tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90775811135609561062024-03-17T20:03:47.368-07:00Health News ReportJonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.comBlogger8059125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-8755209403185931082024-03-15T14:35:00.000-07:002024-03-15T14:35:04.304-07:00Small amounts of licorice raise blood pressure<p> <br /></p><header style="box-sizing: border-box;"></header><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">It is known that large amounts of liquorice cause high blood pressure. A study by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, now shows that even small amounts of liquorice raise blood pressure. The individuals who react most strongly also show signs of strain on the heart.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Liquorice is produced from the root of plants of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Glycyrrhiza</em> species and has long been used as a herbal remedy and flavouring. However, it is known that eating liquorice can also raise blood pressure. This is mainly due to a substance called glycyrrhizic acid that affects the body’s fluid balance through effects on an enzyme in the kidney. High blood pressure, in turn, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Both the European Union and the World Health Organization have concluded that 100 mg of glycyrrhizic acid per day is probably safe to eat for most individuals. But some people eat more liquorice than that. The Swedish Food Agency has estimated that 5 per cent of Swedes have an intake higher than this level.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In the current study, published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The </em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em>, researchers at Linköping University wanted to test whether the limit stated as likely safe actually is so or not.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">It is not easy to know how much glycyrrhizic acid is in the liquorice you eat, as its concentration in different liquorice products varies greatly. This variation may depend on factors such as origin, storage conditions and liquorice root species. In addition, the amount of glycyrrhizic acid is not indicated on many products. The Linköping University study is the first to have carefully measured the amount of glycyrrhizic acid in the liquorice that was tested, while being randomised and having a control group.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In the study, 28 women and men aged 18–30 were instructed to eat liquorice, or a control product that did not contain any liquorice, over two periods of time. The control product instead contained salmiak, which gives salty liquorice its flavour. The liquorice weighed 3.3 grammes and contained 100 mg of glycyrrhizic acid, that is, the amount indicated as likely safe for most people to eat daily. Participants were randomly assigned to eat either liquorice or the control product for two weeks, take a break for two weeks, and then eat the other variety for two weeks. This enabled the researchers to compare the effect of both varieties in the same person. The study participants were asked to measure their blood pressure at home every day. At the end of each intake period, the researchers measured levels of various hormones, salt balance, and heart workload.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“In the study, we found that a daily intake of liquorice containing 100 mg glycyrrhizic acid raised blood pressure in young healthy people. This hasn’t previously been shown for such small amounts of liquorice,” says Peder af Geijerstam, doctoral student at the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences at Linköping University, general practitioner, and lead author of the study.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">When the participants ate liquorice, their blood pressure increased by an average of 3.1 mmHg. The researchers also measured two hormones that are affected by liquorice and that regulate fluid balance: renin and aldosterone. The levels of both of these decreased when eating liquorice. The quarter of the study participants who were most sensitive, based on their levels of the hormones renin and aldosterone decreasing the most after eating liquorice, also gained slightly in weight, most likely due to an increased amount of fluid in the body. This group also had elevated levels of a protein that the heart secretes more of when it needs to work harder to pump around the blood in the body, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). This suggests increased fluid volume and heart workload in the individuals most sensitive to the effects of liquorice.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our results give reason to be more cautious when it comes to recommendations and labelling for food containing liquorice,” says Fredrik Nyström, professor at the same department, who was responsible for the study.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study was funded with support from, among others, The Strategic Research Network in Circulation and Metabolism (LiU-CircM) at Linköping University, The National Research School in General Practice at Umeå University, King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria Freemason Foundation and Region Östergötland.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Article: </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.011" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">A low dose of daily licorice intake affects renin, aldosterone, and home blood pressure in a randomized crossover trial</a>, Peder af Geijerstam, Annelie Joelsson, Karin Rådholm and Fredrik Nyström, (2024). <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">American Journal of Clinical Nutrition</em>, Vol. 119 No. 3-682-692. Published online 20 January 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.011</p><hr class="hidden-xs hidden-sm" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 0px; border-image: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; box-sizing: content-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px;" /><div class="featured_image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="details" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="well" style="background: none; border-bottom: none; border-image: initial; border-left: 2px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); border-radius: 0px; border-right: none; border-top: none; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; min-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;"></div></div></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-17684802325428784622024-03-15T06:24:00.000-07:002024-03-15T06:24:23.517-07:00A healthy diet is linked with a slower pace of aging, reduced dementia risk<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;">- A healthier diet is associated with a reduced dementia risk and slower pace of aging, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and The Robert Butler Columbia Aging Center. The findings show that a diet-dementia association was at least partially facilitated by multi-system processes of aging. </span></h1><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333;">While literature had suggested that people who followed a healthy diet experienced a slowdown in the processes of biological aging and were less likely to develop dementia, until now the biological mechanism of this protection was not well understood. The findings are published in the </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">Annals of Neurology.</em></h1><div><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;"><br /></em></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Much attention to nutrition in dementia research focuses on the way specific nutrients affect the brain” said Daniel Belsky, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology at Columbia School of Public Health and the Columbia Aging Center, and a senior author of the study. “We tested the hypothesis that healthy diet protects against dementia by slowing down the body’s overall pace of biological aging.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers used data from the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study, the Offspring Cohort. Originating in 1971, participants in the latter were 60 years of age or older, were free of dementia, and also had available dietary, epigenetic, and follow-up data. The Offspring Cohort were followed-up at nine examinations, approximately every 4 to 7 years. At each follow-up visit, data collection included a physical examination, lifestyle-related questionnaires, blood sampling, and, starting in 1991, neurocognitive testing. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Of 1,644 participants included in the analyses, 140 of the participants developed dementia. To measure the pace of aging, the researchers used an epigenetic clock called DunedinPACE developed by Belsky and colleagues at Duke University and the University of Otago. The clock measures how fast a person’s body is deteriorating as they grow older, “like a speedometer for the biological processes of aging”, explained Belsky. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We have some strong evidence that a healthy diet can protect against dementia,” said Yian Gu, PhD, associate professor of Neurological Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the other senior author of the study, “But the mechanism of this protection is not well understood.” Past research linked both diet and dementia risk to an accelerated pace of biological aging. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Testing the hypothesis that multi-system biological aging is a mechanism of underlying diet-dementia associations was the logical next step,” explained Belsky. The research determined that higher adherence to the Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet (MIND) slowed the pace of aging as measured by DunedinPACE and reduced risks for dementia and mortality. Furthermore, slower DunedinPACE accounted for 27 percent of the diet-dementia association and 57 percent of the diet-mortality association.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our findings suggest that slower pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of healthy diet with reduced dementia risk, and therefore, monitoring pace of aging may inform dementia prevention,” said first author Aline Thomas, PhD, a Postdoc at the Columbia Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain. “However, a portion of the diet-dementia association remains unexplained, therefore we believe that continued investigation of brain-specific mechanisms in well-designed mediation studies is warranted.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We suggest that additional observational studies be conducted to investigate direct associations of nutrients with brain aging, and if our observations are also confirmed in more diverse populations, monitoring biological aging, may indeed, inform dementia prevention,” noted Belsky. </p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-55466104047744946322024-03-15T06:12:00.000-07:002024-03-15T06:12:45.424-07:00Highest level of red, processed meat:30- 40% increased risk for colorectal cancer<p> </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />In one of the largest ever gene-environment interaction studies of red meat and colorectal cancer, which explored the impact of red meat consumption on a person’s cancer risk based on their genotype, researchers have identified two genetic markers that may help explain the association between the two and explain why some people face a higher cancer risk.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Past studies show that frequently consuming red and processed meat increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer, but the predominant biological mechanism is not yet established. Understanding the disease process and what genes underlie it can help scientists develop better prevention strategies.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A new study supported by the National Institutes of Health and led by the <a href="https://uscnorriscancer.usc.edu/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center</a>, part of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, analyzed data on red and processed meat intake from 29,842 people with colorectal cancer and 39,635 people without cancer. It found that those who consumed more red or processed meat faced, respectively, a 30 or 40% increased risk for colorectal cancer. Using genome-wide data, the researchers also identified two genes, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">HAS2</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">SMAD7</em>, that altered cancer risk levels based on red or processed meat consumption levels. The results were just published in the journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://aacrjournals.org/cebp/article-abstract/33/3/400/734666/Genome-Wide-Gene-Environment-Interaction-Analyses" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention</a></em>.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These findings suggest that there's a subset of the population that faces an even higher risk of colorectal cancer if they eat red or processed meat,” said lead author <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/mariana-c-stern/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Mariana C. Stern, PhD</a>, a professor of population and public health sciences and urology, the Ira Goodman Chair in Cancer Research and the associate director for population science at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It also allows us to get a peek at the potential mechanism behind that risk, which we can then follow up with experimental studies.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers used a combination of standard methods to pinpoint gene-environment interactions, as well as a new statistical approach developed in the Keck School of Medicine’s division of biostatistics by coauthors <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/william-gauderman/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">William James Gauderman, PhD</a>, a professor of population and public health sciences, <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/juan-pablo-lewinger/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Juan Pablo Lewinger, PhD</a> and <a href="https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/eric-kawaguchi/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Eric Kawaguchi, PhD</a><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">, </u>both assistant professors of population and public health sciences and their colleagues.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These state-of-the-art statistical methods and software allowed us to maximize efficiency as we tested for gene-meat interactions across seven million genetic variants,” Gauderman said.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">The risk of red and processed meat</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The analysis included data from 27 studies of colorectal cancer risk in people of European origin. Gauderman and Ulrike Peters, PhD, MPH, a professor and the associate director of the public health sciences division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, compiled data from the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium, the Colorectal Cancer Transdisciplinary Study and the Colon Cancer Family Registry.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">First, the research team harmonized data from the various studies to create standard measures for the consumption of red meat (beef, pork and lamb) and processed meat (bacon, sausages, luncheon/deli meats and hot dogs). For each category, they calculated servings per day, adjusted for body mass index, and divided participants into four groups based on levels of red or processed meat intake.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">People with the highest level of red meat intake had a 30% increased risk for colorectal cancer; those with the highest level of processed meat intake had a 40% increased risk. These findings do not account for genetic variability that may put some people in the population at higher risk than others.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Genetic markers of cancer risk</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Next, based on DNA samples, the researchers compiled data for over seven million gene variants spanning the genome for each study participant. They then conducted a genome-wide gene-environment interaction analysis of the link between red meat intake and cancer risk. Looking at each position in the genome—known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)—they asked whether having a certain gene variant altered the risk of getting colorectal cancer for people who ate more red meat.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">At almost every SNP on the genome, the answer was no. Regardless of what gene variant a person had, their cancer risk based on red meat consumption stayed the same. However, at two specific SNPs, the association changed.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Using a standard statistical analysis approach, the researchers flagged rs4871179 SNP in chromosome 8 near the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">HAS2</em> gene. The gene, which is part of a pathway that codes for protein modification inside cells, has been linked to colorectal cancer in some previous studies but never to red meat consumption.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The analysis showed that people with a common variant of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">HAS2 </em>gene found in 66% of the population faced a 38% higher risk of colorectal cancer if they consumed the highest level of meat. In contrast, people with another, rarer variant of the same gene had no increased risk of cancer when they ate more red meat. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We then used our novel, two-step machine learning approach to first identify patterns among SNPs, red meat consumption and cancer, then focus on the most promising combinations in our gene-environment interaction tests,” Gauderman said.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This method flagged rs35352860 SNP in chromosome 18, part of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">SMAD7</em> gene. <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">SMAD7</em> regulates hepcidin, a protein linked to iron metabolism. Because red and processed meats contain high levels of heme iron, the researchers hypothesize that different variants of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">SMAD7</em> may increase cancer risk by changing the way the body processes iron.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“When hepcidin is dysregulated, that can lead to increased iron absorption and even iron overload inside cells,” Stern said.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">People with two copies of the most common variant of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">SMAD7</em> gene present in about 74% of the population faced an 18% greater risk of colorectal cancer if they ate high levels of red meat. Individuals with only one copy of the most common variant or two copies of a less common variant had substantially higher cancer risk– 35% and 46%, respectively.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These findings suggest that different genetic variants may confer a differing risk of colorectal cancer in individuals who consume red meat, and highlight possible explanations for how the disease develops,” said Joel Sanchez Mendez, a doctoral student in the Keck School of Medicine’s department of population and public health sciences and a co-author of the study.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">More evidence needed</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The findings reveal promising new details about the link between meat consumption and colorectal cancer, but Stern stresses that they do not yet prove a causal link for these genetic variants.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This gives us some important food for thought,” she said. “We do these gene-environment interaction studies when we know there’s a clear association between an environmental exposure and a disease, but what happens in between is still a black box.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Next, she and her colleagues hope to follow up with experimental studies that could provide stronger evidence for the role of dysregulated iron metabolism in the development of colorectal cancer.</p>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-31453620070843606712024-03-14T06:56:00.000-07:002024-03-14T06:56:24.471-07:00Tryptophan in diet, gut bacteria protect against E. coli infection<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-size: 34px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">-</span><span style="color: #333333;"> Gut bacteria and a diet rich in the amino acid tryptophan can play a protective role against pathogenic E. coli, which can cause severe stomach upset, cramps, fever, intestinal bleeding and renal failure, according to </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07179-5" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">a study published March 13 in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nature</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;">.</em></h1></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The research reveals how dietary tryptophan – an amino acid found mostly in animal products, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes – can be broken down by gut bacteria into small molecules called metabolites. It turns out a few of these metabolites can bind to a receptor on gut epithelial (surface) cells, triggering a pathway that ultimately reduces the production of proteins that E. coli use to attach to the gut lining where they cause infection. When E. coli fail to attach and colonize the gut, the pathogen benignly moves through and passes out of the body.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The research describes a previously unknown role in the gut for a receptor, DRD2. DRD2 has otherwise been known as a dopamine (neurotransmitter) receptor in the central and peripheral nervous systems.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It’s actually two completely different areas that this receptor could play a role in, which was not appreciated prior to our findings,” said <a href="https://www.pamchanglab.com/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Pamela Chang</a>, associate professor of immunology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and of chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We essentially think that DRD2 is moonlighting in the gut as a microbial metabolite sensor, and then its downstream effect is to help protect against infection.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Samantha Scott, a postdoctoral researcher in Chang’s lab, is first author of the study, “Dopamine Receptor D2 Confers Colonization Resistance via Microbial Metabolites.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Now that Chang, Scott and colleagues have identified a specific pathway to help prevent E. coli infection, they may now begin studying the DRD2 receptor and components of its downstream pathway for therapeutic targets.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In the study, the researchers used mice infected with Citrobacter rodentium, a bacterium that closely resembles E. coli, since certain pathogenic E. coli don’t infect mice. Through experiments, the researchers identified that there was less pathogen and inflammation (a sign of an active immune system and infection) after mice were fed a tryptophan-supplemented diet. Then, to show that gut bacteria were having an effect, they gave the mice antibiotics to deplete microbes in the gut, and found that the mice were infected by C. rodentium in spite of eating a tryptophan diet, confirming that protection from tryptophan was dependent on the gut bacteria.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Then, using mass spectrometry, they ran a screen to find the chemical identities of tryptophan metabolites in a gut sample, and identified three such metabolites that were significantly increased when given a tryptophan diet. Again, based on pathogen levels and inflammation, when these three metabolites alone were fed to the mice, they had the same protective effect as giving the mice a full tryptophan diet.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Switching gears, the researchers used bioinformatics to find which proteins (and receptors) might bind to the tryptophan metabolites, and from a long list they identified three related receptors within the same family of dopamine receptors. Using a human intestinal cell line in the lab, they were able to isolate receptor DRD2 as the one that had the protective effect against infection in the presence of tryptophan metabolites.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Having identified the metabolites and the receptor, they analyzed the downstream pathway of DRD2 in human gut epithelial cells. Ultimately, they found that when the DRD2 pathway was activated, the host’s ability to produce an actin regulatory protein was compromised. C. rodentium (and E. coli) require actin to attach themselves to gut epithelial cells, where they colonize and inject virulence factors and toxins into the cells that cause symptoms. But without actin polymerization they can’t attach and the pathogen passes through and clears.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The experiments revealed a new role of dopamine receptor DRD2 in the gut that controls actin proteins and affects a previously unknown pathway for preventing a pathogenic bacteria’s ability to colonize the gut. </p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-17621112632694029342024-03-14T06:51:00.000-07:002024-03-14T06:51:04.999-07:00Poor sleep linked to migraine attacks i<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A new study by researchers at the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><a href="https://click.comms.arizona.edu/?qs=7576b2aaf4c40026e5c18eca317331206cb7b83d57db5669cff7398124085fa25c0d7ae832d8ed45c54d0b852317bb0e368616eb33538718" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">University of Arizona Health Sciences</a></span> identified a link between poor sleep and migraine attacks that suggests improving sleep health may diminish migraine attacks in people with migraine.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Many people with migraine report having sleeping disorders, including insomnia, trouble falling or staying asleep, poor sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness, waking up from sleep and being forced to sleep because of a migraine headache. Until now, it was unknown whether migraine causes poor sleep or vice versa.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“It has been recognized for quite a long time that there is a relationship between sleep and migraine,” said principal investigator <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Frank Porreca, PhD</span>, research director for the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><a href="https://click.comms.arizona.edu/?qs=7576b2aaf4c40026dfd693f363a233c06a95efcab4501fe078a41f907418c652f8c4dc01a41ecf5880e6930f741663d85608a6221acd3f7a" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Comprehensive Center for Pain & Addiction</a></span> and professor of pharmacology at the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><a href="https://click.comms.arizona.edu/?qs=7576b2aaf4c400268ebb829d362e44fad6c407af860d159682315c0c4e52730c624d36f55c54e8330b4c249ff651761cfba0714a712cbce2" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson</a></span>. “The way it has been investigated in the past has been through patient-reported information, which is subjective. We quantitatively measured sleep in preclinical models and found that migraine-like pain does not influence sleep, but if you have disrupted sleep, your chances of having a migraine attack if you're a migraine patient are much higher.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Porreca led a research team that used preclinical mouse models to evaluate sleep disruption, as the sleep architecture of mice closely matches that of people, including cycles of deep sleep, REM sleep and light sleep. Sleep was assessed using electroencephalogram recordings and visual observations.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Researchers found that when mice were sleep deprived, they were more likely to experience migraine-like pain, but migraine-like pain did not disrupt normal sleep.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Porreca noted that sleep deprivation can happen for many reasons, including stress. For this study, the research team ensured they were studying the effect of sleep, and not stress, on migraine by giving mice novel objects to explore to keep them awake.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Mice are compelled to explore novel objects. They just have to go and look,” Porreca said. “It reminds me of how teenagers are often sleep deprived because they’re on their phones. Anybody who studies sleep will tell you that from a sleep hygiene point of view, you don’t want any devices in your bedroom where you’re trying to sleep.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />For people with migraine, limiting the use of electronic devices before bedtime and following other sleep health tips could be an easy way to limit the likelihood of migraine attacks.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Early morning is one of the most common times people experience migraine attacks,” Porreca said. “Migraine is highly female prevalent – it’s 3 to 1, women to men – and almost all the women are of childbearing age. Many people with migraine probably have children. They wake up with a migraine attack and are immediately stressed. They don’t have time to take care of themselves, they have to get the kids ready for school and they have to get ready for work. That migraine attack is happening in the worst time of the day for function. Improved sleep is critically important and probably would diminish the frequency of migraine attacks.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The American Migraine Foundation estimates more than 39 million people in the U.S. live with migraine, though that number is probably higher due to the number of people who do not get a diagnosis or treatment.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The paper, “<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><a href="https://click.comms.arizona.edu/?qs=7576b2aaf4c40026782cffa94197b05ecd1fbd6f223be0a15a88dfccaf7e5dccd9b644aadbc4f26f75c12f57bc076e306da4ef5df59d13bb" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Unraveling the directional relationship of sleep and migraine-like pain</a></span>,” was published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Brain Communications.</em></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-20633911512188227592024-03-08T05:59:00.000-08:002024-03-08T05:59:16.736-08:00Poll of older adults suggests some who take it may be following outdated advice<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">One in four older adults take aspirin at least three times a week, mostly in hopes of preventing heart attacks and strokes, a new poll shows.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">But many people aged 50 to 80 who said they take aspirin may not need to, the findings from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging suggest.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In all, 57% of people aged 50 to 80 who say they take aspirin regularly also said they don’t have a history of cardiovascular disease. Such people should have a conversation with their health care provider about what’s best for them before stopping or starting aspirin use.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">National guidelines have changed in recent years for using aspirin for prevention, because of new knowledge about who actually gets the most benefit from its ability to reduce the risk of blood clots, and who faces a risk of bleeding.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Now, guidelines mostly focus on aspirin use in those who already have cardiovascular disease – including those who have survived a heart attack or stroke – and those who face a high risk of it because of their personal health and family history.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll shows 14% of all adults age 50 to 80 are taking aspirin even though they have no history of cardiovascular issues.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Whether or not someone has a cardiovascular history, aspirin does pose a bleeding risk that increases with age. That has led to guidelines that advise against routine aspirin use after age 70, or suggest that it may be reasonable to consider stopping around age 75, in those without cardiovascular disease.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll finds 42% of all adults age 75 to 80 are taking aspirin. Meanwhile, 31% of all older adults age 50 to 80 who take aspirin don’t appear to know about the bleeding risk associated with it.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll is based at the <a href="https://ihpi.umich.edu/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation</a> and supported by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center. The poll team asked a national sample of adults aged 50 to 80 about their health history and use of aspirin; those who take it were also asked about why.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Aspirin is no longer a one-size-fits-all preventive tool for older adults, which for decades it was touted as,” says <a href="https://ihpi.umich.edu/our-experts/jschaef" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Jordan Schaefer, M.D., M.Sc.,</a> a hematologist at Michigan Medicine who worked with the poll team. “This poll shows we have a long way to go to make sure aspirin use is consistent with current knowledge.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Adds <a href="https://ihpi.umich.edu/our-experts/gbarnes" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Geoffrey Barnes, M.D., M.Sc.,</a> a Michigan Medicine cardiologist who also worked on the poll, “As guidelines change, it’s important for everyone over 40 to talk with their health care provider about their individual cardiovascular risk based on their family history, past health issues, current medications, recent test results like blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and lifestyle factors like smoking, physical activity and eating habits. Preventive aspirin use should be based on age plus these factors.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Updated knowledge and guidance</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In all, the poll finds 71% of older adults who take aspirin started four or more years ago, which could mean that they and their health care provider may be basing their use on old advice.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Schaefer and Barnes note that because of continuing research on aspirin, two major guidelines changed in recent years for older adults who don’t have a history of cardiovascular disease. In such people, taking aspirin is called primary prevention.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association together say that daily low dose aspirin use might be considered for the prevention of cardiovascular disease for select adults 40 to 70 of age who are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but not bleeding,<u style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </u>based on a guideline updated in 2019. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises the federal government <a href="https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/aspirin-to-prevent-cardiovascular-disease-preventive-medication" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">updated its guideline in 2022</a>, and recommends against initiating aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults 60 years or older.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The <a href="https://professional.heart.org/en/guidelines-and-statements/prevent-calculator" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">AHA</a> and <a href="https://tools.acc.org/ldl/ascvd_risk_estimator/index.html#!/content/about/about-index" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">ACC</a> offer online calculators to help clinicians estimate a person’s 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease if they don’t already have it. Adults age 40-70 at higher cardiovascular disease risk may be good candidates for aspirin as primary prevention but should always talk with a health care provider before starting to take it.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Meanwhile, for people who have already had a heart attack, some types of stroke or other cardiovascular diagnoses, the use of aspirin is still generally recommended unless the person is unable to tolerate it or has an unacceptable bleeding risk. This is called secondary prevention and should be done only under the supervision of a health care provider.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">More dialogue needed</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll shows the importance of open communication between health care providers and their older patients about all types of medication and supplements, including those like aspirin that are available ‘over the counter’ without a prescription.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll finds that 96% of those who take aspirin and have a cardiovascular history said their health care provider had recommended it. But 77% of those who take aspirin and have no cardiovascular history said the same – suggesting a need for a discussion about updated guidelines. Also among those who take aspirin but have no cardiovascular disease history, 20% said they started doing it on their own and 5% said friends and family had advised them.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Thanks to updated knowledge, and reductions in other major risk factors such as smoking, we can use aspirin more precisely, focusing on those who need this inexpensive and easy-to-obtain preventive medication most and avoiding unnecessary risks for others,” said poll director <a href="https://ihpi.umich.edu/our-experts/jkullgre" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.</a> “These poll findings should spur more conversations between health care providers and patients about what’s right for them.” Kullgren is a primary care physician at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and associate professor of internal medicine at U-M.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The poll report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for IHPI and administered online and via phone in July and August 2023 among 2,657 adults aged 50 to 80, with an oversample of non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic populations. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect the U.S. population. <a href="https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/reports-more" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Read past National Poll on Healthy Aging reports</a> and <a href="https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/survey-methods" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">about the poll methodology</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-6506784636068169892024-03-07T04:27:00.000-08:002024-03-07T04:27:34.944-08:00How does wearing makeup affect skin during exercise?<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #333333;">New research published in the</span><span style="color: #333333;"> </span><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14732165" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology</em></a><span style="color: #333333;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">reveals the effects of wearing cosmetic foundation during aerobic exercise on the skin and its pores.</span></span></h1></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study included 43 healthy college students (20 males and 23 females). Foundation cream was applied to participants on half of the face in two different areas (forehead and upper cheek). The other half of the face served as control.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Moisture increased after exercise in both the non-makeup and makeup zones; however, there was a greater increase in moisture in the makeup zones. This may be a result of makeup preventing moisture from evaporating from the skin. Elasticity of the skin increased after exercise, but to a greater extent in the makeup zones than in non-makeup zones.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The size of pores increased in skin without makeup after exercise, but not significantly in skin with makeup. This may indicate that wearing makeup may block pores. Oil level increased in the non-makeup zones and decreased in the makeup zones, suggesting that it may be difficult to maintain proper oil levels on the skin when wearing makeup.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“For skin health, it’s best to exercise with your makeup removed,” said corresponding author Dongsun Park, PhD, of the Korea National University of Education.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">URL upon publication: </span><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.16205?utm_medium=email&utm_source=publicity&utm_campaign=publicity&utm_content=WRH_3_4_24&utm_term=JOCD" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.16205</span></a></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-32713022130068758372024-03-06T07:46:00.000-08:002024-03-06T07:46:44.635-08:00 Too little sleep raises risk of type 2 diabetes<p> <br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1017738" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Christian Benedict, Associate Professor and sleep researcher at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University and leading researcher behind the study." src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/09abc530-8531-406b-b80d-cbfd45983836/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">CHRISTIAN BENEDICT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND SLEEP RESEARCHER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL BIOSCIENCES AT UPPSALA UNIVERSITY AND LEADING RESEARCHER BEHIND THE STUDY.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">PHOTOGRAPER, TOBIAS STERNER</p></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1017738" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: TOBIAS STERNER</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Adults who sleep only three to five hours a day are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This is demonstrated in a new study from Uppsala University, published in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Network Open</em>. It also shows that chronic sleep deprivation cannot be compensated by healthy eating alone.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“I generally recommend prioritising sleep, although I understand it’s not always possible, especially as a parent of four teenagers,” says Christian Benedict, Associate Professor and sleep researcher at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University and leading researcher behind the study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">He and a team of researchers have examined the link between type 2 diabetes and sleep deprivation. Type 2 diabetes affects the body’s ability to process sugar (glucose), hindering insulin absorption and resulting in high blood sugar levels. A report from 2020 showed that over 462 million people suffer from this disease. Over time, it can cause serious damage, particularly to nerves and blood vessels, and thus represents an escalating public health problem globally. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Previous research has shown that repeated short daily rest increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, while healthy dietary habits such as regularly eating fruit and vegetables can reduce the risk. However, it has remained unclear whether people who sleep too little can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by eating healthily,” notes Diana Noga, a sleep researcher at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences at Uppsala University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers therefore used data from one of the largest population databases in the world, the UK Biobank, in which nearly half a million participants from the UK have been genetically mapped and responded to questions on health and lifestyle. They followed the participants for over ten years and found that a sleep duration of between three and five hours was linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In contrast, healthy eating habits led to a lower risk of developing the disease, but even people who ate healthily but slept less than six hours a day were still at higher risk of type 2 diabetes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our results are the first to question whether a healthy diet can compensate for lack of sleep in terms of the risk of type 2 diabetes. They should not cause concern, but instead be seen as a reminder that sleep plays an important role in health,” explains Benedict.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">He also argues that the effects of sleep deprivation vary between individuals, depending on aspects such as genetics and a person’s actual need for sleep.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-89467013586855739472024-03-06T07:43:00.000-08:002024-03-06T07:43:42.650-08:00Commercially available fruit snacks<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.34px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 25px 0px 0px;">While eating a piece of fresh fruit is undoubtedly the healthiest option, 80% of the U.S. population does not consume the daily amount of fruit servings (five) recommended by federal dietary guidelines. So, one strategy for consumers to increase fruit in their diet is to choose nutrient-dense fruit snacks. </h1><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1017987" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Sensory scientist" src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/186cddd2-29eb-42af-8c3e-839113f44ed1/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">ALISSA NOLDEN IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FOOD SCIENCE AT UMASS AMHERST. </span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1017987" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: UMASS AMHERST</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Next time you’re packing lunch for your kid or reaching for a healthy afternoon bite, consider this: only three types of fruit snacks – dried fruit, fruit puree and canned fruit with juice – meet the latest recommendations for high-nutrition snacks set by federal dietary guidelines, according to research by University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientists.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Of all the commercially available fruit snacks, defined by the USDA as “products made with fruit and fruit juices, which may or may not contain added sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives,” the UMass Amherst team found that dried fruit has the best overall nutritional profile – the highest nutrient density and fiber content, and the lowest added sugar. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Conversely, fruit-flavored snacks such as gummies have the lowest nutrient density and fiber content and the highest amount of added sugar. Other fruit snack options with low nutrient density include canned fruit packed in something other than juice, and dried flavored fruit, both of which contain higher amounts of added sugar. The food comparison study, led by food scientists <a href="https://www.umass.edu/food-science/faculty/amanda-kinchla" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Amanda Kinchla</a>, extension professor, and <a href="https://www.umass.edu/food-science/faculty/alissa-nolden" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Alissa Nolden</a>, assistant professor, was published recently in the journal <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38257185/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Nutrients</a></em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It’s not fresh fruit but the snacking products that people are more customarily consuming,” Kinchla says. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers decided to investigate which fruit snacks are the most nutritious – the first time this type of study was undertaken. They collected and analyzed nutritional content for 1,497 fruit snacks, using the <a href="https://www.mintel.com/products/gnpd/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Mintel Global New Products Database</a>, accessed through <a href="https://www.umass.edu/gateway/academics/university-libraries" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">UMass Libraries</a>. For their study, the team defined fruit snacks as “non-frozen, non-beverage food products mainly made with fruit ingredients.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">They used the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) Index, which calculates an overall nutrition quality score based on the nutrient profile of foods, to compare the healthfulness of fruit snacks. This model considers nutrients that are desirable – protein, dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin D, calcium, iron – as well as those that are recommended to be limited in the diet – saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar and sodium – to assess the overall nutrient quality of each fruit snack.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We were trying to connect the dots between all the nutrients, which is the advantage of the NRF – to be able to look at multiple nutrients at the same time,” Nolden says. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team classified the fruit snacks into nine different categories: dried fruit, fruit-based bar, dried flavored fruit, canned fruit, fruit-flavored snack, fruit puree, fruit chips, formed fruit and canned fruit with juice.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In addition, they looked not only at the nutritional value per serving size but also calculated added sugar and fiber content based on the FDA’s Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC) per eating occasion to balance the serving variability among different fruit snack categories.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Their goal was to determine the healthfulness of fruit snacks and see where improvements could be made. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“With Alissa’s consumer insight and understanding of perceptions and sensory analysis, we can try to understand consumers’ acceptance and limitations and then design foods that would better cater to that, so that we can then bolster health and wellness platforms,” Kinchla says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The paper concludes, “Reformulation of fruit snacks is needed… Formed fruit and fruit-based bars could be lower in added sugar to become a more nutritious fruit snack option. Canned fruit [with added sugar] and fruit-flavored snacks need more reformulation, as they are low in nutrient density and fiber content and high in added sugar. Improving the nutritional quality of fruit snacks can facilitate smart snacking choices.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px; text-align: justify;">“Future direction for the fruit snack category should consider decreasing added sugar content, increasing fiber content and enhancing sensory profile to improve the overall nutrient density.”</p><div><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-34500982878556263432024-03-06T06:45:00.000-08:002024-03-06T06:45:01.367-08:00Even low levels of leisure time physical activity help to lower stroke risk<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Even people whose physical activity levels fall short of recommended guidelines, but who manage to do some during their leisure time, are likely to have a lower risk of stroke than their sedentary peers, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.</em></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The effects are independent of age and sex, the findings show, prompting the authors to suggest that everyone should be encouraged to do whatever level of physical activity they can manage in their leisure time.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">There’s no doubt that moderate to high levels of leisure-time physical activity curb stroke risk. But it’s not clear if even modest amounts confer protection, and if any such effects depend on age and sex, explain the authors.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">While international guidelines recommend 150 minutes or more a week of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 minutes or more of vigorous intensity activity to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke, not many adults achieve this, say the researchers.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To find out if lower levels of physical activity might still confer protection, the authors trawled research databases for relevant studies. They pooled the results of 15, involving 752,050 adults whose health had been monitored for an average of 10.5 years. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Each study assessed the potential impact of between 3—none, below target, and ideal—and 5—none, insufficient, low, moderate and intense— levels of leisure time physical activity on stroke risk.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The pooled data analysis of 5 studies assessing 3 levels of leisure time physical activity showed that, compared with no physical activity, the highest ‘ideal’ amount cut the risk of stroke by 29%, but that some ‘below target’ activity still reduced the risk by 18%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Similar findings emerged for the pooled data analysis of the six studies reporting on 4, and the two reporting on 5 levels of leisure time physical activity. Compared with none, a moderate level of physical activity cut the risk of stroke by between 27% and 29%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">These effects were independent of sex and age, the analysis showed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors acknowledge several limitations to their findings, chief among which were the variable definitions of different levels of activity used in the included studies and the reliance on subjectively assessed levels of physical activity.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Nevertheless, the authors conclude that recreational physical activity, even in small amounts could help ward off stroke in the long term.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“According to our results, all levels of [leisure time physical activity] can be beneficial for stroke prevention, including levels currently regarded as low or insufficient,” they write. “People should be encouraged to be physically active even at the lowest levels.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-69449483848244373022024-03-06T06:43:00.000-08:002024-03-06T06:43:27.704-08:00Daily step count of 9,000 to 10,000 may counteract risk of death and cardiovascular disease in highly sedentary people<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">In good news for office workers, a new study from the University of Sydney’s</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/charles-perkins-centre/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Charles Perkins Centre</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> (Australia) has found increasing your step count may counteract the health consequences of too much sedentary time each day.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study of over 72,000 people, published in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">British Journal of Sports Medicine</em>, found every additional step up to around 10,000 steps a day was linked to reduced risk of death (39 percent) and cardiovascular disease (21 percent) regardless of how much remaining time was spent sedentary.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Previous studies have shown an association between greater daily step count and lower levels of death and CVD, and separate studies have linked high levels of sedentary behaviour with increased risks of CVD and death. However, this is the first to objectively measure, via wrist-worn wearables, if daily steps could offset the health risks of high sedentary behaviour.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Lead author and research fellow, Dr <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/matthew-ahmadi.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Matthew Ahmadi</a> said: “This is by no means a get out of jail card for people who are sedentary for excessive periods of time, however, it does hold an important public health message that all movement matters and that people can and should try to offset the health consequences of unavoidable sedentary time by upping their daily step count.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Senior author Professor <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/about/our-people/academic-staff/emmanuel-stamatakis.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Emmanuel Stamatakis</a>, Director of the<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </em><a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/charles-perkins-centre/our-research/initiatives/mackenzie-wearables-research-hub.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub at the Charles Perkins Centre</a>, said this growing body of physical activity research using device-based measurement provided huge opportunities for public health.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Step count is a tangible and easily understood measure of physical activity that can help people in the community, and indeed health professionals, accurately monitor physical activity. We hope this evidence will inform the first generation of device-based physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines, which should include key recommendations on daily stepping,” said Professor Stamatakis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">How was the study conducted?</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers used data on 72,174 individuals (average age 61; 58% female) from the UK Biobank study - a major biomedical database - who had worn an accelerometer device on their wrist for seven days to measure their physical activity. The accelerometer data were used to estimate daily step count and time spent sedentary, that is sitting or lying down while awake.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The research team then followed the health trajectory of the participants by linking hospitalisation data and death records.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The median daily step count for participants was 6222 steps/day, and 2200 steps/day (the lowest 5 percent of daily steps among all participants) was taken as the comparator for assessing the impact on death and CVD events of increasing step count.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The median time spent sedentary was 10.6 hours/day, so study participants sedentary for 10.5 hours/day or more were considered to have high sedentary time while those who spent less than 10.5 hours/day sedentary were classified as low sedentary time.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Adjustments were made to eliminate biases, such as excluding participants with poor health, who were underweight or had a health event within two years of follow-up. Researchers also took into account factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, education, smoking status, alcohol consumption, diet and parental history of CVD and cancer.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">What did they find?</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Over an average 6.9 years follow up, 1633 deaths and 6190 CVD events occurred.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">After taking account of other potential influences, the authors calculated that the optimal number of steps per day to counteract high sedentary time was between 9000 to 10000 steps/day, which lowered mortality risk by 39 percent and incident CVD risk by 21 percent.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In both cases, 50 percent of the benefit was achieved at between 4000 and 4500 steps a day.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Study limitations</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">This is an observational study so can’t establish direct cause and effect. And although the large sample size and long follow-up allowed the risk of bias to be reduced, the authors acknowledge the possibility that other unmeasured factors could affect results. As steps and sedentary time were obtained in a single time point, this could also lead to bias, they add.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Nevertheless, they conclude, “Any amount of daily steps above the referent 2200 steps/day was associated with lower mortality and incident CVD risk, for low and high sedentary time. Accruing between 9000 and 10,000 steps a day optimally lowered the risk of mortality and incident CVD among highly sedentary participants.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-20897563179755766302024-03-05T05:35:00.000-08:002024-03-05T05:35:50.668-08:00Sweetened drinks linked to atrial fibrillation risk<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><p class="subtitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Drinking sugar- or artificially sweetened beverages was associated with increased risk of irregular heart rhythms, finds a study in Circulation: Arrhythmia and ElectrophysiologyResearch Highlights:</p></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">An analysis of health data in the UK Biobank found a 20% higher risk of irregular heart rhythm, known as atrial fibrillation, among people who said they drank two liters or more per week (about 67 ounces) of artificially sweetened drinks. The risk was 10% higher among people who said they drank similar amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Drinking one liter (about 34 ounces) or less of pure juice per week, such as 100% orange or vegetable juice, was associated with an 8% lower risk of atrial fibrillation.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The observational study could not confirm that sweetened drinks cause irregular heart rhythms.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Adults who reported drinking two liters (about 67 ounces) or more of sugar- or artificially sweetened drinks per week had a higher risk of an irregular heart rhythm known as <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">atrial fibrillation</a> compared with adults who drank fewer such beverages, according to new research published today in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology</span></em>, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study also found that drinking one liter (about 34 ounces) or less per week of pure, unsweetened juice, such as orange or vegetable juice, was associated with a lower risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib). However, the study could not confirm whether the sweetened drinks caused AFib, yet the association remained after accounting for a person’s genetic susceptibility to the condition.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Consuming sweetened drinks has been linked to Type 2 diabetes and obesity in previous research. This large study of health data in the UK Biobank is among the first to assess a possible link between sugar- or artificially sweetened beverages and AFib. Atrial fibrillation is a condition in which the heart beats irregularly, increasing the risk of stroke by five-fold. More than 12 million people are expected to have AFib by 2030, according to the American Heart Association’s <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001209" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our study's findings cannot definitively conclude that one beverage poses more health risk than another due to the complexity of our diets and because some people may drink more than one type of beverage,” said lead study author Ningjian Wang, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at the Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China. “However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible. Do not take it for granted that drinking low-sugar and low-calorie artificially sweetened beverages is healthy, it may pose potential health risks.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers reviewed data from dietary questionnaires and genetic data for more than 200,000 adults free of AFib at the time they enrolled in the UK Biobank, between 2006 and 2010. During the nearly 10-year follow-up period, there were 9,362 cases of AFib among the study participants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The analysis found:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Compared to people who did not consume any sweetened drinks, there was a 20% increased risk of atrial fibrillation among people who said they drank more than 2 liters per week (about 67 ounces or more, or roughly one 12-ounce drink 6 days a week) of artificially sweetened beverages; and a 10% increased risk among participants who reported drinking 2 liters per week or more of sugar-sweetened beverages.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">People who said they drank 1 liter (about 34 ounces) or less of pure fruit juice each week had an 8% lower risk of atrial fibrillation.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Participants who consumed more artificially sweetened beverages were more likely to be female, younger, have a higher body mass index and a higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Participants who consumed more sugar-sweetened beverages were more likely to be male, younger, have a higher body mass index, a higher prevalence of heart disease and lower socioeconomic status.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Those who drank sugar-sweetened beverages and pure juice were more likely to have a higher intake of total sugar than those who drank artificially sweetened drinks.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Smoking may have also affected risk, with smokers who drank more than two liters per week of sugar-sweetened beverages having a 31% higher risk of AFib, whereas no significant increase risk was noted for former smokers or people who never smoked.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These novel findings on the relationships among atrial fibrillation risk and sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages and pure juice may prompt the development of new prevention strategies by considering decreasing sweetened drinks to help improve heart health,” Wang said.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers also evaluated whether a genetic susceptibility to AFib was a factor in the association with sweetened beverages. The analysis found the AFib risk was high with the consumption of more than 2 liters of artificially sweetened drinks per week regardless of genetic susceptibility.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Although the mechanisms linking sweetened beverages and atrial fibrillation risk are still unclear, there are several possible explanations, including insulin resistance and the body’s response to different sweeteners,” Wang said. “Artificial sweeteners in food and beverages mainly include sucralose, aspartame, saccharin and acesulfame.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">A <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000569" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">2018 science advisory from the American Heart Association</a> noted that there is a scarcity of large, long-term, randomized trials on the efficacy and safety of artificial sweeteners. The writing group advised against prolonged consumption of low-calorie sweetened beverages by children; however, they noted artificially sweetened drinks may be a useful replacement strategy to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among adults who habitually drink a high number of sugar-sweetened drinks.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">American Heart Association nutrition committee member Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., FAHA, said these findings on artificially sweetened beverages are surprising “given that two liters of artificially sweetened beverages a week is equivalent to about one 12-ounce diet soda a day.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Kris-Etherton, an emeritus professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State University, was a co-author of the association’s science advisory on artificial sweeteners.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This is the first study to report an association between no- and low-calorie sweeteners and also sugar-sweetened beverages and increased risk of atrial fibrillation,” she said. “While there is robust evidence about the adverse effects of sugar-sweetened beverages and cardiovascular disease risk, there is less evidence about adverse health consequences of artificial sweeteners.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We still need more research on these beverages to confirm these findings and to fully understand all the health consequences on heart disease and other health conditions. In the meantime, water is the best choice, and, based on this study, no- and low-calorie sweetened beverages should be limited or avoided.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The American Heart Association’s <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000462" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">2016 dietary guidelines</a> align with the U.S.D.A.’s 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in suggesting sugar-sweetened beverage consumption be minimized; they also note there is unclear evidence of the role of no- and low-calorie sweeteners on many health outcomes. The American Heart Association recommends limited intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, such as such as soft drinks, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened teas and coffee drinks. Healthy beverage options noted are water and fat-free or low-fat milk, while unsweetened fresh, frozen or packaged fruit juice is recommended instead of fruit juice with added sugar. A half cup of pure juice (such as orange juice or grapefruit juice) is recognized as one fruit serving.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Study background and details:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The UK Biobank is a large, biomedical database with health records for about 500,000 adults — enrolled from 2006 until 2010 — who lived in the U.K. and received health care through the U.K.’s National Health Service.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Data was reviewed for 201,856 participants of the U.K. Biobank, ranging in age from 37 to 73 years old, and 45% were male.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Participants were followed for an average of nearly 10 years.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Blood samples were collected to measure genetic risk for AFib, and participants answered more than one 24-hour questionnaire about their diet on five repeated occasions between April 2009 and June 2012.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The limitations of this study include that the findings were observational and cannot prove causation between consumption of certain types of beverages and AFib risk. In addition, the findings relied on participants to recall their own diets, so there may have been memory errors or bias. It is also unknown if the sugar- and artificially sweetened drinks contained caffeine.</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-52754662170365352392024-03-02T06:30:00.000-08:002024-03-02T06:30:26.773-08:00 Latest booster reduces adults’ risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The most recent COVID-19 booster shot reduces adults’ risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half, according to a new nationwide data study from September 2023 through January 2024, a period of JN.1 variant dominance.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The new study is one of the first to evaluate protection provided by the updated shot against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits (markers for moderate disease) and against hospitalizations (a marker for severe disease), in individuals 18 and older, due to JN.1, the most recently predominant strain of COVID.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Halving your risk of needing to visit an E.D. or urgent care center or to be treated in the hospital for COVID is significant,” said study co-author Shaun Grannis, M.D., M.S., Regenstrief Institute vice president for data and analytics and a professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. “As an informatician I want to highlight that the data we analyzed came from different populations and geographic locations, adults of all ages and the most recent COVID strain. This analysis strongly supports the benefit of getting a booster shot and as a clinician, I encourage my patients to do so.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“These are encouraging findings,” said study co-author Brian Dixon, PhD, MPA, interim director of Regenstrief Institute’s Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics and professor at Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. “These estimates of vaccine effectiveness are what we would expect for an annual booster designed for an endemic virus that continues to evolve. We looked at a longer time period than similar studies in Europe, and we found good performance. Yet we do need to be alert to the presumed waning of the updated booster’s effectiveness, which we have seen in earlier COVID-19 vaccines. Americans should expect the CDC to recommend future boosters, likely on an annual schedule.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">These findings of protection against moderate and severe disease provided by the booster in this large study are consistent with those of an earlier, small scale study of individuals seen for testing at a pharmacy. That study did not include hospitalized patients.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors of the new study, co-authored by Drs. Grannis and Dixon, concluded, “In this analysis of updated COVID-19 VE [vaccine effectiveness], receipt of an updated COVID-19 vaccine dose provided protection against COVID-19-associated ED/UC [emergency department/critical care] visits and hospitalizations among immunocompetent adults. CDC will continue monitoring VE of updated COVID-19 vaccines. All adults should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccines, including receiving a dose of updated vaccine.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-86872674424975356072024-03-01T05:39:00.000-08:002024-03-01T05:39:39.895-08:00Refrigerate lettuce to reduce risk of E. coli contamination<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> Leafy green vegetables are important sources of dietary fiber and nutrients, but they can harbor harmful pathogens. In particular, lettuce has often been involved in outbreaks of foodborne illness across the U.S. A</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0740002023002198" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">new study</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">from the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://illinois.edu/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">examines factors that affect</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">E. coli</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">contamination on five different leafy greens – romaine lettuce, green-leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, and collards. </span></p><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We are seeing a lot of outbreaks on lettuce, but not so much on kale and other brassica vegetables. We wanted to learn more about the susceptibility of different leafy greens,” said lead author <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mengyidong/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Mengyi Dong</a>, now a postdoctoral research associate at Duke University. Dong conducted the research as a doctoral student in the <a href="https://fshn.illinois.edu/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition</a> (FSHN), part of the <a href="https://aces.illinois.edu/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences</a> (ACES) at the U. of I.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers infected whole leaves from each of the five vegetables with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli </em>O157:H7 and observed what happened after storage at 4° C (39° F), 20° C (68° F), and 37° C (98.6° F). Overall, they found that susceptibility was determined by a combination of temperature and leaf surface properties such as roughness and the natural wax coating.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“At room temperature or higher, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> grows very fast on lettuce, but if lettuce is refrigerated at 4° C (39° F), we see a sharp decline in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> population. However, for waxy greens like kale and collard, we get the opposite results. On these vegetables, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> grows slower under warmer temperatures, but if it is already present, it can survive longer under refrigeration.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Even so, kale and collard are overall less susceptible to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> contamination than lettuce. Furthermore, these vegetables are usually cooked – which kills or inactivates <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> – while lettuce is consumed raw. Rinsing lettuce does help, Dong said, but doesn’t remove all the bacteria because of their tight attachment to the leaf. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers also inoculated cut leaves with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli</em> O157:H7 to compare the intact surface of a whole leaf to the damaged surface of a cut leaf.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Whole leaves and freshly cut leaves present different situations. When the leaf is cut, it releases vegetable juice, which contains nutrients that stimulate bacterial growth,” Dong explained. However, the researchers found that spinach, kale, and collard juice actually exhibited antimicrobial properties that protect against <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">E. coli.</em></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">To further explore these findings, they isolated juice (lysate) from kale and collards and applied the liquid to lettuce leaves, finding that it can be used as a natural antimicrobial agent. The potential applications could include antimicrobial spray or coating to control foodborne pathogen contaminations at both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, the researchers said.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We can’t completely avoid pathogens in food. Vegetables are grown in soil, not in a sterile environment, and they will be exposed to bacteria,” said co-author Pratik Banerjee, associate professor in FSHN and <a href="https://extension.illinois.edu/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Illinois Extension</a> specialist.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It’s a complex problem to solve, but we can embrace best practices in the food industry and food supply chain. There's a lot of interest from the research community and federal agencies to address these issues, and the USDA imposes high standards for food production, so overall the U.S. food supply is quite safe.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Banerjee and Dong emphasize they do not want to discourage people from eating fresh fruit and vegetables; they are part of a healthy diet. Just follow food safety guidelines, wash your lettuce thoroughly, store it in the refrigerator, and pay attention to any food safety recalls in your area, they conclude.</p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-55022016023905993972024-03-01T05:37:00.000-08:002024-03-01T05:37:13.687-08:00Loneliness increases the risk of health deterioration in older adults<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The loneliness often experienced by older people in our society has a negative effect on their physical health, according to researchers from Amsterdam UMC and the University of Glasgow. Emiel Hoogendijk, epidemiologist at Amsterdam Public Health, analysed research results from more than 130 studies and found that loneliness led to an increase in physical frailty, which in turn increases the risk of adverse health outcomes such as depression, falls and cognitive decline. These results are published today in The Lancet Healthy Longevity. </span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"Recently, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is more attention for the potential harmful effects of loneliness and social isolation on the health of older people. We wanted to see how far these effects went and saw that all kinds of reduced social functioning, such as loneliness, social isolation and lack of social support, were associated with physical decline in older adults," says Hoogendijk. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Led by Peter Hanlon, clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow, along with researchers from Amsterdam UMC, Canada, Australia and Sweden, researchers analysed the relationship between social functioning and physical frailty in older adults. "Frailty refers to a lot of different forms of physical deterioration, such as weight loss, reduced walking speed and decrease in muscle strength. These can all then have an effect on, for example, how likely you are to fall," says Hanlon. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Previous research has already indicated that frailty can lead to a decrease in social contact, "In some cases, physical vulnerability can also cause people to lose social contacts or become lonelier, for example because they become less mobile," says Hoogendijk. This research shows that this relationship can also be reversed, with a decrease in social contact leading to frailty. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Impaired social functioning can have harmful effects on health, with the US Surgeon General claiming last year that loneliness is just as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. "We know that people with feelings of loneliness or with a lack of social contacts have a higher risk of, amongst others, depression and various chronic diseases. For example, a lack of social contact can have a direct effect on the immune system, but it can also have an indirect effect on health, for example through an unhealthier lifestyle. We want to do more research into this in the coming period," says Hoogendijk. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Impaired social and physical functioning often occur at the same time. "Older people who are physically vulnerable often also have to deal with a decline in both social and mental functioning. As we are caring for older adults, we need to pay attention to all of these aspects," says Hanlon. He concludes: "Loneliness, for example, is not an easy problem to solve. However, there is more and more knowledge available about possible effective interventions, including activities that support older people to increase their social connections." </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-89421360935576231122024-02-29T06:25:00.000-08:002024-02-29T06:25:40.314-08:00Cannabis use linked to increase in heart attack and stroke risk<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Research Highlights:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">An analysis of survey data for 430,000 adults in the U.S. found that using cannabis has a significant association with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, independent of tobacco use, with higher odds among the adults with more frequent use (more days of use per month). The most common method of cannabis use was smoking, followed by eating or vaporizing it.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The increase in the combined risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke was similar to the risk among the subset of adults who had never used e-cigarettes but did use cannabis.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">An analysis of 430,000 adults in the U.S. found that using cannabis, most commonly through smoking, eating or vaporizing it, was significantly associated with a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, even after controlling for tobacco use (combustible cigarettes and other tobacco products) and other cardiovascular risk factors, according to new research published today in the<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/journal/jaha" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Journal of the American Heart Association</span></a></em>, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Although cannabis, or marijuana, is illegal at the federal level, 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the use of recreational cannabis. Additionally, the number of people in the U.S. who use cannabis has increased significantly in recent decades, according to the <a href="https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt29393/2019NSDUHFFRPDFWHTML/2019NSDUHFFR1PDFW090120.pdf" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health</a> from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The annual survey found that in 2019, 48.2 million people ages 12 or older reported using cannabis at least once, compared to 25.8 million people ages 12 or older in 2002, an increase to 17% from 11%.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Despite common use, little is known about the risks of cannabis use and, in particular, the cardiovascular disease risks,” said lead study author Abra Jeffers, Ph.D., a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The perceptions of the harmfulness of smoking cannabis are decreasing, and people have not considered cannabis use dangerous to their health. However, previous research suggested that cannabis could be associated with cardiovascular disease. In addition, smoking cannabis—the predominant method of use—may pose additional risks because particulate matter is inhaled.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In this study, researchers reviewed survey data collected for 430,000 adults from 2016 through 2020 to examine the association between cannabis use and adverse cardiovascular outcomes including heart disease, heart attack and stroke. The survey data was collected through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national, cross-sectional survey performed annually by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The researchers specifically investigated whether cannabis use was associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes among the general adult population, among people who had never smoked tobacco or used e-cigarettes, and among younger adults (defined as men under age 55 and women under age 65) at risk for heart disease. They also factored in the number of days per month that people used cannabis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The analyses of found:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Any cannabis use (smoked, eaten or vaporized) was independently associated with a higher number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes (coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction and stroke) and with more frequent use (more days per month), the odds of adverse outcomes were even higher. The results were similar after controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors, including tobacco and/or e-cigarette use, alcohol consumption, body mass index, Type 2 diabetes and physical activity.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Both daily and non-daily cannabis users had an increased risk of heart attack compared to non-users; daily cannabis users had 25% higher odds of heart attack compared to non-users.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">The odds of stroke for daily cannabis users were 42% higher compared to non-users, with lower risk among those who used cannabis less than daily.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Among younger adults at risk for premature cardiovascular disease (defined as men younger than 55 years old and women younger than 65 years old) cannabis use was significantly associated with 36% higher combined odds of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke, regardless of whether or not they also used traditional tobacco products. A separate analysis of a smaller subgroup of these adults who had never smoked tobacco cigarettes or used nicotine e-cigarettes also found a significant association between cannabis use and an increase in the combined odds of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our sample was large enough that we could investigate the association of cannabis use with cardiovascular outcomes among adults who had never used tobacco cigarettes or e-cigarettes,” Jeffers said. “Cannabis smoke is not all that different from tobacco smoke, except for the psychoactive drug: THC vs. nicotine. Our study shows that smoking cannabis has significant cardiovascular risk risks, just like smoking tobacco. This is particularly important because cannabis use is increasing, and conventional tobacco use is decreasing.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Study background and details:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Survey participants were ages 18-74, with an average age of 45 years.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">About half of the participants self-identified as female. 60.2% self-identified as white adults, 11.6 self-identified as Black adults, 19.3 self-identified as Hispanic adults and 8.9% self-identified as other.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nearly 90% of adults did not use cannabis at all; 7% used it less than daily; and 4% were daily users. Among current cannabis users, 73.8% reported smoking as the most common form of cannabis consumption. More than 60% of total respondents had never used tobacco cigarettes; 28.6% of daily cannabis users had never used tobacco cigarettes; 44.6% of non-daily cannabis users had never used tobacco cigarettes and 63.9% of participants who did not use cannabis had never used tobacco cigarettes.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study had several limitations, including that cardiovascular conditions and cannabis use were self-reported, making them potentially subject to recall bias (potential errors in memory); that the authors did not have health data measuring participants’ baseline lipid profile or blood pressure; and the study captured data for only a single point in time for the participants. The authors note that there is a need for prospective cohort studies – studies that follow groups of individuals over time – to examine the association of cannabis use and cardiovascular outcomes while accounting for frequency of cannabis use.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The findings of this study have very important implications for population health and should be a call to action for all practitioners, as this study adds to the growing literature that cannabis use and cardiovascular disease may be a potentially hazardous combination,” said Robert L. Page II, Pharm.D., M.S.P.H., FAHA, chair of the volunteer writing group for the 2020 <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000883" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">American Heart Association Scientific Statement: Medical Marijuana, Recreational Cannabis, and Cardiovascular Health</a>. Page is professor of clinical pharmacy, medicine and physical medicine at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado. Page was not involved in this study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“In the overall population, the study findings are consistent with other studies indicating that daily cannabis use was associated with an increase in heart attack, stroke and the combined endpoint of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke,” he said. “As cannabis use continues to grow in legality and access across the U.S., practitioners and clinicians need to remember to assess cannabis use at each patient encounter in order to have a non-judgmental, shared decision conversation about potential cardiovascular risks and ways to reduce those risks.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the manuscript.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Studies published in the American Heart Association’s scientific journals are peer-reviewed. The statements and conclusions in each manuscript are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers and the Association’s overall financial information are available <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/about-us/aha-financial-information" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">here</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Additional Resources:</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Multimedia is available on the right column of release link <a href="https://newsroom.heart.org/news/cannabis-use-linked-to-increase-in-heart-attack-and-stroke-risk?preview=e919e005254fa47b47399df04824aaf0" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">https://newsroom.heart.org/news/cannabis-use-linked-to-increase-in-heart-attack-and-stroke-risk?preview=e919e005254fa47b47399df04824aaf0</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">After February 28, view the <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.123.030178" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">manuscript online</a>.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">AHA news release: <a href="https://newsroom.heart.org/news/marijuana-use-linked-with-increased-risk-of-heart-attack-heart-failure" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Marijuana use linked with increased risk of heart attack, heart failure</a> (November 2023)</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">AHA news release: <a href="https://newsroom.heart.org/news/the-411-on-marijuana-use-and-cardiovascular-health-ahead-of-420-day" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">The 411 on marijuana use and cardiovascular health ahead of 4/20 Day</a> (April 2023)</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Follow AHA/ASA news on X (formerly known as Twitter) <a href="https://twitter.com/HeartNews" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">@HeartNews</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px;">Follow news from the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Journal of the American Heart Association</span></em> <a href="https://twitter.com/JAHA_AHA" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">@JAHA_AHA</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px;"><br /></li></ul></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-78150323142196060202024-02-29T06:03:00.000-08:002024-02-29T06:03:16.540-08:00Ultra-processed food: 30 damaging health outcomes<p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Consistent evidence shows that higher exposure to ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of 32 damaging health outcomes including cancer, major heart and lung conditions, mental health disorders, and early death.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The findings, published by<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The BMJ</em><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"> </span>today, show that diets high in ultra-processed food may be harmful to many body systems and underscore the need for urgent measures that target and aim to reduce dietary exposure to these products and better understand the mechanisms linking them to poor health.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Ultra-processed foods, including packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, and ready-to-eat or heat products, undergo multiple industrial processes and often contain colours, emulsifiers, flavours, and other additives. These products also tend to be high in added sugar, fat, and/or salt, but are low in vitamins and fibre.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">They can account for up to 58% of total daily energy intake in some high income countries, and have rapidly increased in many low and middle income nations in recent decades.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Many previous studies and meta-analyses have linked highly processed food to poor health, but no comprehensive review has yet provided a broad assessment of the evidence in this area.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />To bridge this gap, researchers carried out an umbrella review (a high-level evidence summary) of 45 distinct pooled meta-analyses from 14 review articles associating ultra-processed foods with adverse health outcomes.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The review articles were all published in the past three years and involved almost 10 million participants. None were funded by companies involved in the production of ultra-processed foods.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Estimates of exposure to ultra-processed foods were obtained from a combination of food frequency questionnaires, 24 hour dietary recalls, and dietary history and were measured as higher versus lower consumption, additional servings per day, or a 10% increment.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The researchers graded the evidence as convincing, highly suggestive, suggestive, weak, or no evidence. They also assessed the quality of evidence as high, moderate, low, or very low.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Overall, the results show that higher exposure to ultra-processed foods was consistently associated with an increased risk of 32 adverse health outcomes.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Convincing evidence showed that higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with around a 50% increased risk of cardiovascular disease related death, a 48-53% higher risk of anxiety and common mental disorders, and a 12% greater risk of type 2 diabetes.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Highly suggestive evidence also indicated that higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with a 21% greater risk of death from any cause, a 40-66% increased risk of heart disease related death, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and sleep problems, and a 22% increased risk of depression.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Evidence for the associations of ultra-processed food exposure with asthma, gastrointestinal health, some cancers and cardiometabolic risk factors, such as high blood fats and low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, remains limited.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The researchers acknowledge that umbrella reviews can only provide high-level overviews and they can’t rule out the possibility that other unmeasured factors and variations in assessing ultra-processed food intake may have influenced their results.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">However, their use of rigorous and prespecified systematic methods to evaluate the credibility and quality of the analyses suggests that the results withstand scrutiny. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">As such, they conclude: “These findings support urgent mechanistic research and public health actions that seek to target and minimise ultra-processed food consumption for improved population health.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Ultra-processed foods damage health and shorten life, say researchers in a linked editorial. So what can be done to control and reduce their production and consumption, which is rising worldwide?</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">They point out that reformulation does not eliminate harm, and profitability discourages manufacturers from switching to make nutritious foods, so public policies and action on ultra-processed foods are essential. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">These include front-of-pack labels, restricting advertising and prohibiting sales in or near schools and hospitals, and fiscal and other measures that make unprocessed or minimally processed foods and freshly prepared meals as accessible and available as, and cheaper than, ultra-processed foods. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">It is now time for United Nations agencies, with member states, to develop and implement a framework convention on ultra-processed foods similar to the framework on tobacco, and promote examples of best practice, they write.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Finally, they say multidisciplinary investigations “are needed to identify the most effective ways to control and reduce ultra-processing and to quantify and track the cost-benefits and other effects of all such policies and actions on human health and welfare, society, culture, employment, and the environment.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-33510715515565955892024-02-27T07:06:00.001-08:002024-02-27T07:06:32.335-08:00Yoga provides unique cognitive benefits to older women at risk of Alzheimer’s disease<p> </p><header><header><p>A new UCLA Health study found Kundalini yoga provided several benefits to cognition and memory for older women at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease including restoring neural pathways, preventing brain matter decline and reversing aging and inflammation-associated biomarkers – improvements not seen in a group who received standard memory training exercises. </p><p>The <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02807-0#citeas" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02807-0#citeas" target="_blank">findings</a>, published in the journal <em>Translational Psychiatry</em>, are the latest in a series of studies led by UCLA Health researchers over the past 15 years into the comparative effects of yoga and traditional memory enhancement training on slowing cognitive decline and addressing other risk factors of dementia. </p><p>Led by UCLA Health psychiatrist Dr. <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.uclahealth.org/providers/helen-lavretsky" href="https://www.uclahealth.org/providers/helen-lavretsky" target="_blank">Helen Lavretsky</a> of the <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/" href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior</a>, this latest study sought to determine whether Kundalini yoga could be used early on to prevent cognitive decline and trajectories of Alzheimer’s disease among postmenopausal women. </p><p>Women have about twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to men due to several factors including longer life expectancy, changes in estrogen levels during menopause and genetics. </p><p>In the new study, a group of more than 60 women ages 50 and older who had self-reported memory issues and cerebrovascular risk factors were recruited from a UCLA cardiology clinic. The women were divided evenly into two groups. The first group participated in weekly Kundalini yoga sessions for 12 weeks while the other one group underwent weekly memory enhancement training during the same time period. Participants were also provided daily homework assignments. </p><p>Kundalini yoga is a method that focuses on meditation and breath work more so than physical poses. Memory enhancement training developed by the UCLA Longevity center includes a variety of exercises, such as using stories to remember items on a list or organizing items on a grocery list, to help preserve or improve long-term memory of patients. </p><p>Researchers assessed the women’s cognition, subjective memory, depression and anxiety after the first 12 weeks and again 12 weeks later to determine how stable any improvements were. Blood samples were also taken to test for gene expression of aging markers and for molecules associated with inflammation, which are contributing factors to Alzheimer’s disease. A handful of patients were also assessed with MRIs to study changes in brain matter. </p><p>Researchers found the Kundalini yoga group participants saw several improvements not experienced by the memory enhancement training group. These included significant improvement in subjective memory complaints, prevention in brain matter declines, increased connectivity in the hippocampus which manages stress-related memories, and improvement in the peripheral cytokines and gene expression of anti-inflammatory and anti-aging molecules. </p><p>“That is what yoga is good for -- to reduce stress, to improve brain health, subjective memory performance and reduce inflammation and improve neuroplasticity,” Lavretsky said. </p><p>Among the memory enhancement training group, the main improvements were found to be in the participants’ long-term memory. </p><p>Neither group saw changes in anxiety, depression, stress or resilience, though Lavretsky stated this is likely because the participants were relatively healthy and were not depressed. </p><p>While the long-term effects of Kundalini yoga on preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s disease require further study, Lavretsky said the study demonstrates that using yoga and memory training in tandem could provide more comprehensive benefits to the cognition of older women. </p><p>“Ideally, people should do both because they do train different parts of the brain and have different overall health effects,” Lavretsky said. “Yoga has this anti-inflammatory, stress-reducing, anti-aging neuroplastic brain effect which would be complimentary to memory training.” <br /><br /></p><h1><br /></h1></header></header>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-62328791267747667762024-02-27T07:06:00.000-08:002024-02-27T07:06:11.023-08:00 Talking faster is linked to better brain health as we age<p><br /></p><header><p>As we get older, we may start to notice it takes us longer to find the right words. This can lead to concerns about cognitive decline and dementia.</p><p>However, a new study by Baycrest and the University of Toronto suggests that talking speed is a more important indicator of brain health than difficulty finding words, which appears to be a normal part of aging. This is one of the first studies to look at both differences in natural speech and brain health among healthy adults.</p><p>“Our results indicate that changes in general talking speed may reflect changes in the brain,” says Dr. Jed Meltzer, Baycrest’s Canada Research Chair in Interventional Cognitive Neuroscience and the lead author on this study. “This suggests that talking speed should be tested as part of standard cognitive assessments to help clinicians detect cognitive decline faster and help older adults support their brain health as they age.”</p><p>In this study, 125 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 90 completed three different assessments. The first was a picture-naming game, in which they had to answer questions about pictures while ignoring distracting words they heard through headphones. For example, when looking at a picture of a mop, they might be asked, “Does it end in ‘p’?” while hearing the word “broom” as a distraction. In this way, the researchers were able to test the participants’ ability to recognize what the picture was and to recall its name.</p><p>Next, participants were recorded as they described two complex pictures for 60 seconds each. Their language performance was then analyzed using Artificial Intelligence-based software, in partnership with Winterlight Labs. Among other things, researchers examined how fast each participant spoke and how much they paused.</p><p>Finally, the research participants completed standard tests to assess mental abilities that tend to decline with age and are linked to dementia risk – namely, executive function, which is the ability to manage conflicting information, stay focused and avoid distractions.</p><p>As expected, many abilities declined with age, including word finding speed. Surprisingly, although the ability to recognize a picture and recall its name both worsened with age, this was not associated with a decline in other mental abilities. The number and length of pauses participants took to find words was not linked to brain health. Instead, how fast participants were able to name pictures predicted how fast they spoke in general, and both were linked to executive function. In other words, it wasn’t pausing to find words that showed the strongest link to brain health, but the speed of speech surrounding pauses.</p><p>Although many older adults are concerned about their need to pause to search for words, these results suggest this is a normal part of aging. On the other hand, slowing down of normal speech, regardless of pausing, may be a more important indicator of changes to brain health.</p><p>In future studies, the research team could conduct the same tests with a group of participants over several years, to examine whether speed speech is truly predictive of brain health for individuals as they age. In turn, these results could support the development of tools to detect cognitive decline as early as possible, allowing clinicians to prescribe interventions to help patients maintain or even improve their brain health as they age.</p><h1><br /></h1></header>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-76430060453455091442024-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:002024-02-23T09:55:20.500-08:00Ginseng speeds up recovery and reduces muscle fatigue after exercise<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Ginseng</span> is one of the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">most popular food supplements in the world</span>. It is <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">made out of various plants</span> and <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">herbs</span> and is thought to provide many benefits, with numerous studies pointing at possible anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits as well as anti-cancer effects. A group of researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (<u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.uoc.edu/en/news/media-services/experts-guide/laura-esquius" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">UOC</a></u>) has now found that it can also be helpful for exercise.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">According to the findings of the study, which was carried out as part of a master's degree final project and was recently published in the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">open-access</span> journal <u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16010090" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Nutrients</a></em></u>, taking ginseng has a direct effect on reducing fatigue and helps muscles to recover after sport.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"We've found that ginseng can play a significant role as a nutritional supplement when it comes to recovering after exercise," said Borja Muñoz, a fitness coach and one of the study's lead authors, who has conducted this research under the supervision of his tutor <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Patricia Martínez</span>, a dietician and nutritionist and <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">course instructor at the UOC's Faculty of Health Sciences</span>, together with the experts Rafael Bailón and <u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.uoc.edu/en/news/media-services/experts-guide/laura-esquius" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Laura Esquius</a></u>, a researcher at the UOC's <u style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://transfer.research.uoc.edu/en/grups/foodlab.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Foodlab group</a></u>. To carry out the study, they <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">systematically reviewed over 700 articles from the scientific literature</span> and meticulously analysed their findings to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">confirm these benefits for healthy adults engaging in physical exercise</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"When taken together with a balanced diet, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">ginseng can provide additional nutrition for athletes</span> or anyone else who does physical exercise on a regular basis. It's also worth noting that, unless it's medically contraindicated in any given case, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">taking ginseng on a regular basis is considered beneficial (or at least not harmful) for healthy people</span>," said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Muñoz</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Evidence and benefits of ginseng</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The review has concluded that taking ginseng <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">can significantly reduce post-exercise muscle damage in healthy adults</span>. Furthermore, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">it improves muscle regeneration and helps the body recover from both muscle fatigue and damage</span> after physical exercise.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Specifically, the exertion and intensity involved in <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">sport</span> result in damage to muscles. This is <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">mainly inflammatory damage</span>. The <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">active ingredients of the compounds contained in ginseng stimulate the central nervous system, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties</span> and regulate <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">cortisol</span>, the stress hormone, benefiting many of the body's metabolic functions and helping the immune system perform as it should.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Specifically, taking ginseng systematically for a long time can <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">mitigate the response of the biological markers</span>, mainly <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">creatine kinase (CK) and interleukin 6 (IL-6)</span>, responsible for exercise-induced muscle damage and inflammation. Furthermore, it <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">reduces and mitigates the appearance of lactate in the blood</span>. Lactate is a chemical compound produced by the body when muscles have insufficient oxygen due to overexertion that hinders muscles' ability to contract, the main cause of muscle fatigue.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Potential to reduce the risk of injury</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">It should also be noted that, by reducing fatigue, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">taking ginseng on a regular basis</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">may also help reduce the risk of injury</span>, particularly in the case of muscles or ligaments, which can in turn <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">improve athletic performance</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"Although recovery times vary based on the nature of the injury and between individuals, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">the damaged structures share the same physiological processes</span>. That's why professionals in this field must obtain the most efficient physiological context, to ensure that each person can recover as well and as quickly as possible. This is where ginseng comes in, as <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">it can play a significant role in recovering from injuries</span>," said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Muñoz</span> about the possible benefits to athletes, based on their own personal characteristics, of taking ginseng <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">according to a schedule</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">A common product in traditional Chinese medicine</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study arose from Muñoz's interest in <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">confirming by means of scientific evidence the empirical experiences</span> observed by him when doing <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">work experience as a fitness coach and injury specialist</span> in a football club in China. Muñoz observed that ginseng, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">a supplement very commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine</span>, was <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">widely used by football players</span>, who <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">reported beneficial effects</span> from taking it.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"Our aim was to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">learn more about the effects of ginseng in a specific situation</span>, in this case in connection with exercise, and to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">provide verifiable evidence</span> of its ability to improve the body's response to the stimuli of <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">chronic load in sport</span>, helping athletes to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">recover between training sessions</span>, as the footballers themselves reported that it worked just like an energy drink," said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Muñoz</span>. In fact, there are currently <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">countless products for athletes on the market</span>, such as tablets and specific drinks.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Establishing a scheduled consumption protocol for the future</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">According to these experts, this may <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">pave the way for studying the benefits of ginseng in greater depth and assessing how using it as a supplement can improve performance in sport</span>. In fact, one of its main possible effects is stimulating and speeding up the body's regeneration processes following muscle damage.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"Of the possible future research we're considering, a study to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">establish a scheduled consumption protocol</span> to find out exactly how and when athletes should take ginseng to optimize its benefits within a given timeframe is particularly appealing, as the studies carried out in relation to these cases suffer from a lack of diversity and scientific evidence," said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Martínez</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The authors stressed in this regard that the methodology to be used in each type of situation must be clarified in order to learn more about how to <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">improve supplementation with ginseng</span>. "There's still a significant amount of work to do, as <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">ginseng has potential to increase athletes' physical performance and help prevent certain injuries, particularly muscle injuries</span>," concluded <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Muñoz</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br /></p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-45581541081812932152024-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:002024-02-23T09:24:41.085-08:00 Establish regular healthy sleeping patterns<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">t’s official. Getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep a night is currently out of reach for almost one-third of the population as Flinders University experts found 31% of adults had average sleep durations outside the recommended range.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The global study of thousands of adults <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235272182300253X?via*3Dihub__;JQ!!LBk0ZmAmG_H4m2o!uVbEBDUrbR4Yji76Gs_dNeMekXVQ2hIiv9w-TLLyY1yNFSiH1phSkY15OEijdHY-jzeAbELgrgpSqlvlicqDXeF2ANohfw$" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">published in </a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235272182300253X?via*3Dihub__;JQ!!LBk0ZmAmG_H4m2o!uVbEBDUrbR4Yji76Gs_dNeMekXVQ2hIiv9w-TLLyY1yNFSiH1phSkY15OEijdHY-jzeAbELgrgpSqlvlicqDXeF2ANohfw$" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Sleep Health</a></em> found only 15% of people slept the recommended 7-9 hours for five or more nights per week – and among those who did achieve an average of 7-9 hours per night over the nine month monitoring period, about 40% of the nights fell outside the ideal range.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This is crucial because regularly not sleeping enough – or possibly too much – are associated with ill effects and we are only just realising the consequences of irregular sleep,” says Flinders University researcher Dr Hannah Scott.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Clearly getting the recommended sleep duration range frequently is a challenge for many people to achieve, especially during the working week.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Flinders research group used sleep tracker data collected by an under-mattress sensor to examine sleep durations over the nine-month period in almost 68,000 adults worldwide. The sample consisted of 67,254 adults (52,523 males, 14,731 females), mainly in Europe and North America, whose sleep recordings were registered by the Withings under-mattress Sleep Analyzer. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Sleeping less than six hours on average per night is associated with increased mortality risk and multiple health conditions including hypertension, obesity and heart disease. Less than 7 hours and more than 9 hours of sleep a day has been linked to adverse health and wellbeing, including digestive and neuro-behavioural deficits. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Female participants generally had longer sleep durations that males, and middle-aged people recorded shorter sleep durations than younger or older participants.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Based on these findings, public health and advocacy efforts need to support the community and individuals to achieve more regular sleep within the recommended range for their age,” says co-author Professor Danny Eckert, an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) leadership fellow and director of Sleep Health research at Flinders University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Given what we know about the importance of sleep to health, we also need to assist people to resolve chronic sleep difficulties and encourage all people to make sleep a priority.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Regular snoring is also <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01026-7__;!!LBk0ZmAmG_H4m2o!uVbEBDUrbR4Yji76Gs_dNeMekXVQ2hIiv9w-TLLyY1yNFSiH1phSkY15OEijdHY-jzeAbELgrgpSqlvlicqDXeFBIUYTsg$" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">associated with hypertension,</a> according to another new study from Flinders University.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Flinders sleep researchers’ tips to achieve a better sleep regime include:</p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the short term, people are advised to try and maintain a sleep schedule that is sufficient for them to feel rested enough, as often as they possibly can. Keeping a fixed wake-up time, even on weekends, and going to bed when you feel sleepy will help ensure you frequently get enough restorative sleep.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">If people can’t keep a consistent sleep schedule due to unavoidable commitments (e.g. shift work), then catch-up sleep is recommended.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Watch for the symptoms of insufficient sleep such as daytime drowsiness, fatigue, struggling to maintain concentration, poor memory, and potentially making errors while driving. This may be due to not sleeping enough, or the sleep not being restorative enough due to poor sleep quality – as occurs with obstructive sleep apnoea, for example.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">People who feel like they might not be sleeping enough, especially those currently sleeping less than seven hours, could test whether allowing a longer sleep schedule or naps helps them sleep longer and results in them feeling more rested.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">For those without a sleep disorder, following good sleep hygiene may be beneficial. Avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the afternoon/reducing their caffeine and alcohol consumption across the day, and/or avoiding a heavy meal close to bedtime may help people fall asleep faster and sleep for longer. Others may not see much benefit from following sleep hygiene advice, but it is worth trying as it may be a relatively simple fix to their sleep problems.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">People should consult their GP in the first instance if they are concerned about their sleep. Treatment options are available through referrals to sleep specialists for a variety of sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea and insomnia.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The article, <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235272182300253X?via*3Dihub__;JQ!!LBk0ZmAmG_H4m2o!uVbEBDUrbR4Yji76Gs_dNeMekXVQ2hIiv9w-TLLyY1yNFSiH1phSkY15OEijdHY-jzeAbELgrgpSqlvlicqDXeF2ANohfw$" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;" target="_blank">Are we getting enough sleep? Frequent irregular sleep found in an analysis of over 11 million nights of objective in-home sleep data</a> (December 2023) </p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-70344436540130722512024-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:002024-02-22T07:35:22.710-08:0026% lower risk of heart failure with each 3,600 steps per day<p><span face=""Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span face=""Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">The science is clear that movement is good for our bodies as we age. But just how much physical activity is beneficial for people over 60? A new study from the University at Buffalo provides an answer, and it’s not 10,000 steps per day.</span></p><div class="entry" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In fact, the study — published Feb. 21 in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMA Cardiology</em> — of nearly 6,000 U.S. women aged 63-99 reports that, on average, 3,600 steps per day at a normal pace was associated with a 26% lower risk of developing heart failure.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The observational study from the Women’s Health Initiative specifically looked at accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary time and heart failure risk. There were 407 heart failure cases — confirmed by physicians — identified during a mean follow-up of 7.5 years.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The risk of developing heart failure was, on average, 12% and 16% lower for each 70 minutes per day spent in light intensity activities and each 30 minutes per day spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity, respectively. To the contrary, each hour-and-a-half of sedentary time was associated, on average, with a 17% higher risk of experiencing heart failure.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“In ambulatory older women, higher amounts of usual daily light and moderate intensity activities were associated with lower risk of developing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction independent of demographic and clinical factors associated with heart failure risk,” says the study’s lead author <a href="https://www.buffalo.edu/news/experts/michael-lamonte-faculty-expert-healthy-aging.html" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Michael J. LaMonte, PhD</a>, research professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions. “Accumulating 3,000 steps per day might be a reasonable target that would be consistent with the amount of daily activity performed by women in this study.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Study participants wore an accelerometer on their hip for up to seven consecutive days, except for when in water. Light physical activity included usual daily activities like self-care, chores around the house and caregiving, while moderate to vigorous activity involved walking at a normal pace, climbing the stairs or doing yard work.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study is unique in that it looked at two subtypes of <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-failure" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">heart failure</a>, the most common of which is heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, often abbreviated as HFpEF. A similar pattern of lower risk with more light and moderate intensity daily activity, and higher risk with prolonged sedentary time, was seen for HFpEF.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“This is a major, unique finding of our study because there is very little published data on physical activity and HFpEF, so we are providing new information upon which other studies can build,” LaMonte says.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“More importantly, HFpEF is the most common form of heart failure seen in older women and among racial and ethnic minority groups, and at present there are few established treatment options, which makes primary prevention all the more relevant for HFpEF. The potential for light intensity activities of daily life to contribute to the prevention of HFpEF in older women is an exciting and promising result for future studies to evaluate in other groups, including older men,” LaMonte adds.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The team’s evaluation of the number of steps per day as an approach to quantifying and translating the favorable results for physical activity was also novel, says LaMonte.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Encouraging older adults to be more active as part of healthy aging is sound advice well-supported by scientific evidence.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“However, conveying how much activity is always a challenge to incorporate as part of clinical and public health recommendations,” says LaMonte. “Steps per day is easily understood and can be measured by a variety of consumer-level wearable devices to help people monitor their physical activity levels.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In this study, the risk of heart failure, including HFpEF, became significantly lower at around 2,500 steps per day. When standardized to 3,600 steps per day (1 standard deviation unit), there was a 25-30% lower risk of heart failure and HFpEF.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study’s findings come at a time when the U.S. government is examining its physical activity guidelines for older adults, particularly a target number of steps per day. The steps per day associated with lower heart failure risk cited in the study are far fewer than the often recommended 10,000 steps for health and wellness.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">For perspective, the average number of steps per day among women in the study was 3,588. The average among U.S. women of similar age is 2,340.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It appeared that intensity of stepping did not influence the lower risk of heart failure as results were comparable for light intensity steps and for more vigorous steps,” says LaMonte.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Our results showing heart failure prevention in older women might be enhanced through walking around 3,000 steps or so per day at usual pace is very relevant given the current emphasis at the federal level on identifying an amount of daily physical activity that can be referenced against steps per day for cardiovascular health and resilience to incorporate in future public health guidelines.”</p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div><p> </p>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-75345549946856140972024-02-22T07:04:00.000-08:002024-02-22T07:04:40.800-08:00 With regular exercise, medical weight loss treatment does not have to be permanent<p> </p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">For nearly a year, we have been debating weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Zepbound, Saxenda and similar products and what happens when people stop taking them. Are they able to maintain weight loss? A new Danish study sheds light on the matter.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">You have probably noticed that weight loss drugs like Wegovy have been the subject of debate for some time now. And for good reason. Because in a world where more and more people live with obesity, they help people lose excess fat.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Unfortunately, there is a downside. The general perception is that those who stop taking the medication will have difficulties maintaining weight loss. But that is not necessarily the case. So says Professor Signe Sørensen Torekov from the Department of Biomedical Sciences, who is leading a new study conducted at the University of Copenhagen and Hvidovre Hospital.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“It is actually possible to stop taking the medication without large weight regain, if you follow a structured exercise regime. Our study offers new hope, as we have shown that the majority of those who take weight loss medication and exercise regularly are able to maintain the beneficial effects a year after treatment termination,” she says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In the new study, the team of researchers have studied the effects following treatment for obesity, and they have been able to answer some of the key questions about these relatively new types of drugs.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">And the results speak for themselves. So says Postdoc Simon Birk Kjær Jensen, who is first author of the study, which formed part of his PhD thesis.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“Even though medical treatment for obesity is effective, people who stop taking the drugs have difficulties maintaining the beneficial effects. Within a year, they will typically have gained more than two thirds of the lost weight. However, our study shows that people who exercise during treatment do not have the same propensity to put on weight post treatment,” he says.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Two hours of exercise a week is enough</span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study included four groups of test participants. One group was given a placebo, another group was given a weight loss drug, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Saxenda, liraglutide 3 mg </em>to be exact, a third group was asked to exercise, while a fourth group was given the weight loss drug and exercised regularly. Before being divided randomly into groups, all the participants had eaten a diet low on calories.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The results of the study show that those who exercised during treatment did not have to spend more than a couple of hours a week in training shoes to maintain the beneficial effects of the treatment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“All it takes is two hours of exercise a week that gets the heart rate up and makes you pant. And it may differ from one person to the next. For people with severe obesity and low initial fitness level, a brisk walk may be sufficient, whereas people with higher fitness level may have to practise running or cycling, e.g. interval spinning,” Simon Birk Kjær Jensen explains. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">In fact, the study shows that the exercise groups experienced better quality of life.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“From our data, it is clear that those who followed an exercise regime with or without treatment with obesity drugs felt less tired and more energetic. They also experienced better mental health. It simply led to improved quality of life,” Signe Sørensen Torekov says and adds:</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The same did not apply to those who only received medical treatment. In fact, they felt more tired and less energetic.”</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.1; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Prescription exercise</span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">According to the researchers responsible for the new study, there is therefore reason to consider adding exercise recommendations to prescriptions for weight loss drugs to increase people’s chances of maintaining weight loss and the beneficial effects post treatment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“We now have an effective drug for obesity, and we need it, because a lot of people are suffering from obesity. But according to our data, it is super important to combine medical treatment with regular physical exercise, because of the beneficial effects hereof, e.g. better quality of life and muscle mass maintenance,” Simon Birk Kjær Jensen says, to which Signe Sørensen Torekov adds:</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The study almost makes me want to advise against medical treatment without increased physical exercise, especially if you do not want to be taking the drugs for the rest of your life. We need to stop thinking that people who weigh less also exercise more, because that is simply not the case. It requires structure, support and habit building,” Signe Sørensen Torekov says and adds: </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The good news is that post-treatment weight loss maintenance is possible, but only when combined with exercise.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The study, ’<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589537024000543" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Healthy weight loss maintenance with exercise, GLP-1 receptor agonist, or both combined followed by one year without treatment: a post-treatment analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled trial</a>’, just published in<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> LANCET eClinicalMedicine.</em></p><div><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></em></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-61216545346547051932024-02-22T06:58:00.000-08:002024-02-22T06:58:08.406-08:00Mediterranean diet improves kidney health in patients with diabetes<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="toolbar hidden-print hidden-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_pnaa" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="col-xs-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding: 15px; position: relative; width: 305.656px;"><div class="article-tools pull-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_62ef" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><figure class="thumbnail pull-right" style="border-radius: 0px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; line-height: 1.42857; margin: 0px 0px 20px 34px; padding: 0px; position: relative; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; width: 288px; z-index: 9999;"><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015954" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;"><div class="img-wrapper" style="background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 288px; text-align: center; text-wrap: nowrap; width: 288px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="Image of the team that carried out the research." src="https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/c79f61ac-d1ce-46f0-8b25-1a4052c2d08b/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: auto; max-height: 272px; max-width: 272px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /> </span></div></a><figcaption class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE: </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"><span style="font-size: small;">IMAGE OF THE TEAM THAT CARRIED OUT THE RESEARCH.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;"></span><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1015954" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; font-weight: 600; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">view <span class="no-break-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-wrap: nowrap;">more <span class="fa fa-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></span></a></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><p class="credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="font-size: small;">CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA</span></p></figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">The Mediterranean diet garners praise once again, with another study ratifying its list of health benefits. In addition to preventing cardiovascular accidents, boosting the immune system, and averting oxidative stress, this diet can also help slow the deterioration of the kidneys. It is a benefit that, although already known by the scientific community, now, for the first time, has been demonstrated in patients suffering from Type-2 diabetes, a condition affecting almost 15% of the Spanish population, <a href="https://www.sediabetes.org/comunicacion/sala-de-prensa/espana-es-el-segundo-pais-con-mayor-prevalencia-de-diabetes-de-europa/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088cc; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">according to the latest report by the Spanish Diabetes Society</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />This is at least one of the main conclusions of a new study published by the University of Cordoba (UCO) and the Maimonides Institute for Biomedical Research (IMIBIC). The work has managed to unravel one of the reasons for this relationship between the Mediterranean diet and the improvement of kidney function; that is, one of the molecular mechanisms by which this phenomenon occurs.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The key lies in compounds called Advanced Glycation End Products, better known as AGEs. As one of the researchers participating in the study, Alicia Podadera, points out, these are molecules with an inflammatory and oxidizing capacity. They can be produced naturally in the human body, and also ingested, depending on one's diet. Although they are usually discharged through urine, diabetic patients with kidney problems (one of the most recurrent complications) have more trouble eliminating them, such that the levels of these products in their bodies are usually higher. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The study, carried out by the Nutrigenomics and Metabolic Syndrome Group at the IMIBIC, analyzed the levels of these harmful compounds in more than 500 diabetics, comparing, over a period of 5 years, how two types of healthy diets affect the body: the Mediterranean diet and another low-fat diet richer in carbohydrates.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />According to the results of the study, patients who had eaten a Mediterranean diet during those years had lower levels of these harmful compounds in their blood. "We were able to verify that this diet better activates the detoxification process; that is, the mechanism by which the body eliminates these harmful substances," said Francisco Miguel Gutiérrez, another of the study's authors.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Although the relationship between these compounds and kidney disease was already known, this is the first demonstration of "how a defined dietary pattern can mitigate the deterioration of kidney function in diabetic patients," says researcher Elena Yubero. The Mediterranean diet, therefore, "could be an effective strategy for the management of these substances," she concludes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />There are multiple reasons why this diet is beneficial for health. In addition to the antioxidant capacity of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), previous studies have shown how ways of cooking with it also play an important role. For example, foods that are cooked at high temperatures for short periods of time "contain a higher amount of these harmful substances" than other cooking techniques typical of the Mediterranean diet that "require longer cooking times, and are gentler on the food," Yubero said. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />This work was published within the framework of the Cordioprev study, carried out over the course of seven years with more than 1,000 patients with heart disease, and in which the differences between a healthy low-fat diet and a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil are compared. This clinical trial, overseen by Professor José López Miranda and carried out by the IMIBIC, UCO and Spain's Biomedical Research Centre in the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), received the National Gastronomy Award for Research and Innovation last year.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></p><div style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9077581113560956106.post-87209819988094645812024-02-22T06:56:00.000-08:002024-02-22T06:56:42.665-08:00Exercise regularly or one-to-two days a week, weight loss is possible<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Whether you engage in physical activity on a regular basis or one-to-two days a week, both options produce weight loss suggests a new study published in the journal</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Obesity</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. The study is the first of its kind to examine the association between physical activity patterns and objectively-measured fat tissue mass.</span></p><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 23px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Guidelines from the World Health Organization recommend that adults perform at least 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, 75 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity or an equivalent combination of both intensities. However, many individuals find it challenging to meet this recommendation due to physical activity being time consuming in a fast-paced society. The new study found that people defined by researchers as “weekend warriors”—individuals who condense their exercise into one-to-two days a week—can also lose weight similar to individuals who exercise on a regular basis as long as they achieved the recommended goals.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">“The weekend warrior pattern is worth promoting in individuals who cannot meet the recommended frequency in current guidelines,” said Lihua Zhang, health care scientist, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. Zhang is one of the corresponding authors of the study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Zhang suggested that office workers, bus drivers and other employees who have to sit for many hours during the work day care about the research. “Those people are struggling to catch up in their exercise plan in daily life to offset the hazard of a sedentary lifestyle but have less free time to get to the gym,” she said. “Our study could offer them an alternative choice to keep fit,” said Zhang, who added that there are suitable activities for weekend warriors such as climbing, hiking, cycling or running.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Researchers extracted data from more than 9,600 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2011 to 2018. Participants ranged in age from 20- to 59-years-old.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Abdominal and general adiposity were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA)—a non-invasive and easily accessible body composition scan—and anthropometric measures. Physical activity levels were collected from the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and classified as inactive, weekend warrior and regularly active. Survey linear regression models were used to assess associations between physical activity patterns and adiposity indicators.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Results showed that 772 participants reported the weekend warrior pattern and 3,277 reported the regularly active pattern. Compared to the 5,580 inactive participants, both the weekend warrior and regular active groups had lower DXA-measured abdominal adiposity, waist circumference, whole-body fat mass and body mass index. These two groups were also younger, more likely to be non-Hispanic White, have higher educational backgrounds, and less likely to be unemployed or to have hypertension or diabetes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">"On a high level, this study reaffirms the old adage about physical activity and health: any activity is better than no activity. Notably, the weekend warriors' workout was of higher intensity and longer duration, and more intensity and longer duration correlated with even lower abdominal fat. The main takeaway, though, is that people should be active in any manner that suits their lifestyle,” said Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine Beverly Tchang, MD, DABOM, Comprehensive Weight Control Center, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Tchang was not associated with the research study.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 5px 0px 15px;">Steven B. Heymsfield, MD, professor, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, La., who was also not associated with the study added, “Findings in a cross-sectional sample such as reported by the study’s researchers need confirmation in prospective longitudinal studies.”</p></div>Jonathan Kantrowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13919729222396777240noreply@blogger.com0