People who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to a large British study released recently. Researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke. A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleeping from seven hours a night to five or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk in mortality from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death. The findings highlight a danger in busy modern lifestyles. The study looked at sleep patterns of participants aged 35-55 years at two points in their lives—1985-88 and 1992-93—and then tracked their mortality rates until 2004. Heart patients susceptible to colon cancerPatients showing signs of heart disease are at nearly double the risk of also having colon cancer, perhaps because unhealthy habits and inflammation are at the root of both, researchers said in a recent study. The association between heart disease, the single leading cause of death in industrialised countries, and the second most common type of cancer was confirmed in a study of more than 600 patients evaluated at the University of Hong Kong. Heart disease and colon cancer share several risk factors: smoking, high-fat diet, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and sedentary lifestyle. “Both colorectal (tumors) and coronary artery disease develop through the mechanism of chronic inflammation,” study author Dr Annie On On Chan of the University of Hong Kong wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The family of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, appear to have a deterrent effect on both diseases. Omega-3 fatty acids good for diabeticsA diet rich in fish and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids helped cut the risk that children with a family history of diabetes would develop the disease, US researchers said in a recent study, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Type 1 dia- betes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes in children. It occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Heredity and environmental factors such as diet are thought to play a role. Omega-3 fatty acids—which are found in fish, flaxseed oil, soybeans and other foods—may help. Out of the 1,770 children studied who were deemed at high risk for diabetes because of genetic tests or because they had a parent with type 1 diabetes, the researchers found at-risk children who ate a lot of foods rich in omega-3 were 55 per cent less likely to have pancreatic islet autoimmunity. Omega-3 fatty acids interfere with enzymes that play a role in inflammation, a potential trigger for type 1 diabetes.
