Health


Changes in Red Meat Consumption Linked to Mortality

Two prospective cohort studies in the US concluded that increases in red meat consumption, especially processed meat, were associated with a higher risk of death; decreases in red meat consumption and simultaneous increases in healthy alternative food choices over time were associated with a lower mortality risk. The studies included […]


Sleep Irregularity Linked to Metabolic Abnormalities

A US cross-sectional and prospective analysis suggested that increased variability in sleep duration and timing was associated with higher prevalence and incidence of metabolic abnormalities even after considering sleep duration and other lifestyle factors. Participants completed 7-day actigraphy from 2010 to 2013 and were prospectively followed throughout 2016 to 2017. […]


Step Counts Matter

A US prospective cohort study in older women showed that more steps taken per day are associated with lower mortality rates until approximately 7500 steps/day. The study included 18 289 women by wearing an accelerometer during waking hours for 7 days between 2011 and 2015. 16 741 (mean age 72.0) were compliant […]


Dietary Change Reduced Breast Cancer Mortality

A US randomized, controlled clinical trial revealed that a dietary change with increased vegetable, fruit, and grain intake reduced the risk of death from breast cancer in postmenopausal women. A total of 48,835 postmenopausal women, aged 50-79 years, with no previous breast cancer and dietary fat intake ≥32% of total […]


Warnings Added to Common Sleep Pills

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring a Boxed Warning, the most prominent warning, to be added to certain common prescription insomnia medicines because of sleep behaviors, including sleepwalking, sleep driving, and engaging in other activities while not fully awake. These complex sleep behaviors have also resulted in deaths. […]


Exercise Reduced Sitting Linked Mortality

A longitudinal analysis in Australia revealed that sitting is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk among sedentary adults; moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) doses equivalent to meeting the current recommendations attenuate or effectively eliminate such associations. During an 8.9-year (median) follow-up, a total of 8,689 deaths (1,644 due […]


Poor Diet a Major Contributor to Mortality and Morbidity

A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 found that suboptimal diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risks and that improvement of diet could potentially prevent one in every five deaths globally. By use of a comparative risk assessment approach and disease-specific population attributable […]


Alcohol Consumption Increases BP and Stroke Risk

A Chinese genetic epidemiological analyses revealed that alcohol intake uniformly increases blood pressure (BP) and stroke, indicating that the apparently protective effects of moderate alcohol intake against stroke suggested by conventional epidemiological analyses are largely non-causal. The study enrolled 512 715 adults between June 25, 2004, and July 15, 2008, from […]


Replacing Sitting with Physical Activity Linked to Longevity

A prospective US cohort study showed that replacement of 30 minutes/day of sitting with light physical activity (LPA) or moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was associated with lower mortality riskamong less active adults. The study included 37,924 men and 54,617 women, of which 14,415 men and 13,358 women died […]


Salt Intake Reference Updated

A new US National Academies report updated Dietary Reference Intakes for potassium (Adequate Intake [AI] 3400 mg for man and 2600 mg for most women per day) and sodium (AI 1500 mg/day, and Chronic Risk Reduction Intake 2300 mg/day) in healthy adults. There was insufficient evidence of risk of excess […]