Medical Bulletin 20/ January/ 2025
Here are the top medical news for the day:
Genetics and Environmental Factors Contributing to Childhood Obesity: Study Finds
A cutting-edge molecular approach provides a detailed picture of the biological pathways associated with childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction, and identifies environmental risk factors during early life. The findings are published in nature communication.
Researchers used an advanced “multi-layered omics” approach to examine gene expression, proteins, and metabolites in blood samples from over 800 European children, together with detailed information about their health and prenatal environment.
By analysing five “omics” layers- DNA methylation, microRNAs, mRNA, proteins and metabolites- the researchers identified three distinct clusters among the children. One of these groups stood out because the children not only had higher body fat but also showed more signs of metabolic complications. This high-risk cluster showed a higher expression of inflammation markers, which indicate an overactive immune system.
The researchers also looked at environmental factors during pregnancy and found that the mother’s weight before pregnancy strongly influenced whether her child fell into the high-risk group. Interestingly, the environmental exposures linked to the high-risk cluster differed depending on the region. In Northern and Western Europe, maternal exposure to the industrial chemical perfluorooctanoate (used in non-stick coatings) was a significant risk factor
“These findings help us identify modifiable risk factors that could be targeted early in life,” says Martine Vrijheid, ISGlobal researcher and senior author of the study. “They also underscore the need to tailor prevention guidelines to diverse country contexts,” she adds.
Reference: Stratakis, N., Anguita-Ruiz, A., Fabbri, L. et al. Multi-omics architecture of childhood obesity and metabolic dysfunction uncovers biological pathways and prenatal determinants. Nat Commun 16, 654 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56013-7
Eating Red Meat May Raise Dementia Risk by 13%
A new study has found that eating greater quantities of red meat, especially in processed forms, increased risk for dementia. Results, published online in Neurology, highlight that replacing processed red meat with protein sources like nuts and legumes or fish may decrease dementia risk by approximately 20 percent.
Among 133,771 individuals included in this study with an average age of 49 years at baseline, 11,173 were diagnosed with dementia up to 43 years later.
A typical serving of red meat is 3 ounces — approximately the size of a bar of soap. Those eating a daily average of one-quarter or more of a serving of processed red meats, compared to those consuming a minimal amount, had a 13 percent higher risk of developing dementia, adjusting for numerous clinical, demographic and lifestyle factors such as socioeconomic status and family history of dementia.
The researchers measured objective cognitive function using standard cognitive assessments. They found that this measure was also worse among those with greater processed meat consumption, with cognitive aging accelerated by approximately 1.6 years per average daily serving.
The researchers also examined self-reported subjective cognitive decline, which may precede markers of cognitive decline on standard evaluations. A greater risk of subjective cognitive decline was associated with consuming either processed or unprocessed meats.
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a product of the bacteria-mediated breakdown of meat, may increase cognitive dysfunction due to its effects on the aggregation of amyloid and tau, proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease, but research is limited. The saturated fat and salt content of red meat may also impair brain cells’ health.
“Dietary guidelines tend to focus on reducing risks of chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes, while cognitive health is less frequently discussed, despite being linked to these diseases,” said corresponding author Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “We hope our results encourage greater consideration of the connection between diet and brain health.”
References: Li Y et al. “Long-Term Intake of Red Meat in Relation to Risk of Dementia and Cognitive Function in US Adults ”Neurology DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000210286
Study Reveals Exposure to Air Pollution Before Conception Increases Child's Risk of Higher BMI
In a study of more than 5,000 mothers and their children, exposure to air pollution during the three months before pregnancy predicted higher child body mass index (BMI) and related obesity risk factors up to two years of age. Findings from the study were published in the journal Environmental Research.
Researchers studied 5,834 mother-child pairs recruited from maternity clinics in Shanghai. They found that greater exposure to PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 before pregnancy was linked to increases in BMI or BMIZ, a standardized score that shows how a child’s BMI compares to others of the same age and sex.
To calculate air pollution exposure during the preconception period, the researchers developed state-of-the-art machine learning models. Researchers used a combination of satellite data, pollutant simulations and meteorological factors to estimate daily pollution exposure at each participant’s home address.
After birth, researchers also collected electronic medical records data of children’s weight and height at three-month intervals until age two. They used this data to calculate growth rate of weight, BMI, and BMIZ. They then compared participants with a relatively low exposure level to those with a relatively high exposure level to quantify how air pollution exposure was linked to different child outcomes.
A higher level of exposure to PM2.5 during the preconception period was associated with a 0.078 increase in child BMIZ at age two. A higher level of exposure to PM10 was associated with a 0.093 kg/m2 increase in BMI at age two. From six months onward, children with higher preconception exposure to all three pollutants had higher weight, BMI and BMIZ growth rates.
“The magnitude is small, but because air pollution is widespread and everybody is exposed, the risk of air pollution exposure on children’s obesity risk may be substantial and may start before their mothers’ pregnancy,” said Zhanghua Chen, PhD, an assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study’s senior author.
Reference: Liao, J., Yan, W., Zhang, Y., Berhane, K., Chen, W., Yang, Z., ... & Chen, Z. (2024). Associations of Preconception Air Pollution Exposure with Growth Trajectory in Young Children: A Prospective Cohort Study. Environmental Research, 120665.
Gestational Diabetes Linked to Type 2 Diabetes, but Causes Vary by Individual: Study Finds
Women who have gestational diabetes have increased risk of type 2 diabetes in the years after delivery. Those who go on to develop the chronic disease fall into three “clusters,” each with a distinct molecular driver, according to a new study from University of Pittsburgh researchers published in Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews.
These clusters point to targets for potential precision-medicine approaches for type 2 diabetes.
The team focused on 225 women who had a history of gestational diabetes and then developed type 2 diabetes within 12 years of delivery. The researchers used blood samples that had been gathered periodically as the women progressed to the chronic disease, applying computational modeling and machine learning to metabolomic, proteomic and genomic data, as well as clinical measures such as triglycerides, insulin and glucose levels.
The researchers determined that in one cluster of study participants, their diabetes was driven by pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction; in a second cluster, it was driven by insulin resistance; and in a third cluster, the disease was driven by a mixture of the two. About 50% of study participants fell in this “mixed” cluster.
“In type 2 diabetes research, many pathways will pop up again and again, and cause-and-effect interactions are difficult to understand,” said lead author Saifer Khan, Ph.D., research faculty member at the Vascular Medicine Institute at Pitt and the VA Medical Center, Pittsburgh. “By examining this very high-risk population, we were able to target the very early stages of disease and simplify the pathways.”
Reference: Khan, S.R., Van, J.A.D., Xiangyu, Z., Alexeeff, S.E., Razani, B., Wheeler, M.B. and Gunderson, E.P. (2025), Early Postpartum Metabolic Heterogeneity Among Women Who Progressed to Type 2 Diabetes After Gestational Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort. Diabetes Metab Res Rev, 41: e70027. https://doi.org/10.1002/dmrr.70027
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