Faculty of Engineering, Lund University

MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 -- When it comes to sweets, the type a person chooses can have a significant impact on their heart health, a new study finds. Sugary drinks significantly increase a person’s risk of stroke , heart failure, irregular heartbeat and other heart health problems, results showed. But adding honey to a bowl of oatmeal or eating an occasional sweet pastry doesn’t appear to drastically harm heart health, and in some cases might improve it, researchers found. “The most striking finding from our study is the divergent relationship between different sources of added sugar and cardiovascular disease risk,” said researcher Suzanne Janzi , a doctoral candidate at Lund University in Sweden. “This surprising contrast highlights the importance of considering not just the amount of sugar consumed, but its source and context,” Janzi said. For the study, researchers analyzed data collected from nearly 70,000 Swedes participating in two long-term health studies. Participants responded to diet questionnaires as part of the studies. The team looked specifically at three sources of sugar -- toppings like honey, treats like pastries and sugary beverages. During a follow-up period that ended in 2019, nearly 26,000 of the participants had been diagnosed with a heart problem, researchers found. Sugary drinks wound up being worse for a person’s heart health than any other source of sugar. “Liquid sugars, found in sweetened beverages, typically provide less satiety than solid forms -- they make you feel less full -- potentially leading to overconsumption,” Janzi explained. “Context also matters -- treats are often enjoyed in social settings or special occasions, while sweetened beverages might be consumed more regularly,” Janzi added. Increased sugar in general caused a rise in a person’s risk for stroke and heart failure. However, consuming an occasional sugary treat was associated with better health outcomes than not eating any treats at all, researchers found. “This might reflect underlying dietary behaviors -- individuals consuming very little sugar might have very restrictive diets or might be limiting sugar due to preexisting health conditions,” Janzi said. “While our observational study cannot establish causation, these findings suggest that extremely low sugar intake may not be necessary or beneficial for cardiovascular health,” Janzi added. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health . More work will be needed to fully understand why different sources of sugar might have different effects on heart health, particularly in other parts of the world, researchers said. “Our findings are based on a Swedish population, which may have dietary habits and lifestyle factors that differ from those in other populations,” Janzi said in a journal news release. “Particularly relevant in this context is the social custom of ‘fika’ -- regular coffee and pastry breaks that are deeply embedded in Swedish culture,” Janzi added. “These results may not directly translate to other populations with different dietary cultures.” Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

TUESDAY, Sept. 10, 2024 -- For patients starting long-term oxygen therapy for chronic, severe hypoxemia at rest, the risk for hospitalization or death within one year is comparable with long-term oxygen therapy for 24 or 15 hours per day, according to a study published online Sept. 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the European Respiratory Society Congress, held from Sept. 7 to 11 in Vienna. Magnus Ekström, M.D., Ph.D., from Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues compared the risk for hospitalization or death at one year with long-term oxygen therapy for 24 versus 15 hours per day among patients who were starting oxygen therapy for chronic, severe hypoxemia at rest. Patients were randomly assigned to receive long-term oxygen therapy for 24 hours (117 patients) or 15 hours (124 patients) per day. The researchers found that the risk for hospitalization or death within one year was not lower in the 24-hour versus the 15-hour group (mean rate, 124.7 and 124.5 events per 100 person-years, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.99; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.72 to 1.36; P = 0.007 for nonsuperiority). No substantial difference was seen between the groups in the incidence of hospitalization for any cause, death from any cause, or adverse events. "This trial has direct clinical implications. The findings support that there is no clear disadvantage of supplemental oxygen use for 15 hours per day rather than 24 hours per day in terms of reducing the risk of hospitalization or death within one year," the authors write.

Thousands of people could be spared from a hip fracture each year if a new method to identify the risk of osteoporotic fractures were to be introduced in healthcare. This is the view of the researchers who are behind a new 3D-simulation method. Thousands of people could be spared from a hip fracture each year if a new method to identify the risk of osteoporotic fractures were to be introduced in healthcare. This is the view of the researchers at Lund University in Sweden who are behind a new 3D-simulation method. The results were recently published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Osteoporosis causes 120,000 bone fractures in Sweden every year -- including 18,000 hip fractures -- and half of all those affected will sustain more fractures. The condition entails a reduction in bone density, a weakening of bone structure and an increased risk of fractures. Osteoporosis mainly affects the elderly. Current method misses around half of those at high risk The current diagnosis technique for osteoporosis is a bone density measurement -- a 2D X-ray examination that in general is first used once the patient has already sustained a fracture. However, measurement of the skeleton's bone density does not detect all those with a high risk of a fracture and around half of the people in the risk zone are missed, points out Hanna Isaksson, professor of biomedical engineering at Lund University's Faculty of Engineering (LTH). "Up to now there have been no reliable methods for identifying the condition at an early stage, importantly before the first fracture occurs," she says. A greater percentage of those with a high risk of sustaining a hip fracture could be identified using a new calculation and simulation method that Hanna Isaksson and her research colleagues have developed. This was shown in the results of a study that evaluated the method based on patient data from 2,000 people -- the results were recently published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. "Using the new model, we could identify around 1,000 more people per year with a high risk of hip fracture. The results suggest that the method can also be used to identify osteoporosis before the first fracture occurs," says Hanna Isaksson. When 2D becomes 3D, more high-risk patients can be identified Lorenzo Grassi, associate senior lecturer in biomedical engineering at Lund University, was responsible for evaluating the method. He explains that the new method uses 2D X-ray images from bone density measurements to produce 3D models of the thigh bone. "The shift from 2D to 3D is conducted with the help of a computer-simulated template that describes how the bone's geometry and bone density varies in the population." The 3D model of the thigh bone enables the simulation of different situations and scenarios that may have an effect, for example in the case of a fall -- information that makes it easier to assess the risk of fractures. Weakness in the thigh bone is a risk factor Lorenzo Grassi has conducted simulations on data from over 400 people who previously underwent X-ray-based bone density measurements. Of these, some sustained a hip fracture within a ten-year period after the examination, while others did not. When the measurement results from the two methods were compared, it was clear that the 3D method is better at predicting the risk of a hip fracture than the bone density measurement. "If the people who actually sustained a hip fracture had been examined using the new method, those with low bone strength could have been identified and some of the bone fractures could have been avoided," says Hanna Isaksson. Lorenzo Grassi explains that the simulations are important parts of the puzzle in understanding the factors that affect the risk of sustaining a fracture: "As a person can fall in many different ways, the person can also be injured in various ways. Using the new method, it is possible to simulate the different ways in which a person can fall - information that enables us to calculate the force required to fracture a bone." It is also possible to generate specific values for the bone strength of an individual's skeleton. "This is particularly important as a weak skeleton is one of the biggest risk factors for osteoporosis-related fractures," says Lorenzo Grassi. Enhanced quality of life and lower costs Looking ahead, the researchers are planning more evaluations of the measurement method that they believe can be an important supplement to today's diagnostics. They hope that the method will be integrated in care relating to osteoporosis, in both healthcare centres and specialist healthcare. The earlier detection of osteoporosis can help to improve quality of life for patients and reduce costs for society," explains Hanna Isaksson. "The annual cost that arises due to osteoporosis in Sweden was estimated for 2019 at SEK 23 billion, a cost that increases every year. This trend needs to be reversed." More accurate diagnosis could also reduce the number of deaths. "Of those who sustain a hip fracture, 24 per cent die within one year," she says.