” might be guaranteed click-bait but responsible reporting might instead discuss the dreadful statistic of one Australian dying of cardiovascular disease every 12 minutes and how to prevent it. Statins are no panacea but combined with diet, exercise and curbing cigarettes and alcohol, they have a role.

Second, it reminds medical journal editors that they owe it to society to publish papers that “first do no harm”. If Big Pharma can’t be trusted to provide unbiased data and to base advice on sensational tabloid fare makes a mockery of medicine, doctors must put their faith in someone to provide credible information.

There is an old joke that the majority of academic papers are read only by the author and the editor – this may be a little harsh but busy clinicians mostly flick through abstracts and note key points rather than read even a fraction of the million scientific papers published annually with an interrogating mind. It is up to journal editors to simplify the task and spell out the difference between interesting research and findings that transform patient care.

Finally, better health arises from better health literacy. In a free society, patients are allowed to make poor choices but the media shouldn’t facilitate it. Just this week an acquaintance asked me what I thought of her daughter’s “courageous” bid to not vaccinate her child for fear of “giving her autism”. I reminded her that the fraudulent data had long been exposed and retracted but she said she had seen it on the net and that was that. Dashing my hopes, she next took on statins.

“What do you make of the controversy?”

“There is no controversy,” I replied. “Read the report.”

“You would say that, wouldn’t you?”

Then, after a pause, “But seriously, did you see the story about the old lady who went mad on her statin?”

No, I didn’t. But newspaper editors, please take note!

Statins: Patients are allowed to make poor choices but the media shouldn’t help them | Ranjana Srivastava

Can social media help maternal mental health?

She irritates your parents. She baffles your grandparents. The preoccupied young mum feeding, with one hand, organic sweet potato puree to her eager eight-month-old, and checking her Facebook notifications with her smartphone in the other. A stereotype which would pass for a member of the Modern Tribe and one I’m sure you already recognise. Perhaps she is closer to yourself than you would like to admit.

To say that parents will have to adjust to a new way of life when they have a baby is perhaps the most cliched of all understatements. Social contact becomes less face-to-face due to the physical and logistical challenges a new baby brings. Leaving the house for a simple errand becomes a near military operation incorporating sleep schedules, changing supplies, feeding equipment. A spontaneous evening out to the cinema with friends? An impossibility. Text messages become almost nostalgic, phone calls time consuming and social media quickly fills the social void for the new parent, who is likely to be surviving on caffeine, chocolate and very little sleep.

Connecting with people via social media is immediate, with responses often instant. Positive replies can become an addictive gratification, bringing confirmation of the image people want to project of themselves, be it intelligence, charisma or wit. Social media offers an uninhibited space in which people can express themselves freely, bringing with it the bounty of validation of who they are, where they fit within a social circle and their place within a community. Arguably, this is the essence of good mental health and is particularly pertinent when talking about women – and men – when they have a baby.

The elephant in the nursery

Although social media presents an opportunity to make a connection with other new parents who, reassuringly, may be going through the same uncharted newborn territory, it may reveal the elephant in the nursery. The pressure to appear as the perfect parent is omnipresent online, and these platforms are particularly unhelpful when they present the Hollywood edit of parenthood. Carefully crafted sepia-toned Instagram glimpses of yoga mum or zen dad may actually disguise a multitude of imperfect truths. Research has found there are many barriers to disclosure of perinatal mental health problems including embarrassment, stigma and “failure at being perceived as not coping”. What role does social media play in facilitating this unhelpful undermining of confidence and capability of a new parents? Is social media a witness to the development of perinatal mental health problems or a sly accomplice?

My interest in the relationship between social media and maternal mental health has developed during the five years I have been working as a GP, as well the last 18 months working as a clinical fellow for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). Despite mental health problems during the perinatal time affecting one in five women and one in 10 men, only 50% of these cases are identified, meaning many people are struggling on without receiving appropriate treatment they need. The RCGP is working to raise awareness on these issues, and social media has helped in many of these projects such as #MumTalk in conjunction with Sport Relief , open access e-learning modules in conjunction with Health Education England and most recently the Perinatal Mental Health Toolkit which was launched in July 2016 on the RCGP website.

The toolkit offers more than 300 free resources to help professionals care for those directly affected, as well as information for women who are affected. Social media has helped recruit women with lived experience to contribute in this important work, as well as sharing links across the healthcare online global community.

Shared support

Through this role, I have met many inspiring women who show courage and conviction in telling their stories on blogs, such as Laura Clark @butterflymum83 and Eve @littlemissevec. In sharing their recovery narrative so eloquently, they encourage others to come forward and seek help. There are also Twitter discussion groups, the most established of which is the brilliant #PNDHour (weekly, Wednesdays 8-9pm), which is run by Rosey @PNDandMe and recently hosted by Laura @cooksferryqueen, both of whom have had postnatal depression. This platform in particular is unusual in that health professionals are welcome to contribute – the voice of a woman with expertise through her experience is considered equal to that of a professional expert by training, and both groups can learn much from each others’ contributions. Misconceptions such as “I thought it meant I was a bad mother” and “I didn’t think I could take antidepressants if I was breastfeeding” are commonly challenged, and damaging myths debunked.

However, there is a risk that professional boundaries of the doctor/patient relationship become blurred and less visible to both parties, with unintentional consequences possible. This should not discourage GPs from contributing to these forums but the principles guiding their practice in the consultation room should be maintained on line, as discussed in the RCGP Social Media Highway Code,including respecting privacy, treating others with consideration and maintaining confidentiality. This is in addition to a general consensus within the profession that social media is inappropriate for giving personalised medical advice on an individual basis.

Peer support or trigger trouble?

Another innovative development of digital technology in mental health is online peer support groups. These are often quoted by women with lived experience as an important part of their recovery. One of the most established of these is the one run by the charity Action of Postpartum Psychosis . Importantly, these groups need moderators who have access to training and clinical supervision so they can redirect someone to seek medical help when appropriate and moderate any unhelpful or unkind behaviour from those participating. This kind of forum may carry “trigger warnings”. Triggering is a fairly new phrase for a familiar concept of bringing up negative emotions or memories from other people’s words and is also something to be considered when discussing mental health online. Trolling or cyberbullying, misinformation and misdiagnosis are all potential risks from using social media to discuss maternal mental health. But the prospect of reaching so many women who are socially isolated, facing self-stigma or just living with undetected illness and encouraging them to come forward is a persuasive argument for exploring this area further.

Social media has been a great driver for recognition of Perinatal mental health,raising professional and public awareness and influencing policymakers and commissioners – most recently future investment from NHS England has been promised. The full benefit of the public and healthcare professionals using social media in the ways described here are only just becoming apparent and are yet to be fully understood, with a quality evidence base slowly developing. So whilst social media is far from a panacea in terms of helping women facing perinatal mental health problems, there is great scope for health professionals to further exploit its full potential.

References:

Khan L. Falling through the gaps: perinatal mental health and general practice. 2015; London: Royal College of General Practitioners and Centre for Mental Health.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Clinical Guideline 192. Antenatal and postnatal mental health: clinical management and service guidance. 2014; London: NICE.

Can social media help maternal mental health?

Under-fire Southern Health chief quits over "media attention"

The boss of an NHS trust that was widely criticised for failing to investigate unexpected deaths of patients with mental health problems or learning disabilities has resigned, citing “media attention”.

Katrina Percy, the chief executive of Southern Health NHS foundation trust, who has been under pressure to stand down for months, announced her resignation on Tuesday.

The trust’s leadership was censured in an independent report commissioned by NHS England after 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, who had learning disabilities, drowned in a bath after an epileptic seizure at Slade House in Oxfordshire in July 2013.

In December the inquiry team concluded that the trust had failed to properly investigate the deaths of more than 1,000 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems over a four-year period, and criticised a “failure of leadership”.

In April the trust’s chairman, Mike Petter, stood down just before the publication of another critical report, this time by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which said the trust was still not doing enough to protect people in its care.

But Percy resisted calls to quit, including from Connor’s mother, Dr Sara Ryan, and the former shadow health minister Luciana Berger, until Tuesday.

Announcing her decision, Percy said: “I have reflected on the effect the ongoing personal media attention has had on staff and patients and have come to the conclusion that this has made my role untenable.

“I know and understand that many will say I should have stepped down sooner given the very public concerns which have been raised in the past months. I stayed on as I firmly believed it was my responsibility to oversee the necessary improvements and to continue the groundbreaking work we have begun with GPs to transform care for our patients.”

Percy said she would be taking up an alternative role providing strategic advice to local GP leaders. Julie Dawes, who joined the trust in May as director of nursing and quality, will take over as chief executive on an interim basis.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb welcomed Percy’s “belated” resignation, but said: “Rather than taking responsibility and doing the honourable thing by stepping down, Katrina Percy continued to put her own interests before the public interest.

“Reports that she will move into another well-paid job advising GPs on strategy are deeply concerning and will aggravate the sense of injustice felt by the families of those who lost their lives.”

Deborah Coles, the director of the charity Inquest who worked with Sparrowhawk’s family, said: “The CEO and board presided over dangerous systems and practices that cost lives. Despite repeated warnings there was a failure to act.

“Those patients and families affected have a right to be justifiably angered that this resignation is not an acceptance of responsibility for systemic failings but further denial and obfuscation by blaming ‘media attention’.”

The report commissioned by NHS England, carried out by the audit firm Mazars, concluded that failures by the trust’s board and senior executives meant there was no “effective” management of deaths or investigations and a lack of “effective focus or leadership from the board”.

The CQC, which subsequently carried out a snap inspection, said: “The key risks and actions to address them were not driving the senior leadership or board agenda.” It said the leadership did not proactively address risks “before concerns are raised by external bodies”.

In June the trust accepted responsibility for Connor’s death and agreed to pay his family £80,000 in compensation. Last October an inquest jury concluded that neglect contributed to the death of the teenager, who was known affectionately as Laughing Boy or LB.

Southern Health’s interim chairman, Tim Smart, said Percy had reached the conclusion that “due to the significant focus on her as an individual, it is in the best interests of the trust, patients and staff for her to step down”.

Under-fire Southern Health chief quits over "media attention"

Social media driving rise in complaints to GMC: report

Social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, meant communities produced exactly where individuals could discuss their therapy and very easily exchange data on how to complain.

But the majority of the complaints from the public to the GMC have been not about individual doctors and had been about standards of care a lot more typically. These ought to have been filed to the NHS organisation responsible or to the Care Quality Commission, the authors explained.

In close to 1300 cases the GMC referred the complaint back to the doctor’s employer to deal with and in three,750 circumstances the complaint was looked into and right away closed. In some circumstances no person physician could be identified at all.

Patients had been normally puzzled about where to complain to, the report said and because the GMC was seen an independent, sufferers may possibly be far more willing to seek support there rather than the organisation where they knowledgeable poor treatment method.

All regulators had noticed an improve in circumstances, even so the rise was biggest at the GMC.

Dr Julian Archer, lead author of the report, stated: “The process of compiling this report has created some fascinating findings. They present that the forces behind a rise in complaints against medical doctors are hugely complex and reflect a blend of increased public awareness, media influence, the function of social media technology and wider adjustments in society.

“We found that while a much better awareness of the GMC has a part to perform in the improve in complaints, it did not automatically result in an improve in complaints the GMC were in a place to deal with.”

He additional: “The report also indicated that there is considerably to do to enhance the wider complaint-handling system, so that complaints manufactured by the common public about their medical doctors are directed to the acceptable authorities.”

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, explained: “We have no proof that the rise in complaints towards doctors reflects falling requirements – what this investigation underlines is that sufferers are more inclined to complain and discover it simpler to do so.

“Medical doctors also are much more inclined to increase issues about their colleagues. The challenge for the GMC and other organisations is to make positive that any person who has a concern or complaint can uncover their way to the right organisation to deal with it.

“For the vast majority of patients and relatives, that will suggest nearby resolution. The big variety of complaints we acquire that are not for us, suggests that the recent system is not functioning as properly as it ought to.”

Social media driving rise in complaints to GMC: report

ten Factors Hospital Leadership Want To Know About Social Media And Marketing and advertising

Creating any brand can be hard, but in the US, hospital identity and branding are paramount to success within a local community. By listening to patients, receiving feedback on would like and needs, engaging men and women and generating new incentives, a much better status, better trust and improved wellness outcomes can all be achieved.

Beneath are ten things hospital leadership ought to keep in mind when contemplating about advertising and strategy in 2014 and beyond.

1. In 2013, it was estimated that 62% of emails have been opened on a mobile gadget. Checking e-mail is the leading mobile exercise among smartphone and tablet customers. 


2. The brain processes visual information 60,000 instances more quickly than text. Additionally, 90% of data transmitted to the brain is visual. Whether or not it’s developing your brand identity or strengthening medicine adherence via visual directions, photographs are crucial to interacting with, informing and empowering patients.


3. Surprisingly,  Not only does this indicate that it is here to remain as a social media platform, but it is a fantastic spot to target our aging population who eat the majority of our health companies.


4. In 2014, far more than 50% of Web end users, or 102.5 million men and women in the US, will redeem a digital coupon. There are many new partnerships with retail clinics, pharma firms and other support suppliers that can use coupon-like strategies for patient value-savings and adherence.


5.  So really don’t fail to remember to market place on numerous platforms and for a lot of various devices. Prime internet sites contain Twitter Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.


6. Social media influences 93% of buyers last purchase selections. More, 90% of buyers indicate that they believe in peer suggestions. Therefore, prior patients are your biggest allies. Their reviews on the internet matter much more than you consider.


7. Much more than 78% of US Net customers study products and services online, and each month, there are much more than ten.three billion Google Google searches, with most folks clicking one of the prime four links. What your best hits say about your organization, your providers and your quality of care can influence your bottom line.


8. Targeted, content advertising and marketing fees 62% significantly less than conventional advertising, and, per dollar spent generates about 3 times as many prospects. When producing a advertising technique for a certain services line, support, or doctor group, think about specifically who demands to see what ad and what details they will be seeking for.


9. Shoppers that acquire email newsletters from firms devote 82% a lot more with these companies. Believe about what that says for brand loyalty following engagement, and about the potential of consistent, related engagement. Patients are shoppers, and like electronic mail, newsletters keep them informed.


10. 70% of men and women surveyed declare they would rather discover about a hospital or firm by means of posts rather than direct advertisements. As a result, not only are advertising campaigns important, but so are the patient experience testimonies, local community critiques and Forbes content articles that highlight the function currently being done within and outdoors of your hospital.

ten Factors Hospital Leadership Want To Know About Social Media And Marketing and advertising

Bone marrow donor discovered for girl, 8, soon after #pantsonyourhead social media campaign

Their campaign inspired an extraordinary response with the world’s most expensive footballer, Gareth Bale lending his help.

He was joined by other well-known names which includes comedian Russell Howard, Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton, Tv presenter Gethin Jones and EastEnders actor Richard Elis.

The appeal led to a two,580 per cent increase in the variety of folks in Wales joining the Anthony Nolan register in contrast to the very same period final 12 months.

Right after waiting a gruelling 3 months, Hollie discovered out last week that a donor had been located.

Sharing the information on Hollie’s campaign Facebook webpage, Mrs Clark wrote: “We want to thank everyone who has acquired off their BOTT and aided us.

“There are virtually also several to identify, suffice to say, you know who you are and what you did Its difficult to make clear how we really feel so we will not try out, it would be messy.

“We get massive power and comfort from you all. We could not have began this journey without having the response to this campaign. You all genuinely did Assist Hollie. You really did #putyourpantsonyourhead.”

She urged individuals to carry on registering to help others like Hollie in require of a donor.

“Although we are full of happiness we still have a lengthy way to go,” she wrote.

“We know there are many Mums and Dads looking out of a window right now. Hunting and asking yourself if that special man or woman will join a bone marrow register to save their child’s lifestyle.

“Trust us, it’s not a nice feeling. Trust us when we say, it truly is not a place you EVER want to be in. It is despair, fear and terror.

“Try &amp envision just for a minute. Try out and imagine seeking for that one particular special person in the globe who could conserve your child’s life. It does not have to be like this. It could be distinct. It is simple, here is the remedy, right here is the secret. Register as a bone marrow donor and tell your close friends to do the exact same.”

Mrs Clark added: “In a brief time Anthony Nolan have turn into part of us. They were there for us and we Positive AS HELL will be there for them. We cannot and will not walk away from them.

“We will get Hollie fixed &amp be back to aid soon. We will be returning the favour.

“Parents in a similar place, preserve constructive &amp stay powerful.

“We will be there for you, that is a promise.”

Hollie, of Roath Park, Cardiff, was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood disorder which triggers a drop in the quantity of healthier blood cells in the body, three months in the past.

Mrs Clark, a GP, mentioned: “It was an absolute shock, it is practically the worst factor as a parent you could be informed.

“It was difficult to believe because she’d been so active at the time, she loves swimming and cycling and taking part in with her pals, and she’d been doing all these things with no us even knowing that her haemoglobin levels have been dangerously reduced.”

Right after discovering her younger brother Sam was not a match, her mothers and fathers made the decision to take action to locate one as quickly as achievable which led to the campaign.

In Cardiff, there was a 2,600 per cent enhance in individuals joining the register and, in the United kingdom as a total, the figure was 170 per cent compared to the exact same time last 12 months.

Karen Archer, regional register development manager at Anthony Nolan stated: “We are absolutely delighted that a match has been located for Hollie and we want her and all of her household the greatest of luck for the potential.”

To indicator up to the register visit www.anthonynolan.org/helphollie.

Bone marrow donor discovered for girl, 8, soon after #pantsonyourhead social media campaign

Bone marrow donor located for girl, eight, following worldwide social media campaign

Their campaign inspired an amazing response with the world’s most high-priced footballer, Gareth Bale lending his help.

He was joined by other well-known names like comedian Russell Howard, Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton, Television presenter Gethin Jones and EastEnders actor Richard Elis.

The appeal led to a 2,580 per cent boost in the variety of people in Wales joining the Anthony Nolan register in contrast to the same period last yr.

Right after waiting a gruelling 3 months, Hollie discovered out last week that a donor had been discovered.

Sharing the information on Hollie’s campaign Facebook page, Mrs Clark wrote: “We want to thank every person who has acquired off their BOTT and helped us.

“There are virtually too numerous to title, suffice to say, you know who you are and what you did Its tough to explain how we truly feel so we will not consider, it would be messy.

“We take huge power and comfort from you all. We could not have started out this journey with out the response to this campaign. You all truly did Help Hollie. You genuinely did #putyourpantsonyourhead.”

She urged men and women to continue registering to assist other individuals like Hollie in need to have of a donor.

“Although we are full of happiness we nevertheless have a extended way to go,” she wrote.

“We know there are a lot of Mums and Dads hunting out of a window correct now. Looking and wondering if that specific individual will join a bone marrow register to conserve their child’s lifestyle.

“Trust us, it is not a nice feeling. Believe in us when we say, it’s not a place you EVER want to be in. It is despair, concern and terror.

“Try &amp picture just for a moment. Consider and envision seeking for that one particular specific individual in the planet who could save your child’s daily life. It does not have to be like this. It could be various. It is straightforward, here is the answer, right here is the secret. Register as a bone marrow donor and inform your close friends to do the exact same.”

Mrs Clark added: “In a short time Anthony Nolan have grow to be component of us. They were there for us and we Confident AS HELL will be there for them. We cannot and will not walk away from them.

“We will get Hollie fixed &amp be back to assist soon. We will be returning the favour.

“Parents in a equivalent place, hold positive &amp remain sturdy.

“We will be there for you, that is a guarantee.”

Hollie, of Roath Park, Cardiff, was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood disorder which triggers a drop in the amount of wholesome blood cells in the physique, three months in the past.

Mrs Clark, a GP, stated: “It was an absolute shock, it is literally the worst point as a mother or father you could be advised.

“It was tough to believe simply because she’d been so lively at the time, she loves swimming and cycling and taking part in with her buddies, and she’d been performing all these issues without having us even understanding that her haemoglobin ranges were dangerously minimal.”

Following finding her younger brother Sam was not a match, her mother and father decided to take action to find 1 as speedily as attainable which led to the campaign.

In Cardiff, there was a two,600 per cent enhance in folks joining the register and, in the United kingdom as a total, the figure was 170 per cent compared to the same time final 12 months.

Karen Archer, regional register growth manager at Anthony Nolan mentioned: “We are completely delighted that a match has been discovered for Hollie and we want her and all of her loved ones the greatest of luck for the potential.”

To sign up to the register go to www.anthonynolan.org/helphollie.

Bone marrow donor located for girl, eight, following worldwide social media campaign

Chief health care officer criticises media acceptance of currently being overweight

Dame Sally Davies has outlined the value of reducing sugar consumption across the United kingdom. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

England’s chief medical officer has criticised outfits companies and the media for assisting to make individuals consider that getting obese is normal.

Dame Sally Davies accepted that the typical man and woman had been overweight and stated the public need to be given a sound knowing of how to alter their diet and steer clear of soft drinks with additional sugar.

“I have extended been concerned about the presentation of underweight as an best fat, particularly in the trend sector,” Davies mentioned in her yearly report.

“Nevertheless I am increasingly concerned that society could be normalising overweight. For illustration: bigger mannequins are being launched into clothes stores “dimension inflation” indicates that garments with the very same size label have turn into bigger in latest decades and news stories about obese often characteristic images of severely obese folks, which are unrepresentative of the vast majority of the overweight population.”

Davies, concerned that two-thirds of adults and 1 third of kids between two and 15 are obese or obese, mentioned that in England the typical man weighed 84kg (13st 3lb) and was 175cm tall (practically 5ft 9in). The common female weighed 70kg (just more than 11st) and was 162cm (practically 5ft 4in) tall. NHS guidance, not cited in her report, suggests a wholesome man of regular height must weigh in between 58kg and 75kg and a girl of regular height must weigh between 49kg and 73kg. She also explained that if meals makers failed to supply on guarantees to minimize added sugar then “we, as a society, may want to consider the public wellness benefits that could be derived from a regulation such as a sugar tax.”

Though she welcomed progress by the foods sector to lessen the quantity of salt in meals, there was far even more to go, she stated. She also referred to as for investigations into anecdotal proof that rapidly-food shops have been opening close to colleges to serve schoolchildren performing lunch hrs and backed Public Well being England’s briefing for regional authorities on how councils could regulate their development.

Davies, the principal healthcare adviser for the Uk government, also condemned the “unacceptably high” relative danger related with walking or cycling, saying the danger of death per kilometres was 17 instances greater for these kinds of energetic travel than going the identical distance by vehicle.

Her report, laden with political challenges, indicates disappointment at ministers’ shelving final summer season of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in England. A strategy for it to be launched by the Scottish government is currently being legally challenged by the drinks business.

Davies, concerned by a possibly massive enhance in deaths from liver ailment, welcomed the government’s move to stop alcohol currently being sold beneath the cost of duty plus VAT from next week, that means an ordinary 440ml can of beer or lager can’t be sold under 50p, although there are “floor rates” for other drinks. But she extra: “I note that modelled information suggests that charging a minimum of 45p per unit of alcohol ought to be far more powerful in lowering premature deaths.”

She said: “Retailers continue to promote alcohol employing techniques which I take into account to be irresponsible. I deplore the methods merchants use to entice buyers to obtain ever higher quantities of alcohol.”

These incorporated multi-purchase offers, offering alcohol at beneath price value and the redefining of “small glasses of wine” by bars and eating places, which had been omitting from menus the 125ml measure they have been legally obliged to provide. The substantial degree of alcohol marketing around football matches broadcast on Television was also especially regarding due to the fact of the variety of youngsters who observe, explained Davies.

Chief health care officer criticises media acceptance of currently being overweight

Women, What Is Sexy? The Media (And Men) Could Have It Incorrect

Apropos of Valentine’s Day, a new examine from the University of Leicester requires an fascinating look at how clothing can establish femininity. But the study goes a small deeper – practically – to look at how distinct varieties of underwear, rather than outerwear, have an effect on a woman’s feeling of femininity. Even though underwear is often hidden beneath clothing, the authors say that for the girl wearing them, the garments can perform a crucial function in her sense of sexuality. So men, before you make your yearly Victoria’s Secret run, take into account the benefits of the research.

Tsaousi and her team interviewed girls, from younger mothers to academics to younger rugby gamers to retirees, asking them what sorts of underwear they normally favored, and what aspects influenced them when getting underwear for themselves.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Not remarkably “young rugby girls” favored “cute” underwear. Experts favored underwear that was far more expensive and match with their professional dress.

Underwear choice, it turned out, was much more a mater of personal elements – personal taste, upbringing, social background, and expert standing – than it was about media-inspired characteristics like how significantly lace is current, or how a lot skin is exposed.

“The paper signifies that women’s options in underwear are established by elements such as our methods of contemplating, up-bringing, taste and status in society,” research writer Christiana Tsaousi mentioned. “The paper also suggests that ladies make similar judgments about their underwear as they would their outerwear.”

But the paper also looked at the function that underwear plays in a woman’s feeling of femininity. “How is underwear a valuable tool in figuring out sexuality?” asks Tsaousi. “Most girls commented on choosing underwear that helps make them feeling comfortable for their stage of existence, or the context they’re in. Girls needed to really feel attractive when they had been with their partners or even alone in the home because they needed that extra boost of femininity.”

Tsaousi tells me that just like wearing makeup or shaving your legs, underwear is just another “tool” for feeling sexy. But  the study signifies that the message we’re getting from the media about what’s attractive isn’t always on target. “The underwear that are generally related with Valentine’s are quite tiny, revealing, red (typically), [and] tough to put on, and the notion is to dress in something attractive for your spouse. But the reality is, and as my participants shared with me, that what men consider is sexy is not always what females consider is sexy.”

Purchasing the slinky, red thong just because the Victoria’s Secret mannequin is wearing it could have the unintended effect of deteriorating, rather than inspiring, a feeling of sexiness in a female.

So, gentlemen, keep this in mind as you’re buying. “When partners are hunting to acquire underwear as Valentine’s gifts for their wives or girlfriends,” says Tsaousi, “they must select underwear which will fit their partners well and will make them feel comfy – rather than the stereotypical tiny, unpleasant varieties.” This, she says, will in the long run make a woman truly feel a lot far more cozy in her own body, and a good deal sexier, than the lacy, restrictive things. “Special underwear is about the emotions and sensations it produces for the entire body – not so significantly about currently being the kind of underwear that it is promoted as sexy by the media.”

Follow me @alicewalton or find me on Facebook.

Women, What Is Sexy? The Media (And Men) Could Have It Incorrect

Sweet And Sour: The Media Made the decision Fructose Was Negative For America But Science Had Second Thoughts

For the past decade, a specter has haunted the foods chain—the specter of large fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS began daily life as a technological response to a industry problem—volatile rates for sugar in the 1970s and early 1980s driven by protectionism and dumping, along with substantial production charges and all the challenge of matching a multi-yr crop to shifting demand. HFCS aimed to stabilize the value of sweetness. It did and in performing so, it conquered the US industry.

But HFCS had, like Achilles, a weakness—actually, two. 1st, as numerous scientists have mentioned, higher fructose corn syrup wasn’t genuinely large in fructose—and it is other primary element was glucose. The sweet spot in balancing fructose with glucose was approximately a ratio of fifty five percent to 45 percent—the very same as honey—and not dissimilar to ordinary table sugar, which has a ratio of 50:50.

The 2nd weakness was timing.  The spread of HFCS coincided with the beginnings of the obesity crisis—or far more specifically a point the place individuals had been beginning to tip in excess of the BMI boundary lines from typical to overweight and overweight to obese. This, as we now know from the function of John Komlos, was a prolonged time in the creating: BMI values began to rise—and rise dramatically—in the 1950s, but the sudden appearance of enormous excess weight obtain in the population led some scientists to wonder regardless of whether it may well be connected with this new fangled ingredient.

The consequence was a review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) 2004— “Consumption of higher-fructose corn syrup in drinks might perform a role in the epidemic of obesity”—which noted that “The increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened drinks may possibly perform a function in the epidemic of weight problems.”

Just as people glom onto miracle diet plans and miracle food items, they also seem for the Darth Vader ingredients—those which use the force of taste to take over our bodies. HFCS was new, it was from corn, it was large in fructose. And it provided a easy remedy to a hugely complicated dilemma of why America was abruptly in the grip of weight problems.

But was this, “important potential hypothesis,” for the obesity epidemic (as the authors of the review wrote) accurate? The level of science is to advance hypotheses, check them, and arrive at some degree of causal validity. Were weight problems and metabolic syndrome a outcome of Americans typically eating also much foods and becoming inactive, or was there some thing to fructose that was distinctly bad—and therefore a key lead to of excess weight gain—as opposed to it currently being one issue amid many? So began a single of the major controversies of the obesity crisis.

In 2008, the American Healthcare Association passed a resolution at its yearly conference saying that there was inadequate scientific evidence to indict HFCS as a exclusive contributor to obesity. At the same time, it also stated that the scientific literature on the problem was quite restricted. In 2012, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) concluded that the research—now far more expansive— provided “little evidence that HFCS differs uniquely from sucrose and other nutritive sweeteners in metabolic results.”

The authors of the unique AJCN review continued to maintain that fructose may well be much more of a issue than sugar simply because of the ongoing study on metabolic variations amongst the two. And they have been joined by pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, who took fears about the effects of fructose and sugar on the population to a total new level. Fructose, he contended in a a lot-watched YouTube lecture, and later a guide, is poisonous—the toxic element of sugar.

It is not unfair to say that this was a place that won Lustig numerous critics and really number of converts between scientists. As Scientific American pointed out, 1 crucial problem with Lustig’s argument is that “concern about fructose is based mostly on research in which rodents and individuals consumed massive amounts of the molecule—up to 300 grams of fructose every single day, which is nearly equivalent to the total sugar in eight cans of Coke—or a diet regime in which the huge vast majority of sugars have been pure fructose.”

Mike Gibney, Director of University University Dublin’s Institute of Foods and Overall health, concurred, “The majority of animal scientific studies used as a lot as 55% of calories from fructose, a predicament, which is impossible to envisage in the human diet plan except perhaps in the make-believe land of milk and honey.”

Lustig also ignored the double whammy of increases in consumption of other food items besides sugar and a decrease in bodily exercise above the past forty years, wrote fitness and nutrition specialist Alan Aragorn.

In a report on the controversy more than Lustig and fructose, David Klerfeld, a nationwide plan leader in Human Nutrition for the USDA, told ABC News, “So a lot of issues have occurred in our environment in the previous fifty many years, from a complete increase in calories to a decrease in activity—it’s absurd to pin the entire weight problems dilemma on a single food this kind of as fructose or even sugar consumption as a whole. Why aren’t we focusing on ginormous portions rather than wasting time looking at single elements?”

And Walter Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Well being (and no fan of soda or the meals market) told The Washington Publish, “Telling people the dilemma is all fructose is entirely wrong.”

But who exactly was telling people this? Why are we wasting time hunting at single components alternatively of all round diet regime and exercise? The direction of the research, the consensus statements by professional associations, the remarks by frustrated nutritionists—all converged on a easy message. Why did that message appear to be muffled, unheard, untaken?

In accordance to a new research, blame the information media.

Now, obviously not every single information story, for the ones cited in this post from ABC News, The Washington Submit and Scientific American are all hugely informative, and ascend (in my view) in orders of excellence. But when you appear at the news media coverage ecologically, do these kinds of stories drive both journalistic and public comprehending more than time?

Sweet And Sour: The Media Made the decision Fructose Was Negative For America But Science Had Second Thoughts

#Fail - Staffordshire"s social media campaign to lower underage consuming

Animations employed in Staffordshire’s social media campaign.

1 of the greatest overall health and financial costs to the economy is alcohol. This is true up and down the country, and it is no diverse in Staffordshire where, in purchase to change behaviour, I have realised that we want to intervene earlier than ever before.

A large challenge for councils is communicating with so-named tough to reach audiences. This consists of younger men and women who quite frequently would run a mile from people perceived as being in authority, never ever mind what they might see as a stuffy council.

To target this problem, Staffordshire has taken a distinct strategy. After asking younger people about their drinking routines, it grew to become clear that there was a big big difference in between how frequently younger men and women drink and how a lot they believe their peers are drinking.

From nationwide statistics it is also clear that kids who have their initial drink before the age of ten are substantially much more most likely to grow to be regular drinkers (as soon as a week or a lot more frequently).

In purchase to appeal to our target age group the council needed to be smarter. For this age bracket, friends and social media are the best techniques for them to locate out information and information, so operating with a range of partners such as police, fire and district councils, and thirty younger folks an alcohol fails campaign was set up. It is made for other eleven-14-yr-olds in Staffordshire.

For these who will not know, “fail” is a popular web slang for brief videos depicting circumstances with unfortunate outcomes. The word is utilized to level out a person’s error: “a fail”. They’ve got their personal focused channel on Youtube that will get 1000′s of views on a day-to-day basis and are incredibly well-liked with youthful people.

A single of the greatest identified virals of this nature is the dumb approaches to die ad campaign by Metro Trains Melbourne which provided inspiration for the campaign.

Employing a major Staffordshire-primarily based animations studio, myself and a group of colleagues worked with young men and women to create a series of animated movies with the aim of delaying consuming inside of that age assortment and promoting a modify in behaviour in terms of how these younger men and women approached alcohol. The animations had been based mostly on simple alcohol relevant stories – this kind of as social existence experiences and long term prospects – followed by a clear fail message.

Posters utilized as element of the council’s campaign.

Their aim was to send a strong message to youthful people about why consuming alcohol is a “fail”, but in a way that didn’t preach.

The fashion adopted is reminiscent of retro 8BIT design personal computer graphics and music, which we knew to be extremely common with 11–14-12 months-olds and the animations, although not branded, had signposting to how to see a lot more and entry additional resources. In developing the characters and scenarios the youthful people drew on their experience of popular video and online gaming.

It was a chance and at instances, but the youthful people who were concerned have been genuinely enthusiastic. They had wonderful ideas and actually aided us to develop something that could appeal to other younger men and women.

A multi-platform technique was adopted and the last animations and visuals have been shared online through the principal social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and on Tumblr, with young men and women being encouraged to share the fails with their peers (with parent’s permission if they have been under 13).

We also created confident the campaign was noticeable in venues well-liked amongst youthful individuals, like the animations becoming shown at cinemas in the county prior to blockbuster twelve rated movies. This was completed for free of charge – a real coup for us.

Large visually lower out stands and counter top dispensers depicting characters from the animations had been placed in video outlets, cafes and restaurants.

The animations were proven at Christmas light switch on occasions, and at nappy nights – targeted youth events at nightclubs in the county. We also held a series of particular town centre events, taking the message immediately to youthful folks.

The cast of animation characters used in Staffordshire’s campaign.

It was a really different method and it wasn’t all plain sailing. Funding was secured from the IEWM social media suggestions fund which actually helped as it gave us breathing room to consider out new thigns. So far, the campaign has genuinely made a difference. To date, there have been one,319 views on YouTube, one,000 guests to the blogging site which also consists of phase-by-step updates on making the animations, and one,881 likes on Facebook.

Out of 250 younger folks across the county that we asked about the campaign, 89% stated they would share the animation fails and numerous of them had. And even more importantly for us, 89% also explained they would believe twice prior to drinking alcohol as a result of the campaign. But for me, it really is summed up greatest by James Skidmore, an eleven-year-old from Heath Hayes close to Cannock who worked on the Disco Fail video.

He mentioned: “I went to a workshop, and assisted layout one particular of the characters in the disco video. It’s actually very good to be capable to watch one of your creations come to daily life, and I really feel proud that my ideas have been utilised. I hope these movies will stop the following generation of kids from drinking and ruining their lives, and it is nice to come to feel I have helped to make a variation.”

You can see the movies right here.

Emma Rodgers is senior campaigns officer at Staffordshire county council.

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#Fail - Staffordshire"s social media campaign to lower underage consuming