A round-up of today's health news
Scientists show lifespan is linked to DNA make-up
SCIENTISTS HAVE isolated a gene sequence that appears to determine how fast our bodies age, the first time a link between DNA and human lifespan has been found. The discovery raises the best hope yet for drugs that prevent the biological wear and tear behind common age-related conditions such as heart disease and certain cancers.
The work is expected to pave the way for screening programmes to spot people who are likely to age fast and be more susceptible to heart problems and other conditions early in life. People who test positive for the gene variant in their 20s could be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and encouraged to exercise, eat healthily and avoid smoking.
The breakthrough is unlikely to lead to drugs that dramatically extend lifespan, but doctors say it may help prolong the lives of patients whose genes make them susceptible to dying young. “This may help us identify patients who are at a greater risk of developing common age-related diseases so we can focus more attention on them,” said Prof Nilesh Samani, a cardiologist at the University of Leicester, who led the research.
The research highlights the difference between chronological age and biological age, the latter of which is determined by our genetic make-up and lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking. Two people of the same age can have biological ages that differ by more than 10 years. A team at King’s College, London found a common sequence of DNA was strongly linked to a person’s biological age. In a study of nearly 3,000 people, about 38 per cent inherited one copy of the gene variant and were biologically three to four years older than those who did not carry the sequence.
Store safety extends to father's shoulders
A SUPERMARKET customer in Britain was ordered to take his daughter off his shoulders because of health and safety concerns. Martin Dunkley (45) was carrying his daughter Natalie (6) in a Tesco store in Cambridge, when he was approached by a security guard and ordered to put his daughter down. “He said it was for safety reasons. I couldn’t believe it. This sort of pettiness gives health and safety a bad name.” A Tesco spokesman said: “We take the safety of our staff and customers very seriously.”
Sweetened soft drinks linked to pancreatic cancer risk
PEOPLE WHO drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, researchers reported yesterday. People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.
Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study. “The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,” Mr Pereira said in a statement.
Writing in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers Prevention, Pereira and colleagues said they followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years.
Over that time, 140 volunteers developed pancreatic cancer. Those who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87 per cent higher risk of being among those who got pancreatic cancer.
Susan Mayne of the Yale Cancer Center at Yale University in Connecticut was cautious. Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal association or not,” she said. “Soft drink consumption in Singapore was associated with several other adverse health behaviours such as smoking and red meat intake, which we cant accurately control for.” About 230,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year while some 400 are diagnosed in Ireland.