Health

Dehydration can affect much more than your thirst. It also can place extra stress on your heart and cardiovascular system, explains Dr. Brodie Marthaler, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.

Dementia can be brewing in the background for years before the telltale signs of memory lapses and difficulties with wayfinding creep into people’s daily lives or are detected through memory tests, but endless crossword puzzles or sudoku are unlikely to make a meaningful difference.

Anyone who works in health care in rural or remote Australia knows what the challenges look like. Behind every statistic is a person forced to travel hundreds of kilometers for care, a clinician stretched beyond capacity or a community left without the services it needs. These inequities are particularly stark for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Older adults who typically had longer intervals between meals accumulated chronic diseases more rapidly over time than those with shorter intervals, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. The association was most pronounced among people aged 78 years and older.

A new study found that nearly 8 out of 10 young adult participants, with an average age of 23 years, had cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome (CKM syndrome), according to independent research published today in Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes.

As the government prepares to introduce updated school food standards, an investigation by The BMJ finds that more than a third of the firms exhibiting at the UK’s biggest school food show sell products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS).

A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that adolescents reported that TikTok food content prompted a desire to eat or try foods, while acknowledging that parents could play a protective role by helping them disengage from the platform and fostering critical conversations about food, bodies, influencers and online health information. Participants frequently described TikTok food content as prompting hunger, cravings and interest in trying new foods, while parental involvement could interrupt exposure to food-related content.

Infrequent exercise is associated with a higher prevalence of common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety among higher education students in Norway, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by Michael Grasdalsmoen of Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and colleagues. The findings highlight the potential value of consistent physical activity rather than intense, prolonged exercise sessions.

The purpose of perspiration was a mystery in 1775, when English physician Charles Brian Blagden and a few inquisitive friends experimented on themselves by spending time in rooms heated to more than 230°F (110°C). While the temperatures were hot enough to cook raw meat placed in those rooms, Blagden noted how human bodies resisted the heat. Their core body temperatures remained nearly constant as sweat poured out and evaporated.

With more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s dementia—a number projected to reach nearly 13 million by 2050—new Emory University research suggests that higher vitamin D supplement intake may be associated with better cognitive function in adults at elevated risk of dementia.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that gut bacteria can convert dietary nitrate and iron into protective molecules that may reduce the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The study, published in Cell, reveals a new way in which the gut microbiota helps protect vital bodily functions.