TOP MEDICAL NEWS 27/JULY/2022

The build-up of fat in the liver, known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD for short, is linked to a heightened risk of heart failure over the next decade, finds a pooled data analysis of the available research, published online in the journal Gut.

Recently published studies have implicated NAFLD in the development of heart failure—when the heart is unable to pump sufficient quantities of blood around the body. But the size of this risk, and whether this differs according to liver disease severity, isn't clear.

To try and find out, the researchers pooled the results of 11 long-term international observational studies published up to March 2022. The studies looked at the potential links between NAFLD and heart failure among more than 11 million middle-aged adults.

Ref: Mantovani A, Petracca G, Csermely A, et alNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk of new-onset heart failure: an updated meta-analysis of about 11 million individualsGut Published Online First: 25 July 2022. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-327672

2. Cancer Prevention with Resistant Starch

A trial in people with a high hereditary risk of a wide range of cancers has shown a major preventive effect from resistant starch, found in a wide range of foods such as oats, breakfast cereal, cooked and cooled pasta or rice, peas, and beans, and slightly green bananas.

An international trial - known as CAPP2 – involved almost 1000 patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fiber, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half.

This effect was particularly pronounced for upper gastrointestinal cancers including oesophageal, gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic, and duodenum cancers.

Ref: John C. Mathers, Faye Elliott, Finlay Macrae, Jukka-Pekka Mecklin, Gabriela Möslein, Fiona E. McRonald, Lucio Bertario, D. Gareth Evans, Anne-Marie Gerdes, Judy W.C. Ho, Annika Lindblom, Patrick J. Morrison, Jem Rashbass, Raj S. Ramesar, Toni T. Seppälä, Huw J.W. Thomas, Harsh J. Sheth, Kirsi Pylvänäinen, Lynn Reed, Gillian M. Borthwick, D. Timothy Bishop, John Burn; on behalf of the CAPP2 Investigators, Cancer Prevention with Resistant Starch in Lynch Syndrome Patients in the CAPP2-Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial: Planned 10-Year Follow-up. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 2022; https://doi.org/10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-22-0044

3. The connection of High-strength cannabis with addiction and mental health problems

Researchers from the Addiction and Mental Health Group at the University of Bath (UK) systematically analyzed the relationship between the types of cannabis people use and their addiction and mental health problems. Their work draws on 20 studies involving almost 120,000 people.

Cannabis potency refers to the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in cannabis - the key psychoactive drug it contains. Recent studies from the same team at Bath have found that the concentration of THC in cannabis has increased significantly over time meaning that cannabis used today is typically much stronger than previously.

Ref: Kat Petrilli, Shelan Ofori, Lindsey Hines, et. al, Association of cannabis potency with mental ill health and addiction: a systematic review. The Lancet Psychiatry, Published: July 25, 2022,  DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00161-4

4. The beneficial metabolic effects of time-restricted eating in adults with type 2 diabetes

A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) finds that following a time-restricted eating (TRE) protocol which limits food intake to a max 10-hour time window shows promising beneficial metabolic effects in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Our modern 24-hour society is characterized by endless food availability and disrupted day-night rhythm brought on by irregular sleep-activity patterns and frequent exposure to artificial light sources. In Western nations, people also tend to spread their daily food intake over a minimum of 14 hours, which is likely to result in the absence of a true, nocturnal fast state. These factors all contribute to the development of T2D which has become one of the most common metabolic diseases globally, estimated by the World Health Organization to cause more than 1.5 million deaths per year.

Ref: Andriessen, C., Fealy, C.E., Veelen, A. et al. Three weeks of time-restricted eating improves glucose homeostasis in adults with type 2 diabetes but does not improve insulin sensitivity: a randomized crossover trial. Diabetologia (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-022-05752-z