Semua Kabar

“My nerves are shattered,” says Noura, a 26-year-old Palestinian woman, explaining that she has been “left with nothing”.

After years of IVF treatment, she became pregnant in July 2023. “I was overjoyed,” she remembers, describing the moment she saw the positive pregnancy test.

She and her husband Mohamed decided to store two more embryos at Al-Basma Fertility Centre in Gaza City, which had helped them conceive, in the hope of having more children in the future.

“I thought my dream had finally come true,” she says. “But the day the Israelis came in, something in me said it was all over.”

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then at least 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Like thousands of Gazans, Noura and Mohamed had to repeatedly flee, and were unable to get the food, vitamins and medication she needed for a healthy pregnancy.

“We used to walk for long hours and move constantly from one place to another, amid terrifying random bombings,” says Mohamed.

Seven months into her pregnancy, Noura suffered a severe haemorrhage.

“She was bleeding heavily, and we couldn’t even find a vehicle to take her to the hospital. We finally managed to transport her in a garbage truck,” Mohamed explains.

“When we arrived, the miscarriage had already started.”

One of their twins was stillborn and the other died a few hours after birth. Mohamed says there were no incubators for premature babies available.

“Everything was gone in a minute,” says Noura.

As well as losing the twins, they have also lost their frozen embryos.

The director of Al-Basma Fertility Centre, Dr Baha Ghalayini, speaks with sorrow and disbelief as he explains that it was shelled in early December 2023.

He is unable to provide an exact date or time and bases this estimate on the last time a member of staff saw the fertility centre operational.

Dr Ghalayini says the most important part of the clinic housed two tanks that held nearly 4,000 frozen embryos and more than 1,000 samples of sperm and eggs.

“The two destroyed incubators – which cost over $10,000 – were filled with liquid nitrogen that preserved the samples,” he says.

They needed to be topped up regularly and “about two weeks before the shelling, the nitrogen began to run low and evaporate”.

The laboratory director, Dr Mohamed Ajjour, who had been displaced to southern Gaza, says he “made it to the nitrogen warehouse in Al-Nuseirat, and got two tanks”.

But he says the intensity of the shelling prevented him from delivering them to the clinic, about 12km away: “The centre was shelled and the nitrogen became useless.”

Dr Ghalayini says the centre stored embryos for patients being treated at other clinics as well as their own. “I’m talking about 4,000 frozen embryos. These are not just numbers, they’re people’s dreams. People who waited years, went through painful treatments, and pinned their hopes on these tanks that were ultimately destroyed.”

He estimates that between 100 and 150 women lost what may have been their only chance at having children, as many cannot undergo the procedure again. “Some are getting older, some are cancer patients, others suffer chronic illnesses. Many received strong fertility medications that they can receive just once. Starting again is not easy.”

When approached for comment, the Israel Defense Forces told the BBC they would be better able to respond if the “specific time of the strike” was provided.

They added that they “operate according to international law and take precautions to minimize civilian harm”.

In March this year, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory made the accusation that Israel “intentionally attacked and destroyed the Basma IVF clinic” in a measure “intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza”.

It also alleged that Israel prevented aid, including medicines necessary to ensure safe pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal care from reaching women.

The commission went on to claim that Israeli authorities “destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group… one of the categories of genocidal acts”.

At the time of the report, Israel’s permanent mission to the UN issued a statement saying it “categorically rejects these baseless accusations”.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded angrily, calling the Human Rights Council – which commissioned the report – “an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body”.

Instead of focusing on war crimes committed by Hamas, he said, it was attacking Israel with “false accusations”.

A spokesperson for the IDF told BBC Arabic it “does not deliberately target fertility clinics, nor does it seek to prevent the birthrate of Gaza’s civilian population.

“The claim that the IDF intentionally strikes such sites is baseless and demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of IDF operations in Gaza.”

Dr Ghalayini says all of Gaza’s nine fertility clinics have either been destroyed or are no longer able to operate.

Noura explains that leaves her and many others with little chance of ever having a child. People like Sara Khudari, who began her fertility treatment in 2020. She was preparing for an embryo to be implanted when the war began in October 2023. The procedure never happened. “I watched everything collapse,” she says.

And Islam Lubbad, who Al-Basma clinic helped to conceive in 2023, a few months before the war broke out. But a month after the fighting started, she lost her baby, like Noura. “There was no stability. We kept relocating. My body was exhausted,” she says, recalling how she miscarried.

Islam did have more frozen embryos stored at Al-Basma Fertility Centre, but they have now been lost and there are no IVF clinics operating left for her to try to get pregnant again.

The killing of Mohammed Sinwar marks the end of the secretive group that planned the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Their boat was intercepted on Monday as they attempted to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of aid.

At least 39 reportedly die in three incidents near lorries transporting flour and aid distribution sites.

The Columbia University graduate had a key role in student protests over Gaza. Trump said his arrest was the first of “many to come”.

One of the two hostages was Yair Yaakov, who was killed in the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu says.

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A woman from Brighton has said taking part in an NHS programme has helped her avoid developing type 2 diabetes.

Catherine, 57, said a blood test last October “revealed she was at high risk”, prompting her to take action for the sake of her health – and her four-year-old grandson.

She was referred to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, which is being promoted across Sussex.

Dr Binodh Chathanath Bhaskaran, clinical lead for diabetes at NHS Sussex, said: “With the right support at the right time, people can take meaningful steps to reduce their risk and improve their long-term health.”

Catherine said she wanted to “be as active as I can” for her grandson and “enjoy every moment”.

“I didn’t know where I was going wrong with my healthy diet,” she said.

“This course clarified everything. Now I understand and can control my portions better.”

Figures released by NHS Sussex show 100,990 people in the county are now living with type 2 diabetes – up from 98,815 the previous year.

The local trend reflects a national rise, with Diabetes UK estimating that 5.8 million people in the UK are now living with diabetes – the highest figure ever recorded.

About 90% of those cases are type 2, which can often be prevented or delayed through lifestyle changes.

The Healthier You programme, delivered locally with Xyla Health, is a nine-month course for people at risk.

Participants can choose either face-to-face group sessions or digital support, including wearable tech and access to health coaches and peer groups.

Research shows the course cuts the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more than a third.

“We know that many people across Sussex are either living with type 2 diabetes or are at risk without being aware of it,” said Dr Bhaskaran.

“But there are clear and effective ways to change that. With the right support at the right time, people can take meaningful steps to reduce their risk and improve their long-term health.”

The NHS is encouraging people to check their risk using the Know Your Risk online tool, by asking their GP, or through a free NHS health check if aged 40 to 74.

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A coroner pays tribute to Katie Watson, who appeared on Channel 4’s Geordie Hospital.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Union members have called for the NHS to stop using private companies.

A medical tribunal has found a senior doctor’s failings amounted to gross negligence and misconduct.

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A new mother who was detained in a psychiatric hospital for five weeks says she “felt like a prisoner” because she was separated from her baby.

Shelley Browne, who had postpartum psychosis, was admitted under a mental health order after giving birth three years ago.

In Great Britain, mothers are cared for in specialist mother and baby units, but women in Northern Ireland are admitted to general psychiatric wards, separated from their babies.

The business case for a mother and baby unit is months overdue, but the Department of Health (DoH) said it was well developed.

However, it has also warned any future unit is dependent on funding being identified.

Shelley told BBC Spotlight she felt “lonely” and “pathetic” after being dropped off at the door of the Ulster Hospital psychiatric ward without her daughter, but said staff tried their best.

“I went in voluntarily and it was just the loneliest feeling in the world getting dropped off at a mental health ward with a bag and no baby,” the 35-year-old said.

Each year, about 100 women in Northern Ireland are admitted to adult psychiatric wards for similar care, without their babies.

“I was a mother without her child and I felt like a prisoner,” said Shelley.

“She wasn’t with me, and I was in a mental facility. And it just broke me every morning.”

Seven health ministers have supported the idea of a mother and baby unit in Northern Ireland, but funding has never been found.

Danielle Sands refused hospital treatment to stay with her first son, Joe, in 2022.

Instead she relied on specialist community teams.

“They had made it very clear that when I would go in there, I wouldn’t have my Joe with me.”

“There were voices in my head 24/7, and they were negative,” she said.

“Telling me everything I couldn’t do, I wasn’t good enough.”

Danielle and her partner, Nial, were supported by a community specialist perinatal mental health nurse.

The term perinatal covers the period of time from when a woman becomes pregnant, and up to a year after giving birth.

Each of Northern Ireland’s five health trusts receive more than 250 referrals for the community services each year, but because of staffing pressures they can only accept about 70 patients at a time.

Dr Julie Anderson, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland, estimates the number of women admitted to hospital could double or triple if a mother and baby unit was established.

“It’s really, really frustrating knowing that there’s much better care that our mums should be getting here in Northern Ireland,” she said.

“And frankly, to be honest, somewhat embarrassing that we’ve been talking about this for almost 20 years and we’re still not there yet.”

In 2018, Orlaith Quinn died at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast.

The 33-year-old had given birth to her third child, a daughter, less than 48 hours earlier.

Siobhan Graham said her daughter began showing signs of postpartum psychosis shortly after giving birth.

“To go in and have a baby and come back out in a coffin, and you’ve three children left without their mother, it’s just not a position you think you’ll ever find yourself in a million years,” she said.

Orlaith’s body was found in a part of the hospital that is unused at night. She had taken her own life.

A 2022 inquest concluded Orlaith’s death had been “foreseeable and preventable” and that there were a number of missed opportunities in her care and treatment.

In a statement, the Belfast Health Trust said it would like to extend a sincere and unreserved apology to Orlaith’s family.

It added its maternity team would like the opportunity to meet Orlaith’s family to offer an apology in person.

The trust said it was committed to learning from Orlaith’s death and had put in place a training programme to help staff recognise the wider spectrum of perinatal mental health disorders, and the risk of maternal suicide.

Coroner Maria Dougan tied the death to the absence of a mother and baby unit, finding that one should be established in Northern Ireland.

Consultant perinatal psychiatrist, Dr Jo Black, who is originally from Cookstown, was instrumental in setting up a mother and baby unit in Devon.

An eight-bed unit, the layout and decor of Jasmine Lodge means it does not feel clinical.

It has areas for families to visit, and a team of specialists.

She said it was “extraordinary” there is not a similar unit on the island of Ireland.

“All of our evidence shows us that maternal suicide remains a major killer in the maternity period,” she said.

“We can’t shy away from that, and so these units save lives.”

Between 2021 and 2023, 34% of late maternal deaths have been linked to mental health, according to a report by MBRRACE-UK, which includes Northern Ireland.

A late maternal death is when a woman died between six weeks and one year after pregnancy.

It is currently thought more than 3,500 women develop perinatal mental illness in Northern Ireland each year.

However, poor data collection could mean the need for perinatal mental health services is being underestimated, according to Dr Julie Anderson.

Spotlight has confirmed the Department of Health has yet to implement a 2017 recommendation from the health regulator to improve data collection.

At the time, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) said patient coding should be improved.

The Department of Health said a review of coding practices for perinatal mental health conditions, and related hospital admissions, was planned.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story you can find information and support on the BBC Action Line website.

There was disorder in Northern Ireland for the fourth night in a row but at a lower level than seen earlier this week.

This follows a review of the cardiac surgery unit which revealed a culture of bullying and staff fearful of speaking out.

Arbour Housing says Thursday’s Portadown protest is “directed towards migrants” and “foreign nationals”.

A crowd attacked the leisure centre hours after a minister revealed that migrants were being temporarily housed there.

A woman has been charged with causing death by careless driving after a pedestrian died in County Antrim.

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Women’s bodies are still controlled by “Victorian era” laws, a mum has said, after police issued new guidelines which allow officers to search grieving women for abortion drugs.

Elen Hughes, from the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, whose baby was stillborn, called the guidance horrifying.

They include allowing searches of mothers’ mobile phones if a baby dies unexpectedly in the womb.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said such cases were rarely investigated and only if there was suspicion an illegal abortion had taken place, with each case treated with “sensitivity”.

But Ms Hughes, who lost her son Danial 37-and-a-half weeks into her pregnancy, said if police had investigated her while she was still grieving, “that might well have been the end of me”.

“I couldn’t imagine on top of everything else that goes through a woman’s mind and the families who go through the experience of losing a baby, miscarriage or stillbirth that the threat that the police can turn up and question or inspect the house or telephone.

“The fact that they can do this is terrible. And why is a law from the Victorian era still regulating women’s bodies in 2025?

Llinos Eames Jones lost Mari Lois due to complications during pregnancy in 2000.

She said she was disappointed about the police guidelines and the last thing a grieving mum needs was having police searching through their phones and computers.

Since losing Mari Lois, she has been engaging with Sands, which supports grieving families.

“At a time that is so difficult for families, I don’t know who makes these decisions but I can tell you one thing, they haven’t lost a piece of their heart.

“They don’t know what it is to bury a baby.”

Six women in the UK have appeared in court over the past two years charged with ending their own pregnancy, according to the British Medical Journal.

Before this, only three convictions for an illegal abortion had been reported since the law was introduced in 1861.

Clea Harmer, chief executive at Sands, said: “The trauma of baby death and pregnancy loss can last a lifetime.

“No parent experiencing pregnancy or baby loss should ever be fearful of accessing the care they need.

“Many parents tell us that baby loss remains challenging to talk about openly, further adding to their pain. And recent discussions around police guidance have been distressing to read for many bereaved parents.”

Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said she was “very alarmed” by ” the NPCC guidance.

She added: “Women in these circumstances have a right to compassionate care and to have their dignity and privacy respected, not to have their homes, phones, computers and health apps searched, or be arrested and interrogated.”

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which provides abortions, added it was “harrowing” to see such guidance “in black and white”.

Katie Saxon, its chief strategic communications officer, said the guidance allowed police to “use women’s period trackers and medical records against them” and was the “clearest sign yet that women cannot rely on the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, or the courts to protect them”.

The Women’s Equality Network Wales said women “should not fear criminal investigations into already difficult and highly personal choices and circumstances around pregnancy”.

NPCC emphasised the legislation was complex and varied across the UK and only in cases where someone had told the police there was a suspicion of a crime would there be an investigation.

It added police officers were encouraged to prioritise the physical, emotional and psychological needs of the mother over the need to investigate.

Wales’ four police forces each confirmed there had been no investigations of this nature in their areas since the new guidance was introduced.

Women deserve better than to have their menstrual data treated as consumer data, say researchers.

Women would never be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy under proposed new laws.

A Texas man is being accused of giving his ex-partner the abortion pill without her knowledge.

Mothers with serious mental health problems are separated from their babies in Northern Ireland, unlike the rest of the UK.

Nigeria accounts for 29% of global maternal deaths – a lack of medics and poor facilities are partly to blame.

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Women who tracked their menstrual cycle using smartphone apps have been warned about the privacy and safety risks of doing so.

A report from the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre said the apps were a “gold mine” for consumer profiling and collecting information.

Academics cautioned that in the wrong hands, the data could result in health insurance “discrimination” and risks to job prospects.

Professor Gina Neff, executive director at the Minderoo Centre, said: “Women deserve better than to have their menstrual tracking data treated as consumer data, but there is a different possible future.”

The apps collect information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use.

Academics at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, an independent team of researchers at the university, said this data could give insights into people’s health and their reproductive choices.

The report added that many women used the apps when they were trying to get pregnant.

Researchers said data on who is pregnant, and who wants to be, was some of the “most sought-after information in digital advertising” as it led to a shift in shopping patterns.

“Cycle tracking apps (CTA) are a lucrative business because they provide the companies behind the apps with access to extremely valuable and fine-grained user data,” they said.

“CTA data is not only commercially valuable and shared with an inextricable net of third parties (thereby making intimate user information exploitable for targeted advertising), but it also poses severe security risks for users.”

The research team called for better governance of the “femtech” industry, improved data security of these apps and the introduction of “meaningful consent options”.

They also wanted bodies like the NHS to launch alternatives to commercial tracking apps with permission for the data to be used in valid medical research.

Dr Stefanie Felsberger, lead author of the report, said: “Menstrual cycle tracking apps are presented as empowering women and addressing the gender health gap.

“Yet the business model behind their services rests on commercial use, selling user data and insights to third parties for profit.

“There are real and frightening privacy and safety risks to women as a result of the commodification of the data collected by cycle tracking app companies.”

The report said work published by Privacy International showed major CTA companies had updated their approach to data sharing, but device information was still collected with “no meaningful consent”.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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A company wants to turn the Old Shire Hall building in Cambridge into luxury visitor accommodation.

Separate bills to let terminally ill people end their life are being considered at Westminster and in Scotland.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Marine pilot Ian Lawrence and his family spent a year volunteering on a hospital ship.

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Semaglutide is sold as Ozempic for use in diabetes and as Wegovy in weight-loss.

You cannot escape the hype around weight-loss injections.

Social media is full of before-and-after pictures. They are the source of wild gossip about Hollywood stars, and now the UK’s National Health Service is going to pay for them.

You can understand the appeal. Excess weight affects our health and leads to stigma – and the mantra of “diet and exercise” has simply failed for most people.

But should we be calling semaglutide, the drug in question, a “miracle” or “skinny jab” when some doctors think it is as controversial as treatments get? Does the hype match the reality? Or are we failing to tackle the causes of obesity and just consigning people to a lifetime of medication?

Jan, from Kent, was one of the first people in the world to take part in the trials of semaglutide. It is sold as Wegovy for weight-loss and as Ozempic for diabetes, although some people have been buying this version to lose weight.

We all know somebody like Jan, who has tried every diet, and she has been battling her waistline her whole life.

Semaglutide mimics a hormone that is released when we eat. It tricks the brain into thinking we are full and dials down appetite so we eat less.

Once Jan started having the injections, her relationship with food was so transformational that she told me it was either down to the drug or “I’ve been abducted by aliens”.

For the first time she could go into a cafe, see some millionaire’s shortbread and not have her body screaming, “I need one”.

Instead it was, “I don’t feel hungry… my body was saying you don’t want it, it wasn’t me using willpower,” she says.

The results of semaglutide are undeniable – at least for a while.

On average, people who were obese lost about 15% of their body weight, external when taking semaglutide alongside healthy lifestyle advice in a trial. Note this is not a “skinny jab” – 15% takes you from 20 stone down to 17.

That study showed the weight came off over the first year and then stabilised for the remaining three months of the trial. We do not know what happens when people take the drug for years.

Jan lost 28kg (more than four stone). It meant she could finally enjoy her 60th birthday present – a flight in a Tiger Moth aeroplane, having been over the maximum weight limit before. “I was flying in more ways than one, and boy did I enjoy it.”

Jan after a flight at Duxford Aerodrome in September 2019, which she says would have been impossible before her four-stone weight loss while taking semaglutide

The results seem more compelling than your typical diet, which often starts well but then your depleted fat stores signal to the brain to seek food. That is why diets ultimately fail.

“More than 90% of people tend to end up back at the weight they were before they started on their dietary journey,” says Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, the director of the Medical Research Council’s Metabolic Diseases Unit.

He sees these drugs as the “beginning of an exciting era” where drugs can help people who have “struggled for a long time” with weight that is damaging their health.

Jan’s trial concluded, and she was no longer able to take semaglutide. Without the drug her brain was no longer being tricked into thinking she was full.

“I was quite upset because the weight was going back on,” she told me – and she was “promising the world” to anybody who could give her the drug.

She tried other weight-loss injections, but ultimately chose to have major surgery and a gastric sleeve to reduce the size of her stomach, so she would feel full faster.

Jan has “no regrets” and still describes the drug as the “best thing that ever happened to me”.

However, her experience is far from unique and the weight gain after coming off semaglutide is swift. The best long-term data we have, external shows people regain two-thirds of their lost weight within two years of stopping.

“It’s a drug that seems to need to be kept taken in order to ensure that weight doesn’t return and that’s, for me, a big problem,” says Dr Margaret McCartney, a GP and champion of evidence in medicine.

The NHS is offering semaglutide for only two years, which is how long people can access weight loss clinics. Given the weight gain after coming off the drug, it is fair to ask – what is the point?

“It’s really pretty awful for many people who are wanting to lose weight, and have struggled usually for years. If you get something that ends up working for you, and then for the NHS to go and withdraw that again, it does seem to me to be a bit unfair,” says Dr McCartney.

There are, of course, circumstances where temporarily losing weight may be beneficial. Some surgeries and treatments are only offered to people below a set threshold, for example.

It is a new drug and the long-term safety is unknown. Side effects include, external vomiting, fatigue and an inflamed pancreas.

Personally, I cannot figure out whether we should celebrate that medicine has produced such a drug, or if it is actually the opposite – that we have failed so badly to tackle obesity throughout society that we now need drugs.

“Many of us have been wrestling with that,” says Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow.

He comes down on the side of pragmatism. Half the planet is projected to be overweight or obese by 2035, and excess weight is linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Cheap calories have “fed into human biology of being tempted by food and overeating”, he says.

And many NHS patients “have four or five conditions as a result of their excess weight, and at the moment we pay lip service to it”, he says.

Meanwhile government obesity policies in the UK – 14 of them in the past three decades – have not turned the tide, external and that has largely been felt by the poorest people in the country., external There is a clear link between deprivation and obesity.

Dr McCartney argues we need to tackle how the world we live in fuels obesity rather than “expecting” people to put on weight “and then accept a medical intervention to treat it”.

Listen to Inside Health on BBC Sounds: Is this a new era in tackling obesity?

Semaglutide is changing the landscape of obesity – and alternatives are on the way., external

Prof O’Rahilly says that even if we solve the societal causes of obesity “there will be obese people and they will become ill”, so he thinks the drugs will move us to a world of treating obesity “properly as a medical condition”.

But these drugs remain controversial – and we have only discussed their use for improving health.

Further concerns are being raised about the impact on people, often young women, who are pressured to look a certain way when “beautiful” is often equated to “thin”.

The role of celebrity culture, the availability of semaglutide privately through online-only consultations, and the impact on eating disorders are also fuelling questions.

Whatever you think about semaglutide, the debate around this drug, and the hype, is clearly not going away.

Follow James on Twitter., external Inside Health was produced by Erika Wright.

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They are the bête noire of many nutritionists – mass-produced yet moreish foods like chicken nuggets, packaged snacks, fizzy drinks, ice cream or even sliced brown bread.

So-called ultra-processed foods (UPF) account for 56% of calories consumed across the UK, and that figure is higher for children and people who live in poorer areas.

UPFs are defined by how many industrial processes they have been through and the number of ingredients – often unpronounceable – on their packaging. Most are high in fat, sugar or salt; many you’d call fast food.

What unites them is their synthetic look and taste, which has made them a target for some clean-living advocates.

There is a growing body of evidence that these foods aren’t good for us. But experts can’t agree how exactly they affect us or why, and it’s not clear that science is going to give us an answer any time soon.

While recent research shows many pervasive health problems, including cancers, heart disease, obesity and depression are linked to UPFs, there’s no proof, as yet, that they are caused by them.

For example, a recent meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago was presented with an observational study of more than 500,000 people in the US. It found that those who ate the most UPFs had a roughly 10% greater chance of dying early, even accounting for their body-mass index and overall quality of diet.

In recent years, lots of other observational studies have shown a similar link – but that’s not the same as proving that how food is processed causes health problems, or pinning down which aspect of those processes might be to blame.

So how could we get to the truth about ultra-processed food?

The kind of study needed to prove definitively that UPFs cause health problems would be extremely complex, suggests Dr Nerys Astbury, a senior researcher in diet and obesity at Oxford University.

It would need to compare a large number of people on two diets – one high in UPFs and one low in UPFs, but matched exactly for calorie and macronutrient content. This would be fiendishly difficult to actually do.

Participants would need to be kept under lock and key so their food intake could be tightly managed. The study would also need to enrol people with similar diets as a starting point. It would be extremely challenging logistically.

And to counter the possibility that people who eat fewer UPFs might just have healthier lifestyles such as through taking more exercise or getting more sleep, the participants of the groups would need to have very similar habits.

“It would be expensive research, but you could see changes from the diets relatively quickly,” Dr Astbury says.

Funding for this type of research could also be hard to come by. There might be accusations of conflicts of interest, since researchers motivated to run these kind of trials may have an idea of what they want the conclusions to be before they started.

These trials couldn’t last for very long, anyway – too many participants would most likely drop out. It would be impractical to tell hundreds of people to stick to a strict diet for more than a few weeks.

And what could these hypothetical trials really prove, anyway?

Duane Mellor, lead for nutrition and evidence-based medicine at Aston University, says nutrition scientists cannot prove specific foods are good or bad or what effect they have on an individual. They can only show potential benefits or risks.

“The data does not show any more or less,” he says. Claims to the contrary are “poor science”, he says.

Another option would be to look at the effect of common food additives present in UPFs on a lab model of the human gut – which is something scientists are busy doing.

There’s a wider issue, however – the amount of confusion around what actually counts as UPFs.

Generally, they include more than five ingredients, few of which you would find in a typical kitchen cupboard.

Instead, they’re typically made from cheap ingredients such as modified starches, sugars, oils, fats and protein isolates. Then, to make them more appealing to the tastebuds and eyes, flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and glazing agents are added.

They range from the obvious (sugary breakfast cereals, fizzy drinks, slices of American cheese) to the perhaps more unexpected (supermarket humous, low-fat yoghurts, some mueslis).

And this raises the questions: how helpful is a label that puts chocolate bars in the same league as tofu? Could some UPFs affect us differently to others?

In order to find out more, BBC News spoke to the Brazilian professor who came up with the term “ultra-processed food” in 2010.

Prof Carlos Monteiro also developed the Nova classification system, which ranges from “whole foods” (such as legumes and vegetables) at one end of the spectrum, via “processed culinary ingredients” (such as butter) then “processed foods” (things like tinned tuna and salted nuts) all the way through to UPFs.

The system was developed after obesity in Brazil continued to rise as sugar consumption fell, and Prof Monteiro wondered why. He believes our health is influenced not only by the nutrient content of the food we eat, but also through the industrial processes used to make it and preserve it.

He says he didn’t expect the current huge attention on UPFs but he claims “it’s contributing to a paradigm shift in nutrition science”.

However, many nutritionists say the fear of UPFs is overheated.

Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, says the concept is “vague” and the message it sends is “negative”, making people feel confused and scared of food.

It’s true that currently, there’s no concrete evidence that the way food is processed damages our health.

Processing is something we do every day – chopping, boiling and freezing are all processes, and those things aren’t harmful.

And when food is processed at scale by manufacturers, it helps to ensure the food is safe, preserved for longer and that waste is reduced.

Take frozen fish fingers as an example. They use up leftover bits of fish, provide kids with some healthy food and save parents time – but they still count as UPFs.

And what about meat-replacement products such as Quorn? Granted, they don’t look like the original ingredient from which they are made (and therefore fall under the Nova definition of UPFs), but they are seen as healthy and nutritious.

“If you make a cake or brownie at home and compare it with one that comes already in a packet that’s got taste enhancers, do I think there’s any difference between those two foods? No, I don’t,” Dr Astbury tells me.

The body responsible for food safety in England, the Food Standards Agency, acknowledges reports that people who eat a lot of UPFs have a greater risk of heart disease and cancer, but says it won’t take any action on UPFs until there’s evidence of them causing a specific harm.

Last year, the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) looked at the same reports and concluded there were “uncertainties around the quality of evidence available”. It also had some concerns around the practical application of the Nova system in the UK.

For his part, Prof Monteiro is most worried about processes involving intense heat, such as the manufacturing of breakfast cereal flakes and puffs, which he claims “degrade the natural food matrix”.

He points to a small study suggesting this results in loss of nutrients and therefore leaves us feeling less full, meaning we’re more tempted to make up the shortfall with extra calories.

It’s also difficult to ignore the creeping sense of self-righteousness and – whisper it – snobbery around UPFs, which can make people feel guilty for eating them.

Dr Adrian Brown, specialist dietician and senior research fellow at University College London, says demonising one type of food isn’t helpful, especially when what and how we eat is such a complicated issue. “We have to be mindful of the moralisation of food,” he says.

Living a UPF-free life can be expensive – and cooking meals from scratch takes time, effort and planning.

A recent Food Foundation report found that more healthy foods were twice as expensive as less healthy foods per calorie, and the poorest 20% of the UK population would need to spend half their disposable income on food to meet the government’s healthy diet recommendations. It would cost the wealthiest only 11% of theirs.

I asked Prof Monteiro if it’s even possible to live without UPFs.

“The question here should be: is it feasible to stop the growing consumption of UPFs?” he says. “My answer is: it is not easy, but it is possible.”

Many experts say the current traffic light system on food labels (which flags up high, medium and low levels of sugar, fat and salt) is simple and helpful enough as a guide when you’re shopping.

There are smartphone apps now available for the uncertain shopper, such as the Yuka app, with which you can scan a barcode and get a breakdown of how healthy the product is.

And of course there’s the advice you already know – eat more fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and beans, while cutting back on fat and sugary snacks. Sticking to that remains a good idea, whether or not scientists ever prove UPFs are harmful.

BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we’ll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We’re starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think – you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.

The FSA says chemical compounds in the sweets can increase the risk of cancer and damage DNA.

The Food Standards Agency says the labelling on imported chocolate may not list all ingredients.

Separate bills to let terminally ill people end their life are being considered at Westminster and in Scotland.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

It had been the NHS’s longest-running and bitterest pay dispute – responsible for hundreds of thousands of cancelled operations and appointments.

And then, suddenly, word came on Monday that the British Medical Association was recommending that its 50,000 junior doctor members accept a fresh offer from the new government.

It sounded almost too good to be true. And now some are wondering if it might be.

Last Friday, just three days after formal negotiations started at the Department of Health’s London headquarters, Health Secretary Wes Streeting laid his cards on the table.

It was, he made clear to the British Medical Association delegation, a final offer – a pay rise topping 22% on average over two years in England.

The union’s team said they wanted to think about it over the weekend. On Sunday, the BMA junior doctor leaders met and decided that, while it fell short of their demand for a 35% pay increase, this was the best deal they could get.

Cue much trumpeting from the government – in her appearance at the House of Commons, Chancellor Rachel Reeves paid tribute to work put in by the health secretary.

Mr Streeting had met the BMA joint junior doctor leaders Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi several times before the election – asking them in their last meeting on Zoom to call off the strike they were about to hold in the lead-up to polling day.

When he was made health secretary, Mr Streeting immediately called the BMA to set up talks. Two meetings were held with Dr Laurenson and Dr Trivedi in a 10-day period following his appointment – before the formal pay talks started.

The health secretary’s hand was helped by the fact the independent pay review body’s recommendations for the 2024-25 pay rise had just landed on his desk, suggesting a 6% pay rise and £1,000 lump sum be given.

This allowed him to make an offer which effectively combined two years of pay rises. He topped up last year’s pay award – worth nearly 9% on average – with an extra 4% as well as agreeing to the pay review body’s recommendation for the current financial year.

In less than a week of talks, the new health secretary had achieved what the previous government had failed to do over the course of 11 strikes in the previous 18 months.

“What’s important is it could be presented as a win-win for both sides,” one source close to the talks said.

“The BMA got a big number, while the government only put in an extra 4% above what the pay review body recommended across the two years – that is just one percentage point more than what the Tories put on the table back in December when talks collapsed.”

Defending the deal, Ms Reeves called the costs – around £350m – a “drop in the ocean” compared to the £1.7bn cost of NHS strikes.

That may all be true, but what’s on offer to junior doctors has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in the NHS.

A pay rise of only 2% for NHS staff was budgeted for in the funding given to the health service this year.

The Treasury has indicated it will cover some of the extra, but perhaps not all. That has caused concern among senior managers running hospitals.

“Unless we get additional money to pay for this pay rise we will have to take money out of services and that is not right for the people that we serve,” says Nick Hulme, the boss of Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals.

There’s also frustration among other frontline staff who are having to make do with much less. Staff such as nurses, midwives, paramedics and physios have received a little more than half the rise junior doctors have won.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will now be consulting its members to see what they want to do – and industrial action is not being ruled out.

“We do not begrudge doctors their pay rise,” RCN leader Prof Nicola Ranger says. “What we ask for is the same fair treatment from government.”

Prof Len Shackleton, an economist at the University of Buckingham and research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, believes this could be just the start of a fresh round of pay demands.

“The government is naïve if it thinks this is over – other unions will look at this deal and think they can get more, not just those in the NHS but across the public sector. This could spiral out of control.”

On Thursday GPs launched a work-to-rule over what they say is insufficient funding for general practice – although the ballot leading up to this was run before the junior doctor deal was announced.

And already there are signs the junior doctors themselves will be back asking for more.

In WhatsApp messages leaked to the Times newspaper, Dr Laurenson said there would be another “window of opportunity” in 12 months time for further strikes when the new government’s honeymoon period is over.

He said he “desperately” wanted to get more from ministers, but this was the best that could be achieved for now. When the story emerged, he took to X to say he had told Mr Streeting as much to his face during the talks.

The end of the NHS industrial disputes may not be as close as it first seemed.

Top picture: Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we’ll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We’re starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think – you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.

Separate bills to let terminally ill people end their life are being considered at Westminster and in Scotland.

A coroner pays tribute to Katie Watson, who appeared on Channel 4’s Geordie Hospital.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Marine pilot Ian Lawrence and his family spent a year volunteering on a hospital ship.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

The number of people taking ADHD medication is at a record high – and the NHS is feeling the strain as it tries to diagnose and treat the condition.

Since 2015, the number of patients in England prescribed drugs to treat ADHD has nearly trebled, and BBC research suggests that it would take eight years to assess all the adults on waiting lists.

Last year, ADHD was the second-most viewed condition on the NHS website. Concern about this rising demand has prompted the NHS in England to set up a taskforce.

So what’s going on and where will it end? Is ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) becoming more common? Are we just getting better at recognising it? Or is it being over-diagnosed?

It turns out it’s not just you and I who have been taken by surprise – so have the experts.

Dr Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick, the ADHD champion for the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists, says: “Nobody predicted that the demand would go up so massively over the last 15 years, and especially the last three years.” He’s been running adult ADHD clinics since 2007. At the time, he says, there were just a few of them.

ADHD is a fairly novel condition – it’s only 16 years since the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) officially recognised it in adults. When considering whether it might keep increasing, Dr Müller-Sedgwick argues that there are two different concepts to consider: prevalence and incidence.

Prevalence is the percentage of people who have ADHD – Dr Müller-Sedgwick predicts that will stay pretty steady at 3 to 4% of adults in the UK.

Incidence is the number of new cases – people getting a diagnosis. That’s where we’re seeing an increase. He explains: “What has changed is the number of patients we are diagnosing. It’s almost like the more we diagnose, the more word spreads.”

Prof Emily Simonoff echoes this. She is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the King’s Maudsley Partnership for Children and Young People. She thinks about 5 to 7% of children have ADHD in the UK – and says: “It’s pretty similar across the world, that’s been consistent and it hasn’t actually risen.”

Prof Simonoff agrees that there’s been a “steep incline” in people coming forward for assessment since the pandemic – but says this comes after years of “long-term under-recognition”.

She points to statistics on ADHD drugs. She would expect about 3 to 4% of children in the UK to need ADHD medication, but in reality, only 1 to 2% are actually using it. She thinks this shows that we are still underestimating the scale of the issue.

Prof Simonoff explains: “I think that’s an important starting point for when we say, ‘My goodness, why are we seeing all these children now – are we over-identifying ADHD?’ We have under-diagnosed or under-recognised ADHD in the UK for many, many years.”

In other words, we can expect more people to be diagnosed with ADHD now because services are playing catch-up.

Thea Stein is chief executive of health think tank the Nuffield Trust. She’s got her own description for the recent increase in demand: “the Hump”. She says: “Diagnosis or desire to be diagnosed has risen because of knowledge and visibility – [it’s as] simple as that.”

According to Stein, the most immediate task is getting through the Hump, assessing the huge backlog of people on ADHD waiting lists. Then, in the longer-term, she thinks society will get better at spotting ADHD sooner in children. She hopes this will mean that they get better support from an early age, and take some of the pressure off adult services.

She says: “I have real optimism that we will come through this period of time to a much better place as a society. What I don’t have optimism about is that this is a quick fix.”

ADHD might be a new concept, but people struggling to concentrate is an old problem.

In 1798, Scottish doctor Sir Alexander Crichton wrote about a “disease of attention” with “an unnatural degree of mental restlessness.”

He explained: “When people are affected in this manner… they say they have the fidgets.”

ADHD goes beyond problems concentrating or being hyperactive, though. People with it can struggle regulating their emotions and impulses. It’s been linked to substance abuse and financial difficulties as well as higher rates of crime and even car crashes.

All the experts I speak to firmly agree on one point: it is much better for someone with ADHD to be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Dr Müller-Sedgwick says there’s a “risk of really bad outcomes”. But he lights up when he describes how diagnosis and treatment can transform lives.

He says: “I have seen so many patients getting better, getting back into work or back into education. I have seen parents who were going through family court proceedings who were able to be better parents.

“That’s why we work in this field, it’s a really rewarding part of mental health to work in.”

Currently, ADHD treatment revolves around medication and therapy, but there are other options on the horizon.

A patch worn by children with ADHD on their foreheads during sleep – connected to a device that sends stimulating pulses into the brain – is on sale in the United States. It’s not prescribed in the UK, but academics here and in the US are working on clinical trials looking into it.

Prof Katya Rubia is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at King’s College London – as she puts it, “My work over the last 30 years or so is basically imaging ADHD, understanding what is different in the brains [of people with ADHD].”

She explains that certain parts of ADHD brains, including the frontal lobe, are slightly smaller and also less active. Prof Rubia is trying to kickstart those areas of the brain, and is working on a study looking at the trigeminal nerve – it goes directly to the brain stem and can increase activity in the frontal lobe.

She says: “This is all very new. If we find an effect, we have a new treatment.” While that is yet to be proven, she does add: “If everything goes well, it could be on the market in two years.”

So, the hope is that, in the not-too-distant future, there will be more ways to treat ADHD without medication. In the meantime, though, the challenge is getting through that “hump” of people waiting to be assessed – with the belief that, over time, the increase in diagnoses should lessen.

See BBC Action Line for support on issues around ADHD

Read ADHD advice from the NHS

Top picture: Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we’ll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We’re starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think – you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.

Separate bills to let terminally ill people end their life are being considered at Westminster and in Scotland.

A coroner pays tribute to Katie Watson, who appeared on Channel 4’s Geordie Hospital.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Marine pilot Ian Lawrence and his family spent a year volunteering on a hospital ship.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

An urgent review is needed to make sure people in England can get weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro on the NHS, top experts warn.

It comes a day after the prime minister said such injections could boost Britain’s economy by getting obese unemployed people “back into work”.

More than 200 doctors and specialists have now written to the health secretary to say how stretched NHS obesity treatment services face unprecedented demand from patients wanting these drugs.

They warn the injections are only part of what should be a wider package of non-stigmatising care.

They say the government must fix some fundamentals issues in NHS obesity services – chronic underfunding, workforce challenges and unequal access to care.

The letter to Wes Streeting is being sent by the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), which represents health charities and medical royal colleges, and has compiled a report.

It says some patients can wait up to five years for specialist support, and that some services are so overstretched they have closed their waiting lists entirely.

The OHA wants to see equitable access for obesity treatments, including weight loss injections.

There have been reports of global stock shortages and, currently in the UK on the NHS, the injections can only be offered through specialist weight-management services.

Some patients go private, but many others miss out, warns the OHA.

According to the OHA, about four million people in England are eligible for Wegovy, but NHS projections estimate that by 2028, fewer than 50,000 people a year would get the treatment.

Katharine Jenner, director of the OHA, said the weight loss jabs were effective, but that was not the whole picture.

“Even if you are taking the jabs you still need to have extra care and support around it. You still need to be doing exercise and have dietary advice as well and that’s not currently there.

“There is also concern about who is getting access to this drug. We need to make sure that we are prioritising access based on greatest clinical need and not based on any other factors.”

She added that the OHA had heard about people that had a right to access treatment services due to their excess weight being turned away.

“They’re having to seek private treatment and they’re not getting the care and support package that they’d be expecting to get if you had any other sort of condition,” she said.

“We need to have a review of existing NHS services to identify cases of really good best practice and identify those challenges that exist all over the place.”

The upcoming approval for the NHS to use another injection, called Mounjaro, dubbed by some as the King Kong of weight loss jabs for how well it appears works in trials, is expected to place even more pressure on the system, the report warns.

Alfie Slade, government affairs lead at the OHA, said: “The new weight loss drugs represent a breakthrough in treatment, giving hope to the millions of people struggling to manage their weight, but they also expose the weaknesses in our current obesity services.

“Without urgent government intervention, we will fail to meet the needs of millions of patients, leading to greater health inequalities.”

Despite the benefits, health experts also caution that Wegovy and Mounjaro, which mimic a hormone that makes people less hungry, are not a quick fix. Patients must still exercise and watch what they eat.

Users can put weight back on once they stop the medication.

And, as with any drug, there can be side effects.

Doctors are concerned about the growing numbers of patients they are seeing with complications from taking weight loss drugs bought online without clinical supervision.

In many cases people might not actually be getting what they think they are, which can be very dangerous.

Public health measures to help prevent obesity problems in the first place, such as improving the nation’s diet and helping children get enough exercise, are also vital, says the OHA.

NHS England said it was working with the government and industry to develop new kinds of services which mean approved treatments can be rolled out safely, effectively and affordably.

A spokesperson said weight loss drugs would be “transformative” and, alongside NHS early prevention initiatives, “help more people to lose weight and reduce their risk of killer conditions like diabetes, heart attack and stroke”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said obesity “costs the NHS more than £11bn a year and it also places a significant burden on our economy”.

“With obesity-related illness causing people to take more days off sick, obesity drugs can be part of the solution,” they said.

The spokesperson also said junk-food advertising restrictions and a ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children would help tackle the “obesity crisis”.

Separate bills to let terminally ill people end their life are being considered at Westminster and in Scotland.

A coroner pays tribute to Katie Watson, who appeared on Channel 4’s Geordie Hospital.

But the NHS in England is still well below its target for seeing patients within 18 weeks.

The trial, involving patients in Yeovil and Taunton, is looking at reducing courses of antibiotics.

Marine pilot Ian Lawrence and his family spent a year volunteering on a hospital ship.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.