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A study by researchers at King's College London has found that children who skip breakfast regularly may not be consuming the daily amounts of key nutrients for growth and development that are recommended by the UK government. Children who ate breakfast every day were deemed to have overall superior nutritional profiles compared to those who didn't.

Carrying extra weight could raise your risk of heart attack by more than a quarter, even if you are otherwise healthy. Researchers have found that being overweight or obese increases a person's risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) by up to 28 per cent compared to those with a healthy bodyweight, even if they have healthy blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Behavioural and cognitive scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have been awarded a prestigious Wellcome Collaborative Award in Science. This will investigate ways to 'nudge' people towards healthier behaviour - to reduce their food and alcohol consumption and to stop smoking - in order to improve health across the population.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Europe and the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. A new study led by researchers in the Nuffield Department of Population Health Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU) investigated the associations of height and obesity with prostate cancer by different tumour characteristics and death from prostate cancer and found that taller men and men with more fat are at greater risk of high grade prostate cancer and death from prostate cancer.

People who drink around three cups of coffee a day may live longer than non-coffee drinkers, a landmark study has found. The findings come from the largest study of its kind, in which scientists analysed data from more than half a million people across 10 European countries, including the UK, to explore the effect of coffee consumption on risk of mortality.

High maternal sugar intake during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and allergic asthma in the offspring, according to an early study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) involving University of Bristol researchers and almost 9,000 mother-child pairs. While some research has reported an association between a high consumption of sugar-containing beverages and asthma in children, the relation between maternal sugar intake during pregnancy and allergy and asthma in the offspring has been little studied.

High maternal sugar intake during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and allergic asthma in the offspring, according to an early study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) involving almost 9,000 mother-child pairs. While some research has reported an association between a high consumption of sugar-containing beverages and asthma in children, the relation between maternal sugar intake during pregnancy and allergy and asthma in the offspring has been little studied.

A UCL-led study of over 12,000 young children in the UK has revealed that 11-year-olds who had TVs in their bedroomâ'at ageâ'7 had a significantly higher body mass (BMI) and fat mass (FMI) and were more likely to be overweight compared to children who did not have a bedroom TV. Girls who had a TV in their bedroom at age 7 were at an approximately 30% higher risk of being overweight at age 11 compared to children who did not have a TV in their bedroom, and for boys the risk was increased by about 20%.

When it comes to health claims around the food we eat, it's worth taking a closer look at the science behind the headlines, say Eirini Trichia and Professor Nita Forouhi from the MRC Epidemiology Unit, writing for The Conversation. A new study, published recently in the European Journal of Epidemiology , appeared to give dairy products a clean bill of health.

Eating a high-fat, high-sugar diet when pregnant 'programs' both mother and child for potential health complications later in life by disrupting metabolic processes within the mother's body, researchers have found. We know that obesity during pregnancy is a risk factor for health complications for mother and baby both during and after pregnancy.

Subsidising healthy foods by up to 10 per cent would do more to shift the eating habits of overweight and obese people than a tax on unhealthy products, and could be cost effective in the long-run, according to the findings of a new study published by economists at the University. Based on the current numbers of obese people in the UK, the authors estimate that a 10 per cent healthy food subsidy over the course of a lifetime and across the population could save as much as £7.2 billion in the long-run.

People who suffer long-term stress may also be more prone to obesity, according to research by scientists at UCL which involved examining hair samples for levels of cortisol, a hormone which regulates the body's response to stress. The paper, published in the journal Obesity , showed that exposure to higher levels of cortisol over several months is associated with people being more heavily, and more persistently, overweight.

Child obesity '35-40%' inherited from parents, study finds Around 35-40 per cent of a child's BMI - how fat or thin they are - is inherited from their parents, a new study has found. For the most obese children, the proportion rises to 55-60 per cent, suggesting that more than half of their tendency towards obesity is determined by genetics and family environment.

Researchers find link between a high fat diet, obesity and cardiovascular disease risk. Obesity and a diet high in fat could lead to a harmful activation of the immune system, increasing a person's risk of heart disease, according to a study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Previous research has shown that obesity increases blood pressure and cholesterol - both risk factors for heart disease.

Ancient DNA analyses show that - unlike elsewhere in Europe - farmers from the Near East did not overtake hunter-gatherer populations in the Baltic. The findings also suggest that the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family originated in the Steppe grasslands of the East.

In contrast to Western Europeans, new research finds contemporary East Asians are genetically much closer to the ancient hunter-gatherers that lived in the same region eight thousand years previously.

Scientists have developed a urine test that measures the health of a person's diet. The five-minute test measures biological markers in urine created by the breakdown of foods such as red meat, chicken, fish and fruit and vegetables. The analysis, developed by researchers from Imperial College London, Newcastle University and Aberystwyth University, also gives an indication of how much fat, sugar, fibre and protein a person has eaten.

Listeners in a noisy situation benefit from facing slightly away from the person they are listening to, turning one ear towards the speech, concludes a study by Cardiff University, funded by UK charity Action on Hearing Loss (RNID). This listening tactic was found to be especially beneficial for cochlear implant users who typically struggle in noisy social settings such as restaurants.

New test developed to identify obese women at high risk of developing diabetes in pregnancy In a new study published today in the journal PLOS ONE , a team of researchers led by King's College London have successfully developed a method that more accurately identifies those obese women at high risk of gestational diabetes, than what is currently being used.

An analysis of current research shows that people who eat at least 20g of nuts a day have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases. The analysis of all current studies on nut consumption and disease risk has revealed that 20g a day - equivalent to a handful - can cut people's risk of coronary heart disease by nearly 30 percent, their risk of cancer by 15 percent, and their risk of premature death by 22 percent.