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In the UK we have never directly addressed iodine deficiency. Eradicating it was an ‘accidental public health triumph’. This relied on the fact that milk consumption by UK consumers increased rapidly in the 1950s and 60s.

Dementia is now commonly viewed as a disease that has many contributing factors. These involve complex cascades of physiological processes that we do not yet fully understand. Put simply, it is not a singular disease, but an agglomeration of pathologies that lead to a loss of cognitive function.

We have limited understanding of the pathophysiology behind most Neurodegenerative Disorders. Given our lack of knowledge it is therefore difficult to identify what the precise targets should be for any therapeutic interventions.

Participants who drank 2–3 cups of tea and 2–3 cups of coffee per day were 32% less likely to have a stroke and 28% less likely to develop dementia when compared with participants who did not drink tea or coffee.

A new study demonstrates that those of us who eat ‘anti-inflammatory diet’ have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life. The study estimated that there is a three times greater risk of dementia linked to diets that are low in these food groups.

One of the greatest scientific achievements at the beginning of the 21st century was the development of the cervical cancer vaccine. The effects of the UK national vaccination programme for cervical cancer, introduced in 2008, have just been published in the scientific journal ‘The Lancet’.

The global mortality rate for seasonal flu typically is usually between 290,000–650,000 people a year. However, for 2020 and 2021, it has practically vanished from the face of the earth. Measures taken for COVID-19 such as social distancing and travel restrictions seem to have also significantly attenuated the flu virus as well. 

One fundamental question in physiology has remained unsolved. This is ‘how are temperature and touch converted into electrical impulses in our nervous system?’ This question has finally been answered by David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian,  who have just been awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology this year.