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Total 273 results found since Jan 2013.

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

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

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

Can concussion be tested for with a 'simple' blood test?
Conclusion This study is a prospective cohort study that aimed to investigate the use of two proteins in the blood – GFAP and UCH-L1 – as markers for detecting mild to moderate traumatic brain injury. The study found both proteins could be present in the blood after a head injury, with higher levels of UCH-L1 in the early stages after injury, while GFAP seemed to be a good marker for up to a week after injury. But both biomarkers were not found in all cases. One in five people with a brain injury did not have detectable levels of GFAP, and 1 in 10 did not have UCH-L1. This substantially reduces their ability to be us...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 29, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news

New drug 'effective' for those with intolerable statin side effects
Conclusion The main results of this study relate to the lipid-lowering effects of two alternative non-statin medications. However, it highlights the muscle-related adverse effects that can occur with statins. The study is carefully designed and has many strengths, including: a washout period between drugs to remove any residual effects double-blind design throughout so people didn't know what they were taking sufficient duration for each phase of the study (10 and 24 weeks) to allow effects to develop a good sample size – the researchers calculated beforehand how many people would need to be recruited to ena...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Older people 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

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

Obesity 'now a leading cause of death; especially in men'
Conclusion The effect of being overweight or obese on length of life has been discussed a lot in recent years, mainly because of studies which seemed to show people might live longer if they have a BMI in the overweight range, and that even moderate obesity did not raise the risk of death. However, this study suggests the previous findings were due to confounding factors – such as smoking and pre-existing diseases – which masked the link between BMI and length of life. The overall conclusion is that weight does matter, especially for men and younger people, who seem most affected by the link between BMI and early deat...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet 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

Excess body fat now linked to 13 different types of cancer
"Experts have linked eight more cancers to being overweight or obese, nearly tripling the list from five to 13," the Daily Mail reports. This is the latest finding of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a group of cancer experts from around the world that look at risk factors for cancer.  What is the basis for these reports? The headlines are based on a report published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine. The report is not exactly new research, but a review of previously published studies that looked at the link between weight and cancers. It is the result of a working g...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Blood pressure drop on standing 'may be linked to dementia'
Conclusion The causes of Alzheimer's – the most common type of dementia – are not well understood, despite much research. However, we do know that factors like blood pressure, blood flow to the brain and cardiovascular health are linked to the risk of vascular dementia in particular. In people with vascular dementia, brain scans often show up small areas of stroke where the brain has been starved of oxygen. This study adds more weight to the idea that constant blood flow to the brain, bringing brain cells the oxygen they need, is important in maintaining a healthy brain as we get older. But the study has some limi...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Heart/lungs Source Type: news

'Statins in a tube': Could a new toothpaste prevent heart disease?
Conclusion This study adds some weight to the theory that better oral hygiene may reduce inflammation in the body. However the size of the study and some concerns about its methods and findings mean we should be cautious about hailing plaque identifying toothpaste as a revolutionary new treatment to prevent heart disease. The study does seem to show that people were able to remove more plaque from teeth while using a plaque identifying toothpaste, which is no doubt a good thing for dental health. However, we don't know exactly which sort of toothpaste was used as the comparison, or how people were told to use it. If people...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

Sweetened drinks, including diet drinks, may raise diabetes risk
Conclusion This study primarily aimed to see if consuming sweetened drinks was associated with the rarer condition of LADA, as it is with type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that having more than two drinks per day was linked with increased odds of both conditions – though the link with LADA was a little weaker and not statistically significant when separately analysing diet and sugary drinks. They also found that high BMI and other poor lifestyle choices were also linked with the conditions. The findings generally support what is understood about type 2 diabetes, that high sugar intake, poor diet, low activity and hi...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Food/diet Source Type: news

Women now drinking 'almost as much alcohol as men'
Conclusion This review provides support that the male-female gap in indicators of alcohol use and related harms has been closing. This is more evident in young adults, and has changed quicker in more recent years. While the study provides evidence of a continuing trend, there are some key limitations. The review can provide observations of trends over time, but cannot tell us the reasons behind the closing of the alcohol use gap. It did not examine, for example, whether the changes in sex ratios in alcohol use and alcohol-related harms are the result of a fall in prevalence among men or a rise in women. The authors spec...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Source Type: news

Bagged salads 'pose salmonella risk,' say researchers
Conclusion This laboratory study principally demonstrates that salad leaf juice – released from salad leaves when they are damaged or broken – supports the growth of salmonella bacteria, even at fridge temperature. If leaves are contaminated with salmonella, this isn't removed by washing in water. The results don't show that all packaged salad leaves are contaminated with gut bacteria like salmonella. What they do show is that if the bags have been contaminated with gut bacteria, these bacteria will replicate, even in the fridge, and there's little you can do to remove them. The best thing to do is to throw the bag o...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news