ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Carbohydrate digestion and obesity strongly linked
• Too many diet drinks may spell heart trouble for older women
• Obesity prevention programs can lower kids' blood pressure, even if they don't reduce body fat
• Marathon training could help the heart
• Mediterranean diet may lower risk of diabetes
• Air pollution from traffic increases odds of hospital readmission for asthma

Carbohydrate digestion and obesity strongly linked Posted: 30 Mar 2014 12:13 PM PDT New research indicates that obesity in the general population may be genetically linked to how our bodies digest carbohydrates. People usually have two copies of the gene AMY1, but in some regions of our DNA there can be variability in the number of copies a person carries, which is known as copy number variation. The number of copies of AMY1 can be highly variable between people, and it is believed that higher numbers of copies of the salivary amylase gene have evolved in response to a shift towards diets containing more starch since prehistoric times.

Too many diet drinks may spell heart trouble for older women Posted: 29 Mar 2014 02:51 PM PDT It appears healthy postmenopausal women who drink two or more diet drinks a day may be more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems, according to research. In fact, compared to women who never or only rarely consume diet drinks, those who consumed two or more a day were 30 percent more likely to suffer a cardiovascular event and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease.

Obesity prevention programs can lower kids' blood pressure, even if they don't reduce body fat Posted: 28 Mar 2014 02:50 PM PDT A systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies of the effect of child obesity intervention programs on blood pressure has found that whether such programs prevented obesity or not, many of them reduced blood pressure in children. Even modest elevations in the BP of adolescents, according to recent research, can pose cardiovascular problems later in life.

Marathon training could help the heart Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:08 AM PDT Marathon training is associated with improved risk factors related to cardiovascular disease among middle-aged recreational male runners, suggesting that race preparation may be an effective strategy for reducing heart disease risk, according to research.

Mediterranean diet may lower risk of diabetes Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:08 AM PDT Adoption of a Mediterranean diet is linked to a lower risk of diabetes, especially among people at high risk for cardiovascular disease, according to research. The main researcher said he believes the Mediterranean diet, in particular, lowers the risk of diabetes by helping to guard against obesity.

Air pollution from traffic increases odds of hospital readmission for asthma Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:07 AM PDT Higher exposure to traffic-related air pollution dramatically increases the odds of readmission to the hospital for asthma -- but only for white children, according to a new study. The study shows that white children exposed to high levels of TRAP are three times more likely to be readmitted for asthma than white children with low TRAP exposure. Levels of TRAP exposure were not associated with increased risk of readmission of black children, despite their having overall higher rates of asthma readmission than white children.

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