Pasteurising milk makes it safer, but are there any benefits to drinking it “raw”? James heads to a dairy farm to investigate the evidence and see if anything is lost in pasteurising milk.

Guests:

Presenter: James Gallagher

From kombucha to cold water swims, sleep to supplements, so many things are claimed to help enhance your immune system. We investigate the evidence, and ask if it's possible to avoid catching a virus this winter (and still leave the house).

Plus, James braves 3.9 degree water to see for himself if cold water swimming has any affect on our immune systems.

Guests:

Presenter: James Gallagher

The programme was produced in partnership with the Open University.

It has been a cold start to the year and for many that means the heating's on, windows are shut and we're drying clothes inside the house. For many people, mould becomes a major concern in winter and the health problems mould can cause have been under more scrutiny since the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak who died in 2020 from long-term exposure to mould at his home in Rochdale.

At Imperial College London a study called WellHome is underway to monitor levels of mould and other indoor pollutants in homes across the west of the capital. Presenter James Gallagher meets Mum of four Roxanne who had monitoring equipment installed in her house to collect data that could lead to guidance on housing quality and inform how healthcare professionals look for and treat conditions affected by mould.

Joining James at Roxanne's is WellHome's Dr Athena Trachalaki, a Respiratory Registrar with Imperial College NHS trust. With her, to go through all the pollutants that pose a risk to our health indoors is WellHome lead and Professor of Community Health and Policy at Imperial College, Frank Kelly.

Dr Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine at Queen Mary University, London, tells James it could be the end of the line for the gas cooker, and Professor Alastair Lewis who is Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of York takes a virtual tour of James's home to discuss all the ways James could be cleaning up the air he breathes.

Presenter: James Gallagher

In the UK, around a third of British children have tooth decay. Just among the under-fives, it's a quarter - a figure that rises significantly in the most deprived areas.

Tooth decay can cause speech development issues, embarrassment for children and in 2023, 15 million school days were missed due to tooth pain or treatment. There’s a financial cost too – in 2023 in England alone tooth extractions under a general anaesthetic cost the NHS £41 million.

And it's totally preventable.

So, how can we stop teeth rotting in the first place? One way initiative announced by the new Labour government is to expand supervised toothbrushing sessions to more children. We find out how these work with Oral Health Team Lead Helen Bullingham who supports nurseries and schools in East Sussex to deliver these programmes.

But what about the evidence to support this intervention? Zoe Marshman, Professor of Dental Public Health at University of Sheffield, explains her findings and dental hygienist and researcher at King's College London Dr Claire McCarthy describes what parents should be doing, in an ideal world, at home.

And finally, what role does sugar play and how can we get consumption down? Dr Nina Rogers from the Population Health Innovation Lab at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explains her findings into the impact of the Sugar Drinks Industry Levy introduced in 2018.

Presenter: James Gallagher

Inside Health is a BBC Wales & West production for Radio 4, produced in partnership with The Open University.

Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is calling for more prostate cancer testing after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Presenter: James Gallagher

The first drugs to slow Alzheimer's progression have been making headlines around the world. For researchers in the field, the arrival of these two therapies called Lecanemab and Donanemab is testament to decades of advancements in the field of Alzheimer's research because for the first time they go further than modifying the symptoms and have been shown in trials to slow down cognitive decline. For patients and families these treatments offer hope that the amount of quality time they'll have together could be lengthened.

Around the world regulatory bodies are weighing up their effectiveness, safety and cost. In the UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

Presenter James Gallagher examines the decision with Professor of Public Health Carol Brayne from the University of Cambridge and neuroscientist Professor Tara Spires-Jones from the University of Edinburgh. Then, looking forward, he meets scientists searching for future treatments including Dr Emma Mead, chief scientist at the Alzheimer's UK Drug Discovery Institute at the University of Oxford, Dr Ashvini Keshavan, co-lead of University College London's ADAPT blood biomarker trial, Selina Wray, Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Alzheimer's Research UK Senior Research Fellow at University College London, and UK Dementia Research Institute Emerging Leader Dr Claire Durrant.

This programme was produced in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: James Gallagher

Have you ever thought about how you breathe? For many of us, the 20,000+ breaths we take each day go underneath our conscious awareness. But every now and then, a short-lived spout or a chronic case of breathlessness can remind us just how vital good breathing is for our health. But can we all breathe “better”? Some wellness trends suggest so...

James Gallagher gets to grips with mouth-taping: the practice of taping the mouth shut during the night to promote exclusive ‘nasal breathing’. Many claim it has improved their sleep, their athletic performance and even given them a more chiselled jaw. Ken O’Halloran, professor of physiology at University College Cork, explains what research has been done looking into this trend and warns about when taping might do more harm than good.

James also visits The Coliseum in Covent Garden to hear how an operatic training programme has improved the quality of life for people living with Long-COVID. ENO Breathe, designed by The English National Opera and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has seen 4000 people learn to breathe like a classical singer to help them handle breathlessness. Creative director, Suzi Zumpe, and respiratory registrar, Keir Philip, talk through the programme and its impacts.

Finally, could taking consciousness control of our breathing for a short time each day improve our health? Guy Fincham, researcher at the University of Sussex, dives into his PhD research on breathwork, including his initial studies looking at who might benefit from these practices.

Presenter: James Gallagher

This programme was produced in partnership with The Open University.

There are so many campaigns now to stop stigma and embarrassment - from Davina McCall talking about the menopause to Idris Elba campaigning for black men to get their prostate checked.

And when we asked for your stories of how embarrassment impacts your health, our inbox was flooded with stories of incontinence, IBS, genital problems, skin issues, fertility troubles, fatty lumps and more - along with the huge and varied ways these issues are affecting your lives.

So, how does embarrassment affect how we behave regarding our health, how can doctors and our health service adapt to alleviate it, and do awareness campaigns really help?

To discuss James Gallagher is joined by:

Dr Margaret McCartney, GP

Plus, James gets some top tips to help alleviate embarrassment when talking to your doctor.

Presenter: James Gallagher

This programme was produced in partnership with The Open University.

If you have a rare genetic disorder, new technology that allows your genetic code to be analysed means you could have a diagnosis within weeks. Before, people with rare diseases would often go their entire lives without a diagnosis. It's a revolutionary advancement but does it change how patients are treated or help improve their wellbeing?

Presenter James Gallagher meets Lisa whose daughter Jaydi was born with a rare genetic disease that affects her growth, speech, eyesight and a number of other conditions. We hear the story of Lisa and Jaydi's journey to diagnosis through Exeter University's Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) study, and how it changed the course of Jaydi's life.

Her clinician, Consulatant Clinical Geneticist Dr Emma Kivuva, tells James how the diagnosis impacted on the care they offered and Dr Caroline Wright, Genetics & Genomics Theme Lead on the DDD study explains how they are measuring the effect of diagnosis on patient treatment and wellbeing.

This programme was produced in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: James Gallagher

Trials of a cancer 'vaccine' have begun and presenter James meets Steve, one of the first patients to trial the new treatment, Steve remembers his shock at being diagnosed with colorectal cancer in his 40s and tells the story of how he became involved in this pioneering research into tackling cancer.

The vaccine is based on the same mRNA technology as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and James heads to the University of Cambridge to find out how the early work into cancer vaccines became the foundation for the rapid rollout of the covid vaccine.

In the lab, molecular biologist Dr Anne Willis and immunologist Dr James Thaventhiran explain how the vaccine is personalised to target the unique make-up of an individual patients' cancer cells, and how if the trials are successful they could open the door to mRNA treatments being used to treat a wide range of diseases.

Also, Imperial College London cyber security researcher Dr Saira Ghafur joins James in the studio to explain why healthcare is a growing target for cyber attackers and how we can prepare for the next one because, as Saira says, it really is a case of "when" not "if".

Presented by James Gallagher