Red Meat&Heart Disease, Measles, Hypopituitarism - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

What's the story behind the headlines about the links between red meat and heart disease? Researchers have reported that the way meat eaters' gut bacteria process a substance in red meat, carnitine, could be the trigger for heart disease. As the numbers of measles cases in Swansea rise, where else might be at risk of an outbreak and as the age of vaccination in Swansea has been lowered to 6 months, why do we vaccinate babies and young children when we do? Around a million people in the UK every year have some form of head injury. Most make a full recovery but there is growing concern that doctors are missing a common complication of head injury. Dr Mark Porter investigates a condition called post traumatic hypopituitarism - the result of a damaged pituitary gland- a small vulnerable structure which sits at the base of the brain. It regulates the actions of hormones controlling everything from immunity and the thyroid gland, to normal growth, sex drive and fertility.

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