Science Weekly - 10th October 2020

​Intriguing variety of topic's discussed in the papers published this week on fitness, nutrition and sports science and also a lesson learnt about reading research reviews.

​Here are the highlights:
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• Drink coffee after breakfast, not before, for better metabolic control
• ​Hunger encourages risk-taking
• ​Excess folic acid during pregnancy harms brain development of mice
• ​​Exposure to vitamin D in the womb might minimize risk of high blood pressure for children born to mothers with preeclampsia​
• ​Has COVID-19 knocked us onto our backsides?
• ​Invisible threat: Listeria in smoked fish
• ​Effect of exercise training for five years on all cause mortality in older adults

Drink coffee after breakfast, not before, for better metabolic control

The new study looked at the combined effects of disrupted sleep and caffeine on our metabolism - with surprising results.

Source: University of Bath

Hunger encourages risk-taking

An insufficient food supply causes animals to engage in higher-risk behavior: the willingness to take risks rises by an average of 26 per cent in animals that have experienced hunger earlier in their lives. Scientists evaluated experimental studies involving more than 100 animal species.

Source: Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena

Excess folic acid during pregnancy harms brain development of mice

Researchers found too much folic acid was just as detrimental as too little
A study of pregnant mice found high levels of folic acid were associated with significant changes in brain development of offspring.

Source: University of California - Davis Health

​Exposure to vitamin D in the womb might minimize risk of high blood pressure for children born to mothers with preeclampsia

Findings come from new analysis of large epidemiological dataset
Children appear to be at greater risk of having high blood pressure when their mothers had the high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia during pregnancy -- but this adverse association may be reduced or even eliminated for children who were exposed to higher levels of vitamin D in the womb.

Source: Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Has COVID-19 knocked us onto our backsides?

Researchers study pandemic's effects on physical activity and sedentary behavior
Researchers sought to examine the impact of pandemic-related changes upon physical activity and sedentary behavior, specifically sitting, across the university population.

Source: Kent State University

​Invisible threat: Listeria in smoked fish

Fish should be a regular component of our diets. It is an important source of biologically high-quality and easily digestible protein, minerals and vitamins. However, raw, smoked and cured fish products also often contain pathogenic germs, notably listeria. People can become infected by eating contaminated food and become ill with listeriosis.

Source: BfR Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

Effect of exercise training for five years on all cause mortality in older adults

Compared with the Norwegian recommended guidelines for physical activity, supervised exercise (HIIT and MICT combined) showed no effect on all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease events, or cancer events in older adults. Our data do, however, suggest that HIIT lowers the risk of premature death compared with recommended guidelines and MICT.
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Source: BMJ