Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed star, who has terminal cancer, announces a scan in January revealed metastasis in her brain

Shannen Doherty has revealed that the terminal breast cancer she has been receiving treatment for over several years has now spread to her brain.

In an emotional post on Instagram , Doherty shared a video of herself receiving radiation treatment, writing in the caption that a scan in early January had revealed “Mets”, or metastasis, in her brain.

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Report draws attention to health risks of ultra-processing and calls for regulation to catch up with other countries

Almost a third of baby and toddler foods sold in the UK are ultra-processed, risking children’s long-term health and development, according to research .

The report for First Steps Nutrition Trust found that ultra-processed products dominate the diets of British babies and preschool children.

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Some patients’ health-related life quality scores worse than those of people with stage 4 lung cancer

Many people with long Covid have a lower health-related quality of life than people with some advanced cancers, research suggests.

Fatigue is the symptom with the greatest impact on the daily lives of long Covid patients , according to a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Exeter. They found that many were seriously ill and had fatigue scores worse than or similar to people with cancer-related anaemia or severe kidney disease.

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Warning covers London, east Midlands, West Midlands, east of England, south-east and south-west

The first heat health alert of the year has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office.

The warning covers six regions in England, London, the east Midlands, West Midlands, east of England, south-east and south-west, and is in place from 9am on Friday to Monday morning.

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Instead of falling for fitness and diet fads, focus on the things that will bring you true health and happiness this summer

As summer weather begins, and bare arms and legs start to appear across the country, and people start to worry about their “beach body”, maybe falling for claims that a particular diet or workout can achieve wonders in just a few weeks. This is not only impossible – there is no diet or exercise that can transform your body so quickly – it’s unhealthy at its core. Doesn’t anyone who simply walks on to a beach have a beach body ?

The focus on aesthetics (can I take off my shirt? Can I wear a bikini to look a certain way?) distracts from the real purpose of our body and the functionality of fitness, exercise and nutrition (do I feel strong and healthy within my body, and can I do what I want to do with it?)

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

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Think that eating local will help save the planet? Think again. Most emissions come from food production, not transportation

In June 2005, four women spoke at a San Francisco celebration of the first World Environment Day in North America. The Bay Area locals – Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing and Dede Sampson – invited the audience to join them in a local food challenge: spending the next month eating only food produced within 100 miles (160km) of their homes.

Although the concept of eating locally was not new – the farm-to-table movement had kicked off in the 1960s and 70s as hippies protested processed foods and Alice Waters opened the first farm-to-table restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California – these women gave it new life with a new name, calling themselves “locavores”. In his 2006 book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Bay Area local Michael Pollan also advocated for the local food movement, and by 2007 the Oxford American Dictionary had dubbed “locavore” its word of the year.

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Poll of primary teachers finds pupils more likely to complain about being bored and provoke others in class

Most primary schoolteachers think children’s attention spans are getting shorter and classroom behaviour has deteriorated since before the Covid pandemic, a survey has found.

More than two in three (70%) teachers questioned said pupils’ behaviour in class had declined. Children were more likely to move around the room, complain about being bored and annoy or provoke others in the classroom, the poll showed.

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We all know what a sweet tooth is, but some people also hanker for salt. Here’s what to do if you can’t stop dreaming of crisps

Is there any such thing as a “salt tooth”? We are familiar with a sweet tooth, and sugar cravings, along with the negative effects of those. We are broadly aware of the downsides of too much salt, including high blood pressure, which puts pressure on the blood vessels, the heart and the kidneys. It can also lead to water retention. The British Heart Foundation concluded last year that if everyone brought their consumption down to the World Health Organization salt limit of 5g a day by 2030, the result would be up to 1.4m fewer new cases of high blood pressure, 135,000 fewer new cases of coronary heart disease, up to 49,000 fewer new cases of stroke and more than 450,000 extra years in good health.

But salt is not considered a dietary luxury, even though 40% of people, according to a YouGov poll , would put crisps way above chocolate in the treat hierarchy. We don’t tend to police how much we eat – at least, not as rigorously as with sugar – or question whether we are innocently listening to our bodies, which need some salt for basic muscle function, or are in the grip of a compulsion.

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