Science Weekly - 1st January 2021

The last two weeks of 2020 were a little slower in the science world but we still found over half a dozen of published papers that your personal training clients might find useful.

Here are the highlights:

• Exercise for low back pain beneficial but no one agrees on why
• Elite soccer players help define normal heart measures in competitive athletes
• Drinking milk while breastfeeding may reduce the child's food allergy risk
• Low-intensity exercise during adolescence may cut schizophrenia risk
• New drug combination could improve glucose and weight control in diabetes
• Increased meat consumption associated with symptoms of childhood asthma
• Blood vessel cells implicated in chronic inflammation of obesity

Exercise for low back pain beneficial but no one agrees on why

A new evidence review has found there is still no consensus between researchers about why exercise works for low back pain patients - despite decades of studies on the topic.

Source: University of New South Wales

Elite soccer players help define normal heart measures in competitive athletes

Analyses of professional soccer players' heart test results provide insights on athletes' cardiac structure and function. The hearts of elite soccer players frequently exhibit electrical and structural patterns that are above guideline-defined normal ranges.

Source: Massachusetts General Hospital

Drinking milk while breastfeeding may reduce the child's food allergy risk

Children of mothers who drink relatively more cow's milk during breastfeeding are at reduced risk of developing food allergies.

Source: Chalmers University of Technology

Low-intensity exercise during adolescence may cut schizophrenia risk

Researchers have found that low-intensity exercise, which is associated with improved mental function, has a protective effect against symptoms of schizophrenia in adolescent mice. These findings may facilitate the development of exercise programs to help prevent schizophrenia in humans.

Source: University of Tsukuba

New drug combination could improve glucose and weight control in diabetes

Adding an experimental cancer drug to a widely used diabetes medicine enhances glucose management and weight control in mice
Scientists have shown that adding an experimental cancer drug to a widely used diabetes treatment improves blood glucose control and weight loss in mice, according to a new study.

Source: eLife

Increased meat consumption associated with symptoms of childhood asthma

Substances present in cooked meats are associated with increased wheezing in children, researchers report.

Source: The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Blood vessel cells implicated in chronic inflammation of obesity

When fat cells in the body are stuffed with excess fat, the surrounding tissue becomes inflamed. That chronic, low-level inflammation is one of the driving factors behind many of the diseases associated with obesity. Now, scientists have discovered a type of cell responsible, at least in mice, for triggering this inflammation in fat tissue. Their findings could eventually lead to new ways to treat obesity.

Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center