Long daytime naps may increase risk of diabetes

Sleep is an important part of a healthy life, along with a healthy diet and exercise. Sleep plays an important role in shaping our physical and mental health. Taking a short nap during the day is also considered to be beneficial to health. However, long daytime naps may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study.

This research led by Dr Tomohide Yamad of University of Tokyo has been presented at the annual meeting of European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm.

Around 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes. 90 percent of these patients are suffering from type 2 diabetes. 27.8 percent of the diabetes cases are undiagnosed. Approximately 2.9 million people in the UK have diabetes and this number is expected to go up to 5 million by the year 2025.

Read more Type 2 Diabetes Cure? A Super Low-Calorie Diet May Be The Answer!

Type 2 diabetes was previously known as non-insulin-dependent Diabetes (NIDDM). In type 2 diabetes either the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin which results in insulin resistance. When the body develops insulin resistance it means that the body is producing insulin, but the sensitivity of the insulin is reduced and it is not doing the job properly which results in build-up of glucose in the blood and the cells starve for glucose which is needed for energy.

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Dr. Yamada and his team conducted a meta-analysis to study the link between daytime sleepiness, nap and type 2 diabetes. They searched through articles published in Medline, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science until November, 2014. Out of 683 initial studies, 10 were deemed suitable, involving 261,365 subjects from Asia and the West. Studies on daytime sleepiness came from Sweden, Spain, Finland and Germany, and studies on napping came from USA, China and Germany.

Those who answered ‘yes’ to the question, “Do you have a problem with sleepiness during the daytime?” were considered to be long excessive daytime sleepers. For daytime napping, answering ‘yes’ to questions “Do you take a daytime nap?” or “Do you sleep during the day?” was considered

Those who reported long daytime naps were found to increase their risk of diabetes by 56 percent. Those who reported daytime napping of 60 minutes or more were found to increase their risk of diabetes by 46 percent. However, a short nap of 40 minutes or less didn’t increase the risk – the risk was said to increase sharply after 40 minutes of sleep. [Read more Fresh fruit may be beneficial for people with diabetes, research suggests]

"Daytime napping might be a consequence of night-time sleep disturbance such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),” the authors said. The condition is responsible for stroke, ischemia, heart disease, and all-cause mortality. It also has some common risk factors with type 2 diabetes, such as age and obesity.  

The authors concluded by saying:

“Excessive daytime sleepiness and taking longer naps were associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, with a short nap not increasing this risk.”

“Entering deep slow-wave sleep and then failing to complete the normal sleep cycle can result in a phenomenon known as sleep inertia, in which a person feels groggy, disoriented, and even sleepier than before napping. Although the mechanisms by which a short nap might decrease the risk of diabetes are still unclear, such duration-dependent differences in the effects of sleep might partly explain our findings.”

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Aspirin can double life expectancy of gastrointestinal cancer patients

A major study has found that daily doses of aspirin can double the life expectancy of patients with cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

Researchers in Netherlands analyzed data from nearly 14,000 patients suffering from a range of cancers, around half of whom were regular aspirin takers.

After a 4-year follow-up period, those who took the anti-inflammatory painkiller were twice as likely to still be alive compared to those who didn’t take aspirin daily.

Factors that influence the survival rate such as, age, gender, stage of cancer, other medical conditions, and treatments were taken into account before the impact of aspirin on survival was identified.

The coordinator of the trial Dr. Martine Frouws believes that the findings could have a great impact on patients and national healthcare system.

“Now we would like to analyze tumor material from these patients to try and discover which ones would benefit from aspirin treatment,” said Frouws from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“Through studying the characteristics of tumors in patients where aspirin was beneficial, we should be able to identify patients who could profit from such treatment in the future.

Given that aspirin is a cheap, off-patent drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients,” she said.

Most common types of cancer in these patients were colon, rectum and esophagus.

The researchers are going ahead with a randomized control trial to investigate the survival of elderly bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by giving them a daily dose of 80mg of aspirin. The effects of aspirin and placebo will be compared in this trial.

Researchers plan to expand the study at a later date that will include gastrointestinal cancer patients, which they hope will provide convincing proof that the aspirin treatment will benefit more patients.
“We have good evidence that the frequent use of aspirin in the population can prevent some cases of colorectal (bowel) cancer, said Prof Peter Naredi, scientific co-chair of the congress.

“Now, Frouws and colleagues show that in over 13,000 patients who were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal cancer, aspirin also improved survival compared with those who did not use it.
“With more and more data to support the beneficial role of aspirin, we must consider whether we should recommend it to a wider public,”

Dr. Martine Frouws presented the findings at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna.

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Obesity may increase brain tumor risk

A new study has found that obesity may lead to development of some types of brain tumor. The report published in the journal Neurology, suggested that people who are overweight or obese are at an increasing risk of developing a type of brain tumor known as meningioma. According to the study, the risk was said to increase by 54% for obese people and 21% for those who are overweight.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 69% of adults aged 20 and over in the U.S. are either overweight or obese. Obesity is the step after overweight. A study conducted in 2003 showed that obese or overweight adults aged 50 or over, accounted for 14% (in men) and 20% (in women) of all cancer deaths in the U.S. This risk could be avoided by losing only 12 pounds.
Out of approximately 688,000 people living with a primary brain tumor or central nervous system tumor in the United States, 138,000 have benign tumors and 550,000 have malignant tumors.

Read more A bottle of water before meal could help you lose weight 

Meningioma – accounting for about 30 percent of brain tumors, arises from meninges – the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The odds of developing meningioma are about five to eight cases per 100,000 each year. Although most meningiomas are benign (noncancerous), rarely, some are found to be malignant (cancerous). Some meningiomas are in between benign and malignant and are classified as atypical.

Meningiomas are most common in older women. But, males at any age are also at risk. This type of tumour grows slowly, but can be fatal when they grow bigger and interfere with brain functions.
The other type of brain tumor which the study - carried out by Gundula Behrens, PhD. of the University of Regensburg, Germany, focused on is known as Glioma.

About 33 percent of brain tumors are glioma. It got its name from glial cells in the brain where it grows. Glial cells are the tissue that surrounds and supports the brain neurons. These types of tumors are called intrinsic brain tumors because they reside within brain matters and frequently blend with normal brain tissue. [Read more Avoid obesity: Have home-cooked meals, turn off the TV while eating]

Malignant tumors in the brain are very difficult to fight. American Academy of Neurology (AAN) blames prior exposure to brain radiation as the most solid risk factor for developing brain tumor. But for the more than 120 types of brain tumor, the cause is still a mystery.
The study team was led by Gundula Behrens from the University of Regensburg in Germany. She and her team attempted to find out what role did weight and physical activity play on the risk of developing meningioma and glioma.

Read more High-Fat Diet Damages Brain, Affecting Learning And Memory

The team studied the meta-analyses of 18 previous researches that involved Body Mass Index (BMI) and physical activity of 2,982 patients with meningioma and 3,057 patients with glioma.

Study showed that people who were overweight with 25 to 29.9 BMI were 21% more likely to develop meningioma, and people who were obese with a BMI of 30 or over were 54% more likely to develop glioma, compared with people with a healthy body weight and BMI of below 24.9.
The study also showed that people who were very active in physical activities were 27% less likely to develop meningioma than the people with least amount of physical activity.

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“Given the high prevalence of obesity and the unfavorable prognosis for this type of tumor, these findings may be relevant for strategies aimed at reducing the risk of meningioma,” said Behrens.
The researchers didn’t find any relationship between overweight and glioma, which has a similar rate of occurrence as meningioma.
 
Behrens believes that excess weight and increased risk of meningioma might be linked with several biological processes.

Estrogen is known to facilitate the development of meningioma and excess weight entails a higher rate of estrogen production. Excess weight is also linked with high insulin levels which might facilitate the growth of meningioma.

The lead author also pointed out that while the study links excess weight and inadequate exercise with meningioma, it does not prove that this is actually the cause. She thinks that people with meningioma may have lessened their physical activity from the time they were diagnosed with the tumor.

This analysis supports an earlier conclusion drawn in 2008 by a study that said that "the incidence of glioma or meningioma tumors increases with increasing height and increasing BMI."
The 2008 analysis was published in British Journal of Cancer.

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Yoga may improve arthritis symptoms, new study says

A new study found yoga a safe and effective way to improve symptoms of arthritis. Researchers reported that patients who underwent yoga classes for eight weeks experienced improvements in their health and mental state.

Arthritis is a painful joint disorder. Out of more than 100 different types of Arthritis, the most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. There is no cure for the disease but exercise and lifestyle changes are prescribed to alleviate symptoms.

Arthritis top the list of disability causes in the United States where 52.5 million people suffer from some form of Arthritis.

An estimated 10 million people in the UK has arthritis which is 1 in 5 of the adult population.
Susan J. Bartlett, Ph.D., an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins thinks that there is a growing interest in yoga in America where 1 out of 10 people practices the meditative exercise to improve health and fitness. [Read more What causes aging? Can the process be slowed?]

“Yoga may be especially well suited to people with arthritis because it combines physical activity with potent stress management and relaxation techniques, and focuses on respecting limitations that can change from day to day,” said Bartlett.

জেনে নিন গাজরের অসংখ্য না জানা গুণাবলী 

Researchers selected 75 people who had either knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis – the 2 common types of arthritis. Participants were divided into two groups. One group took part in twice-weekly session of yoga for eight weeks which included a weekly session of practice at home. The other group acted as a control group with wait list. Doctors assessed their physical well being before the start of the study and after it ended. The doctors didn’t have any knowledge about which group the participants belonged to. The patients continued taking their regular arthritis medication throughout the study. [Read more

A 20% improvement in pain, mood and energy levels were reported by participants who performed yoga compared to the participants on a waitlist. These patients also had a 20% improvement in their physical function. These improvements were noticeable even after 9 months of the end of the study.
 “Preliminary evidence suggests yoga may help sedentary individuals with arthritis safely increase physical activity, and improve physical and psychological health and HRQOL [health-related quality of life],” the study team said.

The researchers, in a bid to help doctors in safely recommending yoga, developed a checklist. They said that arthritis patients should talk with doctors about the specific joints that causes inflammation and about medications.

“Find a teacher who asks the right questions about limitations and works closely with you as an individual. Start with gentle yoga classes. Practice acceptance of where you are and what your body can do on any given day,” said Clifton O. Bingham III, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center.

The study results were published in the Journal of Rheumatology

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Brain cells can be controlled by sound waves

Scientists, for the first time used sound waves to control brain cells. The technique, called sonogenetics was developed by the scientists from Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California. Scientists successfully used the method on worms when they selectively activated their brain, heart, muscle and other cells by using sound waves.

This new technique has some similarities to the burgeoning field of optogenetics where light is used to control living tissue.

By using same type of low-pressure ultrasound used in medical sonograms, scientists were able to penetrate it through skin and tissue and control certain cells.

In optogenetics, a focused laser is shined on the cells which allow scientists to selectively open the channels. This method is difficult to use on cells deep in the brain since they have to surgically implant a fiber optic cable that reaches the cells. Also, light is scattered by the brain and other tissues.
The scientists decided to look for a less invasive alternative which relied on ultrasound waves for the activation of the cells.

“In contrast to light, low-frequency ultrasound can travel through the body without any scattering,” said Sreekanth Chalasani, a senior author and an assistant professor at the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory in Salk Institute.

“This would enable us to manipulate target cells or tissues that are deep within the body without extensive surgery,”

To use ultrasound, a protein that responds to ultrasound was needed. The team identified TRP-4, a naturally occurring protein in the membranes of invertabrates. When they applied ultrasound, it triggered the gas bubbles to spread into the worm and caused TRP-4 channels to open up and activate the cells. The team was then able to genetically modify the worms by adding TRP-4 neurons and successfully activated them.

The scientists are hoping to use sonogenetics on human as an alternative way to treat Parkinson’s or other neurological diseases where a method called deep brain simulation is used by implanting electrodes in the brain to ease the symptoms of the disease.

“The real prize will be to see whether this could work in a mammalian brain,” said Chalasani. “When we make the leap into therapies for humans, I think we have a better shot with noninvasive sonogenetics approaches than with optogenetics.”

He believes that both optogenetics and sonogenetics approach shows promising results in basic research in cell activation. These methods may also be useful in therapeutics. To effectively and safely use it in humans, the scientists must develop safe ways to deliver light or ultrasound.
Other researchers involved in the study were Stuart Ibsen and Ada Tong of the Salk Institute, Carolyn Schutt and Sadik Esener of the UC, San Diego.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Scientists develop protein patch to repair heart attack damage

Stanford University researchers have created a protein patch that they said would repair heart attack damage. According to a report by Medical News Today, the patch has worked on animal testing when damages on mouse and pig hearts caused by heart attack were reversed by the patch. The patch is said to be available for human clinical trials by 2017.

Each year around 735,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack. Heart disease claims the lives of 610,000 Americans annually. Around 124,000 people in the UK suffer a heart attack each year.
During a heart attack, muscle cells in the heart die because of lack of oxygen due to reduced blood flow. The damaged heart tissue isn’t easily repaired which may turn into awful scar tissue. Scientists believe that these tissues need to be repaired in order to avoid long-term damage.

There is no treatment available to repair the heart tissue damage. These damaged tissues may lead to abnormal heart beat or even heart failure.

The lead researcher of the study Prof. Ruiz-Lozano and his team focused on developing a treatment that would explain why the cardiomyocytes fail to regenerate.

The researchers studied zebrafish which regenerates its own heart cells using the epicardium that releases more than 300 proteins that activate the replication of the cardiomyocytes.

The team identified a protein called Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1) in the epicardial tissue that prompted the replication of the cardiomyocytes. In humans, this protein diminishes after a heart attack and that is why damaged heart cells are not easily repaired.

The researchers then created a patch made of acellular collagen and soaked it in the protein FSTL1. Then they attached it to the damaged hearts of pigs and mice that had experienced heart attacks. After two weeks, heart function in these animals improved and it triggered the replication of existing muscle cells which grew new blood vessels.

Prof. Ruiz-Lozano believes that prior to receiving the patch, many of the animals were very sick and would need a heart transplantation. He hopes that the new findings will break the ground for a completely revolutionary treatment for heart disease.

Mark Mercola, a co-author of the study and a professor bioengineering at UCSD described the patch as “clinically viable and “clinically attractive.” Because the patch does not contain any cells, there would be no need for an immunosuppressive medication.

The researchers concluded by saying:

“The data suggest that the loss of epicardial FSTL1 is a maladaptive response to injury, and that its restoration would be an effective way to reverse myocardial death and remodeling following myocardial infarction in humans.”

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Scientists develop new test to calculate how well a person is ageing

Scientists have developed a molecular test to determine how well a person is aging. A team of researchers from 3 countries worked for seven years to develop the method which calculates a person’s biological age instead of chronological age. They say "health" and "age" are two separate entities.

This project is a collaborative effort by researchers from King's College London, UK; Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; and Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The scientists believe this new development will make managing age-related neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer’s and other dementias easier.

"Physical capacity such as strength or onset of disease is often used to assess 'healthy aging' in the elderly but in contrast, we can now measure aging before symptoms of decline or illness occur," said lead author Prof. James Timmons of Kings College London.

By using a process known as RNA-profiling, the researchers discovered that the activation of 150 genes in blood, brain and muscle tissue were character of good health and it enabled them to create a healthy ageing formula which they used to find out how well a person was ageing when compared to others born the same year. [Read more What causes aging? Can the process be slowed]

The researchers first measured the levels of RNA in the blood of healthy 65-year-old adults and thereby analyzed the activity levels of their key genes.

The team next studied the RNA of healthy 70-year-old men. Their health records for over twenty years were then analyzed. It was discovered that high gene-activity scores in these adults were associated with better cognitive skills and kidney function across a 12-year period. Both of these functions forecast the risk of early death.

“The men who had a really high score had almost no chance of being dead at the end of the 20 years,” said Prof. Timmons.

The researchers said that this is the first time a medical research was provided an accurate test which shows the rate at which people’s bodies are ageing. Since age is a critical factor in almost all areas of medicine, they believe that this discovery could lead to many insights in research. 

The test does not show how an individual can improve his or her biological age. 

They also found a link between low scores and decline in cognitive skills. In the future, the mechanics behind this test could help develop blood tests to identify those at a high risk of Alzheimer’s or other dementias.  The test could also improve donor matching for elder people in need of organ transplants.

"Whilst it is natural for our bodies and brains to slow down as we age, premature aging and the more severe loss of physical and cognitive function can have devastating consequences for the individual and their families, as well as impact more widely upon society and the economy,” 

This new test holds great potential as with further research, it may help improve the development and evaluation of treatments that prolong good health in older age," said Dr. Neha Issar-Brown, program manager for population health sciences at the Medical Research Council in the UK, who also provided funding for the research. 

The findings were published in the journal Genome Biology.

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Drinking beet juice boosts muscle strength in heart failure patients

For heart failure patients, following a diet rich in nitrates – found in beetroot juice – boosts their muscle power, according to a new study. 

“It’s a small study, but we see robust changes in muscle power about two hours after patients drink the beet juice,” says senior author Linda R. Peterson, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Currently, about 5.7 million people in the United States are living with heart failure. Heart failure claims the lives of 375,000 Americans each year. 

Heart failure patients gradually lose their capacity of pumping blood. Numerous clinical studies have shown the helpful effect of exercise training on skeletal muscle energy metabolism, ventilatory capacity, and vascular function. Doctors are urged to stress exercise training for all clinically stable patients with heart failure. [Read more Drinking beet juice before workout boosts brain power in older adults]

This new study was built on the team’s previous work where they showed that athletes such as, cyclists were greatly improved their heart muscles by consuming dietary nitrates.

Active ingredient in the beet juice are the nitrates – found in leafy vegetables such as, spinach, arugula and celery. These nitrates are converted into nitric oxide during exercise. Nitric oxide has many beneficial effects on the body such as– relaxing blood vessels and improving metabolism. The benefits are very common during swimming, cycling or running, when athletes’ breathing is increased to get more oxygen into the body.

The researchers speculated that applying this method on heart failure patients may show similar results, since a heart failure patient gradually loses capacity to pump blood. A weak heart is followed by shortness of breath which makes it very difficult to perform everyday activity.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, U.S.A., picked 90 people who experienced heart failure. Each of them received a beet juice treatment. 

The control group in the study was the patients themselves. All the participants were given the same beet juice, only difference was that some of them had the nitrate removed from their juices – making it a placebo juice. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew the order in which participants the treatment and placebo beet juice.

There was a one to two week break during the trial sessions.

Two hours after consuming the juice, the patients who had beet juice treatment with nitrates reported a 13 percent increase in muscle power in the knee compared to the group that had placebo beet juice. The most benefit was gained by moving the knee at greatest speed. 

Researchers measured the benefit by comparing the improvement through an exercise program.

"I have compared the beet-juice effect to Popeye eating his spinach. The magnitude of this improvement is comparable to that seen in heart failure patients who have done 2-3 months of resistance training,” said Andrew R. Coggan, PhD, assistant professor of radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine.

The patients didn’t experience any major side effects from beetroot juice. The researcher didn’t find any increase in heart rates or drops in blood pressure, which is common in heart failure patients.

The study was published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

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Abnormal fat deposits in brain may be trigger Alzheimer’s disease

A new study suggests an abnormal accumulation of fat in the brain may trigger or hasten the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

This breakthrough research was led by the Research Center of the University of Montreal led Hospital (CRCHUM). The findings were published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate, there are about 47 million people living with dementia globally - 60% to 70% of who are Alzheimer’s patients. Every 3 seconds someone in the world develops dementia. [Read more How low-fat dairy could increase your Parkinson’s disease risk]

Researchers noted that for the first time since the disease was described in 1906, they have discovered fat buildup in brain of patients who died of the disease and have identified the nature of the fat.

The team’s initial goal was to find out why the brain’s stem cells appeared to be inactive in Alzheimer’s disease when normally it is supposed to repair brain damage.

While comparing the brains of nine patients who died of Alzheimer’s with the brains of five healthy patients, the researchers found significantly more fat buildup in brain of the dead Alzheimer’s patients. A team of chemists, using advanced mass spectrometry, identified the fat deposits as triglycerides which were enriched with fatty acids which are commonly found in animal fats and vegetable oils.

“We discovered these fatty acids are produced by the brain, that they build up slowly with normal aging, but that the process is accelerated significantly in the presence of genes that predispose to Alzheimer’s disease,” said co-author Karl Fernandes.

While doing the test on mice, researchers found out that brains of mice predisposed to Alzheimer’s built up the fatty acids at the of 2 months which would be early twenties in human terms.

“In mice predisposed to the disease, we showed these fatty acids accumulate very early on, at two months of age, which corresponds to the early twenties in humans. Therefore, we think that the build-up of fatty acids is not a consequence but rather a cause of accelerator of the disease,” Fernandes said. 

"Therefore, we think that the build-up of fatty acids is not a consequence but rather a cause or accelerator of the disease." 

The discovery of fat buildup in brain in Alzheimer’s patients opens up new possibilities in finding a cure or slowing the progress of Alzheimer’s.

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Long-term use of low-dose Aspirin may lower risk of colon cancer

A new study has found that taking one or two low-dose aspirins every day for at least 5 years could reduce the risk of developing colon cancer in men and women.

Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world. Excluding skin cancers, it is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the US. In UK, 16,187 deaths were reported from bowel cancer in 2012.

The study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that men and women who took one or two low doses (75 to 150 mg) of aspirin a day for at least five years saw a 27 percent lower risk of bowel cancer.

Although, earlier studies had suggested that aspirin and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may prevent colorectal cancer, it was unclear on the amount, and the length of time in order to achieve the benefits. [Read more Regular coffee drinking may cut your liver cancer risk by half]

The latest study was done by researchers at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. 

The participants included 10,280 adults with first-time colorectal cancer and 102,800 adults who acted as the control group. Diet, weight and exercise were excluded from the study. 

"It is important to evaluate the association between aspirin or other NSAIDs in the general population, as well as within selected study populations of high-risk individuals with colorectal cancer, including persons with familial/hereditary disposition, previous history of colorectal adenomas or cancer or obesity, while balancing the chemopreventive effects against the potential harms," said Soren Friis, senior scientist and associate professor at Aarhus University Hospital.

“Unless low-dose aspirin is taken continuously, there is little protection against colorectal cancer,” Dr. Friis told Reuters Health. 

People should also take into account that long-term aspirin use could cause gastrointestinal bleeding. Taking other types of NSAIDs for a long time could increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Researchers also noted that the findings do not prove that painkillers reduce the risk of colon cancer, but there is a connection between the two. 

"The protective association is certainly amazing, and it's a good example of how everyday drugs can have unexpected benefits," said study co-author Dr. John Baron of University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

"But there are also potential risks ... I don't think we should imply or recommend that these medications be taken for cancer prevention without working closely with a physician.”

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A bottle of water before meal could help you lose weight

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have found that drinking 500ml of water half an hour before major meals of the day may aid in weight loss among adults with obesity.

Obesity is a major health issue in the United States where two out of every three Americans are considered to be overweight or obese. 

Published in the journal Obesity, the study revealed that obese adults who ‘pre-loaded’ with 500ml of plain tap water before meal lost an average of 4.3 kg (9.5lbs) over a 12-weeks period.

The group consisted of 84 obese adults who were recruited from general practices. They were divided into two groups and monitored over a 12 week period. 

41 of those recruited were asked to consume 500 ml of tap water 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch and dinner - referred to as "preloading" - every day for 12 weeks. The remaining 43 belonged to the control group who were advised to imagine that they had a full stomach before eating.

Each of the participants, all adults with obesity, were given a weight management consultation, where they were advised on how to adapt their lifestyle and improve their diet and levels of physical activity. [Read more Avoid obesity: Have home-cooked meals, turn off the TV while eating]

Those who pre-loaded before all three main meals in the day reported a loss of 4.3kg (9.48lbs) over the 12 weeks, whereas those who only preloaded once, or not at all, only lost an average of 0.8kg (1.76lbs).

“The beauty of these findings is in the simplicity. Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight,” said Dr. Helen Paretti, NIHR Clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham.

"When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss -- at a moderate and healthy rate. It's something that doesn't take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives."

The study team hopes that the results will encourage further research into the benefits of pre-loading with water before main meals. They are asking for support for a trial study they plan to do with a larger number of participants and over a longer period of time in order to confirm the findings.

"Losing a few extra pounds over the course of a year can be significant to an individual, and this could be an easy way to help with that weight loss. It's a simple message that has the potential to make a real contribution to public health," Dr. Parretti concluded.

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The power of music: It relieves pain during and after surgery

The health benefits of music have been proven once again. Researchers at Brunel University and Queen Mary University of London have discovered that relieves pain when played before, after or during surgery of patients.

The study was conducted on 7000 patients. When researchers allowed the patients to listen to their favorite tune during surgery, the participants experienced their pain level drop by two points on a scale of 1 to 10. The patients also required less medication to ease their pain. At the same time, the patients felt more satisfied and less anxious by the procedure while listening to music.

The research, which was published in The Lancet found that even when the patients listened to music while under general anesthetic, they experienced a reduction in their levels of pain, although the effects were greater when they were conscious. However, music wasn’t able to reduce the hospital stay of these patients.

“Music is a non-invasive, safe and cheap intervention that should be available to everyone undergoing surgery,” said lead author Dr Catherine Meads from Brunel University.

“Patients should be allowed to choose the type of music they would like to hear to maximize the benefit to their wellbeing. However, care needs to be taken that music does not interfere with the medical team’s communication,” Dr. Meads added.

The research follows a recent study which showed that surgeons are placing patients at risk by playing music at operation theaters. The study analyzed 20 surgeries in the UK. It showed that staffs at some operation theaters are negatively affected by the music because nurses find it hard to hear commands, while anesthetics can’t tell a pulse from the beat.

However, the London based researchers praised the strong effects of music and advised that it be played to anyone undergoing surgery so long it doesn’t muddle the medical procedure.

To follow up on this research, the team has introduced a pilot program where music will be introduced into operative settings at The Royal London Hospital.

It seems that music can have a significant impact on patients and it could save the healthcare industry millions of dollars in pain relieving drugs.

“Music is a simple and cheap intervention, which reduces transient discomforts for many patients undergoing surgery,” said Dr Paul Glasziou from Bond University, Queensland, Australia.

“A drug with similar effects might generate substantial marketing…The very high heterogeneity…of effects among trials in the accompanying study highlights a research opportunity—to identify how to maximize the effect,” Dr. Glasziou added while writing in a linked comment.

Belief in the healing power and many other benefits of music is gaining momentum. Scientists are trying to better understand the role of music as a painkiller.

“However, it’s taken pulling together all the small studies on this subject into one robust meta-analysis to really prove it works,” said Dr. Martin Hirsch of Queen Mary University.

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Daily aspirin intake could lower the risk of cancer in overweight people

Overweight people who frequently take aspirin at night lowers their risk of getting cancer, according to a new research. 

British researchers assessed the effects of aspirin during a 10-year study of 937 participants with Lynch syndrome – a type of inherited cancer associated with a genetic predisposition to different cancer types. To put it simply, people with Lynch syndrome have a higher risk of getting cancer, especially colon and womb cancer. 

Scientists from 16 countries were involved in the research. They discovered that overweight people were twice the risk of developing colon cancer. But, the risk could be reversed if these patients were administered a regular dose of aspirin.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and was funded by the Cancer Research UK, UK Medical Research Council, Bayer Pharma and the European Union.

"This is important for people with Lynch Syndrome but affects the rest of us too," says study author Sir John Burn, a professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University in the UK. 

“Obesity increases the inflammatory response. One explanation for our findings is that the aspirin may be suppressing that inflammation which opens up new avenues of research into the cause of cancer,” he explained.”

The study showed that the benefits of aspirin seemed to occur before the earliest stages of developing tumor. They believe that this is due to the fact that aspirin may affect cells that are predisposed to becoming cancerous over time. [Read more Pancreatic cancer: The hidden danger that lurks deep in the abdomen]

"We may be seeing a mechanism in humans whereby aspirin is encouraging genetically damaged stem cells to undergo programmed cell death," Prof. Burn suggested. "This would have an impact on cancer."

The scientists examined the progress of participants with Lynch syndrome who were randomly assigned to either take two aspirins (600 mg) a day for 2 years or a placebo.

When the participants were followed up 10 years later, it showed that a total of 55 had developed bowel cancer. They found that overweight people were more likely, in fact 2.75 times more likely to develop cancer than those who were of normal weight. [Read more Regular coffee drinking may cut your liver cancer risk by half]

“Our study suggests that the daily aspirin dose of 600 mg per day removed the majority of the increased risk associated with higher BMI (body mass index),” explained professor Tim Bishop from the University of Leeds and the leader on the statistics for the study.

The researchers however cautioned that before anyone decides to take aspirin on a daily basis, they should consult their doctor first; Aspirin is known to cause ulcers and other stomach complications.

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