Health

Former shop assistant Judith Duncan, 23, from Invercylde, was diagnosed with the long-lasting autoimmune disease almost three years ago. She developed the itchy red skin condition on her face when she was writing her dissertation (left). When she was working as a shop assistant, a customer made cruel comments. But rather than hide it, she say it is now 'part of her' and chooses to go make-up free. She has become an ambassador for people with the condition by writing about it on her blog and is now writing for a Danish skincare brand as well as a UK-based pharmaceutical company. She said: 'Many people are ashamed or embarrassed by their psoriasis, especially if it is visible. I want to put a stop to that.'

Emilia Grabarczyk was only 22cm long (left) and had a foot the size of a thumbnail (right) when she was born in Witten, Germany, nine months ago. She was delivered at 26 weeks because the placenta was not giving her the nutrition she needed. Doctors called her the 'little fighter' after she battled for survival. She now weighs 7lb 2oz - the same as a healthy newborn with medics pleased by her progress. Dr Bahman Gharavi, at St Mary's hospital where she was born, said: 'Even children with a birth weight of 14 ounces rarely survive. We have to thank Emilia as well for her own survival

Charmaine Chantler, 30, from Newcastle, became virtually housebound by her symptoms which saw her needing the toilet 12 times a day. She visited her GP but the symptoms match irritable bowel syndrome, a more common but agonising complaint. When her symptoms persisted, she went for further tests which revealed an ulcer before the devastating diagnosis of a rare type of endocrine cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the tumour (inset in hospital) which left her with a triangular-shaped scar (right). Miss Chantler said she now uses it to give herself strength. She said: 'A friend said it looked like a triangle, a symbol of strength - because no matter how much pressure you put on any side, it will never break.'

Scottish musician Charlie, from Los Angeles, was born without a left ear as a result of Goldenhar syndrome which left him feeling 'incomplete' - until specialist surgeons fitted him with a prosthetic one (pictured before, left and after, right). 'Seeing myself with two ears for the first time is incredible,' Charlie confessed. 'I feel like I'm looking at something completely new, this is definitely better than I expected. It's more than I could've hoped for.'

Natalie Daniells, 20, from Portsmouth, is terminally ill with a rare form of bone cancer. Thanks to the kind donations of strangers she is living out her bucket list including trips to Disneyland and theatre shows. As well as the £10,000 she has received from the public the Marriott Hotel provided her with a wedding to her husband John worth £6,000. Pictured: Natalie with sisters Stacey and Rachel at her hen do (left) in Disneyland with John (right) and at their wedding (inset).

Kristy Sadler, 27, from Essex, saw her weight soar to 13 stone 7 lbs (left) after snacking on chocolate biscuits dipped in squirty cream, but she now says she has dropped five stone by quitting sugar. She quit chocolate biscuits and orange juice on her new regime which has even helped her battle depression (pictured now, right and centre) - and claims that thinking about her old diet 'makes me feel sick'.

LARGE: Mouldy vegetables, week-old ham or a plate of leftovers from Sunday lunch ... Chances are that most of what you'll find in the recesses of your fridge will end up in the bin. According to a study by supermarket chain Sainsbury's, British households throw away seven million tonnes of food waste every year - the equivalent of six meals a week. And the surprising reason is that 75 per cent of us are running our fridges too warm. Just turning down the temperature could prevent up to 4.2 million tonnes of food waste a year and save each family a small fortune. So what temperature should your fridge be, and which shelves are best for what foods? Here SARAH RAINEY presents the ultimate guide.

The single mother from Glasgow has been on the waiting list for a double hand transplant for two years. She had both her hands and her legs amputated three years ago. Experts are trying to find suitable hands that match Ms Hutton's blood group, skin tone and hand size. In July, Chris King became the first person in the UK to have a double hand transplant at Leeds General Infirmary. The same surgeon, Professor Simon Kay, will lead on Ms Hutton's operation once a suitable donor has been found.

Dietitian Nichola Whitehead has analysed the top snacks marketed as being 'healthy' but despite their hefty price tags she says they're a better option for a quick fix than tucking into biscuits or sweets. She reviewed body-boosting options including (clockwise from top left): 100% Natural's Organic Raw Chocolate Brownie which contains 414 calories: Delicously Ella's Energy Balls in Cacao & Almond have 174 calories; Gourmosa Chana Chaat Pot is 324 calories; Primal's Cocoa Orange Paleo Protein Bar comes in at 174 calories; KIND's Madagascar Vanilla Almond Bar contains 210 calories; and Graze's Cocoa & Vanilla Protein Flapjack packs 252 calories.

Twins Ethan and Ahren Masters, from Eastbourne, were born looking identical (top middle). Within weeks Ethan developed an angry red lump which spread across his face (left and bottom middle). But the aggressive birthmark was also blocking his windpipe leaving just a 1mm gap to breathe. His parents were given the choice of surgery or experimental treatment using beta blockers. Within weeks, the angry growth started to disappear. Now a healthy seven-year-old, Ethan is hard to tell apart from Ahren again (right). Mother Amanda Masters said: 'I cried when I saw the difference and still can't believe it when I see the shocking photos of him now. We really haven't looked back since Ethan took that drug.'

Gabriella Stearne was born without a left lung and with two heart conditions (left with mother Amie Jarvis). She started having fits which would stop her breathing and was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital for lifesaving surgery (middle). Medics stapled her heart to her rib cage to stop it from moving and she was also fitted with a prosthetic lung. Gabriella was finally able to go home to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire this week but is still on a ventilator and will need surgery every six months as she grows.

Herbal teas claim to boost immunity, detox our liver and even help us sleep. But are they as healthy as they claim to be? NHS expert Noor Al-Refae have given five common favourites his verdict...

Conjoined at the heart, twins Savannah and Scarlett were given an almost zero per cent chance of survival. But astonishingly - to the amazement of their parents and doctors - the two girls have survived separation surgery. Surgeons in Gainesville, Florida, spent eight weeks practicing the procedure on a 3D print-out of a conjoined heart.

Five-year-old Ryan Cahill, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, stands at just 2ft 11inches and is the only person in the world with a combination of two medical conditions that make him so small. He has genetic disorder Bloom Syndrome, which promotes short stature, and another mystery condition that doctors have not yet been able to properly diagnose. It means his proud mother Corrie, 28, has to buy his school uniform from specialists in the US and he is dwarfed by his younger sisters Lisa-Marie, three (pictured together), and Lacey, two. The youngster, dubbed a real-life Tom Thumb, is also so small that he can fit into boxer shorts which were bought for his Build-a-Bear teddy.

Student Jennifer White, 19 (left), from Birmingham, West Midlands, was diagnosed with scoliosis and X-rays revealed her spine was bent at a shocking 63 degree angle (right). She had always wondered why her hip would pop out at an odd angle but brushed aside her worries believing it was nothing serious. However, she discovered that she was suffering from the rare skeletal condition after watching a documentary about Richard III and his skeletal remains (inset). Miss White and her mother Johanna realised the 15th century monarch's symptoms were similar to her own - prompting her to visit her doctor. She has now finally had surgery to correct the dramatic curve in her spine last month - and is thrilled with the results.

Rod Gemmell from Surrey is a 66-year-old retired businessman of average build and fitness. Until five years ago, his physical activity was restricted to squash sessions and the occasional three-mile jog. But Rod is now single-mindedly focused on fitness and adventure. However, last year, just weeks into his marathon training, he suffered a stroke that left him paralysed on the left side - very likely, he and his doctors suspect, caused by his excessive exercising.

Father-of-three Abdul Jabbar Tunio, 39, from Larkana in Pakistan, has been paralysed and left silent by a mysterious condition for the past two months. A crack medical team from Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi has now been assembled to find out the cause of his illness. Former vegetable seller Abdul suffers from severe breathing problems, renal complications and skin ulcers as a result of ever-ballooning weight.

Three-year-old Paige Slocombe (right and inset), from Whiddon Down in Devon, suffers from Dravet Syndrome, an ultra-rare form of childhood epilepsy that makes her prone to violent seizures. The youngster suffers the seizures almost constantly throughout the day meaning her parents Samantha, 25, and Michael, 32, have to be on constant standby. Ms Slocombe, her daughter's full-time carer, said: 'We were shocked and devastated when we received Paige's diagnosis. I feared for her future, and it's been incredibly tough watching Dravet Syndrome take away our little girl, bit by bit.' She had a healthy pregnancy and birth and it wasn't until December 2013, when Paige was seven months old, that the youngster suffered her first seizure while in the bath. Ms Slocombe said: 'I had no idea what was going on. I thought she was dying.' She now has to carry resuscitation equipment with her at all times.

Geneticist Dr Sharon Moalem (right) has devised a 90-second cracker test that reveals how quickly your body breaks down starch. All you need to do is chew on a cracker and time how long it takes for the taste to change from bland to sweet (left). If it takes less than 14 seconds, your body breaks down starch quickly and you're a 'Full' carb type. Between 15 and 30 seconds means you're a 'Moderate' who should watch your carbs, and more than 30 seconds means you're 'Restricted' and should get no more than 25 per cent of your calories from carbs.

Layla Astley, now three, was just 13 weeks old when a water infection is thought to have triggered her sepsis (inset). Her devastated parents, Hayley (right) and Matt were told to prepare for the worst. Miraculously, she pulled through but the traumatic episode caused delays to Layla's development, including her speech. Her mother taught Layla how to communicate using Makaton, a type of sign language. In turn, this encouraged her to speak verbally and she can now speak in short sentences. Mrs Astley said: 'Over the past few weeks Layla has started to string simple sentences together about nursery and likes to make up silly phrases - but they make sense and that's all that matters.'

April Heath, 24, from Cambridge, went to her doctor suspecting she had picked up flu. But she was initially told it was a combination of anxiety and an ear infection. When she continued to feel unwell, she went to her boyfriend's doctor who admitted her to hospital with severe anaemia. She was eventually diagnosed with a rare type of tumour which had ruptured and was causing internal bleeding. She had emergency surgery (right) and tests later confirmed the tumour was benign. Miss Heath, (pictured inset, recovering in hospital with boyfriend Matt Hewitt) who has represented Great Britain playing flag football, is now fighting back to fitness. She said: 'It's strange to think I'm only one of only four people in the world to have had the tumour. Fortunately I feel fine now.'

Four-year-old boy Dylan Little from Atlanta, Georgia, has gotten 26 breast implants (right) to save his life after fears the moles covering nearly all of his body could turn into fatal cancer. Little was born with giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (left and inset); a rare condition affecting one in every 20,000 babies. As part of the surgery, expanders are placed under the skin and filled with saline to stretch out the skin; similar to the process used in breast implants. Then, after three months, the expanders are taken out and the expanded skin is used to cover areas where the nevus has been removed.

Leanne Owen, 40, from Blackpool, is devastated to be told her son Harry, eight (left as a baby and inset, in hospital), has bifid scrotum - a rare birth defect meaning his scrotum split in two and has two folds which look like a female's labia. Ms Owen (right, with her son), who was pregnant at the time, said the shock diagnosis of her son's 'vagina' caused her to miscarry her baby. She said: 'I lost my baby the same week that I was told that Harry had a vagina. I knew there was something internally that was wrong with Harry as well as the other defects that were picked when he was born.'

At least 20 per cent of adults are obese in every state of America, according to new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In four states - Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia - more than 35 per cent of residents are morbidly overweight. And 21 states have a rate between 30 and 35 per cent.

Ethan Cavanagh, seven, from Liverpool, was diagnosed with eczema after years of doctors believing his raw, itchy skin was related to other allergies. His skin was so red he looked sunburnt (left) and his mother Terri, 32, said it appeared as though she had 'poured boiling water over him'. Often, strangers made cruel comments and he couldn't sleep for the pain - waking up covered in blood after scratching himself all night (bottom right). Doctors suggested chemotherapy drugs to stop his immune system attacking itself and help manage his severe eczema. Now, he takes 5.5ml of the drugs (inset) every morning, which carry side effects including stomach pain, diarrhoea, fatigue and raises the risk of hair and teeth loss, liver failure and infertility. Mrs Cavanagh said: 'In this position you try anything. I want Ethan to live a normal life.'

Linda Bright, 68, from Suffolk, had her left breast removed 3 years ago during her cancer battle. She was so horrified by the scars, she wouldn't let her husband see her. She decided to have the tattoo, which includes butterflies and a pink ribbon to symbolise her recovery, to cover the scars after reading about other people doing it. 'When I looked at myself I knew what I needed and that was to cover the scars up,' she said. 'As soon as I took my bra off it stared me in the face all the time. But now I can't tell you just how happy I feel.'