Science Weekly - 19012019

Our weekly science report just interesting again with a variety of topics being researched from across the Globe.

Feel free to share the relevant papers with your clients to help them make better decisions about their life. This week's highlights:

• effect of intermittent fasting on obese women
• how high fat diets may cause high blood pressure in younger adults
• what happens to the spinal muscles of astronauts (this is just for geeks really)
• a hormone produced by the liver was found to signal to the body to slow down the metabolism when expending a lot of energy
• a new proposed diet has surfaced to save humanity
• the real reason behind stress fractures may not be what we thought
• and more... 

Intermittent fasting could improve obese women's health

Research shows that obese women lost more weight and improved their health by fasting intermittently while following a strictly controlled diet.

Source: University of Adelaide

High-fat diets appear bad for blood pressure in younger males and females

There's more evidence that a high-fat diet is bad for both younger males and females, but exactly how it's harmful may differ between the sexes, scientists report.

Source: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

Excessive body fat around the middle linked to smaller brain size, study finds

Carrying extra body fat, especially around the middle, may be linked to brain shrinkage, according to new research. For the study, researchers determined obesity by measuring body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio in study participants and found those with higher ratios of both measures had the lowest brain volume.

Source: American Academy of Neurology

Maternal stress leads to overweight in children

Researchers were able to identify mother's perceived stress during the first year of the child's life as a risk factor for developing overweight in infancy. Researchers found this to have long-lasting effects on girls' weight development in particular.

Source: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ

Long-duration space missions have lasting effects on spinal muscles

Astronauts who spend several months on the International Space Station have significant reductions in the size and density of paraspinal muscles of the trunk after returning to Earth, reports a new study.

Source: Wolters Kluwer Health

Carrots or candy bars? Context shapes choice of healthy foods

Pop quiz: Given a choice between indulgent and healthy foods, what will most people pick? The answer may depend on what foods sit nearby on the grocery shelf, suggests new research. Paradoxically, the nearby presence of an indulgent treat such as Snickers or Oreos can cause more people to opt for a healthy food, such as salmon or grapefruit. Context, in other words, affects food choices.

Source: Duke University

High intake of dietary fiber and whole grains associated with reduced risk of non-communicable diseases

Observational studies and clinical trials conducted over nearly 40 years reveal the health benefits of eating at least 25g to 29g or more of dietary fiber a day, according to a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Source: The Lancet

Cardiovascular diseases and nutrition in Europe: A lot of premature deaths preventable

Of the 4.3 million cardiovascular deaths in Europe in 2016, 2.1 million were the result of poor nutrition. The 28 EU member states account for around 900,000, Russia for 600,000 and the Ukraine for 250,000 of these deaths. Every second to third premature cardiovascular death could be prevented by better nutrition.

Source: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

When the body's in overdrive, this liver hormone puts the brakes on metabolism

Researchers have identified a hormone produced by the liver that tells the body to downshift its metabolism when it's expending a lot of energy.

Source: University of Michigan

Epigenetic change causes fruit fly babies to inherit diet-induced heart disease

Scientists have identified an epigenetic marker and two genes that caused heart failure in the children and grandchildren of fruit flies with high-fat-diet-induced heart dysfunction. Reversing the epigenetic modification or over-expressing the two genes protected subsequent generations from the negative heart effects of their parents' diet.

Source: Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Vitamin D supplements are of no benefit to the over 70s

There is little benefit for those over 70 taking higher dose vitamin D supplements to improve their bone strength and reduce the risk of falls, new research has revealed.

Source: Newcastle University

Physical activity reduces mortality in patients with diabetes

Patients with type 2 diabetes should be prescribed physical activity to control blood sugar and improve heart health, researchers recommend in a newly published paper.

Source: European Society of Cardiology

Diet and food production must radically change to save planet

Transformation of the global food system is urgently needed as more than 3 billion people are malnourished (including people who are undernourished and overnourished), and food production is exceeding planetary boundaries -- driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution due to over-application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, and unsustainable changes in water and land use.

Source: The Lancet

Soft drinks + hard work + hot weather = possible kidney disease risk

New research suggests that drinking sugary, caffeinated soft drinks while exercising in hot weather may increase the risk of kidney disease.

Source: American Physiological Society

Stress fracture? Your foot hitting pavement wasn't the main problem

It starts as a persistent and irritating pain in the foot or lower leg, then it gets more intense, maybe with swelling, and soon a runner knows she's being sidelined by one of the most common running injuries: a stress fracture. These tiny cracks in the bone can halt training for months or even end a sports season. A segment of the multibillion-dollar wearables industry aims to save potential victims from this fate, but an engineering professor found a major problem: the devices are measuring the wrong thing.

Source: Vanderbilt University