
Why more Scottish farmers are becoming organic
Medlock and his family, who farm near Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, may have been among the first in Scotland to produce organic oats, but they are not the last. New figures show the amount of land devoted to the crop north of the border has nearly doubled since 2018, from 1,485 hectares to 2,608 last year.
That is meeting a growing demand for premium oat milks, protein packed bars and on-the-go porridge pots. The increasing adoption of plant-based and vegan diets is another driver of cereal consumption.
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Times
27 minutes ago
- Times
Obese to get soups and shakes diet instead of weight-loss jabs
Low-calorie soups and shakes are to be prescribed to thousands of overweight people in Scotland in an attempt to reduce their dependence on expensive weight-loss drugs and provide longer-lasting health benefits. From January, 3,000 patients who have been newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes will be recruited for a clinical trial. About 300,000 Scots live with type 2 diabetes, a condition commonly linked to obesity, in which badly regulated blood sugar levels can increase the risk of heart disease, kidney disease, strokes or nerve conditions. About 10,000 of them are being treated with weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, with injections costing the NHS £3,000 a year. The estimated annual bill of £30 million is expected to rise as manufacturers raise prices. NHS chiefs believe that not only will the soups and shakes plan be less expensive, it will also bring longer-term health benefits. In the Total Diet Replacement (TDR) plan, to be rolled out over three years, patients who have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and are deemed eligible will be given low-calorie substitutes for their breakfast, lunch and dinner. The replacement meals, containing a maximum of 900 calories a day, will be delivered to patients for between three and five months. • What to do now Mounjaro's hiking its prices, by an obesity expert After this initial period, normal food will be reintroduced, but with guidance given on healthy meals through online consultations and an app. The ambition is for patients to lose up to 10 per cent of their body weight over a year. Doctors are also optimistic that up to 40 per cent of the trial participants will achieve remission from type 2 diabetes within a year. There are fears that the weight lost through injections — which work by suppressing the appetite — may last only as long as the patient is taking the drug. By contrast, the effects of diet changes should prove more long-lasting and cost effective, NHS officials believe. The TDR scheme is set to cost £5.6 million for 3,000 patients, a one-off cost of about £1,866 per person. Doctors hope the plan will help patients to fundamentally alter their diet and lifestyle. A spokesman for the Scottish government said: 'We anticipate that around 35 to 40 per cent will achieve remission from type 2 diabetes at the end of their first year on the programme, with a majority of patients benefiting from a clinically significant average weight loss of 10 per cent.' This would lead to reductions in blood pressure and contribute to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. He added: 'We will measure impact by the number of patients recruited into this programme, the number who achieve remission and the number with clinically significant weight loss.'


BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
What body odour reveals about your health
We emit a barrage of whiffy chemicals through our pores and in our breath. Some are a sign that we might be getting ill – and could be used to diagnose diseases up to years in advance. It was obviously nonsense. That was how analytical chemist Perdita Barran reacted when a colleague told her about a Scottish woman who claimed she could smell Parkinson's disease. "She's probably just smelling old people and recognising symptoms of Parkinson's and making some association," Barran remembers thinking. The woman, a 74-year-old retired nurse called Joy Milne, had approached Barran's colleague Tilo Kunath, a neuroscientist at the University Edinburgh, at an event he was speaking at in 2012. Milne told Kunath that she had first discovered her ability after noticing her husband, Les, had developed a new musky odour years earlier. He was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative illness characterised by tremors and other motor symptoms. It was only when Milne attended a group meeting for Parkinson's patients in her home town of Perth, Scotland, that she made the connection: all the patients had the same musky smell. "So, we then decided to test whether she was right," says Barran, who worked at the University of Edinburgh at the time but is now at the University of Manchester.


Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
NHS Scotland in fresh secrecy row after officials tried to withhold details about trans tribunal
NHS Scotland in fresh secrecy row after officials tried to withhold details about trans tribunal A secrecy row around NHS Scotland's handling of the Sandie Peggie case deepened last night as internal documents showed that spin doctors tried to water down what information could be released to the public. Emails reveal that PR bosses wanted to withhold details in response to freedom of information (FOI) requests about the landmark 'single-sex spaces' tribunal. They were reprimanded by an in-house lawyer who had to remind the health service of its legal duties. It is the latest twist in a transparency battle between the Press, NHS Fife and NHS Scotland over how much the tribunal is costing the taxpayer. The revelations also draw Scottish ministers closer to the secrecy scandal, given the chief executive of NHS Scotland, Caroline Lamb, is part of John Swinney's government. Mrs Peggie, 50, was suspended for challenging the presence of male-born Dr Beth Upton in the female changing rooms at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital. Scottish Tory equalities spokeswoman Tess White said: 'This is another example of NHS Scotland's addiction to secrecy. Transgender medic Dr Beth Upton is at the centre of a 'single-sex spaces' employment tribunal NHS spin doctors wanted to change FOI responses to align with their media messaging 'NHS Fife, backed by NHS Scotland, shamefully tried to manipulate FOI responses so they could cover up their dire handling of the Sandie Peggie case. Those at the top of the board need to go, but [Health Secretary] Neil Gray is too weak to sack them. SNP ministers must order NHS Fife to be open and transparent.' Scotland's Information Commissioner, David Hamilton, also said the revelations could 'well be a cause for concern'. He added: 'It's vital that every freedom of information request is responded to properly and in full compliance with FOI law. 'It is clear that, in this case, some thought was given to the alignment of FOI responses with media lines. This could well be a cause for concern – comms messaging should align with FOI responses, not the other way round.' NHS Scotland was asked under FOI to reveal how much it is costing the taxpayer to defend the health board and Dr Upton against Mrs Peggie's claims. Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2000, public bodies have a statutory duty to release information, barring a few exceptions. Sandie Peggie was suspended from NHS Fife amid a single-sex space row However, emails reveal that NHS Scotland wanted to massage responses to fit with its media 'messaging'. A communications official wrote on June 12 that they 'would like to align our messaging a bit more with the media lines issued', adding: 'So I am just going to take a look at tightening up some of the response in the morning, so will send updated version over.' That prompted in-house solicitor Stefano Rinaldi to write on June 24: 'It is important to remember this is a legal response in the sense it requires to comply with the statutatory requirements.' Carolyn Low, director of NHS National Services Scotland, said it 'remains committed to the principles of transparency, accountability and public access to information while ensuring that responses are clear, responsible and contextually appropriate.'