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Results of global fats and carbs study not very relevant for UK
Conclusion The results of the study have been presented in the media as if they overturn all current dietary guidelines. In the UK at least, that is completely misleading. The study results support the UK guidelines, having found that people who get around 50% of their calories from carbohydrates and 35% from fat, as recommended by Public Health England, were likely to live the longest. There are some limitations to the study, not least that observational studies cannot prove cause and effect. For example, the very low fat and high carbohydrate levels of diets found among some participants in the study might simply repres...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 30, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

'Fat but fit' people may still be at risk of heart disease
Conclusion This large, valuable study confirms that – as has long been thought – an increased BMI is linked with an increased risk of heart disease. It shows that people with an obese BMI had a higher risk of heart disease, even if they didn't have other risk factors like high cholesterol and high blood pressure, proving that body fat is an independent risk factor. That said, this study does have some limitations. For example, definitions of being metabolically unhealthy aren't entirely consistent with other definitions of metabolic syndrome. This was also only assessed at the start of the study, and risk factors may...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 15, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Source Type: news

Snoring link to Alzheimer ’s disease unproven
Conclusion This relatively large cross-sectional analysis has found a link between certain measures of breathing problems during sleep and poorer cognitive function in middle-aged to older adults. The strengths of this study include its size and use of a prospective sleep study to assess whether people had sleep apnoea or other problems with breathing during sleep. The use of standard cognitive tests is also a strength. However, the study does have its limitations: The study did have mixed findings – while certain measures of problems with breathing during sleep (e.g. oxygen levels) were associated with cognitive outco...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 24, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Some types of vegetarian diet can raise heart disease risk
Conclusion This large pooled cohort study seems to demonstrate an association between a healthy plant-based diet and reduced risk of coronary heart disease, and an increased risk of heart disease with an unhealthy plant-based diet. This adds to the evidence base supporting the possible benefits of healthy plant-based diets in protecting against certain illnesses. However there are some limitations to the research: The cohort included only health professionals from the US so might not be representative of wider populations in the UK or elsewhere. The study can't provide information on the benefits or otherwise of this d...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 18, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

Does coffee make you live longer?
Conclusion This study, conducted on a large number of people across Europe, was backed up by similar findings in the US. It appears to show some association between people who drink higher amounts of coffee and a reduced risk of death. But the "potentially beneficial clinical implications" need to be considered carefully for a number of reasons: Although the analyses were adjusted for some confounding variables, there may be a number of other factors that differ between the groups that account for the differences in death, such as socioeconomic status, family history, other medical conditions, and use of medic...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news

Being overweight, not just obese, still carries serious health risks
Conclusion This impressively large global study demonstrates that the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide among both children and adults. It supports what has long been thought, that increased body mass index (BMI) contributes to a range of illnesses and is ultimately responsible for a large number of deaths, particularly from cardiovascular disease. One potential limitation is the use of self-reported BMI or health outcome data in some of the studies, although the majority used a specific independent measurement so this is unlikely to have biased results too much. It is also always difficult from observational d...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 13, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Source Type: news

Beta-blockers 'useless' for many heart attack patients, study reports
Conclusion This study aimed to see whether beta blockers reduce mortality in people who've had a heart attack but who don't have heart failure or systolic dysfunction. It found no difference between those who were and those who were not given beta-blockers on discharge from hospital. The authors say this adds to the evidence that routine prescription of beta blockers might not be needed for patients without heart failure following a heart attack. Current UK guidelines recommend all people who have had a heart attack take beta blockers for at least one year to reduce risk of recurrent events. Only people with heart failure ...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 30, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

'Chocolate good for the heart' claims sadly too good to be true
Conclusion Health stories that suggest eating or drinking something we like, whether it's chocolate or wine, are always popular. But they don't really tell us anything we don't know already. Certain foods may have a small impact on certain types of diseases, but it's the overall diet that counts. Previous studies have already suggested that the antioxidant properties of cocoa could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, so it's surprising that this study focused on one particular cardiovascular disease, atrial fibrillation. AF is a common condition that affects heart rate, often causing a faster than normal, irregular ...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 24, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Binge drinking could trigger abnormal heart rhythms
Conclusion This cross-sectional study found binge drinking is associated with an increased risk of having an irregular heartbeat. However, the type of irregular heartbeat found was mainly sinus tachycardia, which isn't life threatening but involves the heart beating at an abnormally fast rate of over 100 heartbeats a minute. This research also has some notable limitations: The ECG recordings from the acute alcohol group were taken using a smartphone application operated outside the manufacturer's recommended environment. The lively atmosphere within the beer tent may have caused inaccurate recordings. The population...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 27, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Reported link between diet drinks and dementia and stroke is weak
Conclusion The researchers used data from a large ongoing cohort study to look for links between consumption of sugary and artificially sweetened drinks and risk of stroke or dementia. This cohort study benefits from the large overall sample size, long period of data collection, careful and valid diagnostic assessments, and adjustments for a number of confounders. However, care must be taken when interpreting these results – particularly if latching on to the maximal tripled risk figures reported in the media. There are several points to consider: Small numbers The new number of strokes and dementia in this study was sma...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 21, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Heart/lungs Neurology Source Type: news

Daily diet of fresh fruit linked to lower diabetes risk
Conclusion The study findings – that eating fresh fruit every day does not raise the risk of diabetes, and may reduce it – are reassuring and in line with dietary advice in the UK. It's also helpful to see evidence that people who already have diabetes are likely to benefit from fresh fruit as well, because there has not been much research into fruit-eating for people with diabetes. However, it's a step too far to say that fresh fruit prevents diabetes or diabetes complications. Fresh fruit is just one part of a healthy diet, and diet is just one of the things that may affect someone's risk of getting diabetes. This ty...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Food/diet Source Type: news

'Tooth loss link to increased risk of dementia'
Conclusion This study adds to the evidence that good oral health is linked to good overall health, including a reduction in the chances of developing dementia in later life. But the research doesn't prove that regular tooth brushing will prevent dementia. We don't know what causes dementia. From research so far, it looks as if there are a number of interlinked causes. Brain health and ageing are likely to be affected by factors including diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol use, blood pressure and genetics. While living a healthy lifestyle may certainly reduce the chances of dementia, there are no guarantees. This study ha...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 9, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Older people Source Type: news

Regular activity may help some people stay 'fat and fit'
Conclusion As people often say, if exercise was a medicine, it would be hailed as a miracle cure. This study suggests that what we already know about the benefits of exercise may extend to reducing risk of cardiovascular disease for middle aged and older people, even if they are overweight or obese. But the study has some limitations. This type of study can't prove that one factor – exercise – is responsible for the lower risk of heart attack and stroke among overweight or obese people who exercise more. It's possible that other factors are important – for example people's income may be linked to their opportuniti...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 2, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

'Netflix and kill?' Binge watching box-sets linked to blood clots
Conclusion This study used data from a large Japanese cohort study to assess the link between the number of hours spent watching the television and the risk of death from pulmonary embolism. The study found that a greater number of hours watching the television increased the risk of death from pulmonary embolism. The main strength of this study is the very large sample size and long follow-up periods. However, there are a number of limitations: this study design is not able to prove cause and effect, so while there appears to be a link, we cannot be sure the cause of mortality is from television watching even thoug...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 26, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Med diet best for heart disease (but some junk food won’t hurt)
Conclusion This study showed 3% fewer people with CHD, at high risk of major cardiovascular events, who reported eating the healthiest Mediterranean-style diets, had either died, or had a non-fatal heart attack or stroke over a three-year period than those with less healthy diets. Western diet scores were not related to major cardiovascular events. The study was large, worldwide and its methods quite robust, all boosting the believability of the findings. It is possible that unmeasured factors explain all or part of the findings, but the study made a concerted attempt to minimise the chance of this through adjusting for i...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Source Type: news

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