HEALTH NOTES
EARLY BIRDS CATCH THE BURN
EXERCISING before breakfast burns double the amount of fat, research shows.
A six-week UK trial involving 30 men classed as obese or overweight revealed working out on an empty stomach boosted blood sugar control.
The men were split into groups eating before and after exercise.
Dr Javier Gonzalez of Bath University revealed the prebreakfast group saw a dramatic improvement in their overall health.
Not only did they burn double the fat, “they also increased their ability to respond to insulin,” he said.
A quick response helps to lower our risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The research, which also involved Birmingham University, is published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
‘DEFECTIVE GENE LINK TO DEATHS’
COT death may be caused by a defective gene which prevents babies digesting milk, a study has found.
Scientists said some of the roughly 200 UK children who die unexpectedly from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) each year could have suffered fatal cardiac arrests because they cannot break down fat.
SIDS is devastating for parents because experts are often unable to determine a cause of death.
Researchers at Stanford and Washington universities in the US said a mutation of the HADHA gene leaves babies unable to metabolise molecules that include fats, cholesterol and fatty acids.
RISE IN TWINS DYING AT BIRTH
CAMPAIGNERS are calling for more specialist nurses to help save lives, as research reveals more twins are dying at birth.
A British national stillbirth and infant mortality surveillance report shows twin fatalities at birth increased by 13% in the year up to 2017 while deaths in the first month after birth increased by 2%.
The figures emerge as stillbirth rates and deaths soon after birth fell overall. Keith Reed, chief of charity Tamba, said: “This is a wake-up call to all maternity units in the UK.”