If eating junk food and watching television lead to obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and a road marked by diminished health and increased illness, then kids living in Britain are about to get a whole lot healthier.

Think about this:

According to the March 19, 2007 issue of TIME magazine, British broadcasting regulator Ofcom will phase out all commercials on children's programming that promote junk food containing high fat, sugar, and salt.

The ban will begin at the end of the year.

Findings from an international study suggest that women with a waist size of more than 34 inches are more likely to develop cancer of the womb than women who boast slimmer waistlines.

The study, funded in part by the British charity Cancer Research UK, sized up 223,000 women worldwide and determined that women with a waistline less than 31 inches have half the risk of developing womb cancer than their heavier counterparts.

There has been a significant rise in cases of womb cancer in Britain. And the link between the disease and weight gain is most prevalent among postmenopausal women who have never used hormone replacement therapy or the birth control pill.

According to the National Sizing Survey conducted in 2004, the average British woman now has a 34-inch waist. This is more than six inches bigger than the average size of a woman in the 1950s, says Dr. Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK.

"Women are larger than they were when they existed on a wartime diet and were generally more active and this is having serious consequences," Walker says.

More than 6,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with womb cancer each year. The disease kills about 1,000 annually.

When she asked her teenage daughters whether or not she should accept the American Cancer Society's Mother of the Year award, the response was a resounding, "Mom, of course." So Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, accepted the anti-cancer honor this week and told ABC's George Stephanopolous on Sunday why she is a good mom and a healthy role model.

"They see that I go running, I get on my bicycle, I do yoga, pilates, whatever else I do," Ferguson said. "Do you know what they do? Get up off the sofa, turn the television off, walk to work, walk around the block, more vegetables, more fruits at school, less soda pops, less fast food."

Ferguson, 47, says cancer prevention starts with good role modeling -- which is exactly what she has done as mom to princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

"I can safely say one of the best things I've done is be a good mother," Ferguson said.

Ferguson, author of memoir My Story and spokeswoman for Weight Watchers, first became known as the wife of Britain's Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. The pair divorced in 1996, but Ferguson's positive public persona has remained untarnished.

Naked librarians. Naked folk singers. Middle-aged village women posing nude. As for the anything goes as long as it's going to charity, thirteen of Britain's top topless models have said enough is enough. With tongue in cheek humor, the models hold that modeling nude should be left to the professionals.

So, in a classic tipping of a sacred cow, the models have decided to put out a calendar of their own, only no one will be taking off their clothes. Instead, the models, who will be bucking the current calendar charity trend of scantily-clad amateurs, strike a professional pose fully-clothed in Calendar Girls Get Dressed For Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Referred to as glamour girls, the women appear in layered garments of woolen jumpers, scarves, stockings, coats, hats and gloves and go domestic, as opposed to the normal nightlife lifestyle most often associated to the models in the land of model-dom.

According to photographer Stuart White, "I wanted to let the glamour girls make fun of themselves. Their normal image is all to do with partying and the high life, which is why all the portraits show them finding their housework difficult."

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the calendar will go to UK's Breakthrough Breast Cancer. As stated on the product page, "Calendar Girls Get Dressed For Breakthrough Breast Cancer is an affectionate tribute to the many recent calendars in which unglamorous amateurs have stripped off for worthy causes. It is NOT endorsed by the makers of the 2003 film Calendar Girls or previous films of the same name or those portrayed in them." Without endorsement, it is sure to get a chuckle. Going in the opposite direction and poking fun at yourself is a refreshing turn.

Copies of the calendar can be purchased here.

A thirteen year old London girl has become the first in the country to receive the cervical cancer vaccine. The vaccine, Gardasil, launched in Britain last week, protects against the main viruses that cause cervical cancer. Gardasil targets the human papilloma viruses (HPV), which can be transmitted through sex.

Hollie Anderson's mother, Lisa, had the vaccine given to her daughter privately after seeing her own mother battle against cancer. She did this because the government has not yet issued a guidance on which groups will be routinely immunized. Mothers are taking their daughters to private clinics instead to get the vaccination. Dr. George Kassianos, the Royal College of General Practioners' immunization spokesman said: "This vaccine is available on prescription today, but patients should wait for the Department of Health to give us guidance. Everyone agrees that this is a great leap forward. I would ask that department to fast track a decision".

There are 2,800 new cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in Britain every year. About 1,000 women will die of the disease. Mrs. Anderson said "When I found out from our doctor that these injections were becoming available it wasn't a difficult decision to make" I asked Hollie and she said she wanted it. it was her decision. Afterwards she said 'Thank you mum, I know you're protecting me against a disease'.

Some campaigns just make me sad. UK's Age Concern, a charity that works to promote the health and welfare of older citizens, has launched a campaign called Hungry To Be Heard because it seems nine of of ten nurses do not have time to make sure elderly patients are getting enough to eat during their stay in the hospital. As a result, over half of the elderly patients are at risk for malnutrition. As hospital patients, if the elderly are malnourished, they simply are not going to recover or heal as quickly; they are at greater risk for post-surgical complications and they suffer a higher rate of death.

Billionaire Dutch businessman, philanthropist, outspoken environmentalist and wildlife conservationist Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, who owned the 81,000-acre Letterewe Estate in Scotland, as well as nature reserves in England and wetland reserves in the Netherlands, and who founded the Africa Parks Foundation (APF) developing parks in Malawi, Zambia and Ethiopia, has lost his life to pancreatic cancer.

Paul van Vlissingen and the van Vlissingen family are well-known in the Netherlands for the many generations of interest and efforts on behalf of wildlife. He was said to be involved in environmental causes on every continent. To promote responsible management of nature, he appeared in television programs with Prince Charles. In addition, he was a published author and spoke publicly on environmental causes.

A few excerpts from his obituary read:

"He supported human population control, but believed it could be attained only through choice and empowering women through education and equality."

Noting how as a boy Van Vlissingen spent much of his time outdoors, reading voraciously and writing poetry, his parents joked: "We have three children and a gypsy."

"He was convinced that continual change is the oxygen a company needs for its survival. He was also convinced that both fun and challenges in the working environment were important for all, and he evolved a managerial style which emphasized respect for, and investment in, people."

When Van Vlissingen was diagnosed with cancer, he founded the Van Vlissingen Cancer Fund in the Netherlands. Paul Fentener van Vlissingen was 65. Fascinating man.

I feel fortunate to have received every cancer drug I needed to fight my breast cancer -- Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Herceptin, and every nausea pill, pain capsule, and anti-anxiety formula on the market. I got exactly what doctors thought I needed -- without worry about availability or funding or politics. I am lucky. Some in the UK are not so lucky.

Two targeted therapies for bowel cancer will not be used in Britain's state-run health system, according to NICE -- the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. NICE, the country's financial watchdog, determined the high cost of the medicines meant their use was not compatible with the best use of resources. Patients are angry because these same two drugs -- Avastin and Erbitux -- are used widely in the United States and in much of Europe. And while neither drug offers a cure for bowel cancer, both treatments have been shown in clinical trials to extend life expectancy by four or five months in some patients.

Based on doses given during the trials, it is estimated that the average cost of treating one patient with Avastin would be around 16,800 pounds and with Erbitux -- about 11,700 pounds. Apparently, this is too much. But according to Hilary Whittaker of the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, the decision to deprive patients of this medication is a scandal. I agree. And for these patients, I am sad.

Britain's television and radio fitness guru Diana Moran recently shared her breast cancer experience in an interview with BBC News. Back in the 80's, Moran led a national campaign for health and fitness with a program called Get Britain Fit. She gained the nickname Green Goddess for her trademark green leotards. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she said it came as a complete surprise to her. She had never felt better. She had no symptoms that told her anything was wrong.

Because Moran, at 47, was entering menopause, she had gone to the doctor to see if she qualified for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). It was then she had a mammogram and breast cancer diagnosis followed. From disbelief, to fear, to anger, she searched for information but back then, no one talked about breast cancer and little information was available. Moran decided, as a high-profile personality, to keep her breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy private, and in retrospect she feels that was wrong. Five years after the cancer diagnosis, she found herself in counseling working through all the intense emotions she had buried in putting on a strong front and concealing all that she faced as a cancer survivor. Her message is to connect with others, be open, share what is going on.

Moran, now 66, is still going strong and is the published author of numerous fitness and beauty books focusing on women's issues, ageism, health, fitness and beauty; is a sought-after public speaker; and well-known celebrity with more than four decades of work in television and radio. She devotes a considerable amount of time to charities involving cancer, cerebral palsy and older people.

Recently, International Agency for Research on Cancer researchers concluded a study which stated that 3.6 percent of all cancer cases worldwide are related to alcohol drinking. Today, the Centre of Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University published a report that alcoholism and binge drinking in the northern Britain cities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Liverpool and Durham will shorten the lives of men and women who live there and create years of health-related illnesses.

The blame for the drinking problems focuses on the government's allowance of 24-hour drinking, inexpensive booze, a night-time economy of bars and clubs and a failure to educate the public on the dangers of excessive drinking, binge drinking and alcoholism. This report, along with political conservatives, are making a public statement against what they call irresponsible actions on the part of the British government that would create an environment that promotes excess drinking, binge drinking and alcoholism.

The report indicated almost three in ten people admit binge drinking. According to director of the Centre for Public Health Professor Mark Bellis, "We hope that making these statistics widely available will highlight that we are no longer a nation enjoying a harmless tipple but increasingly one developing a dangerous alcohol addiction."

As of today, cancer patients in Britain have a new drug Sutent (sunitinib) available to them in the treatment for advanced kidney cancer and GIST, a rare gastrointestinal cancer. Sutent might become available in the future in the treatment of breast, lung and pancreatic cancers.

Called a smart drug, it offers a two-pronged approach in starving tumors of nutrients and shutting down the signaling of an enzyme that tells cancer cells to multiply.

There is some discussion that because of the cost of the drug, $4,500 a month per patient, the National Health Service (NHS) is planning to limit its availability. Sutent will be prescribed after other more traditional cancer drugs and treatment have failed for kidney and gastrointestinal cancer patients.

Australian singer Kylie Minogue said in a recent interview that she and her family fell to pieces upon hearing her diagnosis of breast cancer this past May. Since that time, she has had surgery and chemotherapy and she currently receives treatment to prevent a recurrence of the disease. And she is now picking up the pieces of her life and is rebounding from the once disbelief that her life would take a detour. Last week, she attended her first public appearance since her illness -- at Elton John's White Tie and Tiara ball -- and she is renaming her Showgirl tour, which was canceled after her cancer battle began. Now the Showgirl Homecoming Tour, Minogue is set to return to performing. Her concert promoter says she will take it slow -- to accommodate her off and on again fatigue -- but she will return with the vigor she is known for. Minogue says she feels like she has a new chance at life now. And she will talk all about it on July 16 when her interview is aired on Britain's Sky News.

In a universal health system, care is rationed by medical priority when determining where health dollars will be spent and what types of treatment will be covered. In the UK, a debate is taking place between British scientists who are recommending that unproven or disproved complementary therapies not be funded and therapists of complementary medicine who argue that many of the alternative therapies have been proven effective and should be funded for patients who can benefit from such therapies. This has opened up a whole new discussion in defining exactly what alternative or complementary therapies are and what place they have in modern medical practice.

Meanwhile, Prince Charles, a strong advocate of alternative therapies and organic foods, spoke to World Health Assembly members of the World Health Organization about the need to consider making better use of traditional therapies, particularly acupuncture and herbal medicines, to improve health care around the world.

"I believe that the proper mix of proven complementary, traditional and modern remedies, which emphasizes the active participation of the patient, can help to create a powerful healing force in the world,'' Charles said. "This is where orthodox practice can learn from complementary medicine, the West can learn from the East and new from old traditions."

Prince Charles is concerned that if we do not recognize the wisdom and value of the past, much of that knowledge will be lost. Putting aside politics, monarchy and scandal, I am gaining more respect for the Prince of Wales the more I learn about his perspectives concerning health and the environment.

Every year, over 41,000 people from all walks of life are newly-diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain. Breast Cancer Care has launched the 41,000 faces of breast cancer campaign to illustrate what it looks like, in human terms, for all those touched by breast cancer diagnosis and to raise public awareness of breast cancer. If you, a close friend or family member, has been affected by breast cancer, Breast Cancer Care would like you to consider becoming part of the campaign by sending in a photo. They have provided an online registration form where you can upload your photo and submit right from the web page, or they have provided an address if you would rather send it to them by post. 

41,000 faces
Breast Cancer Care
Kiln House
210 New Kings Road
London SW6 4NZ

According to the organizers of the 41,000 faces campaign, "Our aim is to launch the biggest online photographic exhibition ever -- the current world record-holder is 33,401 photos -- and also to turn the photos into a unique exhibit which will be launched for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2006. By sending in your photo, you can help us to help others."

In the Shropshire Star, is the story of Susan Morgan, 41, diagnosed with the type of breast cancer that can benefit from treatment with Herceptin. But, unless she is able to pay £47,000 for the drug, she will not be treated with it because her primary care trust will not cover the cost.

Rather than sit and watch her mother die because they can not afford a drug that might prolong her mother's life, Katie, 10, decided to take matters into her own hands. First, Katie started selling eggs from the family farm to raise money for her mother. Then she wrote a passionate letter to the local MP pleading for help on behalf of her mother's life. The letter made the news, and an anonymous benefactor has offered to pay for Ms. Morgan's cancer drug treatment with Herceptin. I am pleased that Katie's mother will be able to have access to the drug now, but so terribly sad that a young girl had to be put through the emotional trauma and fear that prompted her to write a letter asking for help to save her mother's life. Even more unfortunate, this is not an isolated case.

Women Fighting for Herceptin, a British group calling on the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE, to approve Herceptin, a drug used to treat women with HER2/neu receptor positive breast cancer, as a first line treatment for early-stage breast cancer. The group wants the expensive life-saving drug treatment made freely available to all women with HER-2 positive breast cancer. In an act of civil disobedience, Jayne Sullivan staged a one-woman protest at the National Assembly in Cardiff Bay, Wales, until her government agreed to end the postcard lottery of medical care for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Her government had refused to grant women with early-stage breast cancer access to the drug Herceptin. This story is not over, as women in parts of the UK continue to fight not only cancer, but a universal health system that is denying them access to cancer drug treatment.