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Are broken bones, loneliness and poor sleep really hidden killers?
Conclusion As the researchers say, the WHO definition of health encompasses physical, mental and social wellbeing – not just the presence or absence of disease. But how often are these extra dimensions taken into account when assessing a person's health status? In this sample of older adults, just looking at their disease status puts the majority of them into an apparently "robust" health group. Yet when you consider the additional dimensions of psychological health and wellbeing, you seem to get a much better indication of those who were at higher or lower risk of dying or being incapacitated in the coming...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Medical practice Source Type: news

Exercise benefits you - even in polluted city air
Conclusion This modelling study aimed to assess exposure to air pollution through physical activity and the associated health risks around the world. The study found the background pollution level required to reach the tipping point is only present in less than 1% of cities, according to the WHO. In an average city physical exercise will remain beneficial up to seven hours a day for cycling or 16 hours for walking. In highly polluted areas this became as low as 30 minutes a day for cycling and 90 minutes of walking. The main limitation of this study is that it is only a model and we do not know how true to life the findi...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 6, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Daily low-dose aspirin may help combat cancer
Conclusion The systematic review looked at 47 studies and attempted to combine the results, looking for evidence of a beneficial effect of low-dose aspirin on risk of death in people already diagnosed with cancer. The few RCTs identified – the best-quality evidence – did not provide conclusive evidence that aspirin improves survival rates. The rest of the studies were observational in nature, so cannot prove that aspirin reduces the risk of death from cancer. The only significant results were for a 24% reduction in risk of death from colon cancer, and a possible 11% reduced risk of death from prostate cancer. However,...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Medication Source Type: news

Can HRT in early menopause cut heart disease risk?
ConclusionThis double-blind RCT found that women taking HRT less than six years after the menopause had slower artery wall thickening than those taking a placebo. This represented the main measure of atherosclerosis progression tested; other measures showed no difference, so the results were not as conclusive as they could have been. Women taking HRT 10 or more years after menopause also showed no difference in atherosclerosis progression compared with a placebo, further complicating the picture.An important limitation of this study is the lack of a patient relevant endpoint, such as cardiovascular events or mortality. Pre...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 1, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

Young women with high-fibre diet may have lower breast cancer risk
ConclusionThis large and long-term cohort study showed that women with the top fifth highest average fibre intake during adolescence and early adulthood were around 25% less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer decades later than those in the bottom fifth.This raises the suggestion that young women might be able to significantly lower their risk of breast cancer – the most common cancer in the UK – simply through eating more high-fibre foods such as fruits and vegetables.However, it’s worth noting a few points before accepting these promising results at face value. Total dietary fibre intake in adolescen...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Food/diet Source Type: news

Sugary drinks linked to increased fat levels around vital organs
Conclusion This US cohort study found drinking sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis is associated with the highest increase in fat accumulation around the abdominal organs, compared with people who do not consume them. But there was an average increase in the amount of this fat in all people who took part in the study, although this was lowest in people who never consumed sugar-sweetened beverages. The study was prospective, which limits some sources of bias, but it has some limitations. For example, the food frequency questionnaire was only conducted once, at baseline. The results are therefore reliant on the p...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Diabetes Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news

The idea you can be fat but fit is 'a myth' study argues
ConclusionThis was a large prospective cohort study from Sweden, which was carried out in young adult males who were then followed for a period of around 29 years. The study found that lower levels of aerobic fitness were associated with risk of early death, but that this risk of death was greater for those with a high BMI, even if they had a high level of aerobic fitness. This study has a number of strengths and limitations. The limitations are that a large number of participants had missing smoking data and therefore it was not possible to control for the confounding effect of smoking. The lower fitness level group with...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Being happy 'won't help you live longer' survey finds
ConclusionThis large prospective study aimed to assess whether happiness or related measures of wellbeing are associated with risk of death, after allowing for the influence of the poor health and lifestyles of people who are unhappy.The study found poor health was linked with unhappiness in middle-aged women. However, after allowing for this association and adjusting for the influence of other factors that may be associated, such as smoking and poor socioeconomic status, happiness and related measures of wellbeing do not appear to have any direct effect on death. This suggests that, as has sometimes previously been specu...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news

Living near an airport 'may be bad for your health'
Conclusion This study aimed to assess the link between pollution from air traffic and health outcomes. Researchers used a number of data sources, finding an association between levels of carbon monoxide and hospitalisation rates for respiratory and heart-related issues. Perhaps worryingly, these effects were observed at lower levels of carbon monoxide exposure than the allowed amounts found in Environmental Protection Agency mandates. However, this study does have a number of limitations: Air traffic data was only from passenger aircrafts. The focus was only on the population within 10km of the airport. We don't k...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

UK women's life expectancy 'second worst' in Western Europe
"British women have second worst life expectancy in Europe," The Guardian reports. This is one of the findings of a Europe-wide health report carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO). The report also warned that European levels of alcohol consumption, smoking and obesity are alarmingly high, which could result in the following possibility: "Young Europeans may die at an earlier age than their grandparents". In the interests of accuracy, we should point out that the claim British women have the second worst life expectancy in Europe is incorrect. This figure is based on an analysis of countrie...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 23, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Cancer Heart/lungs Food/diet QA articles Source Type: news

Is incense smoke more dangerous than tobacco smoke?
Conclusion This laboratory study found smoke from burning incense can produce fine particles and chemical compounds of a type that may irritate the lungs and damage health. This is not surprising, as most types of smoke indoors produces fine particles that are likely to have this effect, whether from cooking, smoking tobacco, or burning incense. The suggestion that incense smoke might be more harmful than cigarette smoke needs to be treated with caution. The four incense stick samples had different effects when tested for the ability to mutate cell DNA and toxicity to cells. These were compared with just one cigarette. ...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 26, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Heart/lungs Source Type: news

E-cigarettes '95% less harmful than smoking' says report
"E-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than tobacco and could be prescribed on the NHS in future to help smokers quit," BBC News reports. This is the main finding of an evidence review (PDF, 485kb) carried out by Public Health England, a government agency that aims to protect and improve the nation's health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. What are e-cigarettes?Most e-cigarettes contain a battery, an atomiser and a replaceable cartridge. The cartridge contains nicotine in a solution of either propylene glycol or glycerine and water, and sometimes flavourings. When you suck on the device, a sensor d...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 19, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise QA articles Source Type: news

Could eating spicy food help you live longer?
ConclusionThis large, well-designed observational study adds to the evidence that certain spices such as chilli pepper may have a beneficial effect on health. But this study does have limitations that need to be taken into account.The study found that people in China who ate a diet that included spicy food (mainly from chilli peppers) at least once a week were less likely to die during the study period than those who ate spicy food less often. These results applied to men and women, even after taking account of factors that affect the risk of death, such as age. The study is part of an ongoing investigation into the effect...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 5, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Neurology Source Type: news

A 15-minute daily walk 'will help you live longer' says study
Conclusion This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether doing less exercise than the recommended activity levels was still effective in reducing the risk of dying early among adults aged 60 or over. The study found physical activity even below the recommended amount reduced mortality in this group. However, higher levels of physical activity were associated with an even lower risk of dying early. This study has strengths in its systematic review methods, the fact it searched the literature for studies published over 20 years that assessed the effects of physical activity, and that it only includ...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Is there really a middle-class drinking 'epidemic' in over-50s?
Conclusion This study showed that higher-risk drinking was linked to a number of factors the researchers described as "middle-class", like higher educational attainment, being socially active and good ratings of health. Professor Jose Iparraguirre, author of the research, said in the Guardian: "Because this group is typically healthier than other parts of the older population, they might not realise that what they are doing is putting their health in danger". There are a few reasons to be cautious with these findings. The study produced a lot of results, so there is a risk some were chance findings. Thi...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 24, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Food/diet Source Type: news

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