Charlie Webster back in UK after contracting malaria at Rio Olympics

TV presenter Charlie Webster, who contracted malaria in Brazil, has arrived back in the UK.

The 33-year-old Team GB ambassador travelled on a specialist medical plane with a team of professionals, who continued her care on the 20-hour journey.

Webster’s condition remains stable but serious, and she will continue her treatment in a private ward at St James’s hospital in Leeds.

Charlie Webster. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

Webster fell ill during the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics and she was taken to hospital on 6 August.

The former Sky and ITV sports presenter had just completed a 3,000-mile (4,828km) charity cycle ride from London to Rio.

Her condition quickly deteriorated and she was put into a medically induced coma. Doctors diagnosed a very rare strain of malaria and specialists are now trying to find out where she caught the disease.

Last week, Webster was able to get out of bed for the first time and her kidney dialysis was reduced to six hours a day.

Charlie Webster back in UK after contracting malaria at Rio Olympics

Olympics are a carnival of junk food marketing, say campaigners

Campaigners have attacked junk food marketing by sponsors of the Olympic Games in Rio, claiming that companies are once more using the sporting event to promote unhealthy high-fat and sugar products.

Sponsorship of the London Olympics by Coca-Cola and McDonald’s was fiercely criticised four years ago. In Brazil, Team GB is sponsored by Kellogg’s, whose Olympics marketing theme is “Great Starts”. But many of the breakfast cereals it is promoting, such as Frosties and Coco Pops, are high in sugar, said the Children’s Food Campaign.

“We know first hand from London 2012 what a carnival of junk food marketing the Olympics are,” said Malcolm Clark, coordinator of the campaign.

South Africa’s Olympic champion swimmer Chad le Clos launching a Coca-Cola campaign. Photograph: Mirco Toniolo/Rex Shutterstock

“And we are seeing it again this time, with almost all Kellogg’s Games-related marketing currently promoting high-sugar, less healthy products; with Coca-Cola’s global #thatsgold ad giving twice as much screen time to red, full-sugar Coke as to Coke Life and Coke Zero Sugar combined; and with the emergence of limited edition Brazilian flag-coloured M&M’s and other sugary products which associate themselves with the Games.

“Only Aldi supermarket’s advertising campaign, with its focus on British produce, including fresh fruit and vegetables, seems to buck the trend and promote demonstrably healthier products.”

The campaign has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority over what it says are unsubstantiated health claims by Kellogg’s and its use of the word “nutritious” on its Olympics promotional website.

It has also taken issue with the director general of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), Ian Wright, who said in an interview that Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, sponsors of the 2012 Olympics, were very responsible companies and that any controversy emanated from western countries. “Asian and Latin American countries have no problem with companies that behave responsibly,” he said in an article in Campaign magazine.

Public health experts from around the world took issue with Wright.

Members of the Turkmenistan team eat McDonald’s food inside the Rio Olympic village. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

“The Food and Drink Federation’s statement is outrageous, and wrong,” said Dr Fabio Gomes, a Brazilian public health nutritionist and World Health Organisation regional adviser on nutrition. “If these companies did indeed act responsibly they would not advertise to children, they would not send their licensed clowns to Brazilian schools to hook children on their brands and products and they would not promote sugary drinks and energy-dense products that are not recommended by Brazil’s official food-based dietary guidelines.”

“We find the UK Food and Drink Federation’s comments to be offensive,” said Alejandro Calvillo Unna, the spokesperson for the Mexican NGO El Poder del Consumidor (Consumer Power).

Related: Junk food TV ads make children hungry and tempted, charity finds

“In Latin America, these two companies – Coca-Cola and McDonald’s – represent one of the main vectors of the obesity and diabetes epidemic in our region. They deny the scientific evidence about the harm their products generate, they manipulate children, use misleading advertising and invest millions of dollars in lobbying to impede the development of policy measures in countries that are working to combat obesity and chronic disease.”

Tim Lobstein, the policy director at the World Obesity Federation, said: “Child obesity is rising rapidly in developing economies and the last thing the children need are inducements to consume more junk food. The Olympic Games should be a beacon of human progress and ability, not a place where poor nutrition is given a halo of gold.”

Wright stood by his comments, the FDF said. “The recent, groundbreaking McKinsey report ranked the most effective interventions to tackle obesity worldwide – portion control and reformulation of foods came out top, with restrictions on sports sponsorship nowhere on the list.

“At a time when public health budgets are shrinking, restricting sports sponsorship from food and drink companies – whether of grassroots sport or international competitions – would result in less physical activity, not more.”

Swimmers in the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park pass a Kellogg’s-branded sculpture of the British swimmer Rebecca Adlington. Photograph: Rex Shutterstock

A Kellogg’s spokesperson said: “Kellogg’s products can be found in eight out of 10 British households and many athletes eat breakfast cereal as part of a balanced diet and that’s why we are proud to be an official sponsor of Team GB.

“We offer a wide range of breakfast cereals and cereal snacks with varying amounts of sugar all of which are clearly labelled; our cereals provide 3% to 10% of the recommended daily allowance of sugar while our snacks 5% to 20%.

“We strongly believe an all-encompassing approach is needed to tackle obesity. That’s why we are playing our part by listening to our shoppers and launching new foods and adapting the recipes of our existing products to give people more of what they want and less of what they don’t want.”

Olympics are a carnival of junk food marketing, say campaigners

Zika virus risk at Rio Olympics "negligible", says Yale report

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Risk of infection ‘very low indeed’, despite concerns heightened by first case in Europe of baby affected by the virus

Spain has reported what is said to be the first birth in Europe of a baby with Zika virus-related brain damage, according to the health authority in Catalonia, where the child was born.

The mother, who has not been identified, caught the virus on a trip abroad but authorities have declined to say where. She was infected in Latin America, where the virus is widespread.

Related: Zika virus makes Rio Olympics a threat in Brazil and abroad, health expert says

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Zika virus risk at Rio Olympics "negligible", says Yale report

New Examine Displays Why Folks May possibly Be Tuning Out The Olympics

by Arthur L. Caplan &amp Lee H. Igel
The NYU Sports &amp Society Program

With the onset of the Winter Olympics Games in Sochi close at hand, it is about time to revisit each and every sports activities fan’s favored topic: performance enhancing medicines.

Ok, Ok, most individuals are almost certainly sick of the subject by now. In reality, plenty of authorities and pundits, relying on exhaustion on the part of the public, argue that the war against PEDs is so unpopular that it is time to give up and allow athletes dope to their heart’s articles. But a brand new survey on attitudes about PEDs exhibits that worries about their use are chipping away at the credibility of the Video games and other sports activities. In addition, while the public could be tired of speaking about them, a vast majority hates PEDs use.

The results from the public view survey of far more than two,000 grownups in the United States carried out by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Foundation for Global Sports Growth make issues quite clear. The survey aimed to realize customer perceptions of doping in sports, with an eye in direction of rising awareness about its damaging results. The results are in: doping is not creating sports activities greater for athletes, supporters, or any individual else.

Upwards of 60% of people surveyed truly feel doping is the most significant difficulty in sports activities these days. Just more than 50% feel that suspicions of doping leads to a significantly less-fulfilling viewing knowledge for followers. About two-thirds of all respondents suspect athletes are doping. Practically three-quarters believe that well-heeled doping programs lead to teams successfully “buying” medals.

That is startlingly undesirable information for people who say it is time to get rid of principles towards doping.

As the survey results display, doping has handful of fans. Much more than half of the respondents perceive athletes who engage in doping as “criminals.” Not one in 5 U.S. grownups desire to observe doped-up athletes—no matter how fascinating it can make the game or what outsized feats can be achieved.

When posed with a hypothetical, “Would You Do?” circumstance in which they had been asked to imagine themselves competing in the Games alongside a teammate who was doping, practically 60% of the respondents felt that they would be very likely or really probably to report the cheater. Almost 90% felt they would be at least somewhat very likely to inform the proper authorities. When provided yet another “What Would You Do?” situation about their personal propensity to use PEDs if it elevated their possibilities of winning a medal in Sochi, about 90% of the respondents mentioned they wouldn’t do it. Even if the temptation to use is robust in the true planet of competitors, these final results make no situation for giving-in on the war towards PEDs.

Need to Olympic athletes be held to a increased regular than skilled league athletes? About seven out of ten respondents feel the spirit and standing of the Games demands that they be.

But PEDs corrode believe in in what athletes do. A lot more than 50% of respondents see new information set throughout the Games and other sports contests skeptically. That is simply because of allegations of PEDs use and the prospect that PEDs will often be part of the Video games.

What happens when information about PEDs-utilizing athletes comes to light? A lot more than 75% of respondents suggest that they’d have a tough time supporting a crew that has several gamers admitting to or busted for employing PEDs. A minor much less than that quantity say athletes who cheat with PEDs reflect poorly on the nation they represent.

So, just who is accountable for fighting on against PED use? Most individuals truly feel that it is up to either governing bodies and coaches to prevent PED use at the Video games. Some really feel that athletes and watchdog groups need to have to shoulder the obligation of policing PED use. And significantly less than one-third come to feel that, at least in global competition, the staff shouldn’t be held responsible when a single athlete is caught doping.

Yes, a whole lot of individuals are exhausted of hearing about doping in sports activities. But it is not that they want a doped-up Olympic Games. It’s that they are exhausted of speaking about it because they want PED use to cease.

Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University Langone Health care Center. Lee H. Igel, PhD, is associate professor in the Tisch Center at New York University. Each are affiliated with NYU’s Sports activities and Society System.

New Examine Displays Why Folks May possibly Be Tuning Out The Olympics