Health news round-up: coffee, ADHD prescribing, and GLP-1s and hair loss

The first cohort of MPharm pharmacist prescribers received their General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration results this week, with an 83% pass rate — the highest since 2021.

Meanwhile, a new health minister has taken office and patients in England can now benefit from a “life-changing” multiple sclerosis drug.

The Pharmaceutical Journal has also reported on a framework to estimate country-level antibiotic need, the GPhC’s new training standards for pharmacy technicians, concerns about proposals to reduce internationally qualified pharmacists’ training time, regulatory challenges for independent pharmacies and a 59% increase in counselling sessions funded by charity Pharmacist Support.

We have also covered a survey that suggests community pharmacists are most confident in prescribing for minor ailments, highlighted NHS England guidance that would mobilise community and GP pharmacists in an event of mass casualties, and backlash to the exclusion of community pharmacies from business rates reductions.

Read on for more health news you might have missed this week.

Coffee and energy drinks

The American Heart Association has spoken out against energy drinks in a scientific statement, warning that doses of caffeine, such as levels found in energy drinks including energy shots, may cause cardiovascular harm.

However, for most adults, consuming up to 400 mg of caffeine/day — around five cups of caffeinated coffee per day — is safe and appears to be linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease for some individuals. 

This month, the UK government announced that it would ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16s in England, following a public consultation.

ADHD and mental health medicines

The results of an Australian study published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health have revealed that dexamphetamine and methylphenidate are equally effective in the treatment of ADHD in children, but greater weight loss was observed in children taking dexamphetamine.

The latest ‘Medicines used in mental health‘ report from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) has shown a 40% rise in the number of adults and a 17% rise in the number of children in England prescribed central nervous system stimulants and drugs for ADHD, between 2024/2025 and 2025/2026.

In the same time period, items categorised as antidepressant drugs increased by 3.1%, while items used to treat dementia increased by 5.2%. Drugs for dementia remained the only British National Formulary section where the number of identified patients was higher in the least deprived areas, NHS BSA said.

Do GLP-1s cause hair loss?

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity are associated with an increased risk of hair loss (i.e. alopecia) in adults with T2DM, the results of a study published in The BMJ have showed. 

After adjusting for potentially influential factors, including age, sex, ethnicity, pre-existing conditions, other medication use and body mass index (BMI), use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was associated with a 37% higher risk of alopecia than use of SGLT-2 inhibitors (6.91 v 5.04 per 1,000 person years) and a 68% higher risk than use of DPP-4 inhibitors (6.53 v 3.89 per 1,000 person years).

However, the absolute risk remains low, and the association was specific to non-scarring alopecia, which is where hair follicles remain intact, leaving the potential for regrowth, researchers added.

Marie Spreckley, weight management researcher at the University of Cambridge, commented: “This is a well-conducted observational study that used a target trial emulation approach with active comparator groups, extensive adjustment for measured confounders, and multiple sensitivity analyses, all of which strengthen confidence in the findings. However, as with all observational studies, it cannot establish causality, and the possibility of residual confounding remains.

“The authors also note that rapid weight loss is a recognised trigger for temporary hair shedding. Nutritional deficiencies, such as iron or zinc deficiency, may also contribute, although this study was not designed to distinguish between these potential mechanisms or determine whether hair loss resolved after treatment.”

Diabetes risk and management

Two people with the same BMI may have entirely different risks of developing T2DM, depending on the underlying biological mechanisms, the results of a study based on UK Biobank data published in Nature Communications have revealed.

A US cohort study of adults with insulin-treated diabetes supports the use of continuous glucose monitoring initiated by primary care clinicians, showing clinically meaningful improvements in HbA1c and significant reductions in recurrent hospitalisations and emergency department visits.

GLP-1RA (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist) medications have been shown to reduce the number of deaths, amputations and hospitalisations among people with T2DM and narrowed leg arteries associated with peripheral artery disease, the results of a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association have showed.

For children and young people with type 1 diabetes (n=400, aged 7 to 25 years in Bangladesh and Tanzania), long-acting analogue insulin glargine was associated with less time spent in dangerous hypoglycemia and fewer nighttime low blood sugar events than older human insulin — but these benefits didn’t emerge until a year into the randomised clinical trial.

“In many parts of the world, children do not have access to the therapies considered standard elsewhere,” said lead author Jing Luo.

“These findings add new data to a global debate over whether health systems with constrained resources should prioritise access to newer insulin formulations despite their higher cost.”