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Obese people who carry much of their excess fat around their waist are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, new research warns.

The finding highlights yet another damaging health effect of obesity. Low vitamin D levels have been linked to poor bone health, as well as increased risk for respiratory infection, autoimmune disorders and heart disease.

"The strong relationship between increasing amounts of abdominal fats and lower levels of vitamin Dsuggests that individuals with larger waistlines are at a greater risk of developing deficiency, and should consider having their vitamin D levels checked," said study author Rachida Rafiq.

The UN has allocated $2m (£1.5m) to help tackle a cholera outbreak in the north-east of Nigeria.

At least 50 people have been killed by the disease since the end of March.

There have been more than 400 confirmed cases in Yobe state, where many people live in overcrowded conditions having fled their homes because of the Boko Haram insurgency.

A California jury hit Johnson & Johnson and other companies with a $25.75 million verdict, saying the company was negligent and did not caution consumers about possible health risks from its Baby Powder. The couple who brought the suit, Joanne and Gary Anderson, allege that she developed a kind of cancer after making use of the company's Baby Powder.

A cholera epidemic has left 16 people dead and have infected 176 others in Adamawa and Kano states, a medical official said on Wednesday.

While 12 have been confirmed dead in Adamawa, four others have also died, following a fresh cholera outbreak at Wulari settlement in the Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano State.

“So far, 12 people have died from the disease and there are many more cases,” said the Medical Director of the General Hospital, Mubi, Ezra Sakawa, told Reuters.

A new study published in The BMJ has found that antidepressant use may be associated with weight gain over time. “Patients who were normal weight were more likely to transition to overweight, and overweight patients were more likely to transition to obesity if they were treated with antidepressants,” said study co-author Rafael Gafoor, a primary care and public health researcher at King’s College London, in an email to TIME.

According to the head of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mission in the city, two out of three Ebola patients who escaped quarantine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Mbandaka have died.

The third patient was found alive and is currently under observation by MSF and the World Health Organization (WHO), the MSF's Henri Gray said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the WHO said on Wednesday it was speeding up efforts with nine countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) to attempt to prevent the spread of the current Ebola outbreak beyond its borders. The UN agency said teams are being deployed to assess how prepared the countries are.