IQ LEVEL AFFECTS HEART DISORDERS

Differences in IQ may be one reason that lower-income individuals are more likely to die of heart disease than their more affluent counterparts,a study of US men suggests. In the new study,published in the European Heart Journal,researchers looked at the relationship between IQ and the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke among nearly 4,300 male US veterans. All of the men were given intelligence tests when they entered the Army during the Vietnam War,then were tested again in middle age. Over the following 15 years,62 study participants died of heart disease.
In general,the study found,men of the lowest socioeconomic status measured by income,occupation and education were between two and seven times more likely to die of causes related to heart disease than the most advantaged men. Classical risk factors,including high blood pressure,smoking and obesity,explained about 40 per cent of the disparity,according to the researchers. But IQ itself also appeared to play a role,explaining another quarter of the socio-economic gap.
Its not clear whether directly IQ,per se,affects heart disease risk,the researchers say.
IQ may essentially serve as an index of environmental insults accumulated across the lifetime, including illnesses,chronic stress and unhealthy lifestyle habits,explained lead researcher Dr David Batty,of the Medical Research Councils Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow.

Losing excess pounds may improve balance
A study suggests that obese adults could improve their balance by shedding pounds and boosting their muscle strength. The findings,reported in the journal Medicine amp; Science in Sports amp; Exercise,are important because falls are a particular problem for obese adults.
Studies suggest that obese people fall nearly twice as often as their thinner counterparts,and that falls are the most common cause of injury among obese adults. For the current study,nine young obese men underwent fall tests that estimated the effects of weight loss and strength gains on balance. During the test,the men were held by a harness in a forward-leaning position,at various angles. The harness was then released to see how well participants could recover their balance without taking a step.
The findings suggest that better balance could be one more benefit of shedding excess pounds,says study co-author Dr. Michael L. Madigan,of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg.