We quite often get asked if we have any customer testimonials to display on the website to give people confidence to make their first purchase with us. We do not believe in troubling our patients to provide reviews but we can direct potential new patients to Trust Pilot, which is an independent consumer review website. Here is the link to The Online Clinic review page on the website where you can leave reviews and read what others have written about us. We check reviews to ensure that they are actually from real customers of our clinic. Any malicious posts are removed but we cannot remove anything negative posted about us if the review was written by a genuine customer. Using an independent review service is the fairest way to give potential customers a balanced perspective. After all, websites that post customer testimonials on their own site are never going to allow negative reviews to be published; are they?

We regret to announce that our pharmacy in Leeds has had to close today because of the very bad weather affecting the UK. As conditions deteriorate, it is becoming dangerous for staff to travel home so the difficult decision to close for the day had to be taken. This means that any prescriptions received today and over-night will not go out today. Hopefully we will be back to normal tomorrow. Our office in London remains open, as does our call centre, so staff will continue to be available to answer any questions.

Sharing the day with European Antibiotic Awareness day, the Department of Health yesterday launched a campaign that seeks to spread the awareness regarding the responsible use of antibiotics. Although antibiotics are available on prescription only in the UK, many people stock up on treatments when abroad or purchase from irresponsible websites. People do not know when they should take antibiotics or how to take them appropriately. This misuse has caused the development of resistance and certain bacterial infections can no longer be treated with antibiotics.

Through ignorant misuse, people are responsible for the increasing bacterial resistance. Taking care to not self-diagnose and to only take medication that has been prescribed, taking a complete course of antibiotics and according to the recommended methods of administration will help to safeguard the success of antibiotics in the fight against infections in the future.

Antibiotics are used for the treatment of infections caused by bacteria and not for viral infections such as flu and colds. For common colds, fluids, relaxation and over the counter remedies such as paracetemol are sufficient for the alleviation of symptoms. Many people hassle their doctor for antibiotics when they have a cold and unless they have secondary complications such as a chest infection, antibiotics are not required.

If fewer antibiotics are used, the development of resistance will slow down. There are very few new antibiotics in development so more time spent in establishing new and effective antimicrobial agents is vital.

The researchers of Maccabi Health Services, Tel Aviv believe that taking of statins reduces the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and furthermore, the younger one is when taking the treatment, the risk is even less. The study showed that taking statins regularly reduced the possibility of developing the condition by nearly half. The Israeli researchers went through 2,000,000 health records of patients who had been taking statins for cholesterol. Those who were taking the statins regularly were 42% less likely to develop the condition than those who took statins infrequently.

The leader of the research, Dr. Gabriel Chodick said that it is difficult to know whether people are susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis but if a genetic marker was identified in the future then statins might be the answer for the prevention of this debilitating condition. Statins appear to be ineffective in preventing osteoarthritis, which is caused by wear and tear of the cartilage rather than an autoimmune attack on the joints that causes Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Although some patients taking statins experience side effects including trouble sleeping, low libido, and liver problems, the benefits far outweigh the side effects. By decreasing the inflammation of the joints, statins may serve to beat rheumatoid arthritis by easing the condition and maybe even preventing it.

If you think purchasing a salad bowl or pasta dish from your local supermarket for lunch is doing your diet any favours, think again. Research carried out by Consensus Action on Salt and Health suggests that they contain worryingly high levels of salt. A survey carried out last year showed that some of these salads contained as much salt as is found to be contained in a Big Mac.

The findings in this study are not dissimilar. Only 6 out of a whopping 270 of these convenient ‘healthy foods’ contain less salt than a packet of Walkers ready salted crisps. One in ten salads/ pasta salads contains over 2.1g of salt; more than is found in a Big Mac.

Of all of the high street cafes selling what they reckon to be fresh, healthy food, EAT is the worst offender. Their crayfish and noodle salad is said to contain a massive 3.51g of salt. Marks and Spencer’s salads are up there with the saltiest of salad vendors.

The Food Standards Agency recommends an adult intake of no more than 6g of salt per day (1tsp) to rule out risk of stroke, heart disease and abnormal blood pressure due to excess of salt in the diet.

Professor Graham McGregor states that for every gram of salt removed from our diet, it is estimated that 6,000 deaths caused by these heart related illnesses could be prevented. He goes on to say that this would then save approximately £1.5 billion per year in healthcare costs.

Pret a Manger’s salads are the healthiest with all of their food meeting the standards of the Food Standards Agency yet they continually endeavour to reduce the amount of salt in their products without taking away from the taste of their food.

It is only a matter of time before the other high street companies catch up but until then be aware of your daily salt intake. All of the ingredients will be printed on the packaging.

In a recent issue of Hypertension, an interesting paper has been published on the relationship between being antagonistic and having thicker arteries resulting in an increased risk for stroke and heart related illnesses. Apparently, the nicer you are and the more relaxed and trusting you are, clearer your arteries will be.

The 3 year study was carried out by researchers from the US and Italy on approximately 5,000 Sardinians. They wanted to find out how antagonism related to arterial thickening. The average age of the group was 42 but the group ranged from those aged 14-94 with over half of the group comprising of females.

At the outset, the group took a personality test which measured types and levels of agreeableness, including trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty and tender mindedness. They suggest that there is a relationship between having these traits and less risk for heart attack and stroke than those who do not possess these positive attributes. Well, we cannot change overnight but if it means that we can improve our cardiovascular health, maybe it is worth getting some rose tinted specs.

We have seen an alert from Australia about a product called Cialis 50. The product is sold as an aid for erectile dysfunction but is totally unrelated to the prescription medication called Cialis. Cialis 50 came to prominence a few days ago when an Australian truck driver was admitted to a hospital in Queensland with slurred speech and profuse sweating. It then transpired that the 54 year old truck driver had taken the fake erectile dysfunction medication that had been sold illegally.

This case highlights the dangers of buying counterfeit medication. Many people are tempted to go down the counterfeit route because the fakes are a fraction of the price of the real thing. As you can see from this story, saving a few pounds may do nothing for your health. The Online Clinic is happy to support the Get Real campaign, which aims to educate people on how to get a legitimate prescription, either online or in person. The UK healthcare industry is highly regulated so it could not be easier trying to sort the “Viagra Cowboys” out from the legitimate healthcare providers such as The Online Clinic. Make sure that the clinic that you are dealing with is registered with the Care Quality Commission. We carry their logo on our home page and publish our certificate number so that you can check us out with the regulator. Avoid anyone who does not have a certificate as they are operating illegally.

There may be a link between weight gain in middle age and dementia, according to scientists from the Boston School of Medicine.

They believe that a paunch in middle age can make otherwise healthy people more likely to develop the condition, which the World Health Organisation estimate is affecting 24.3 people worldwide. They think that there is a link between excess weight and lower total brain volume.

The team studied over 700 volunteers, whose average age was 60. They compared their BMI, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference with measures of their brain volume and brain density, amongst other measurements.

The Alzheimer’s Society has said that they are not overly surprised by the research, as it is already known that dementia is related to high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. All three conditions are themselves associated with having a middle-aged spread.

The results are published in the journal, Annals of Neurology.

They have called for more work to be done to be done to investigate the link between obesity and dementia, and further said that research into dementia is ‘drastically underfunded’. In a press release, they called for sufficient research to ‘make the advances necessary’.

Health experts have warned that urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly hard to treat, as the bacteria that cause them become resistant to antibiotics.

Scientists from the University of Hong Kong believe that antibiotics are being overused in the farming industry, causing resistant genes to be passed down the food chain from animals to humans.

They examined the bacteria Escherichia coli particularly, as it is responsible for the majority of UTIs,along with Ureaplasma Urealyticum and Gardnerella Vaginalis. When they examined samples from humans and animals, they discovered that antibiotic resistance was present.

In approximately 80% of the samples, the gene aacC2, which encodes resistance to the antibiotic gentamicin, was present. The samples were only from one area of the world, Hong Kong, but it is thought that further tests in other areas worldwide would show similar results.

Dr. Pak-Leung Ho, who lead the research, warned that international trade in meat and cattle meant that if resistance developed in one region, it could easily become global. He advised that authorities need to monitor the transmission of resistance more closely.

There are fears that even if one country cracks down on antibiotic resistance, global travel and trade means that will negate those efforts, meaning that united global action is the only solution.

There has also been research published indicating that the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea is becoming resistant to antibiotics, a story we have been monitoring closely.

A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine has dashed hopes that intensive work to drive down cholesterol levels in diabetic patients could reduce heart problems.

The study was part of the ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) trial, which was designed to see whether drug therapy to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure could make a difference to the higher risk diabetics have of developing heart problems .

Diabetics are thought to be twice as likely as those without the condition to suffer from heart attacks. Generally they are put on medication to reduce the risk, with doctors aiming to lower blood pressure and levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood.

However the researchers have released very surprising data which has showed that such treatments do not in fact cut the risk of heart disease in diabetic patients. Results from the trial, launched ten years ago, showed that lowering the high blood pressure to very low levels did not decrease the number of patients experiencing heart attacks, strokes, or death from cardiovascular causes.

Patients who were taking statins were given an additional drug known as a fibrate which lowers triglycerides while boosting levels of  the ‘good’ cholesterol HDL. Unfortunately, again this did not affect levels of heart attacks, strokes and heart-related death.

The results seemed to show that patients in all groups faced a 2% increased risk of having a cardiovascular event regardless of whether they were receiving intensive treatment to lower blood pressure, a fibrate as well as a statin or a statin alone.

Nonetheless doctors have stressed that though the findings are surprising, patients with diabetes still need to keep their cholesterol and blood pressure levels under control through exercise and diet and should not stop taking any medication without consulting their doctor first.

An east London council has said that a scheme they introduced a year ago banning fast food venues from targeting schoolchildren has resulted in a reduction in child obesity.

The council banned junk food shops from opening within 400m of schools, parks and leisure centres. Secondary schools in the area also routinely ban schoolchildren from leaving school premises to get lunch, ensuring that through school dinners they at least receive one healthy meal a day.

Since the policy was introduced, no new fast food restaurants have opened in the borough. The number of fast food outlets in the borough has fallen from 253 to 241, resulting in the rates of obesity amongst Waltham Forest’s children in year 6 (9 and 10 year olds) falling. For the age group, obesity levels from from 22.8% in the year before the ban was introduced to 20.6% in 2008/9.

The council said that residents of the borough had overwhelmingly backed the drive to cut obesity levels and added that they hoped it would not only lead to streets becoming cleaner and safer but would offer a better mix of shops, cafes and restaurants.Over the last year, the council have rejected 5 applications from new takeaway companies.

They say that 15 other councils have now been in contact to get more details about the scheme, with the intention of setting it up in their own boroughs.

If you are interested in how fast food is significantly affecting obesity levels in the West, there was a fantastic article in the Guardian about how the addictive combination of salt, sugar and fat in junk food has changed the way we eat but left us with a terrifying legacy of obesity.  The article is extracted from author David A Kessler’s book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of Our Insatiable Appetite, which could also be worth a read. 

Scientists have discovered that short bursts of exercise are better for our health and weight that long periods of intensive training.

Researchers say that they hope their study will ‘blow away’ the belief that people need to spend long periods of time exercising to stay in shape and shed the pounds.

The results come from a study into ‘high intensity interval training’, done at the McMaster University in Ontario, Canda. Participants were asked to run or cycle at maximum effort for a minute and then rest for a minute, repeating the routine about 10 times.

Volunteers cycled for 60 seconds as fast as possible to reach maximum heart rate. After the exercise, tests showed that their muscles had improved as much as if they had been performing endurance training.  To achieve the same results through endurance training participants would have needed to do 10 hours of moderate-intensity cycling over two weeks.

Professor Martin Gibala, whose findings have been published in the Journal of Physiology, said that it was possible for those trying to stay healthy to achieve more by doing less.

He said it was not clear why high intensity interval training was so productive but said that it seemed to stimuli many of the ‘same cellular pathways’ as other more traditional exercise regimes.

‘The Obesity Epidemic’, is a term that is often bandied around in the media. The population of the UK, like the populations of the entire developed world are getting fatter. The cause is simple; we are eating more and exercising less. Also as was seen in the documentary Super Size Me, many of us are eating a diet of processed food, which is high in saturated fat, salt and sugar and has little or no nutritional value.

In a not altogether unrelated study, two scientists, Professor Simon Pearce and Dr. Tim Cheetham, have reported that children are at risk of developing rickets, a bone disease which is caused by a deficiency of vitamin D. The decline in time spent outdoors in the sunlight, our most significant source of vitamin D, and a poor diet have resulted in the disease reaching levels which are higher than they were fifty years ago, when children spent far more time outside, had better diets and regularly took cod liver oil supplements without the benefit of the gelatine casing to disguise the disgusting taste!

The two scientists have suggested that vitamin D needs to be added to milk and certain food products to boost children’s levels as it was in the Second World War to promote bone strength. Severe vitamin D deficiency will lead to a reduction in blood calcium, which can cause muscle cramps and seizures. Very rarely, severe deficiency has lead to heart muscle weakness.

Clearly we need to get on top of this situation but many people are opposed to the engineering of our food to include supplements that would not be required if we had a normal balanced diet with a reasonably active lifestyle. What do you think? Feel free to add your comments below.

An Italian scientist has claimed that the Mona Lisa’s famously enigmatic smile was due to nothing more tragic or mysterious than cholesterol.

Vito Franco, of the University of Palermo, says that the facial expression of the model in the world-famous 16th century painting indicates that there was a build up of fatty acids around her eyes. He believes he has identified a subcutaneous accumulation of cholesterol in the hollow of her left eye, also known as xanthelasma. The build up of fatty acids is a sign that the model had high cholesterol.

The model was believed to be Lisa Del Giocondo, the wife of a cloth and silk merchant and the member of a Florentine family. Various suggestions have been made as to what prompted her famously pensive and tragic smile, ranging from the death of her child to the theory she was a highly-paid whore.

Professor Franco has studied a variety of great works of art and claims that he has discovered evidence that the models used suffered from a variety of ailments.  He thinks that the unnaturally long fingers and slender hands in the model for Botticelli’s Portrait of a Youth, hanging in Washington’s National Gallery of Art, indicate a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome, which it has been suggested that Osama Bin Laden also suffers from.

He also believes that Raphael’s depiction of a miserable-looking Michaelangelo in the foreground of his School of Athen’s showed that he was suffering from excess uric acid, ‘typical of those afflicted by renal calculosis’, due to the swollen knees in the painting.

The professor revealed his findings at a European conference on human pathology in Florence.

After 15 years in the job, the Chief Medical Officer for Britain Sir Liam Donaldson has announced that he will be stepping down. It was revealed that he intended to retire earlier this year, but when the swine flu pandemic first became a threat, he agreed to stay in the post to resolve the situation.

The news that he now will step down in May is a strong indicator that officials are now confident that swine flu is under control. He has promised that if there should be an unexpected worsening of the influenza he will remain in his post.

Sir Liam has been the longest serving Chief Medical Officer so far. During his time in the role he made himself the scourge of smokers and tobacco companies, pushing successfully for the introduction of no smoking in public spaces.

He also handled a variety of different high-profile cases, such as the scandal at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and the recommendations that came up after GP Harold Shipman’s serial murders were discovered.

In his resignation letter, he said that there was a few things he was especially proud of, such as the smoking ban, his work to promote stem cell research and his drive to change the laws of consent over organ donation. He described himself as ‘immensely proud’ to have served in the post.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a statement thanked Sir Liam for his work and described his work as outstanding, as well as having saved ‘many many lives.’

It is thought that his last push in the role will come in his final report, where he is expected to lobby for greater action to control alcohol consumption in Britain.

A hard-hitting campaign has been launched warning consumers of the dangers of buying medications illegally over the internet. The campaign by Viagra manufacturers Pzifer features a man taking an apparently ordinary pill, only to pull a rat’s tail out of his mouth, followed by the entire animal.

The advert had previously only been shown in cinemas, garnering a number of complaints which were dismissed by the Advertising Standards Agency. Now it will be shown on Channel Four, though it has been deemed so shocking it can only be shown after 11 p.m.

The campaign is being jointly funded by Pzifer, The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the MHRA, the Patient’s Association and Heart UK. As well as television adverys, there will also be a national billboard campaign running across the country during November.

In a survey it was discovered that 1 in 7 Britons were seeking to get medication over the internet without a prescripition, to avoid consulting a doctor. 78% of doctors said that the practice was putting people’s health at risk, particularly as most of the medication sold over the internet is counterfeit.

Online medication has taken off over the past ten years, as Britons find buying their medication over the internet more convenient. They also often are fooled into believing they are getting a bargain, as counterfeiters appear to offer genuine medications at amazing prices. A fifth said they bought medication online to save money, while 32% said they did so because it was quicker.

TV companies have long been under pressure from campaigners for allowing companies like Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Cadburys to sponsor their most popular programs, buying the time before and after every adbreak to promote their products to an often young and impressionable audience.

Now however one of the most popular programs for under-15s is to have an critic-proof sponsor – the government’s Change 4 Life campaign.  The government have decided to sponsor episodes of the satirical cartoon in an attempt to make children more aware of their message promoting healthy eating.

The cartoon features Homer Simpson, famous for his doughnut addiction and habit of chugging down can after can of beer. Officials apparently hope that families zoning out in front of the TV will see the Simpson family as a reflection of themselves and be pushed to take better care of their health.

They also approve of the way the animated family, despite their fairly dysfunctional ways, eat together round the kitchen table and support each other through their various tribulations (the episode when they get lost in the woods and nearly eaten by slavering wolves springs to mind there).

After the show was analysed, the health experts said that they thought skateboarding Simpson son Bart achieved the recommended 60 minutes of exercise a day, while his vegetarian sister Lisa probably consumed at least 5 fruits or vegetables a day.

The officials plan to use the slots to show a set of cartoon characters, created by the same company that made Wallace and Gromit, pretending to be the Simpson family. They will be sitting on the sofa eating pizza and junk food, which will ultimately disappear, to be replaced by fruit and vegetablesThe positive and negative aspects of the Simpson family have been acknowledged in the slogan for the £640,000 campaign, “Supporting the Simpsons: Sometimes.”

A large, government-funded study has shown that rates of sleep apnoea in America are rising as the population becomes increasingly obese.

Seven institutions took part in the study, measuring the sleep and breathing patterns of over 6,400 people and monitoring them for the next 8 years. They discovered that adults over 40 who suffered from disrupted breathing during sleep were nearly 50% more likely to die than those with normal breathing.

According to the National Institute of Health, over 12 million Americans suffer from sleep apnoea, but only 1 in 5 are aware they have the condition. The condition is becoming more common because it can be caused by excess fat around the neck and throat, which clogs the airways and causes temporary blockages that forces people to gasp for air. As the population gets heavier, more people have excess fat around their throat.

The co-author of the study and chairman of the department of preventative medicine at the University of Southern California, Jonathan Samet, said that the American obesity epidemic was of grave concern. He said that as almost 65% of adults were obese or overweight, disordered sleep was becoming more common.

Men are more likely to experience sleep apnoea than women by about 15% and the most common cause of death was heart disease.

Samet advised that anyone who snores at night and is sleepy during the day should consult their doctor. He added that losing weight or taking medication to boost the supply of oxygen to the body in the night could reduce the risk of associated heart problems.

Andy Burnham has said that there needs to be a sea-change in how Britons approach physical activity. After research showed the UK was one of the least active countries in Europe, the health minister said that Brits needed to face up to the challenge of doing more exercise.

We were 21^st out of 31, falling behind countries like Bulgaria and Latria in the chart showing how regularly populations engaged in regular exercise. The recommended amount of exercise we should be doing is 1 hour a day for children, and 30 minutes daily for adults.

However, a survey performed for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy showed that two-thirds of UK residents were not managing to meet this target, with 1/5^th saying they exercised once a month or less.

Mr Burnham said that while as a nation we love sport, we are just not doing enough of it. He added that while we had already set coming fourth in the 2012 Olympics as a goal, he wanted us to get to number 4 in the league of physical activity in the next 10 years.

His comments come as the government launched a number of initiatives to get Britain healthier as part of their Change4Life program. These included the rather dubious announcement that Arlene Phillips, the judge sacked by the BBC for apparently being too old to present Strictly Come Dancing, was to join the Dance Champions Group.

A £1m cash injection into swimming has also been set aside to help councils provide free swims.

He also said that people on sickness benefit should be exercising, as this could lead to significant benefits for the economy. Each minute, £3000 is spent on treating Type 2 diabetes, a condition frequently caused by obesity.

Work’s over. You’ve made it home, you’re having a nice glass of wine and your partner is making sexy eyes at you. Surely a little bit of horizontal cardiovascular exercise would be the perfect way to finish of your day...

Apparently not. According to a new survey most Brits would rather ignore the bedroom eyes and skip the sex in order to get more sleep. Almost 3/4s of British couples said that they often did not have enough energy to have sex at the end of the day, while more than half blamed their waning sex drive on a lack of exercise.

Even worse, Nuffield Health’s report revealed that 1 in 6 Brits are so lazy that they were their television remote to break, they would rather stay watching a telly program they weren’t interested in rather than get up and change the channel.A third of the 2,000 people who took part in the survey said they wouldn’t run for the bus, while half would catch the lift instead of walking up two flights of stairs.

Not only are our sex lives suffering, but children are missing out on spending time with their parents as 64% admitted they were always too tired to play with their offspring.

Broken down by region, Glasgow was the laziest city, with Birmingham and Southamptom coming in at joint second, followed by Bristol and London.

Despite the millions the government has spent on their Change 4 Life program, aimed at helping us identify the little things we could change in our lifestyles to make them healthier, it seems that the the slogan “eat well, move well, live longer” is having little impact.

Perhaps “Eat well, move well, look hotter” might have worked better – a third of respondents said that they would be more inclined to exercise in order to look more attractive.

New search engine Bing has become a haven for illegal pharmaceutical suppliers, it was claimed this week. An investigation indicated that 9 out of 10 sponsored adverts were advertising prescription drugs from companies directly breaking U.S law.

Working together, the firms Knujon (“no junk” backwards) and Legitscript, which monitors websites selling prescription meds, spent a month entering search terms for prescription drugs into Bing and checking out the sites they were directed to. They concluded that 89.7% of the adverts were for illegal firms.

Of the 10 firms that the researchers examined in greater depth, they discovered that none required a doctor’s prescription for supplying medications as required by law. In their report, the authors warned that the firm’s breaches of law were not minor slip-ups, but indicated that the websites were “wholly fraudulent” and run by “criminal networks”.

Having ordered from at least two of these sites, the investigators were sent medication purporting to be the erectile dysfunction medication Cialis, which was discovered to be counterfeit. They found that many of the advertisers were selling drugs from India, while others were being run by a Russian criminal gang.

They also discovered that rogue companies were posting adverts seeming to come from legitimate, reputable companies which actually directed internet surfers to illegal sites.

Bing is Microsoft’s attempt to break Google’s stranglehold over the search engine market. Launched a few months ago, the engine has been slowly chipping away at Google’s ratings, increasing its market share by 1% last month to a 9.41% share of the U.S market.

However the loopholes discovered by the report suggest that there are still major issues Microsoft needs to iron out. The firm's guidelines clearly state that any pharmacies advertising on their site need to operate within U.S law. 24 hours after the report was published, Microsoft issued a statement promising to take the claims seriously and investigate the issue.

Fears of an outbreak of the plague have been raised after it was confirmed that a second man had died in a remote area in North-West China. The town where the two men lived, containing some 10,000 people, has been sealed off.

The second death was of a 37 year old man who was the neighbour of the first victim, a herdsman from Zikiten in the Qinghai province, a region mostly populated by Tibetans. So far, 10 people in the area are believed to be infected. One report has suggested that this is the 3^rd outbreak of the infection in 10 years.

The two men died of the pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs and spreads both from animals to people and from person to person. It is caused by the same bacterium as that which causes the bubonic plague, with the World Health Organisation saying that is is the most virulent form of plague, capable of killing someone within 24 hours.

Chinese officials say that they acted quickly to contain the infection and have told the BBC that the situation is now under control. The World Health Organisation say that though they have not been asked for assistance, the remoteness of the area should help contain the infection.

On their website, the WHO advised that early diagnosis and treatment with anti-biotics could reduce mortality to 15% and said that they did not expect the latest outbreak to cause the same number of fatalities as have historically been reported. In 2003 182 people died in 9 different countries, mostly in Africa.

Further weight has been added to calls to make statin prescriptions more widespread after a study was published confirming that they do make the risk of a heart attack less likely, even in healthy individuals.

The researchers from the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam have published a study in the British Medical Journal indicating that after reviewing 10 trials into statins and data about over 70,000 patients, statins will cut mortality – from all causes – by 12% in patients who do not already have heart disease. Users were 30% less likely to have a heart attack and 19% less likely to have a stroke.

There have already  been calls for statins to be prescribed to as many people as possible over 40, the age when heart problems and high cholesterol become more likely. The researchers said in renowned medical publication that statins should be prescribed to people without heart disease but with other risk factors for heart attacks and strokes, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

They added that it was very likely that many people would benefit from taking statins as long as they were priced reasonably. However they pointed out that identifying people with risk factors would present a challenge and acknowledged that prescribing the medication to all people over a certain age would be difficult in terms of cost and safety.

A recent investigation into Pfizer’s controversial advertising campaign warning of the dangers of counterfeit drugs has concluded that the pharmaceutical company did not breach the advertising code. The Advertising Standards Authority, the watchdog for the advertising industry, received 64 complaints about the campaign, which featured a man pulling a dead rat out of his mouth. Pfizer decided to use a rat to get their point home after it was revealed that some counterfeit medications contained rat poison.

The adverts were shown in cinemas nationwide and while the ASA acknowledged that some viewers might be upset or offended by the images, the purpose of the advert was important enough to make using “hard-hitting” content justifiable. The ASA was influenced by the fact that the advert was only shown before films rated 15 or above, meaning that the number of young people who saw it was minimised.

Pfizer have said that they believe between 50 and 90% of all prescription-only medications sold via the internet are either of poor quality or counterfeit but estimate that this year, 330,000 men will buy prescription-only medication illegally over the internet. The ruling by the ASA that the issue is sufficiently important to merit such a shocking image comes a few days after a survey by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain revealed that a quarter of GPs had treated patients experiencing side-effects from medications purchased illegally over the internet.

If you are considering buying medication over the internet then there are two simple rules that you need to follow to ensure that the medication is appropriate for you and you will end up receiving the genuine article.

1. Make sure that you have a consultation with a doctor before you are able to purchase any medication. Avoid websites that allow you to purchase medication before a doctor has reviewed your medical details as this practice is illegal and carries obvious dangers.

2. Make sure that the medication is being dispensed by a licensed pharmacy. All pharmacies in the UK must be registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The RPSGB has an online database where you can check the registration details of the pharmacy dispensing your medication. We provide a link to this online database from the Who We Are page of the main online clinic website.

A worrying poll amongst GPs has revealed that 1 in 4 have treated patients who experienced adverse reactions to medication purchased over the internet. The poll was commissioned by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, which is growing increasingly concerned about the activities of illegal pharmacies and clinics operating over the internet.

The numbers of those purchasing medication online, from both legal and illegal clinics, is rising annually; 2 million people in the UK are now believed to regularly purchase them online. As well as the 25% of doctors who had treated patients who had bought online, a further 8% of GPs said that they suspected patients were experiencing the side-effects of a medication bought online.

Despite lifestyle medications like Reductil, Xenical and Viagra only being available with a doctor’s prescription, many illegal pharmacies are selling them without consultations with a proper doctor, therefore putting patients’ lives at risk. There is also a massive trade in counterfeit medications being sold for temptingly low prices, though clients have no idea what they are actually consuming – some batches of Viagra have been found to contain cement and blue paint! Medical regulators have said that embarrassment often leads people to buy medicines from disreputable sources.

The RPSGB runs a logo scheme to identify legitimate online pharmacies and the director of policy at the society, David Pruce, advised only buying medicine over the internet when the site is using a legimate “bricks and mortar” pharmacy.

So what do we, an online clinic, think about this? We want above all a more recognisable way for patients to know that they are using a legitimate organisation. We have extremely strict policies over the doctors we employ, how we prescribe, the pharmacy we use and the sourcing of our medication. We always err on the side of caution. But we are in the minority and illegal clinics are giving the whole industry a bad name. Worst of all, most patients don’t know how to check the credentials of the internet medical companies. There needs to be far clearer guideline to help patients when they want to get medication over the internet. They are going to do so anyway, so the regulators or an industry body need to clearly show them how to do so safely.

A few tips:

• Is the pharmacy dispensing the medication actually legitimate? Get the address and check it against the registration details held by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain here:
• http://www.rpsgblist.org/premises.asp  We provide this information on the Who We Are page of our website.
• Most life-style medications are only available with a doctor’s prescription. If you can buy it without a prescription, it’s going to be counterfeit. We always give the name of the doctor who approves the prescription and this is a General Medical Council requirement.
• If the clinic is offering you an online prescription, make sure they provide you with the General Medical Council registration number of the prescribing doctor.
• If an online clinic is publishing prices of their prescription medications before you’ve had a consultation, then they are operating illegally. This is deemed a promotion and is against UK law.
• “Generic” versions of medications, ludicrously cheap pills – you’re probably being sold talcum power and speed cooked up in the bedroom of a teenager in Southeast Asia.
• Where is the company based? It is better to stick with a company registered in the UK so you know that it is being properly regulated.

Its long been thought that eggs had extremely high cholesterol levels and we should only eat them a few times a week. However Canadian scientists have now performed a study that shows in fact they can lower blood pressure and can therefore protect our health, and scientists at Surrey University this month published research saying it was a myth that consuming a lot of eggs raised cholesterol levels.

Not only are eggs now back on the ‘good food’ list but apparently fried eggs are the best way to cook them. The scientists discovered that eggs produce a protein that blocks a hormone, angiogenesis, that causes blood vessels to narrow when they come into contact with stomach enzymes. When fried more angiogenesis is blocked. This mimics the action of ACE inhibitors, which many people globally are prescribed to lower blood pressure.

The Surrey University scientists gave a group of overweight but otherwise healthy volunteers two eggs a day for twelve weeks and measured their blood cholesterol half-way through and at the end of the control period. They discovered that there was either no change or a reduction in cholesterol, especially in the ‘bad’ cholesterol LDL. The study backs up an increasing belief amongst the medical community that it is foods containing saturated or trans-fats that boost blood cholesterol, not those which are merely cholesterol-rich.

Previously, the British Heart Foundation had advised against eating more than three eggs a week but in recent years they have quietly dropped that suggestion. Bruce Griffin, the professor of nutritional metabolism who lead the British study, said:“Eggs make a nutritional contribution to a healthy, calorie-restricted diet. We have shown that when two eggs a day are eaten by people who are actively losing weight on a calorie-restricted diet, blood cholesterol can still be reduced."

A study of 20,000 middle-aged and elderly UK residents has shown that an unhealthy lifestyle can double someone’s risk of a stroke by half. The findings were published in the BMJ and represent some of the first findings based on the impact of several risk factors combined, as opposed to the individual impact of smoking or obesity.

The research, led by scientists from the University of East Anglia, showed that consuming too much alcohol and food, smoking, eating too few greens and not exercising all make a person more vulnerable to having a stroke. The researchers gave one ‘point’ each time some one had a health behaviour, when someone did not smoke, drank moderately, exercised and ate five portions of fruit or vegetables per day getting the maximum 4 points. They found that those who got no points were 2.3 more times likely to experience a stroke than someone with 4 points. The fewer points someone had, the greater their chances of getting sick. The data also showed that the most common ‘score’ was 3, and that significantly more women than men had a score of 4.

At the moment, strokes cost the NHS £7bln each year. In the editorial that accompanied the BMJ article, Dr Matthew Giles from the Stroke Prevention Research Unit based in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital said that the low numbers of participants who had a lifestyle that protected them against a stroke (5,000 got the maximum score) indicated that a massive behavioural change was needed to make a difference. Strokes are the nation‘s third biggest killer.

We’ve written quite a lot on this blog about manufacturers making misleading claims about the health benefits of their products, from food stuffs to herbal medications. We were therefore very pleased to hear today that one of the biggest food companies, Kelloggs, has been rather publicly named and shamed for just this by the advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority.

Kelloggs had been touting their new, chewy oat biscuits all over town, claiming in press and poster adverts that they offered “wholesome cookie goodness.” Mmm – goodness and cookies, who could resist? However consumer watchdog Which? apparently could, as they reported the firm for misleading consumers into believing the nibbley treats were beneficial to health. Kelloggs promised in smaller print that the snacks were made with oats, wheat, six B vitamins and iron, but warned they should be part of a “healthy balanced diet and lifestyle”. Which? pointed out that actually, the cookies were made of fat, sugar and saturated fat: All delicious, but hardly ‘wholesome’.

Though Kelloggs said they had added the bit about balanced diets into the small print to clarify the ‘goodness’ claim, the ASA ruled that despite this, adverts for the Soft Oaties (Kelloggs may be evil but whoever coined that name is a genius) implied that the cookies were wholly healthy, by referring only to those ingredient that were good for you without mentioning all the fat.

Which? is now enjoying a triumphant victory, as the ads have been withdrawn and the Kelloggs shame gloated over in the national press. A food campaigner for the watchdog, Claire Corbett, said, “It is unacceptable for businesses to describe food packed with sugar and fat as healthy or wholesome...Organisations have a responsibility to tell the whole truth and if they don't, then they'll be brought to task."

New research just published by the Herriot-Watt University has revealed that even just 7 minutes of intensive exercise a week can lower your chances of getting diabetes. After doing only 15 minutes exercise over two weeks, scientists found that their group of volunteers experienced very substantial benefits to their health.

The team of researchers studied a group of inactive men over a two week period. They got the men to perform four 30-second-long sessions on an exercise bike, where they were required to peddle as fast as they could. Results showed that this resulted in the insulin produced working far more effectively and excess glucose being removed from the blood stream; glucose removal improved by around 23%.

The scientists say that short, intensive bursts of muscle activity of only 30 seconds can have a dramatic effect on your metabolism. It is believed that short bursts of frenetic activity, by boosting metabolism, could encourage weight loss and reduce incidences of Type 2 diabetes in only 14 days. They have concluded that intense exercise is more effective than more leisurely workouts as it reduces sugar in the muscles, forcing them to replace it with sugar taken from the blood stream.

The team have said that their findings support the work of a group of Canadian scientists who suggested that heart disease could be prevented through a similar regimen. Professor Timmons from the Edinburgh-based university, said that “This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise".

Round about now is when we really start to regret all the chocolate, booze and oddly-named cheese that was consumed with such wild abandon over the last two weeks. Christmas may be long gone but the guilt and hangover can contrive to make you feel like half a chestnut-stuffed turkey is still churning around your insides. This is why detox manufacturers do so well in January; they promise to make us all shiny and squeaky-clean again, cleansed of all our glutinous sins.

However, if you are one of thousands balefully contemplating a week spent imbibing nothing but seaweed, water and dandelion extract, it might be wise to think again. New research has just revealed that actually, the majority of detox products and programs clean out nothing but your wallet. A group of biologists, chemists and physicists representing the Voice of Young Scientists, a organisation made up of younger scientists, researched the properties of products and treatments that use the word ‘detox’. These can range from dietary supplements to body creams that all promise to wash out toxins from the body.

The group found that companies were unable to provide a reliable or proven definition of what ‘detox’ means, with no two companies having the same definition. Helen Berry, one of the report’s authors, said: “'Detox is marketed as the idea that modern living fills us with invisible nasties our bodies can't cope with unless we buy the latest jargon-filled remedy. Our investigation has convinced us there is little or no proof these products work.”

According to new research, exercise may not just be good for your waistline but also for your work life. A team in Bristol who monitored employees found that on days that they did exercise either before work or during their lunch break they coped better with the stresses of the working day that followed. While mood stayed the same on days when exercise had not been done, when they had worked out the participants were calmer regardless of how hectic their work day was.

The researchers also discovered that on exercise days, the worker’s performance was significantly improved. They displayed better interpersonal skills and their time-management and productivity was enhanced. The study asked some 200 university staff and employees at a pension company and an insurance firm to fill in questionnaires relating to how they felt about their work. 79% of those surveyed said they felt they showed better interpersonal and mental ability when they exercised, 72% felt they displayed better time management and large numbers also felt their concentration and commitment to the job deepened.

While we have known for some time that exercise can help alleviate the symptoms of depression these findings show that it can also have other beneficial effects. There is a suggestion that making time for working out gives us a sense of greater control over our working day and how we react to what happens. The irony is that with most of us doing desk jobs, it is extremely hard to fit exercise into the working day. Jo Coulson, Research Associate at Bristol University's Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences pointed out that the data collected might encourage employers to ensure their workers had access and time to visit a sports facility: 'The study also begs the question whether employers can afford not to be encouraging active breaks. The suggestion is that employers who are ahead of the game in offering proper on-site facilities actually get less from their employees on days that they don't exercise.”

A massive campaign by EU customs officials has resulted in the seizure of over 34 million fake medication pills over the last two months. The campaign, named Medi-Fake, targeted over 27 countries in the first action co-ordinated across the 27 EU member states. After two months of work, customs officials are extremely pleased with the results, which have far exceeded their expectations.

Social networking is not just a matter of feeling smug about how many Facebook friends you have – apparently, it also can have a big impact on your health, weight, and levels of happiness, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal this week. The study, which examined how social trends spread through friendship groups, showed that who you know can have a massive impact on your quality of life.

Health food companies selling bogus nutritional aids have come under fire from a noted professor of nutrition, Michael Lean, who lectures on human nutrition at Glasgow University. Professor Lean used his editorial in the British Journal of Medicine to launch a stinging attack on manufacturers, describing their practices as the “commercial exploitation of vulnerable patients with quack medicines”.

A study of 20,000 middle-aged and elderly UK residents has shown that an unhealthy lifestyle can double someone’s risk of a stroke by half. The findings were published in the BMJ and represent some of the first findings based on the impact of several risk factors combined, as opposed to the individual impact of smoking or obesity.

The research, led by scientists from the University of East Anglia, showed that consuming too much alcohol and food, smoking, eating too few greens and not exercising all make a person more vulnerable to having a stroke. The researchers gave one ‘point’ each time some one had a health behaviour, when someone did not smoke, drank moderately, exercised and ate five portions of fruit or vegetables per day getting the maximum 4 points. They found that those who got no points were 2.3 more times likely to experience a stroke than someone with 4 points. The fewer points someone had, the greater their chances of getting sick. The data also showed that the most common ‘score’ was 3, and that significantly more women than men had a score of 4.

At the moment, strokes cost the NHS £7bln each year. In the editorial that accompanied the BMJ article, Dr Matthew Giles from the Stroke Prevention Research Unit based in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital said that the low numbers of participants who had a lifestyle that protected them against a stroke (5,000 got the maximum score) indicated that a massive behavioural change was needed to make a difference. Strokes are the nation‘s third biggest killer.

We are delighted to announce that we have launched a new service whereby we can test for sexually transmitted infections by post.  The tests are ordered through our sister site at The STI Clinic.  All tests are based on urine samples so we send out the kit, you provide the sample and send it straight back to the lab in the container inside a protective plastic cover and a reply paid envelope.  In most cases results are available within 24 hours of the test arriving back at the lab.

STIs are on the rise with Chlamydia causing particular concern as it could go undetected and may cause fertility problems in some women.  You can order your STD test by visiting the website.  If you test positve for anything then we can prescribe an appropriate antibiotic for next day delivery.

If you have any questions about this service then please do not hesitate to contact us.

A survey by a fraud advisory company, MarkMonitor, has revealed something that we have been banging on about for years – most of the websites purporting to be internet clinics and pharmacies are fraudulent.  They have discovered that most websites which claim to be based in one territory are actually based somewhere completely different.  There are only a few genuine operators in the UK and the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, which regulates the industry in the UK, is following up around 100 potential breaches of the law at any one time.

The survey included 3,160 internet pharmacies and most were selling medication well below the recommended price, which suggested that it was all counterfeit, stolen or diluted.  More than half of those surveyed did not protect customer data through adequate security measures and only a handful were able to provide genuine third party assurances that they were genuine.

At The Online Clinic you have the comfort of knowing that the security of our website has been verified by a recognised authority on the subject and we display the certificate on our home page.  We also provide a link on the Who We Are page of our website which shows customers how to verify the identity and authenticity of our pharmacy through the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

If you have any questions about our service before you register, please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone or e-mail.  The details are on the website contact page.

A recently published study has suggested that reducing LDL cholesterol through the use of statins may actually increase the risk of cancer.  The study was the result of a review of data from previous trials involving 41,000 patients. It is not clear whether the higher incidence of cancer (around one person per thousand) is the result of the drugs, the low levels of LDL achieved or just plain coincidence.

The study leader, Professor Richard Karas, was at pains to point out that the drug is not implicated here and that the benefits of statins in lowering the risk of heart disease were clear.  No particular type of cancer predominated, so if the aggressive lowering of LDL did have an impact on the incidence of cancer, it would have to affect all types of cancer.

Other experts have cast doubt on the findings saying that as the trials only lasted five years, the onset of cancer would have to have been very rapid indeed.  What is more likely is that people who may have died from heart disease prior to the treatment with statins simply lived a bit longer and died of cancer instead!

A spokesman for the British Heart Foundation said that there is overwhelming evidence that the use of statins saves lives by preventing heart attacks and strokes and that the potential benefits far outweigh the potential risks.

Scientists at King’s College London have found a correlation between the number of moles that a person has on his or her body and the length of time that they live.  The more moles that a person has seems to indicate that they will, on average, live longer than a person with fewer moles and it also seems to demonstrate that the people with more moles are less likely to develop heart disease and osteoporosis.  People with moles are more likely to develop malignant melanoma however, the most deadly form of skin cancer.