Health Hub
Sourced from the NHS, the MHRA, Cochrane, the New England Journal of Medicine, the BMJ and The Lancet.
Six articles, in order: how the treatments work, who is eligible, and what the first months actually feel like.
From what causes it to what the first year of treatment looks like — the essentials, in reading order.
What causes ED, how the treatment options compare, and how to start safely.
Prescription weight-loss treatment now comes as tablets or weekly injections. How the two formats compare on evidence, routine and fit, category by category.
Curate Editorial5 min read
The UK has approved its first GLP-1 tablet for weight loss. What was actually approved, why it is a genuine milestone, and what it changes for patients.
Curate Editorial5 min read
Rybelsus was the first semaglutide tablet, licensed for type 2 diabetes. What it does, how it is taken, and how it relates to the newer weight-loss pill.
Curate Editorial5 min read
Nausea, stomach upset and appetite changes lead the list for oral semaglutide. What is common on Rybelsus, what passes, what helps, and when to seek advice.
Curate Editorial5 min read
Headache, flushing, indigestion and back pain lead the list. Why tadalafil's long duration changes the side-effect picture, and the signs that need urgent care.
Curate Editorial5 min read
Sildenafil is licensed in the UK for erectile dysfunction in men, not for sexual problems in women. What the research found, why the biology differs, and what actually helps.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Sildenafil typically works within 30 to 60 minutes, but food, timing and technique change everything. How to give the tablet its best chance.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Tadalafil lowers blood pressure slightly in most people, and dangerously only in specific combinations. What the numbers show, and which pairings genuinely matter.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
The idea that high testosterone means baldness is a myth. Male pattern hair loss comes from how sensitive your follicles are to a hormone called DHT, not from how much testosterone you have.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Female hair loss has a different cause list from men's: pattern thinning, telogen effluvium, iron and thyroid problems, hormones and haircare damage. How to tell them apart.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Finasteride lowers the hormone driving hair loss within days, but visible results run on hair's slow cycle: stabilisation by month six, the full verdict at a year or more.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Minoxidil results run on hair's own slow clock: shedding first, visible change from around four months, full effect at a year. A realistic timeline, stage by stage.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
The UK reference intake is 300mg a day for men and 270mg for women, mostly achievable from food. Why supplements say 400mg, whether 500mg is too much, and which forms your gut will tolerate.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
The NHS advises 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day, mainly in autumn and winter. What that means in the units on the bottle, who needs it all year, and the safe upper limit.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Creatine can nudge the scale up in the first few weeks, but that early gain is water held inside muscle, not fat. Here is what the number really means over weeks and months.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Oily fish, egg yolks, fortified foods and UV mushrooms are the real vitamin D foods, and even a good diet struggles to reach the target. The honest list, with numbers.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Short answers to questions our readers ask, from recent articles.
The GLP-1 tablet (oral semaglutide) produced trial results broadly comparable to the semaglutide injection. Tirzepatide's higher averages belong to a different medicine, currently injection-only. Orlistat, the older tablet, is considerably more modest.
Read the full article →An oral formulation of semaglutide for weight management, approved by the MHRA as the first GLP-1 tablet for weight loss. It contains the same active ingredient as the Wegovy injection, taken as a once-daily tablet.
Read the full article →Treating type 2 diabetes in adults, alongside diet and exercise, either alone when metformin is unsuitable or with other diabetes medicines. It improves blood sugar control.
Read the full article →Nausea, diarrhoea or constipation, reduced appetite and sometimes burping or mild reflux, concentrated around starting and dose increases and usually easing within weeks.
Read the full article →The medicine slows stomach emptying, so food sits longer. Bacteria break down sulphur-containing proteins during that extra time, producing hydrogen sulphide gas, which smells of rotten eggs.
Read the full article →It is among the more common side effects, affecting a substantial minority, and typically clusters around starting treatment and dose increases before settling over one to two weeks.
Read the full article →There is no male equivalent of menopause: testosterone declines slowly, not suddenly. What the 'male menopause' label gets wrong, what late-onset hypogonadism actually is, and when midlife symptoms deserve a GP visit.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Pregnancy is possible throughout perimenopause, because ovulation continues unpredictably until periods have fully stopped. When contraception can safely stop, which methods suit your 40s and 50s, and the honest picture on fertility.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Black cohosh, red clover, magnesium, vitamin D and B vitamins, reviewed honestly. Which perimenopause supplements have evidence behind them, which are marketing, and when HRT is the better conversation.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
Testosterone is a normal female hormone, and for some women after menopause it can help distressing low sexual desire. What the evidence shows, how UK off-label prescribing works, and what to expect.
Curate Editorial5 min readClinically reviewed
