Health
Friends, family may protect against heart attack, stroke and type 2 diabetes, study suggests
New research is emphasizing that socializing with friends and family may help protect people against heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and other conditions and illnesses.
The study suggests that social interactions may keep people healthy because these interactions boost the immune system and reduce the risk of disease.
Cambridge University researchers, along with colleagues in China, came to these conclusions after studying protein in blood samples taken from over 42,000 adults recruited to the U.K. Biobank, news agency SWNS reported.
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The study team said social relationships play a key role in well-being.
Professor Barbara Sahakian of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge said, “These findings drive home the importance of social contact in keeping us well. More and more people of all ages are reporting feeling lonely,” as SWNS noted.
Socializing with friends and family may help protect people against heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and other conditions and illnesses, a new study suggests. (iStock courtesy of user skynesher)
“That’s why the World Health Organization has described social isolation and loneliness as a global public health concern … We need to find ways to tackle this growing problem and keep people connected to help them stay healthy.”
Evidence increasingly shows that both social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health and an early death, the same source reported. But the underlying mechanisms through which social relationships impact health apparently have remained elusive until now, the news agency also said.
“We need to find ways to keep people connected to help them stay healthy.”
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy previously warned against the health risks of loneliness, as Fox News Digital reported earlier.
“Loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience,” he said when issuing an advisory nearly two years ago on the topic, per The Associated Press. “It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing.”
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“Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right,” he also said at the time. “That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.”
The researchers connected to the new study said that one way to explore biological mechanisms is to look at proteins circulating in the blood, SWNS noted. Proteins, which are molecules produced by genes, are essential for helping the human body function properly.
They can also serve as useful drug targets, allowing scientists to develop new treatments to tackle diseases.
“Social relationships play an important part in keeping us healthy,” said one of the scientists connected to a new study. (iStock)
The Cambridge team and scientists at Fudan University, China, examined the “proteomes,” or the suite of proteins, in blood samples donated by more than 42,000 British adults aged 40 to 69.
That allowed them to see which proteins were present at higher levels among people who were socially isolated or lonely — and how these proteins were connected to poorer health, SWNS said.
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The team calculated social isolation and loneliness scores for individuals in the study, which was published in Nature Human Behaviour, a monthly peer-reviewed journal.
Social isolation is an objective measure based on, for example, whether people live alone, how frequently they have contact with others and whether they take part in social activities, the team said.
“We know that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, but we’ve never understood why.”
Loneliness, by contrast, is a subjective measure based on whether an individual feels lonely.
When the researchers analyzed the proteomes and adjusted for factors including age, sex and socio-economic background, they found 175 proteins associated with social isolation and 26 proteins associated with loneliness.
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Many of the proteins are produced in response to inflammation, viral infection and as part of immune responses, the team said — and they also showed links to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and early death.
The findings, said a researcher, “drive home the importance of social contact in keeping us well.” (iStock)
The researchers then used a statistical technique to explore the causal relationship between social isolation and loneliness, on the one hand, and proteins on the other.
With that approach, they identified five proteins that were found in abundance during periods of loneliness.
“We know that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, but we’ve never understood why,” said Dr. Chun Shen of the department of clinical neurosciences at the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University.
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“Our work has highlighted a number of proteins that appear to play a key role in this relationship, with levels of some proteins in particular increasing as a direct consequence of loneliness,” he said, as SWNS reported.
Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick said, “There are more than 100,000 proteins and many of their variants in the human body … AI and high-throughput proteomics can help us pinpoint some key proteins in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for many human diseases and revolutionize the traditional view of human health.”
“AI and high-throughput proteomics can help us pinpoint some key proteins in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in many human diseases.” (iStock)
He also said, “The proteins we’ve identified give us clues to the biology underpinning poor health among people who are socially isolated or lonely, highlighting why social relationships play such an important part in keeping us healthy.”
One of the proteins produced at higher levels as a result of loneliness was ADM.
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Previous studies have shown that ADM plays a role in responding to stress and in regulating stress hormones and social hormones, such as oxytocin — known as the “love hormone” — which can reduce stress and improve mood.
The team found a “strong” association between ADM and the volume of the insula, a brain hub for interoception, the ability to sense what’s happening inside the body.
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The greater the ADM levels, the smaller the volume of the region.
Higher ADM levels were also linked to lower volume of the left caudate — a region involved in emotional, reward and social processes. Higher levels of ADM were also linked to an increased risk of dying young.
The researchers said another of the proteins, ASGR1, is associated with higher cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease — while other identified proteins play roles in the development of insulin resistance, “furring” of the arteries and cancer progression.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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