Vitamin Ddeficiency and diabetes
Are you deficient in Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitaminIJ Beware, you may be at a greater risk of developing diabetes, warn researchers. A team of researchers found that individuals with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml in blood plasma were at up to five times greater risk for developing diabetes than people with levels above 50 ng/ml. “We found that participants with blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D that were above 30 ng/ml had one-third of the risk of diabetes and those with levels above 50 ng/ml had one-fifth of the risk of developing diabetes,” said lead author Sue K. Park from the Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea. For the findings, reported in the journal PlOS One, the team examined a cohort of 903 healthy adults (mean age: 74) with no indications of either pre-diabetes or diabetes. The researchers identified the minimum healthy level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in blood plasma to be 30 nanogrammes per millilitre.
The risks of dengue vaccine revealed
Fresh concerns about the efficacy of the world’s first ever Dengue vaccine has come to light as the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that there is an urgent need to describe the potential risks of the vaccine. Therefore, it has advised the countries planning to use the vaccine to screen the population before vaccination. It has strictly directed the countries to vaccinate only seropositive (tested positive for dengue) individuals. Dengvaxia (CYD-TDV), the vaccine in question is produced by the Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) formulated by WHO is examining the concerns caused by the vaccine.
A handshake says this about your health
Your physical strength has a lot of impact on your brain. In short, a fit body means a sharper brain. A study conducted by the NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Australia, reveals that stronger people perform better in brain functioning tests. And muscular strength, measured by handgrip, is an indication of how healthy our brains are, said the study published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin. “Our study confirms that people who are stronger do indeed tend to have better functioning brains,” said study co-author Joseph Firth from NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Australia. For the study, the researchers used data from 4,75,397 participants from all around Britain. The new study showed that on average, stronger people performed better in brain functioning tests that included reaction speed, logical problem solving, and tests of memory.