Free diabetes health checks to be held at Jersey festival
"The results show how critical it is to offer accessible health checks. Our mission is to help people understand their health risks early so they can take action and stay well," she added.No appointment is needed and the company said it would be at the event on both Saturday and Sunday.The Coop added that it intended to expand its diabetes testing across its community pharmacies in both Jersey and Guernsey.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
Novo Nordisk expands lawsuits against weight-loss drug compounders
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk ( opens new tab said on Tuesday it has filed 14 new lawsuits in the United States against the sale of unapproved versions of semaglutide, the main ingredient in its popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic. The new lawsuits target pharmacies and telehealth companies producing compounded versions of semaglutide "under the fake guise of personalization", Novo said, without naming the companies. Shares of major telehealth firm Hims & Hers (HIMS.N), opens new tab extended losses to fall nearly 13% in afternoon trade. It had earlier reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue. A Reuters search of legal filings found some cases filed by Novo in California dated Aug. 4 but none regarding San Francisco-based Hims. Hims was not immediately available for comment. Compounders copy brand-name medicines that are in short supply by combining, mixing or altering drug ingredients to meet demand. These companies were briefly allowed to produce hundreds of thousands of compounded doses of Novo's obesity and diabetes drugs when the Food and Drug Administration said they were in short supply. When the agency later banned the sale of these copies, Hims and Hers shifted to creating versions of semaglutide in personalized doses not accessible through the branded manufacturers. Novo's lawsuits allege that telehealth providers violate state corporate practice of medicine laws by improperly influencing doctors' decisions and steering patients toward knockoff compounded "semaglutide" under the guise of personalized medicine. In reality, these are knockoffs that have not been approved as safe and effective and are often made with illicit foreign active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), Novo said. It did not immediately respond to a Reuters query on which companies were being named in the lawsuit.
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
Ozempic to Mounjaro - what are the weight loss injections and what were they designed to do?
Drugs designed to treat diabetes and repurposed as miracle diet aids have taken over TikTok - and Hollywood. The weight loss caused by these weekly injectables is rapid and previously unattainable, people boast, showing off newly svelte bodies. But what are these drugs, how do they work - and what were they originally designed to do? Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro - what are they? Let's start with the most well-known of the trio: Ozempic. Ozempic blew up in 2022 - if media reports from the US were to be believed, every pound dropped in LA was probably thanks to the "miracle" injectable drug. What started as the preserve of A-listers and the Hollywood elite quickly grew in popularity. The drug's generic name is semaglutide. This is the same as Wegovy, which has been licensed as a weight loss drug in the UK and is now available on the NHS. Wegovy has a slightly higher dosage and is designed for weight loss, while Ozempic's primary purpose was as a diabetes treatment (more on that later). Mounjaro - also known by its generic name tirzepatide - is the newer kid on the block. Like Ozempic and Wegovy, it suppresses the appetite and lengthens the amount of time food stays in the stomach, leading to weight loss - at least for as long as you carry on taking it. In 2022, the US Food and Drink Administration (FDA) fast-tracked approval of the drug to treat obesity after a study showed it helped people lose more than 20% of their bodyweight. Mounjaro was supposed to be available through GP surgeries and other community services in the UK from 23 June. But at the start of August, Sky News research revealed only eight of 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England had started providing treatment to patients, and many of the rest unable to guarantee when it would be available. 3:31 From diabetes drug to diet pill Ozempic and Mounjaro were both developed as treatments for type 2 diabetes. The drugs, which come as weekly injections, lower blood sugar by increasing insulin production when your blood sugar is rising and helping prevent your liver making and releasing too much sugar. So how do they cause weight loss? Both semaglutide and tirzepatide work by mimicking the hormone, GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide one), to manage hunger and slow down digestion. Tirzepatide - Mounjaro - is a dual-acting drug and also mimics the hormone GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide). In terms of weight loss, in clinical trials people lost up to 20% of their body weight on tirzepatide and 15% on semaglutide. Researchers have also found the weight loss jabs could reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes or heart failure in obese people regardless of the amount of weight they lose. They sound like miracle drugs for people wanting to lose weight - what's the catch? There are a few downsides. First off, the listed side effects: nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, bad enough for about 5% of people in the semaglutide trial to stop taking it and 6-7% in the tirzepatide trial. People in the semaglutide trial also experienced problems with gallstones. The drugs also carry serious risks including kidney failure, pancreatitis and thyroid cancer. Another downside has been dubbed "Ozempic face". Facial ageing is a side effect of sudden weight loss as people find the skin on their face sagging where once it was plump. The drugs also only work for as long as you carry on taking them, and people have reported gaining back all the weight they lost after stopping the drug - either out of choice or because of a supply shortage. In August, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) - the body that provides guidance on the use of new drugs - said that people coming off the drugs should be offered "structured advice and follow-up support" to help prevent weight gain. This includes being monitored by the NHS for at least a year after completing treatment and support to help build "long-term behavioural habits, use self-monitoring tools, and draw on wider support - from online communities to family-led interventions and local activities". Shortages for diabetics Perhaps a bigger conversation than side effects for individuals is around the impact on people who rely on these treatments, now they've exploded in popularity as a weight loss quick-fix. While intended for diabetics, Ozempic and Mounjaro are prescribed "off-label" in the US to people wanting to shed weight. The drugs faced widespread shortage last year, with reports of diabetics having to drive from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of stock because of the high demand. Links to cancer prevention Research has suggested weight loss jabs, officially GLP-1 receptor agonists, could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers. The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga. It found that there were similar rates of obesity -related cancer among patients treated with the injections and those given weight loss, or bariatric, surgery. Dr Yael Wolff Sagy, the study's co-lead author from Clalit Health Services in Tel-Aviv, Israel, said a "direct effect" of the injections was that they were found "to be 41% more effective at preventing obesity-related cancer". "We do not yet fully understand how GLP-1s work," she said. "But this study adds to the growing evidence showing that weight loss alone cannot completely account for the metabolic, anti-cancer, and many other benefits that these medications provide." Co-lead Professor Dror Dicker, from Hasharon Hospital, Rabin Medical Centre in Israel, suggested the protective effects of the drugs "likely arise from multiple mechanisms, including reducing inflammation". He added further research was needed "to make sure that these drugs do not increase the risk for non-obesity-related cancers". Being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, causing more than one in 20 cancer cases, according to the NHS. Are they available in the UK? An estimated 1.5 million people are taking weight loss jabs in the UK, the vast majority of whom pay for them privately. Ozempic is available in the UK for type 2 diabetes patients with a prescription. Wegovy and Mounjaro is available to NHS patients, but only through specialist weight management services. Over the next three years, around 240,000 people with the "greatest need" are expected to receive Mounjaro through the NHS. However, Sky News research into Wegovy and Mounjaro shows delays in the rollout of both weight loss jabs.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Jersey's 'dangerous' food labels puts residents and tourists at risk
Dangerously unclear food allergy labels are putting residents and tourists at serious risk, campaigners say. Deputy Steve Luce, the Environment Minister, admits Jersey is "way behind" on labelling, as the government launches a 10-week public consultation for islanders to give their opinion on a proposed new Food labelling is currently not mandatory, but the government plans to introduce a licensing scheme for food businesses and update food hygiene Richardson, from the Jersey Food Allergy Group, said the island had been waiting for these changes for "more than ten years". The government said it hoped the plans, if approved, could be rolled out next said: "We've been waiting for it for a long time, actual food businesses have been well prepared for this - they know it's coming and they welcome it. "The public won't see very much change, they will be buying food in shops, it will be very clearly labelled and they will have the assurance that in the food preparation kitchen that the chefs and those people preparing that food have been doing it correctly." Life or death Ms Richardson, who has a son with a dairy allergy, said the legislation was essential to protect said: "Jersey is significantly behind most of the rest of the world and to everyone that visits the island they often think that we are the same as the UK."That is where we have found that there are such differences that it is dangerous for a lot of people with allergies and for anyone who wants to know what is in their food."For people that suffer with an allergy it is a matter of life or death in some cases, severe allergic reactions can lead to anaphylaxis which then can lead to death - it may seem that people are being a little bit picky or fussy about what is in their food but for some people it is really very serious." Ms Richardson said the changes needed to come in soon to make people feel safer and to allow for more informed choices. She said: "We've got to think about balance and we don't want to delay the legislation by making minor exemptions to things. "We would encourage anyone that is serving food, be it charity events or temporary markets, to have allergy labelling, but we wouldn't want that to stop this legislation going through."She added that the sooner everyone can adopt clear labelling the better for the whole island."People [who] are suffering from intolerances and allergies will be able to feel just that little bit safer when they eat out," she added.
