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Health Check: 10/05/2010

10/05/2010

BBC World Service - Health Check, 10/05/2010

Viewing the dead after traumatic death.  Should toddlers watch TV?  Prostate cancer.

Should families view dead relatives after a violent death? New research on why toddlers watching TV may damage their future health and helping prevent prostate cancer.

New research just published in the British Medical Journal has interviewed people who lost relatives through what they called ‘traumatic death’. They included suicide, accident or murder and they spoke to relatives of those killed in the London tube bombings and the explosions on the Indonesian island of Bali. But does seeing the damaged body help or hinder in the grieving process? The researchers found many people did find it helpful and are calling for relatives to be given the option to view their relative, even when the death was violent. Sue Zielband from Oxford University discusses viewing the dead with Claudia Hammond.

How much TV should you let toddlers or children under 4 watch? In some countries governments have issued guidelines that they watch for no more than two hours each day. Researchers in Canada have followed a group of 1300 children as they grow up. They’ve found that the more TV they watched as toddlers, the more likely they are to do badly at school and to eat junk food at the age of 10. Dr Linda Pagani from the University of Montreal was one of the researchers. 

The most common cancer in men is prostate cancer. In some countries such as the U.S. a lot of men are tested regularly; in others men don’t even know what their prostate does.  And this can lead to late diagnosis which can jeopardise a man’s chances of recovery if they do get cancer. The prostate gland is found at the top of a man’s urethra which secretes the fluid that carries sperm. Professor Roger Kirby from The Prostate Centre, London explains what it is and the importance of monitoring its health.

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