Using a pedometer 'can cut chance of developing diabetes by half/ 'Babies born in April have 'higher MS risk'/ Cancer risk increases with blood sugar

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Using a pedometer 'can cut chance of developing diabetes by half'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/kate-devlin/6918062/Using-a-pedometer-can-cut-chance-of-developing-diabetes-by-half.html

Using a pedometer regularly can help to cut the chance of developing diabetes by half, new research suggests.

 

 

 

By Kate Devlin, Medical CorrespondentPublished: 7:30AM GMT 04 Jan 2010

 

Volunteers who used the machines to walk for just half an hour a day for a year radically reduced their chances of developing the disease.

The findings are all the more dramatic because the tests were carried out on people at high risk of developing diabetes.

 

 

More than 2.5 million people in Britain suffer from the condition, which can lead to serious complications including blindness.

Experts predict that up to four million Britons could be diabetic by 2025, in part because of the obesity crisis.

Already an estimated seven million suffer from prediabetes, in which blood sugar levels are raised.

The condition puts patients at up to fifteen times the normal risk of going on to develop full-blown diabetes.

The study tested the impact of using a pedometer on 98 people with prediabetes.

The volunteers were split into three groups, a control group given a short information leaflet about diabetes, a second group given a three hour education session on the disease, and a third who had the three hour seminar and were also given a pedometer.

Those in the pedometer group were helped to set a series of ‘steps-per-day’ targets, designed to help them walk for at least 30 minutes a day.

After a year those who used the pedometer saw their blood sugar levels fall by 15 per cent.

If continued in the long term such a fall would cut their chance of developing diabetes in half, the team behind the study estimate.

There were no significant falls in blood sugar levels in either of the two other groups.

None of the groups lost weight over the course of the experiment.

Researchers believe that increased levels of physical exercise helped those using the pedometers the body regulate blood sugar levels.

Dr Iain Frame, from Diabetes UK, which helped to fund the study, said: “By finding new ways to educate and motivate people with prediabetes we are aiming to stop the Type 2 diabetes epidemic in its tracks and prevent millions of people developing serious complications of the condition such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.”

Dr Thomas Yates, from the University of Leicester, who led the research, added: “Our study proves that using a pedometer as part of a structured education programme can really improve health outcomes for people with prediabetes.

“Using lifestyle interventions to stop people developing diabetes and its complications could save the NHS a fortune.”

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Babies born in April have 'higher MS risk'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6926776/Babies-born-in-April-have-higher-MS-risk.html

Babies born in April face an increased risk of suffering from multiple sclerosis in later life, possibly as a result of their mothers' lack of exposure to sunlight, according to research.

 

 

 

 

Published: 8:56AM GMT 03 Jan 2010

 

Scientists found mothers who were pregnant during the autumn and winter were most likely to give birth to those who would suffer from the debilitating neurological disease.

The researchers, based at Glasgow university and the city's Southern General Hospital, believe the spike in cases among children born in the spring may be due to a shortage of vitamin D because duing a vital developmental stage their mothers are exposed to less sunshine.

 

 

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Vitamin D, which is largely gained through sunlight and food, is known to regulate a gene that can predispose individuals to MS. If the gene is passed on to the unborn child, without being regulated by a sufficient amount of vitamin D, it could "hard wire" them to develop the disease in later life.

The new study, published in the European Journal of Neurology, is the biggest yet carried out in Scotland, which has the highest rate of MS in the world.

MS affects about 85,000 people in the UK and 10,500 in Scotland. While the cause is not known, experts believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors are responsible for the condition.

The Glasgow researchers examined data on about 1,300 MS patients born in the west of Scotland between 1922 and 1992. They found that about 400 people born in March, April and May went on to develop MS, 22per cent higher than expected. Almost half of all male and a quarter of female sufferers were born in April.

By comparison, there were about 16per cent fewer MS births in the autumn months. Those born in November had the lowest incidence of the disease.

Dr Colin O'Leary of the institute of neurological sciences at the Southern General and co-author of the study, said several theories about the condition were being explored.

"It's a very interesting observation and springtime seems to be a period of relatively high risk," he said.

"Seasonal risk may be a reflection of adverse events that occurred at the time of birth, in utero in the preceding nine months, or during the months following birth, when the central nervous system continues to undergo rapid development.

"There could be an association between reduced sun exposure and vitamin D levels." O'Leary now plans to carry out a UK-wide study with scientists in Oxford.

Professor George Ebers, from Oxford University's department of clinical neurology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, said: "The difference [in developing MS in Scotland] between being born in April versus November is an astounding 50per cent. This is real, there's no doubt of a seasonal link. There are different theories, but I think the April excess of births could be linked to a sunlight deficiency.

"The focus is on trying to prove what the environmental effect is and, pending conclusive demonstration of that effect, some people might view it as prudent to conceive at certain times of the year to lower their child's MS risk if there is a history of the disease in the family."

Ryan McLaughlin, 14, from Glasgow, whose mother has MS, launched a campaign for all pregnant women and young children in Scotland to be given Vitamin D supplements.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government, said: "Much of the evidence of a link between vitamin D and MS is still at a very early stage. We will continue to review all well-conducted research across the world. If the recommendations on vitamin D change we'll make the appropriate arrangements."

 

Cancer risk increases with blood Cancer risk increases with blood sugar

Up to one in six Britons with high blood-sugar levels faces a greater danger of developing cancer, according to new research.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6927283/Cancer-risk-increases-with-blood-sugar.html

 

 

By Richard Alleyne, Science CorrespondentPublished: 1:02PM GMT 03 Jan 2010

 

Excess blood sugar means someone could be more likely both to develop cancer and also to die from it, according to research in the Public Library of Science journal.

Women were more vulnerable than men and high blood sugar is linked o a range of different cancers for each gender, it found.

The findings are worrying because an estimated 10.1 million people in the UK have high blood-sugar, largely as a result of unhealthy lifestyles, especially eating foods containing a lot of sugar, salt or fat.

The figure includes 2.6 million diagnosed diabetics, 500,000 others who have the disease but do not know it, and a further seven million who have pre-diabetes, a precursor to the full-blown condition.

Scientists at Umea University in Sweden, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), examined blood sugar levels in 274,126 men and 275,818 women from Norway, Austria and Sweden with an average age of 44.8, then followed them up a decade later to see how many had developed or died from cancer.

Dr Tanja Stock, the lead researcher, said: "The results suggest that, for women, the higher the level of sugar in the blood, the higher the risk. For men, there was still an association, but it was weaker."

The study is significant because it found that the increased likelihood of cancer occurred regardless of the participants' body mass index levels.

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