The Health News Australia November 13 2017

• The Heart Foundation WA is encouraging people to put the “no” into November and ditch the junk food. The health body is challenging Western Australians to instead say “yes” to more healthy alternatives throughout the month to help fight heart disease. No Junk November aims to loosen people’s grip on junk food while raising funds for research and preventative programs.
• According to the Adelaide Zoo, another Sumatran tiger at the zoo has been euthanased because of a range of age-related conditions.  The nineteen-year-old male tiger, called Tuan, had suffered from kidney issues and arthritis for several months but its condition deteriorated and it was put down. In June, Australia’s oldest Sumatran tiger, the female Kemiri, was euthanased by vets at Adelaide Zoo because of similar health conditions.
• Under new national guidelines, mums-to-be could soon be screened for mental health problems. The guidelines recommend all new mums undergo the screening when pregnant to see if they are at risk of depression, and then additional screening post-birth. Figures show post and antenatal depression affects around 1 in 5 new mothers and 1 in 5 new fathers.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 13th of November 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

https://www.thesenior.com.au/health/ditch-the-junk-this-month/

The Heart Foundation West Australia is encouraging people to put the “no” into November and ditch the junk food. The health body is challenging Western Australians to instead say “yes” to more healthy alternatives throughout the month to help fight heart disease. No Junk November aims to loosen people’s grip on junk food while raising funds for research and preventative programs. It challenges participants to curb their unhealthy dietary urges in favour of healthier eating habits. People can take part in a number of ways- from giving up a favourite daily junk food indulgence, to giving up junk food all together.Participants are also being asked to donate the money they would have spent on junk food to the foundation to help fund further research.

Heart Foundation WA chief executive Maurice Swanson will give up his daily indulgence of chips with sour cream and chilli sauce for the initiative. He said:  “Junk food is energy dense food that contains a lot of sugar, fat and salt but very few other nutrients that nourish the body.”

He added: “In Australia, the risk of dying from heart disease has more than halved since the late nineteen sixties , but recently we have seen an alarming slow-down in that rate of decline.”

He said progress made against heart disease- which is the leading single cause of death in WA, had slowed down in recent years and Australians were currently spending fifty eight percent of their food budget on junk food and drink. Some surprising junk food you need to watch out for are sausages, biscuits, salami, ham and two-minute noodles.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/adelaide-zoo-sumatran-tiger-put-down/9138848

According to the Adelaide Zoo, another Sumatran tiger at the zoo has been euthanased because of a range of age-related conditions.  The nineteen-year-old male tiger, called Tuan, had suffered from kidney issues and arthritis for several months but its condition deteriorated and it was put down. In June, Australia’s oldest Sumatran tiger, the female Kemiri, was euthanased by vets at Adelaide Zoo because of similar health conditions. Zoos SA senior vet Doctor Ian Smith said “Tuan had lost interest in food and water, indicating he was very unwell.”

Doctor Smith said the average life expectancy for Sumatran tigers living in captivity was about twenty years, and said Tuan’s death was a “sad loss for the zoo family”. Less than four hundred of the creatures are estimated to be left in the wild, where their life expectancy is much lower, around twelve years. The tigers’ numbers have been decimated within the past one hundred years, after an estimated one hundred thousand roamed the wild a century ago.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/mums-to-be-set-for-mental-health-screenings-ng-b88657610z

Under new national guidelines, mums-to-be could soon be screened for mental health problems.
The guidelines recommend all new mums undergo the screening when pregnant to see if they are at risk of depression, and then additional screening post-birth. Figures show post and antenatal depression affects around one in five new mothers and one in ten new fathers.
Champion archer Louise Redman has shared her “horrible deep sadness” in the hope of helping others. Terri Smith from Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia said “This is an illness that doesn’t discriminate, it absolutely affects every type of family. ”

Miss Smith added many parents can’t understand why they feel they way they do and are too embarrassed to ask for help, leaving themselves at risk and  if new parents experience any of the following for more than two weeks — withdrawal symptoms, constant sadness, or unexplained crying — they should reach out for help.