Decision due on conjoined twins

Laura Williams gave birth on Wednesday in a London hospital (pic: Mail on Sunday)

Doctors will decide on Tuesday whether to operate and separate a pair of newly-born conjoined twins.

Laura Williams, 18, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, gave birth to the girls, named Faith and Hope, at University College Hospital, London on Wednesday.

They are joined from their breastbone to their navel, so share a liver but have separate hearts.

Their mother told the Mail on Sunday that her babies, who are now at Great Ormond Street Hospital were “fighters”.

Mrs Williams has made medical history by becoming the world’s youngest mother of conjoined twins at the age of 18.

‘Beautiful’

She said the moment she first saw the girls, who were delivered by Caesarean section on Wednesday was “brilliant” and “amazing”.

She told the newspaper: “After I came round from the operation they wheeled me in to see them.

“They had tucked Hope’s arm underneath and it was Faith’s arm that I could see.

“I touched her and I took her hand and she was grasping it.

“They were both blowing little bubbles.

“They were so beautiful, I couldn’t stop looking at them. After everything everyone said, I’m so glad they’ve proved them all wrong.”

Mrs Williams and her husband Aled, from Anglesey, found out about their children’s condition after a routine 12-week scan.

I prepared myself for the worst, just in case, but from the first time I felt them kick, I thought they were going to be OK Laura Williams

They were advised by doctors to have their daughters aborted but they refused to have a termination.

Mrs Williams said: “The night before the operation I couldn’t sleep. I prepared myself for the worst, just in case, but from the first time I felt them kick, I thought they were going to be OK. And they’re still here.

“They’re little fighters.”

Her husband said: “No words can describe it. I was so excited and happy and when I heard them screaming, it was like the world had lifted off my shoulders.

“The first thing I did was tell Laura they were all right and when I did, a single tear fell down her cheek.”

The twins were christened one hour later then put in an ambulance to Great Ormond Street – a leading European centre for the care of conjoined twins.

Mrs Williams said she was optimistic about her daughters’ chances of success.

‘Significant abnormalities’

“The only thing they share is the liver and as that’s the only major organ that can regenerate, the doctors can split it between the two of them and it will grow back, ” she said.

Nuffield Professor of paediatric surgery at the hospital, Agostino Pierro, said the children’s hearts had significant abnormalities that may need surgery.

He added: “The current concern is that the two hearts and the joined circulation raise a risk that the children might suddenly deteriorate and need emergency separation surgery.

He said surgeons would prefer to wait to operate on the children when they are older and stronger but they were beginning to believe that this may be risky.

“A meeting will be held on Tuesday to decide whether to attempt a planned separation this week, but it will be the parents who finally decide,” he said.

Conjoined twins are rare and take place at the rate of about one in 400,000 live births.

In 2001 a team of surgeons in Birmingham carried out a successful operation to separate Eman and Sanchia Mowatt, who were joined at the spine.

Antioxidants ‘cannot slow ageing’

There is probaby no easy way to combat ageing

Diets and creams claiming their antioxidant properties could cheat ageing may be worthless, a study says.

Using Nematode worms, scientists found even those given enhanced antioxidant powers to deal with tissue damaging “free radicals” did not live longer.

The team from University College London said, in the Genes and Development journal, there was “no clear evidence” they could slow ageing.

Antioxidants are a staple of the beauty and health industries.

This has been based on a 50-year-old theory.

The free radical theory has filled a knowledge vacuum for over 50 years now, but it doesn’t stand up to the evidence Dr David Gems UCL

In 1956, it was suggested that ageing was caused by a build-up of molecular damage caused by reactive forms of oxygen, called superoxides or free radicals, circulating in the body. This is known as oxidative stress.

Antioxidants supposedly worked to mop up these free radicals, minimising their damage.

This week’s study, however, could explain why many studies aimed at proving the theory have been inconclusive.

Nematode worms

The tiny Nematode worm, despite appearing to be far-removed from the human species, is a useful tool for scientists who want to explore how our bodies work.

They share many genes with humans, and, crucially, have a lifespan measured in days, which allows scientists to get clues about long-term changes.

The UCL team, led by Dr David Gems, genetically manipulated nematodes so that their bodies were able to “mop up” surplus free radicals.

This is theory, should give them an advantage over normal nematodes in terms of ageing and lifespan.

However, these worms lived just as long as the others, suggesting that “oxidative stress” is less of a factor in the ageing of our cells and tissues as some have suggested.

Dr Gems said: “The fact is that we don’t understand much about the fundamental mechanisms of ageing – the free radical theory has filled a knowledge vacuum for over 50 years now, but it doesn’t stand up to the evidence.

“It is clear that if superoxide is involved, it plays only a small part in the story – oxidative damage is clearly not a universal, major driver of the ageing process.”

He said a healthy, balanced diet was important for reducing the risk of many “old age” diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis, but there was no clear evidence that eating antioxidants could slow or prevent ageing, and even less evidence to support the claims made by antioxidant pills and creams.

‘No magic bullet’

The research was supported by the Wellcome Trust, and Dr Alan Schafer, its head of molecular and physiological sciences, said: “Research such as this points to how much we have to learn about ageing, and the importance of understanding the mechanisms behind this process.”

A spokesman for the British Dietetic Association said that it had been hard to find the evidence to support antioxidants from previous studies.

She said: “All the evidence has come from epidemiological studies looking at the whole diet – where there was some sign of benefit to people who ate diets with antioxidants, but also who ate lots of other good things.

“What this shows is that there is likely to be no one ‘magic bullet’ in terms of diet and health -the important thing is still achieving a healthy balance.”

A spokesman for the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association said cosmetic companies carry out extensive research and rigorous scientific studies to ensure claims are supported by robust evidence.

“Findings on the genetics of a particular nematode worm may not be directly relevant to the complex process of ageing as it happens in higher animals such as the human,” the association added.

Veronica Ghoda (left) is now enjoying life with her twin Alice

A girl who underwent emergency surgery after a life-threatening tumour was found in her brain, now has a “bright future” and is back in school.

At the age of three-and-a-half, Veronica Ghoda’s parents from Bridgend were told she only had a few months to live if the tumour was left untreated.

But it shrank after months of toxic chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and now aged seven, Veronica is in remission.

Veronica, who has a twin sister Alice who has always been in perfect health, had been experiencing headaches for around two months before her tumour was found.

Her Polish mother Anya Ghoda said they got steadily worse until one day they affected Veronica’s mobility.

“She slept all day because of the headaches. And then when she woke up she was wobbling everywhere,” she said.

“So we took her straight to hospital and she was sent for an emergency scan. This was when they found the large tumour in the middle of her brain.

She was very poorly, especially after the second dose, I thought we were going to lose her Anya Ghoda

“They then took her down to theatre very quickly to try to release some of the fluid that had built up around her brain. This is what was causing the headaches.”

During her operation at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, a tiny sample of the tumour was removed and sent for testing. The results confirmed Veronica was suffering from an aggressive, life-threatening cancer and urgent chemotherapy was essential.

Oncologist Dr Heidi Traunecker believed that the only way Veronica had any chance of staying alive was to try experimental treatment from America – a combination of toxic chemotherapy.

“They told us that the outcome for each child could be different, but we had to give Veronica a chance,” said Ms Ghoda.

“She was very poorly, especially after the second dose. I thought we were going to lose her.

“But she was strong and she fought through. It was a miracle really.”

Fortunately the treatment brought the size of the tumour down and two years ago Veronica went into remission and returned to school at St Mary’s Primary in Bridgend.

Veronica Ghoda lost her hair during the chemotherapy

Although the treatment initially left Veronica unable to walk, she fought through and is now taking part in sports and activities like her class mates.

While she is a year behind her sister at school and has a hearing aid fitted, Ms Ghoda said she is doing well and is near the top of her class.

Veronica still has the tumour and remains in remission with checks ups every six months, but is enjoying life with her twin.

“It is not about worrying about her future anymore,” said Ms Ghoda.

“At the moment Veronica is doing well and she will have a bright future. I don’t want to think about bad things.

“If something happens, something happens. We will deal with it.”

Who doesn’t have a belly button?

Karolina Kurkova’s belly indentation

Underwear model Karolina Kurkova has no belly button. Is a barely-there navel for cosmetic or medical reasons?

The newspapers call it the “riddle of the £2.5m beauty”. The beauty in question is Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. The riddle is her non-existent belly button.

Its absence was noticed this week when the 24-year-old graced a US catwalk for lingerie giant Victoria Secret. While most of us have an “outie” or an “innie”, Ms Kurkova has a smooth indentation (although sometimes a tummy button is airbrushed onto her photos in post-production).

Otherwise known as a navel, the belly button is the rounded, knotty depression in the center of the abdomen caused by the detachment of the umbilical cord that fed you while in the womb. We all have umbilical cords, so why don’t we all have a belly button?

Ms Kurkova has not spoken publicly about how she came to have a smooth navel, and all her agent will say is “she’s not an alien”.

THE ANSWER May be result of abdominal operation in infancy Or umbilical cord left to detach naturally Adults may have artificial navel after stomach surgery, or cosmetic reshaping But Karolina Kurkova is not saying

Some have no belly button as a result of the surgery needed to correct abdominal problems at birth, often either an umbilical hernia, or a condition known as gastroschisis – born with the stomach and intestines poking through a hole in the abdominal wall.

This is what happened to Rob Swainson, 26, of Bournemouth, who spent his very first hours in surgery to rectify this unfortunate mistake of anatomy. As a result, he has a cross-shaped scar in the middle of his tummy instead of a belly button.

“I thought about having one constructed when I was getting interested in girls, but not for long,” he says, adding that people are more surprised by his scar than his lack of a navel. “You only have to look at Michael Jackson to realise it’s probably best to live with what you’ve got.”

And while it is standard practice to clamp, cut, then seal a newborn’s umbilical cord to prevent infection, in lotus births – or umbilical non-severance births – the cord and placenta are left to drop off naturally. “But that’s not at all common in this country, and there’s always still something there to show where the cord was attached,” says a Royal College of Midwives spokesman.

Cosmetic surgery

Adults, too, may lose their navel after stomach surgery or having skin grafts taken from their tummy. Some may have an artificial belly button made.

And thanks to the trend for midriff-baring tops, cosmetic surgeons have developed an operation called an umbilicoplasty for those who want a more aesthetically pleasing navel. Most procedures involve transforming an outie to an innie, or resizing a large or lop-sided innie to be less obvious.

Rajiv Grover, a consultant plastic surgeon and secretary of Baaps (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Sugeons), says it is rare to do this for cosmetic reasons alone, as over time the scar pulls and tightens.

However, there are certain procedures during which a new navel may be fashioned. “The two main reasons are, one, they’ve developed a small hernia – a weakness in the abdominal wall – which needs removing; or two, as part of a tummy tuck. This involves pulling down the extra skin and fat, and to do this the surgeon must cut the belly button free from the muscles underneath, and make and reattach a new one once the loose skin is pulled taut.”

Ms Kurkova’s lack of navel doesn’t seem to be hindering her career. Forbes magazine ranked her as the eighth highest paid model in the world last year, with estimated annual earnings of over £2m.

What she’s got is far more eye-catching than what she hasn’t.

I too was short-changed a navel at birth; although to this day I have no idea why. I suspect being born three months premature via caesarean section may have meant the tissue was pliable enough to gently set into a mild indentation. Any doctors out there who can confirm? I used to tell people I was grown in a vat… Still, no belly-button fluff.
Riv, High Wycombe

I lost my belly button after abdominal surgery five years ago. I’ve found it very useful on training session icebreakers when we are asked for an unusual fact about ourselves, although I often have to prove it.
Darren Jalland, Larbert, Scotland

I have exactly the same sort of smooth indentation. It’s the result of a repair of an umbilical hernia when I was two years old, 65 years ago. For many years now this operation, if done in the UK, would be completed with a cosmetic belly button. Perhaps The Czech republic hadn’t caught up with the modern technique 24 years ago. These days very few UK children would have this operation done at all as it is now realised that most childhood umbilical hernias correct themselves by the age of three or four.
Maureen, Birmingham

Sixty years ago I was house-surgeon to a London surgeon, a real Lancelot Spratt character. He thought the umbilicus was a nasty dirty place and when operating on anyone’s abdomen he would, without permission or consultation, cut it out. My job was to invent some story to tell the patient why it had been necessary. How times have changed.
Bill Hunt

I too have no belly button, the result of an umbilical hernia operation at the age of two. I have a long scar across my stomach, which meant I felt self-conscious wearing a bikini in my teens. I believe this operation is now performed with keyhole surgery leaving minimal scarring.
Sarah W, Bournemouth, England

British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton

Kelly Sotherton, the heptathlete, has a “smoothie” too.
James, Leamington

My dogs have no belly buttons, because their mothers gently chewed the wound from the umbilical chord, and licked them while they were healing. She continued doing so until there was virtually no scar from birth
Conor, Dublin

I am currently working on masters degree in chiropractic. Anatomy is a major part of the course. In the early embryo, the gut actually goes straight through. Differential growth then causes all the folding and rearrangement of the abdominal organs. For quite a while, the umbilicus is relatively large and the gut actually folds into it. As the embryo/foetus grows the umbilicus gets relatively smaller and the gut is pushed into the abdomen. In some cases the gut can get trapped on the outside needing surgery after birth.
David Elliott, Derby and Pontypridd

A lot of premature babies have no or small belly buttons, we call my son’s a belly-popper as it looks more like a press stud.
Jon, Oxford

My husband is 37 and he had an umbilical hernia for most of his life, which meant he had no naval because of it. But due to medical reasons he had the hernia removed and now has a belly button which was reconstructed from the tissue left behind.
Jo Thomas, Preston

My cousin has no belly button as his body was attached directly to the wall of his mum’s womb during development. No umbilical cord developed but he is fine, he has a line where we have a belly button.
Sam, London, UK

My husband (who may wish to remain nameless) also has a smooth indentation instead of a typical belly button. This is because his mother was a midwife and her colleagues “did a good job on him” apparently.
Proud Wife, Leeds, UK

I put my lack of belly button down to a very precise knot, tied by a perfectionist midwife. Not the experience I had with aliens.
James, Glasgow

Karolina Kurkova does have a belly button. If you look on her own website, there is a picture of her wearing just a bra and pants and she has a very normal navel. Either it’s been airbrushed in or airbrushed out in the other photo.
David, Reading, UK

My nephew was born with gastroghesis, a condition that meant all his internal organs are developed outside the body instead of inside. When he was born they operated, and now he is fine, although instead of a belly button, he has a large scar running from one side of him to the other. We call it his smiley belly.
Terence Turner, Chelmsford, Essex

I used to have a boyfriend with a dent of a bellybutton just like Karolina. He joked that it was because he had been made, not born, but I never found out the real reason.
Amy

A childhood friend of mine had no belly button as she was born as a conjoined twin, her brother had a belly button, but she did not.
Colin Leadbeatter, London, United Kingdom

Sorry Colin, but I think your friend was having you on – conjoined twins are always the same sex, so your friend must lack a belly button for some other reason.
Jan, Redditch, Worcs

My mother had no belly button after an operation in her 30s for umbilical hernia. She was left with a scar across her tummy with a small lump at either end and slight indentation in the middle. My father used to say it was her zip fastener for future operations. I reckon that would be a very good idea to save being cut open next time and merely need zipping up afterwards, it would also save the surgeons a lot of time and trouble.
Marilyn Minnikin, Keighley, Yorkshire, England

Adam and Eve didn’t have belly buttons either.
Edward, London

I think people with scars or interesting bodies are far more beautiful than supposed perfect ones. There’s something lovely about getting to know someone’s body for the first time, and growing to love it, warts and all. Scars and oddities can be lovely in themselves, for the story they tell about the person bearing them.
Jen, York

I was impressed by the fact that this “navel-gazing” story appeared on World Philosophy Day!
Rebecca H, Sunny Eastbourne

So there’s a global economic crisis, and you’re trying to distract us about whether some poor girl has a navel or not. Look, she’s drop dead gorgeous! Get over it. Concentrate on the important stuff.
Peter, Blackpool Lancashire

The groundbreaking technology also means for the first time tissue transplants can be carried out without the need for anti-rejection drugs.

Five months on the patient, 30-year-old mother-of-two Claudia Castillo, is in perfect health, The Lancet reports.

She needed the transplant to save a lung after contracting tuberculosis.

The Colombian woman’s airways had been damaged by the disease.

Scientists from Bristol helped grow the cells for the transplant and the European team believes such tailor-made organs could become the norm.

To make the new airway, the doctors took a donor windpipe, or trachea, from a patient who had recently died.

A pre-surgery CT – the arrow showing the windpipe narrowing

Then they used strong chemicals and enzymes to wash away all of the cells from the donor trachea, leaving only a tissue scaffold made of the fibrous protein collagen.

This gave them a structure to repopulate with cells from Ms Castillo herself, which could then be used in an operation to repair her damaged left bronchus – a branch of the windpipe.

By using Ms Castillo’s own cells the doctors were able to trick her body into thinking the donated trachea was part of it, thus avoiding rejection.

Two types of cell were taken from Ms Castillo: cells lining her windpipe, and adult stem cells – very immature cells from the bone marrow – which could be encouraged to grow into the cells that normally surround the windpipe.

I was very much afraid. Before this, we had been doing this work only in pigs Surgeon Professor Paolo Macchiarini of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Spain ‘I was scared, but it went well’ Surgery nearly scuppered

After four days of growth in the lab in a special rotating bioreactor, the newly-coated donor windpipe was ready to be transplanted into Ms Castillo.

Her surgeon, Professor Paolo Macchiarini of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Spain, carried out the operation in June

He said: “I was very much afraid. Before this, we had been doing this work only on pigs.

“But as soon as the donor trachea came out of the bioreactor it was a very positive surprise.”

He said it looked and behaved identically to a normal human donor trachea.

The trachea graft ready for transplantation

The operation was a great success and just four days after transplantation the hybrid windpipe was almost indistinguishable from adjacent normal airways.

After a month, a biopsy of the site proved that the transplant had developed its own blood supply.

And with no signs of rejection four months on, Professor Macchiarini says the future chance of rejection is practically zero.

“We are terribly excited by these results,” he said.

“She is enjoying a normal life, which for us clinicians is the most beautiful gift.”

Today Ms Castillo is living an active, normal life, and once again able to look after her children Johan, 15, and Isabella, four. She can walk up two flights of stairs without getting breathless.

I was a sick woman, now I will be able to live a normal life Claudia Castillo

Professor Martin Birchall, professor of surgery at the University of Bristol who helped grow the cells for the transplant, said: “This will represent a huge step change in surgery.

“Surgeons can now start to see and understand the potential for adult stem cells and tissue engineering to radically improve their ability to treat patients with serious diseases.”

He said that in 20 years time, virtually any transplant organ could be made in this way.

US scientists have already successfully implanted bladder patches grown in the laboratory from patients’ own cells into people with bladder disease.

The European research team, which also includes experts from the University of Padua and the Polytechnic of Milan in Italy, is applying for funding to do windpipe and voice box transplants in cancer patients.

Clinical trials could begin five years from now, they said.

Between 50,000 and 60,000 people are diagnosed with cancer of the larynx each year in Europe, and scientists say about half them may be suitable candidates for tissue engineering transplants.

Over-the-counter Viagra bid ends

Men can be embarrassed about asking their doctor for Viagra

The makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra have withdrawn an application for the medicine to be available without a prescription.

Pfizer took the decision after concerns were raised by European regulators about supply.

A European Medicines Agency committee said there would be too little medical oversight – meaning related problems like heart disease could be missed.

Around 35 million men have taken Viagra globally since its launch a decade ago.

If the drug is available without prescription, there is no medical supervision which could delay diagnosis of underlying disease European Medicines Agency spokeswoman

Pfizer had wanted to make 50mg tablets available over-the-counter.

It said the move would help those men too embarrassed to seek help from their doctor.

A spokesman said: “A lot of men don’t go to the doctor or talk about their condition.

“By offering it via a pharmacy, it would offer them another option.”

He said it could also help prevent men buying over the internet and potentially taking fake, and even dangerous, pills.

Potential ‘misuse’

But the EMEA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), had major concerns over making Viagra available over-the-counter.

A spokeswoman said: “If the drug is available without prescription, there is no medical supervision which could delay diagnosis of underlying disease.

“The CHMP was particularly worried about the diagnosis of overt and silent cardiovascular disease, of which ED can be an early marker.”

She said there had also been concerns over complicated product information, which could lead men to “unintentional misuse”.

“In addition, a switch to being an over-the-counter medicine could lead to an increase in people who are not intended users taking Viagra recreationally.”

The gap between rich and poor has grown

A UN report on China says the lives of its people have been vastly improved over the last three decades.

Poverty has fallen, adult literacy has climbed and Chinese people are now living longer than ever, it says.

But despite rapid economic progress, new problems have emerged, such as the gap between rich and poor.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which published the report, says these problems need urgent attention.

The report, entitled Basic Public Services for 1.3 Billion People, comes just weeks before China celebrates 30 years of economic reforms.

During this period, the Chinese government has largely ditched central planning in favour of the free market.

‘Stunning achievements’

These reforms, started by the late, former leader Deng Xiaoping, have brought spectacular results, as the report makes clear.

“The speed, scope and magnitude of the improvements… rank among the most stunning achievements in the history of human development,” says the UN’s chief representative in China, Khalid Malik, in the report.

Between 1978 and 2007, rural poverty fell from 30.7% to just 1.6%, according to the UN.

But new problems have emerged, with not everyone benefiting equally from rapid economic expansion.

Rural areas lag behind urban areas, the east coast is richer that the western hinterland and there is a large wealth gap between different social groups.

Schoolchildren in the wealthy coastal city of Shanghai receive 10 times more funding than some rural pupils, the report says.

Rural registration

According to the UNDP, one problem is the Chinese system that requires all citizens to be registered in one particular place.

People usually receive welfare benefits in the area they are registered, which brings difficulties if they move.

This is a particular problem for the tens of millions of rural people who move to the cities to find work.

Chinese leaders have already acknowledged the existence of some of these problems, and have launched programmes to solve them.

The report makes it clear that the country now has the money to fix some of these problems.

Periods of healthy old age vary widely, the researchers found.

The health of older Europeans varies widely between countries, even in those with longer life expectancies, a report has claimed.

The study found people in Estonia, Latvia and Finland had fewer years of good health after the age of 50.

People in the UK fare relatively well, enjoying nearly 20 years on average.

The lead authors of the Lancet study, from Leicester University, said the figures could help governments plan for future health needs.

BREAKDOWN FOR MEN Life expectancy/healthy years after age 50 UK: 79.5/19.7 Sweden: 80.3/20.2 France: 79.6/18.0 Spain: 79.5/19.2 Austria: 79.1/14.5 Germany: 79.0/13.6 Finland: 78.5/12.9 Denmark: 78.3/23.6 Estonia: 72.4/9.0 Latvia: 71.3/11.0

The researchers collected data on life-expectancy, then surveyed older people from each country to find out whether they felt that illness had limited their ability to carry out normal activities.

This was used to calculate how many “healthy life years” a man and woman from each EU country could expect after their 50th birthday.

In some cases, this revealed problems not immediately apparent by just looking at life expectancy charts.

For example, Austrian men and women can expect to live on average to 79 and almost 84 respectively.

However, only half of their years after 50 will be free of ill-health, according to the figures.

In Germany and Finland, the gap between life expectancy and healthy years is even worse.

The newest entrants to the EU, already recording lower life expectancies than established members, appear to have populations blighted by chronic illness in old age.

In Estonia, men live on average to just under 73 years old, and women to over 80 – but men can expect only nine years’ good health after 50, and women only a year more than this.

UK ‘average’

While the UK has a generally lower life expectancy than some other EU states, its “healthy life year” score suggests that the health gap is not as wide as suggested by life expectancy alone.

BREAKDOWN FOR WOMEN Life expectancy/healthy years after age 50 UK: 82.7/20.8 France: 85.4/19.7 Spain: 85.0/18.6 Finland: 84.1/13.9 Sweden: 84.0/20.3 Austria: 83.7/15.7 Germany: 83.0/13.5 Denmark: 81.9/24.1 Estonia: 80.5/10.4 Latvia: 79.3/12.7

Men here can expect to live until almost 80, and women to more than 82. However, for men, almost 20 years of this will be in good health, and just over 20 for women.

This compares to Spanish women, who live to 85, but can expect fewer of those extra years to be healthy ones.

Lead researcher Professor Carol Jagger, from Leicester University, said: “What we have here, for the very first time, is data we can really compare.

“And it really questions whether the countries with the longest life expectancies are the healthiest.

“In the case of the UK, we are looking pretty average, but slightly better than our life expectancy figures suggest.”

She said that the figures might be useful to governments who are trying to work out the number of older people able to remain working, or who will need health care.

The results might mean that an EU target of increasing the number of older people working might be a difficult one to meet.

“Without an improvement in the state of health of older people, it will be difficult to raise the retirement age or bring more older workers into the workforce for certain EU countries.”

John Appleby, from the health policy think tank The King’s Fund, said that the figures threw up some “interesting differences” between countries.

He said: “I’m not entirely surprised by the results for the UK. It possibly partly reflects a better health and welfare system which supports older people in this country.

“This is an area which is often missed out in comparisons between countries. Life expectancy on its own is quite a crude measure, and just doesn’t tell you about the quality of that life.”

Obesity ‘programmed before birth’

Diet in pregnancy may have a lasting impact

Eating a high-fat diet in pregnancy may cause changes in the foetal brain that lead to over-eating and obesity early in life, research suggests.

Tests on rats showed those born to mothers fed a high-fat diet had many more brain cells specialised to produce appetite-stimulating proteins.

The Rockefeller University team say the finding may help explain why obesity rates have soared in recent years.

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Previous research on adult animals had shown that when fats known as triglycerides circulate in the blood they stimulate the production of proteins in the brain known as orexigenic peptides, which in turn stimulate the appetite.

We are programming our children to be fat Dr Sarah Leibowitz Rockefeller University

The latest study suggests exposure to triglycerides from the mother’s diet has the same effect on the developing foetal brain – and that the effect then lasts throughout the offspring’s life.

The researchers compared the offspring of rats fed a high-fat diet for two weeks with those whose mothers ate a moderate amount of fat.

They found that the pups born to the high-fat diet mothers ate more, weighed more throughout life, and began puberty earlier than those born to mothers who ate a normal diet.

They also had higher levels of triglycerides in the blood at birth, and as adults, and a greater production of orexigenic peptides in their brains.

Brain cells

More detailed analysis showed that, even before the birth, the high-fat pups had a much larger number of brain cells that produce orexigenic peptides – and they kept them throughout their lives.

The time to start feeding your child a healthy diet is right at the beginning of pregnancy Dr Ian Campbell Weight Concern

Their mothers’ high-fat diet appeared to stimulate production of the cells, and their subsequent migration to parts of the brain linked to obesity.

In contrast, rats whose mothers had a balanced diet had far fewer of these specialised cells, and they appeared much later after birth.

Lead researcher Dr Sarah Leibowitz said: “We believe the high levels of triglycerides that the foetuses are exposed to during pregnancy cause the growth of the neurons earlier and much more than is normal.

“This work provides the first evidence for a foetal program that links high levels of fats circulating in the mother’s blood during pregnancy to the overeating and increased weight gain of offspring after weaning.”

The researchers suggest that the foetal brain is programmed so that the offspring can survive on the same diet as their mother – and they believe a similar mechanism may be operating in humans.

Dr Leibowitz said: “We are programming our children to be fat.”

Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said it had already been known that a high-fat diet in pregnancy made a child prone to a preference for fatty foods – but it had not been clear why.

He said: “The message is clear. We are not just ‘what we eat’; we are also to some extent ‘what our mothers eat’.

“The time to start feeding your child a healthy diet is right at the beginning of pregnancy.”

Professor Ian MacDonald, an expert in the biology of obesity at the University of Nottingham, said there was clear evidence that nutrition before and soon after birth had an on-going impact on the genes.

But he warned against extrapolating too readily from animal studies, particularly as the rats in the latest study were fed a very unnatural diet.

Bridget became a mother at 43

Bridget and Joe Barrett are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl – the baby they had almost given up hope of ever having.

She was born in September at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London, after 14 years of infertility and miscarriage for the Devon parents.

“I am so relieved – and amazed, really,” said Bridget.

“We worked at this for a long time and I think ‘Why now? – but now it is.”

Mounting stress

At first Bridget had trouble conceiving naturally.

She was referred by her GP for fertility treatment, and had five unsuccessful IVF attempts.

After learning that reducing stress might help her conceive, she gave up her high-pressured job as a sales and marketing manager to give herself the best possible chance.

Suddenly we were not oddities any more; we were just normal people trying to do something other people did Bridget Barrett

Within months she was pregnant twice, but had an early miscarriage each time.

Almost despairing, the couple were referred to international miscarriage expert Professor Lesley Regan, at St Mary’s Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Professor Regan heads up the newly reopened miscarriage centre, which is the world’s largest. She had reassuring news for the Barretts.

“She said there was no reason why I could not have a baby, but that I did have problems keeping it,” said Bridget.

Professor Regan had a simple piece of advice: if Bridget did get pregnant again, she should start taking a regular aspirin.

Aspirin can cut the inflammation which can trigger a miscarriage, and later in pregnancy it helps to thin the blood and reduce the risk of the serious complication pre-eclampsia.

Special care

Bridget felt there was an instant bond with her new doctor.

“It was lovely to meet Professor Regan because to her we were just run-of-the-mill,” she said.

“Suddenly we were not oddities any more; we were just normal people trying to do something other people did.

“There were probably tougher cases or more complex cases, as we had no medical reason why I could not get pregnant.”

In 2005 Bridget got pregnant again, but again she miscarried.

Then this year at the age of 43 – almost when she had given up hope – she found she was pregnant yet again. And this time she carried the baby to term.

Our mission is to make sure every couple takes home a healthy baby Professor Lesley Regan

But Bridget explained it had been a fraught nine months.

“At the beginning of the pregnancy time passes very slowly particularly over the early weeks, but you get to a certain point at which you think ‘I might be in with a chance here’,” she said.

“And then past week eight to 12 you think ‘I really am in with a chance’.

“Then you have the scans and you realise that you have a healthy baby and you think this might happen.”

Baby girl

During the pregnancy Professor Regan and her team kept a close eye on Bridget.

Although – apart from aspirin – Bridget needed no other treatment, she believes the fact that she could count on such specialist support was the key to the eventual success of the pregnancy because, crucially, it helped her to relax.

Two months ago Professor Regan herself delivered the 61b 11oz (3kg) girl.

Professor Regan and her staff hope they will now be able to help many more couples like the Barretts.

As well as offering treatment, the Save the Baby Unit will also be home to a unique tissue bank for pregnancy complications and will hold the biggest known collection of tissue samples from mothers, fathers, babies, placentas and miscarriage tissues as a resource for researchers at hospitals across London and further afield.

The tissue bank will allow researchers to identify genetic codes and environmental factors that cause common pregnancy complications, and for the first time to look at the genetic contribution that fathers make and whether this affects the outcome of pregnancy.

One in seven couples is affected by infertility. One in every four pregnancies (including unrecognised ones) is estimated to end in miscarriage and 1% of women have recurrent miscarriages.

The walls of the new unit are decorated with mementos from grateful parents, happy smiling baby photos, name checks and poignant reminders of those who were not so lucky.

Professor Regan said between 75% and 80% of couples left with a baby.

“Thousands of couples are going through hell. First they have problems becoming pregnant, then they suffer numerous miscarriages, and then later pregnancy complications.

“We see about 1,000 new couples every year.

“Our mission is to make sure every couple takes home a healthy baby,” she said.

Bridget said any couple struggling for a baby should stay positive.

“I would tell other women to persevere, never to give up – particularly as when you get older it takes longer to get pregnant,” she said.

“The results show that despite what you think might happen,something good can happen.”