Healthy life expectancy is shorter in the UK than abroad

Health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, calls for action and describes Britain's performance as shocking compared with other countries

PM considers making cigarette packets display graphic images of disease

Prime minister also examining ban on smoking in cars when children are present

Many more Britons drinking harmfully than thought, survey suggests

Alcohol consumption levels are up to two-thirds higher than past studies indicate, researchers say

There’s no need for this obesity epidemic hysteria

Charlotte Cooper: Forty years of fat activism has shown that people with high body weights can stay healthy without dieting

What does your lunch hour look like?

Open thread: A health minister has said the trend for eating at one's desk is disgusting. Tell us what your lunchtime routine looks like

Cycling in Britain: government to get serious with all-party inquiry

Parliamentary cycling group hopes to build on 2012's track success to get UK pedalling up European tables of bike use

Are we getting childbirth wrong?

The conversation: Kirstie Allsopp discusses caesareans, guilt and breastfeeding with birth guru Sheila Kitzinger

Childhood obesity: Jeremy Hunt threatens food industry with legislation

Supermarkets and manufacturers told to get 'their house in order' or face laws to curb high levels of sugar and fat in food

Ban high-sugar cereals to tackle child obesity, says Andy Burnham

Labour targets foods that can be over one-third sugar as OECD report says English children are among fattest in Europe

Calls for reform of the cosmetics industry date back to 2005

The failure of successive governments to protect patients from an industry capable of inflicting harm is baffling and inexcusable, writes Denis Campbell