Men and women aged 40-79 are at significantly lower (25-27%) risk of long or frequent hospital admissions if they do some form of physical activity, a new paper from the EPIC-Norfolk study suggests.

Inactive participants in the study spent just over 4 days more in hospital over the next ten years than those who did at least some physical activity, whether for work or leisure. And similar results were observed 10 years later when the same participants were 50-90 years old.

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care and MRC Epidemiology Unit, calculates that for every inactive person who started to take at least some exercise, the NHS could save around £247 per year. This would equate to around 7% of the UK’s per capita health expenditure. [Read more…]

A Mediterranean diet is characterised by high intake of plant-based foods (fruit, vegetables, nuts and cereals) and olive oil, moderate intake of fish and alcohol and low intake of dairy products and red and processed meat.  Studies have shown that many of these dietary components of the Mediterranean diet play an important role in bone and muscle health.  We proposed that the additive effects of these individual dietary components would have a greater impact on musculoskeletal health.  The aim of the study was therefore to examine associations between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and key indicators of bone and muscle status, including fracture incidence, bone density and muscle mass. [Read more…]

Previous research has shown that physical activity is good for our bodies and minds, and spending too much time sedentary (sitting) tends to do the opposite for our health.

Physical activity is increasingly being measured using accelerometry devices, which track intensity and duration of body movement. The use of accelerometers is an advance over the previously used self-report methods, which are prone to measurement error from imprecise and biased recall, and can thereby mask the true nature and magnitude of associations.

Our study examined whether prior activity patterns were associated with later health outcomes. The large sample of detailed data on accelerometer-measured physical activity in EPIC-Norfolk, along with incident disease data and a long follow-up duration made EPIC-Norfolk an ideal study for this work. [Read more…]

Meeting minimum public health recommendations could prevent nearly one in two deaths linked to physical inactivity

Keeping physically active or becoming more active during middle and older age is associated with a lower risk of death, regardless of past activity levels or existing health conditions, suggests a large UK study published today by The BMJ.

The new findings indicate that at the population level, meeting and maintaining at least the minimum public health recommendations (equivalent to 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity) would potentially prevent 46% of deaths associated with physical inactivity. [Read more…]

People who are less likely to put on excess fat around their hips due to their genes are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes and heart attacks, according to a new study led by scientists from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge.

While it has long been recognised that an “apple-shaped” body is associated with an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, the new research sheds light on the specific genetics linked to this body shape and the potential mechanisms behind the increased risk. The researchers suggest that their findings, published in JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association, may help to better identify individuals at risk of developing these conditions and inform their subsequent treatment.

The researchers studied the genetic profiles of over 600,000 participants from several large UK and international studies – including the UK Biobank, Fenland, EPIC-Norfolk, and EPIC-Interact – and identified over 200 genetic variants that predispose people to a higher waist-to-hip ratio, a measure of the “apple shaped” body. Using this data, the researchers identified two specific groups of genetic variants that increased waist-to-hip ratio – one exclusively via lower hip fat and the other exclusively via higher waist (abdominal) fat. [Read more…]

Summary

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world. Raised intraocular pressure (IOP) is the most important modifiable risk factor for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Yet the mechanism underling IOP regulation is not yet understood.  Prior to our study, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) had identified only a few genetic markers associated with IOP, explaining a tiny proportion of its variability.

We carried out a GWAS for IOP in over 100,000 European participants and identified 112 independent loci associated with IOP.  These genetic markers explained 17% of the variance of IOP, which is huge considering the daily variation in IOP in individuals and measurement error which affects IOP readings. [Read more…]