25 November, 2019

80 percent of adolescents worldwide are not physically active: WHO

More than 80 percent of adolescents worldwide are not physically active, including 85 percent girls and 78 percent boys, putting their health at risk by not doing regular exercise and spending too much time on screen, according to a new study from World Health Organization (WHO).

The study, published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, based on data reported by 1.6 million 11 to 17-year-old students – found that across all 146 countries studied between 2001-2016, girls were less active than boys in all. According to the WHO, levels of insufficient physical activity in adolescents continue to be extremely high, compromising their current and future health.

“Urgent policy action to increase physical activity is needed now, particularly to promote and retain girls’ participation in physical activity,” said study author Dr Regina Guthold, WHO. Most countries in the study (73 percent, 107 of 146) saw this gender gap widen between 2001-2016. The study also found that Bangladesh and India had the lowest rates of physical inactivity for boys and girls.

For the findings, the researchers estimated how many 11 to 17-year-olds do not meet this recommendation by analysing data collected through school-based surveys on physical activity levels. The assessment included all types of physical activity, such as time spent in active play, recreation and sports, active domestic chores, walking and cycling or other types of active transportation, physical education and planned exercise.

Physical activity trends show slight improvement for boys, none for girls

The study found that the greatest decreases in boys being insufficiently active were Bangladesh — from 73 percent to 63 percent, Singapore (78 percent to 70 percent), Thailand (78 percent to 70 percent), Benin (79 percent to 71 percent), Ireland (71 percent to 64 percent), and the US (71 percent to 64 percent).

However, among girls, changes were small, ranging from a two percentage-point decrease in Singapore (85 per cent to 83 percent) to a one percentage-point increase in Afghanistan (87 per cent to 88 percent).

Source: www.thehealthsite.com                 25.11.2019

If you want to be strong learn how to fight alone

18 November, 2019

Keto diet may help you fight the flu : Study

This diet regimen activates a subset of T cells in the lungs not previously associated with the immune system’s response to influenza, enhancing mucus production from airway cells that can effectively trap the virus, said the study published in the journal Science Immunology.

“This was a totally unexpected finding,” said co-senior author Akiko Iwasaki, Professor at Yale University in the US.

The researchers found that mice fed a ketogenic diet were better able to combat the flu virus than mice fed food high in carbohydrates.

Specifically, the researchers found that the ketogenic diet triggered the release of gamma delta T cells, immune system cells that produce mucus in the cell linings of the lung — while the high-carbohydrate diet did not.

When mice were bred without the gene that codes for gamma delta T cells, the ketogenic diet provided no protection against the influenza virus.

“This study shows that the way the body burns fat to produce ketone bodies from the food we eat can fuel the immune system to fight flu infection,” said co-senior author Visha Deep Dixit, Professor at Yale University.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

18.11.2019

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet

11 November, 2019

Vitamin D may not help you fight inflammation

Researchers have found that Vitamin D and marine omega-3 fatty acids — also known as fish oil — are not effective at reducing systemic inflammation. The study, published in the journal Clinical Chemistry, is an analysis of the Vitamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the UK.

“People commonly think that these supplements can prevent inflammatory diseases, but when a patient asks their doctor, ‘Should I take this supplement?’

“Doctors often don’t know what to advise because there haven’t been large scale clinical trials. VITAL provides a large dataset to address these questions,” said author Karen Costenbader. The VITAL study is a random, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which researchers tested the effects of supplements of vitamin D (2000 IU/day), omega 3s (1 gm/day) or both.

For this analysis, they tested levels of three known biomarkers of inflammation at the start of the trial and after one year of taking supplements or a placebo. The authors analysed biomarkers for only a subgroup of the original trial’s population — approximately 1,500 of the over 25,000 participants. They were interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-receptor 2, and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP).

The team found that neither supplement reduced the biomarkers at one year. Surprisingly, among those taking the vitamin D supplement, instead of decreasing, IL-6 levels rose by 8.2 per cent. The researchers reported that among participants who had lower fish intake at the start of the trial, hsCRP levels did decline for those taking the omega-3 supplement.

“We see that people whose fish intake was low at baseline had a reduction in one of the biomarkers of inflammation,” said Costenbader.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

11.11.2019

If opportunity does not knock, build a door

Nov 4, 2019

Low blood oxygen increases the chances of premature deaths in children

The study, published in Lancet’s EclinicalMedicine journal, shows that low blood oxygen is common not only in pneumonia, but also in many other conditions.

“Low blood oxygen is particularly common in newborn infants, especially those who are premature or have very difficult births,” said Hamish Graham from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia.

For the study, Graham worked with colleagues in Nigeria to record the blood oxygen levels of more than 23,000 children admitted to 12 medium-sized hospitals.

“Your blood oxygen level is the amount of oxygen carried by red blood cells from the lungs to the rest of the body — low blood oxygen damages cells and can lead to death,” Graham said.

“Our study found that one in four newborns and one in 10 children in hospitals had low blood oxygen, and these children were eight times more likely to die than those with normal blood oxygen,” Graham added.

The researchers hope the findings would encourage policy makers and healthcare workers in low and middle income countries to increase the use of oxygen measuring tools and oxygen therapy.

“Our modellings suggest that better use of oxygen monitoring and therapy in the 12 highest mortality countries in the world could prevent up to 148,000 child pneumonia deaths annually,” Graham said.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

04.11.2019

Be a good person but don’t waste time to prove it