ANOTHER YEAR OF MEDICAL DRAMA
Controversial columnist Katie Hopkins
1 Controversial columnist Katie Hopkins caused a storm after she wrote in The Mail on Sunday Health pages that she refused to allow her son to have what?
a) The flu vaccine
b) A McDonald’s birthday party
c) Friends named after grape varieties
2 In the same week, The Mail on Sunday’s Dr Ellie Cannon had a showdown with which Scottish pop star (and former squeeze of singer Taylor Swift) over his ill-informed views on the same subject?
3 In October, Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies warned of ‘the end of modern medicine’ if what kind of medication became ineffective?
4 Earlier this month, a report suggested what was as bad for the health as smoking or obesity?
5 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence told doctors to advise patients who were suffering hearing loss due to ear wax against cleaning ears with what?
a) Cotton buds
b) The corner of a flannel or towel
c) An electric toothbrush
6 In November, the NHS launched a new initiative to combat lengthy GP waiting times. What was it?
a) A postal blood test service
b) A ‘GPs on tour’ minibus
c) Skype calls with a GP via an app
HEALTHY FOOD OBSESSIONS
7 In October, the Food Standards Agency revised its advice on which common food, saying it was now safe for women, babies and elderly people to eat raw?
8 A landmark study from Prof Roy
Taylor at Newcastle University proved that type 2 diabetes could be effectively cured by what?
a) Getting more sleep
b) Weight loss
c) Taking up tennis
How much wine does the average wine glass today hold?
9 How much wine does the average wine glass today hold?
a) 230ml
b) 160ml
c) 449ml
10 A study published in the British Medical Journal in November claimed that regular drinkers of what had a lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke?
11 In February an Imperial College London study suggested that, while eating the Government recommended five portions a day of fruit and vegetables was good for us, we should actually aim for how many portions if we wanted to live longer, healthier lives?
12 In October, a new kind of avocado was invented. What was special about it?
a) It was sugar-free
b) It was injected with gut-friendly bacteria
c) It was super-sized
d) It was low-fat
AND FITNESS FREAKS
13 In March, broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, 70, fronted a campaign aimed at
encouraging everyone to live ‘100 healthy, happy years’. In a bid to persuade people to get active, she appeared on ITV daytime show This Morning doing what?
a) Getting married for a fifth time
b) Having sex
c) Doing circus-style gym class aerial yoga
In September, it was revealed that at Thomas’s, the £17,000-a-year school Prince George attends, boys are expected to go to classes in what kind of fitness activity that typically involves wearing tights?
14 In September, it was revealed that at Thomas’s, the £17,000-a-year school Prince George attends, boys are expected to go to classes in what kind of fitness activity that typically involves wearing tights?
15 The Prime Minister keeps in shape thanks to a brutal exercise regime, reported to be so intense that some competitors are sick mid-workout. What is it called?
16 Fill in the blank in this quote from Royal bride-to-be Meghan Markle: ‘____ is my thing… That practice is in my blood.’
17 In March, the British Chiropractic Association warned that wearing which popular item of clothing could ‘wreak havoc’ on the body?
a) Bell bottoms
b) Onesies
c) Skinny jeans
18 Details of the two most premature babies ever to have survived were released in November. After how many weeks’ gestation were they born?
19 In July it was revealed that post-Brexit trade talks with America could mean Britain accepting US food standards, and a prominent example of this is the use of what to wash chicken carcasses?
20 A Public Health England survey revealed in August that four in ten adults were only managing a brisk walk for less than how many minutes per month?
The Answers
1. a) The flu vaccine – Hopkins argued that the spray, offered to her eight-year-old son by his school as part of the national vaccination programme, was only 60 per cent effective and therefore unnecessary.
2. Calvin Harris – he tweeted Dr Ellie claiming she was misinforming the public by not telling them about ‘neurotoxin’ mercury in vaccines. She gave him short shrift, as this is a myth. Harris deleted his tweets.
3. Antibiotics – Dame Sally echoed concerns from health experts that we are facing a ‘post antibiotic apocalypse’ as illness-causing bacteria become more resistant to the drugs.
4. Loneliness – Nine million adults suffer from damaging loneliness, according to the report. It said that isolation had a similar effect on health to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
5. a) Cotton buds, which can jam in and clog wax, drying it out and solidifying it so that it cannot move.
6. c) The free app, called GP At Hand, allows patients to arrange a Skype appointment with a GP within a matter of hours.
7. Eggs – the Government’s food safety watchdog changed its ruling on eggs almost 30 years after the UK salmonella crisis led to a warning to only eat them well cooked. Raw or lightly cooked eggs are fine to consume provided they are produced under the British Lion code of practice.
The Government’s food safety watchdog changed its ruling on eggs almost 30 years after the UK salmonella crisis led to a warning to only eat them well cooked.
8. b) Prof Taylor’s study proved that in 80 per cent of cases, type 2 diabetes patients who lost more than ten per cent of their body weight over an eight- to 12-week programme brought the disease under control without the need for any medication.
9. c) Cambridge University researchers assessed glasses dating back centuries, and found they now hold measures far larger than before. The average wine glass in 1700 contained just 66ml – today they hold an average 449ml.
10. Coffee. Three cups a day is also associated with a lower risk of neurological problems.
11. Ten portions a day. Eating up to 800g of fruit and vegetables –equivalent to ten portions and double the recommended amount in the UK – was associated with a 24 per cent reduced risk of heart disease,a 33 per cent reduced risk of stroke, a 28 per cent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease,a 13 per cent reduced risk of total cancer, and a 31 per cent reduction in premature deaths.
12. d) Spanish company Eurobanan unveiled a low-fat avocado. The company claim that its fruit has 30 per cent less fat than a regular avocado.
13. c) Aerial yoga – which involves swinging from silk hammocks suspended from the ceiling. Four-times-married Janet said: ‘People think that after 60, your bits drop off and that you stop having sex, but it’s simply not true.’
14. Ballet – At Thomas’s, dance,art, music, drama, French and PE are all taught by from a pupil’s first day in the classroom.
15. Crossfit – Theresa May, 60,was reported to do a session once a week with coach Lee Carnaby.
Meghan told Women’s Health that her mother is a yoga instructor, that she started the discipline as a child, and has continued doing it ever since
16. Yoga – Meghan told Women’s Health that her mother is a yoga instructor, that she started the discipline as a child, and has continued doing it ever since.
17. Skinny jeans – The BCA claimed they reduce mobility and natural shock-absorbing qualities in your walk, causing pressure in your joints.
18. An American girl, now aged three, was born at 21 weeks and four days, while a Korean girl,now five, was born at 21 weeks and five days. Full-term babies are born at about 40 weeks.
19. Chlorine. America has no laws governing amounts of space poultry have in farms so bacterial infection is rife.Washing chickens in chlorine kills any micro-organisms.
20. According to a survey, a whopping 41 per cent walk for less than ten minutes a month.