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Inside Health

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Series that demystifies health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.

Series that demystifies health issues, separating fact from fiction and bringing clarity to conflicting health advice.

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Inside Health: Drug shortages, Eye drops for myopia, Is muscle more dense than fat? Sarcopenia

Drug shortages, Eye drops for myopia, Is muscle more dense than fat? Sarcopenia

BBC Radio 4 - Inside Health, Drug shortages, Eye drops for myopia, Is muscle more dense than fat? Sarcopenia

Drug shortages, eye drops for myopia, is muscle more dense than fat? And sarcopenia

Dr Mark Porter finds out why some common drugs are in short supply, how atropine may help children with myopia, if muscle is more dense than fat and about muscle loss in middle age

An unprecedented number of medicines are in short supply, according to NHS England. Doctors, pharmacists and patients all over the UK are finding common drugs like naproxen are more difficult to get hold of. Why is there such a problem with supply of medicines that are normally cheap and easy to get hold of? And why a 'severe shortage protocol' due in the next few weeks should give  pharmacists more power help ease the situation. Mark talks to Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and pharmacist, Ben Merriman to find out more. 
The number of children with short-sightedness, myopia has doubled in the last 50 years. Mark finds out why atropine eye drops, which are widely used in China and Singapore, are being trialled on children in the UK to help prevent the progression of myopia. Professor Augusto Azuara-Blanco from Queens University Belfast explains.  
And is muscle more dense than fat? Jason Gill, professor of cardio metabolic health at the University of Glasgow discusses how even a small amount of fat loss can have hugely significant health benefits. Elaine Dennison, professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology at the University of Southampton explains why muscle is an under researched part of the body and how we lose muscle mass and strength in middle age and what we can do to prevent it.

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Drug shortages, Eye drops for myopia, Is muscle more dense than fat? Sarcopenia

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