Eating gluten from pasta and bread during pregnancy could increase children's risk of diabetes, study finds

Health reporter(wp/es):

Women who eat foods containing gluten such as pasta and bread during pregnancy could increase the risk of their child suffering from diabetes, new research suggests.

A study of 63,500 women found that the more gluten they ate during pregnancy, the higher the chance their child would develop type 1 diabetes by the age of 16.

The researchers from Denmark, Iceland and the US stressed they had not proved the link and that more studies were needed before women should change their eating habits.

But the study revealed that children of women with the highest gluten intake, of 20g or more a day, were twice as likely to develop the autoimmune disease by their mid-teens as those with the lowest gluten intake of under 7g per day.

The risk appeared to increase gradually in line with increased consumption.

While type 2 diabetes is linked to lifestyle, the causes of type 1 remain unclear. It affects around 400,000 people in Britain, including Prime Minister Theresa May.

Type 1 causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high and occurs when the body cannot produce enough of the hormone insulin which controls blood glucose.

Those with type 1 diabetes need daily injections of insulin to keep blood glucose levels under control and is not linked with age or being overweight unlike type 2.

Scientists believed type one diabetes was an unavoidable condition that has more to do with genetics than environmental factors.

Since the latest findings that show a mother’s behaviour could contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes is a controversial idea, the scientists of the study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, said it should be further investigated.

“The safety of substituting gluten-containing foods for other foods and nutrients should be investigated as well as the possibility of obtaining a larger effect by adherence to a completely gluten-freediet,” the team, led by the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, wrote.

Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye and barley and helps foods maintain their shape – acting as a glue that holds it together.

It can be found in many items of food such as baked goods, cereals, sauces and even salad dressings.

Gluten-free diets have become increasingly popular in recent years, despite experts saying there is no need for most people who don’t suffer from coeliac disease to avoid it.

The risks from the study remained small, with only 0.52 per cent of women with the highest consumption having a child with type 1 diabetes.

Lucy Trelfa, research communications officer at Diabetes UK, said: "Finding a link between eating more gluten during pregnancy and a higher risk of type 1 diabetes in babies is interesting, but importantly, this research does not show that gluten causes type 1 diabetes.

“It's also far too early to say just how big a player gluten is.”

Dr Jenny Myers, of the University of Manchester, added: 'What we lack are mechanistic studies which can explain the biology of these observations – only then can we begin to design dietary interventions and be able to advise pregnant women properly.'

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Jailed grocer who hid cocaine in crates of pomegranates must pay back £400k

Pic:Drugs seized during the investigation into Kevin Hanley ( PA )
Crime reporter,London(wp/es):

A drug baron’s top lieutenant who used his Covent Garden fruit and veg business to disguise a cocaine-smuggling ring must pay back more than £400,000 or face extra years in jail.

John Fowler, 61, was the front for the operation that saw at least £5 million of drugs ferried from Greece to the UK among crates of pomegranates and watermelons. 

He was the right-hand man to Kevin Hanley, once one of Britain’s most wanted men and described as a “top, top man” in the cocaine trade. 

The drugs gang was smashed in 2012 after months of surveillance on Hanley led investigators to Fowler’s greengrocer business in Covent Garden.

Hanley had previously been an accomplice of Brian Wright, the drug trafficker known as the Milkman because he always delivered. When Wright was jailed last year, Hanley assumed his position.

Using Fowler’s legitimate but failing business — Fowler’s PCC Ltd — Hanley transported vast quantities of Venezuelan cocaine by lorry across Europe and into the UK.

The drugs were concealed among crates of watermelons and pomegranates, as well as strawberries, cauliflower, and broccoli. 

Acting on a tip-off, officers raided Fowler’s flat in Chelsea and found £2.5 million of cocaine, £200,000 of amphetamines, £61,000 of skunk cannabis, and more than £2 million in cash. 

Hanley’s girlfriend, Chrysi Minadaki, a well-known TV presenter in Greece, was in charge of sourcing the fruit and vegetables used to disguise the lorryloads of drugs. She was jailed for 16 years for her role in the operation, while another of Hanley’s lovers acted as his secretary. 

Hanley, who had homes in Kensington and Fulham, went on the run with Minadaki when the drugs ring was smashed in 2012, but was caught when police swooped on an Irish pub in Athens as he watched the British and Irish Lions rugby team beat Australia.

He has since been ordered to pay back more than £2 million or face another nine years in prison. Fowler was sentenced to 16 years behind bars in 2014, and appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday for a confiscation hearing. 

Judge Joseph ordered him to pay back £416,739 of profits he had gained through the drugs trade. 

Fowler, who appeared in court via videolink from prison, is planning to sell a flat in Bermondsey to settle the debt, and will face an extra four years in prison if he does not produce the money in time.

The judge also imposed a serious crime prevention order on Fowler, allowing him to be monitored when he is released from prison.
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Uber in talks to buy Deliveroo in multi-billion dollar takeover

Pic:A bid for the Deliveroo would have to be above its latest valuation of $2 billion ( Bloomberg )
Business reporter(wp/es):

London's tech scene was set alight on Friday by reports that US giant Uber was in talks to buy takeaways giant Deliveroo for billions of dollars.

A bid for the capital’s tech darling would have to be significantly above Deliveroo’s latest valuation of $2 billion for a deal to be inked. Deliveroo’s owners are also concerned about giving up their independence.  

The talks, first reported by Bloomberg, would help boost Uber’s own Uber Eats service as the food delivery arena heats up. The taxi firm claims to have built the largest food delivery business outside China and is on track to make $6 billion (£4.4 billion) sales this year. 

However, insiders at Deliveroo cautioned against hopes for a deal. 

Talks were reported to be at their very early stages. Rival Just Eat’s shares fell 7% to 658p at the prospect of an even-bigger giant on its doorstep.

Shares in European peers Delivery Hero and Takeaway.com both fell 2%.

“This will be seen as a threat to Just Eat and other services such as Delivery Hero, where Uber also plans to acquire a Middle East business that would compete with the latter,” said Ian Whittaker, analyst at broker Liberum.  

He said, however, that Just Eat investors should feel “reasonably comfortable” even if a deal were to happen as it already had a considerable market share in cities where Uber and Deliveroo are weaker. 

Nigel Parson, analyst at Canaccord, said: “This is an area that’s really evolving fast and the big players are lining up. You could easily see Amazon coming in.”

Deliveroo, whose app is available in more than 200 cities on four continents, raised about $480 million (£363  million) last year from investors, who included Fidelity Investments and  T Rowe Price. 

Its early investors include innocent founder Richard Reed’s Jam Jar, Farfetch backer Felix Capital and private equity firm Bridgepoint. 

The business, which employs 900 staff in London, was in financing talks last year with Tokyo-based Softbank, one of Uber’s major backers but a deal never materialised. 

The speculation was that Uber had complained about the investor putting money into its rival.

Deliveroo made a £129 million loss, according to its last set of Companies House accounts. 

Deliveroo, Uber and Just Eat declined to comment.
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PM says she 'will not overturn the result of the Brexit referendum'

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May delivered a defiant ultimatum to European Union leaders in a statement from No 10 this afternoon, saying she would offer no more concessions until they give ground.

“We are at an impasse,” she declared. In a terse tone, Mrs May accused the EU of failing to show Britain respect at the Salzburg summit where her proposals were publicly rebuffed.

“I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same.

“It is not acceptable to simply reject the other side's proposals without a detailed explanation and counter proposals.”

Standing at a lectern in front of two large union flags, Mrs May said she would “never agree” to the EU’s demand that Northern Ireland stay aligned with EU rules, which “threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom”.

She went on: “If the EU believe I will, they are making a fundamental mistake.

“Anything that fails to reflect the referendum or divides our country in two would be a bad deal. And I have always said, no deal is better than a bad deal.”

She said the only offers made so far by EU leaders were “bad deals” that she could only reject as they failed to respect the EU referendum result of 2016.

Mrs May concluded her statement by saying: "The EU should be clear, I will not overturn the result of the referendum, nor will I break up my country. We need serious engagement in resolving the two big issues in the negotiations and we stand ready."

Theresa May's speech in full

"Yesterday, I was in Salzburg for talks with European leaders.

"I have always said that these negotiations would be tough - and they were always bound to be toughest in the final straight.

"While both sides want a deal, we have to face up to the fact that - despite the progress we have made - there are two big issues where we remain a long way apart.

"The first is our economic relationship after we have left.

"Here, the EU is still only offering us two options.

"The first option would involve the UK staying in the European Economic Area and a customs union with the EU.

"In plain English, this would mean we'd still have to abide by all the EU rules, uncontrolled immigration from the EU would continue and we couldn't do the trade deals we want with other countries.

"That would make a mockery of the referendum we had two years ago.

"The second option would be a basic free trade agreement for Great Britain that would introduce checks at the Great Britain/EU border. But even worse, Northern Ireland would effectively remain in the Customs Union and parts of the Single Market, permanently separated economically from the rest of the UK by a border down the Irish Sea.

"Parliament has already - unanimously - rejected this idea.

"Creating any form of customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK would not respect that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, in line with the principle of consent, as set out clearly in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

"It is something I will never agree to - indeed, in my judgement it is something no British Prime Minister would ever agree to. If the EU believe I will, they are making a fundamental mistake.

"Anything which fails to respect the referendum or which effectively divides our country in two would be a bad deal and I have always said no deal is better than a bad deal.

"But I have also been clear that the best outcome is for the UK to leave with a deal. That is why, following months of intensive work and detailed discussions, we proposed a third option for our future economic relationship, based on the frictionless trade in goods. That is the best way to protect jobs here and in the EU and to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, while respecting the referendum result and the integrity of the United Kingdom.

"Yesterday Donald Tusk said our proposals would undermine the single market. He didn't explain how in any detail or make any counter-proposal. So we are at an impasse.

"The second issue is connected to the first. We both agree that the Withdrawal Agreement needs to include a backstop to ensure that if there's a delay in implementing our new relationship, there still won't be a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"But the EU is proposing to achieve this by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the Customs Union.

"As I have already said, that is unacceptable. We will never agree to it. It would mean breaking up our country.

"We will set out our alternative that preserves the integrity of the UK. And it will be in line with the commitments we made back in December - including the commitment that no new regulatory barriers should be created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK unless the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree.

"As I told EU leaders, neither side should demand the unacceptable of the other.

"We cannot accept anything that threatens the integrity of our union, just as they cannot accept anything that threatens the integrity of theirs.

"We cannot accept anything that does not respect the result of the referendum, just as they cannot accept anything that is not in the interest of their citizens.

"Throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it.

"At this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side's proposals without a detailed explanation and counter proposals.

"So we now need to hear from the EU what the real issues are and what their alternative is so that we can discuss them. Until we do, we cannot make progress.

"In the meantime, we must and will continue the work of preparing ourselves for no deal.

"In particular, I want to clarify our approach to two issues.

"First, there are over 3 million EU citizens living in the UK who will be understandably worried about what the outcome of yesterday's summit means for their future.

"I want to be clear with you that even in the event of no deal your rights will be protected. You are our friends, our neighbours, our colleagues. We want you to stay.

"Second, I want to reassure the people of Northern Ireland that in the event of no deal we will do everything in our power to prevent a return to a hard border.

"Let me also say this.

"The referendum was the largest democratic exercise this country has ever undergone. To deny its legitimacy or frustrate its result threatens public trust in our democracy.

"That is why for over two years I have worked day and night to deliver a deal that sees the UK leave the EU.

"I have worked to bring people with me even when that has not always seemed possible.

"No one wants a good deal more than me.

"But the EU should be clear: I will not overturn the result of the referendum. Nor will I break up my country.

"We need serious engagement on resolving the two big problems in the negotiations. We stand ready."

The Prime Minister called cameras into No 10 just before 2pm - but the BBC said the statement was delayed by a power failure in the room.

Earlier the Brexit Secretary expressed anger over her treatment at the Salzburg summit which has been described as a “humiliation” by the media.

Dominic Raab complained that the EU leaders had “yanked the handbrake” on her plans without offering any credible alternative.

He accused European summit president summit leader Donald Tusk of looking  “unstatesmanlike” by posting Instagram images mocking Theresa May. The picture showed him offering her a cake with the quip: “Sorry, no cherries.”

Mr Raab lambasted the EU 27 leaders for giving “no coherent explanation” for rejecting Mrs May’s Chequers plan, nor offering any alternative to it. He said they seemed to be trying to “salami slice” her blueprint rather than respond in kind to the “arm of friendship” that Mrs May had extended.

“We have been rebuffed on our plans without any coherent explanation why,” he told the BBC.

“We have revved up the motor of these negotiations and the EU has just yanked up the handbrake. For the negotiations to go forward they are going to have to take their hand off the handbrake.”

He signalled that Mrs May would not dump her plans nor make further concessions at this stage. “We are going to hold our nerve, keep calm and continue negotiating in good faith.”

In a clear reference to Mr Tusk he said: “I don’t want to impugn bad intentions to the other side. I think some of the way it was done - social media against the Prime Minister - didn’t feel to me like very statesmanlike behaviour.”

He went on: “To be rebuffed on those aspects, without a coherent explanation, without credible alternatives, I think at some point light will shine back on the EU with questions about whether they handled this well.''

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