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Time of India
23-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Is chronic inflammation really linked with age? A new study challenges the idea of inflammaging
Is chronic inflammation universal as we age, or is it a modern lifestyle issue? For decades, scientists have linked ageing with "inflammaging," a low-grade chronic inflammation believed to drive diseases like heart disease, dementia, and diabetes. However, a new study published in Nature Aging challenges this long-standing view. By comparing populations from both industrialised and traditional societies, researchers found that inflammation does not necessarily increase with age in all groups. The study suggests that factors such as physical activity, diet and environmental exposure may influence inflammation in later life, offering a fresh perspective on healthy ageing and disease prevention. Inflammaging may not be universal: What new research reveals about ageing and lifestyle The study examined inflammation patterns in more than 2,800 individuals across four distinct communities. Two of these groups, older adults from Italy and Singapore, represented typical industrialised societies. The other two were Indigenous populations with more traditional lifestyles: the Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon and the Orang Asli of Malaysia. 12 Daily Habits That Can Harm Your Health Researchers focused on a group of signalling proteins called cytokines, which are key indicators of immune activity and inflammation. Previous studies have shown that certain inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and tumour necrosis factor, increase with age and correlate with chronic disease risk. The goal was to see whether this pattern held true across different populations. The findings were revealing. Among the Italian and Singaporean participants, the researchers observed a consistent inflammaging pattern. As age increased, so did levels of inflammatory markers, which were strongly linked to a higher risk of chronic illnesses like cardiovascular and kidney disease. In contrast, among the Tsimane and Orang Asli, this pattern was absent. Despite facing high exposure to infections and elevated inflammatory markers due to their environment, these communities showed no consistent age-related rise in inflammation and reported very low rates of the chronic diseases common in industrialised nations. Does everyone age with inflammation? Study finds traditional lifestyles may protect against inflammaging These results suggest that inflammaging may not be a universal feature of human ageing, but rather a phenomenon tied to specific lifestyle and environmental conditions. In modern societies, factors such as sedentary behaviour, processed diets, and limited exposure to pathogens may contribute to a persistent, low-grade immune response that becomes harmful over time. In contrast, traditional communities, who remain physically active, consume natural diets, and are exposed to a broader range of infections, may have immune systems that operate differently. In these settings, elevated inflammation may reflect normal immune activity rather than underlying disease. It's also possible that inflammaging does occur across all humans but manifests in ways not detectable through current blood-based markers. Inflammation might be taking place at the tissue or cellular level, beyond the reach of standard diagnostic tools. Chronic inflammation and ageing: Why your lifestyle might matter more than your age If confirmed, these findings could reshape our understanding of ageing and influence how we diagnose and manage age-related inflammation. Current diagnostic tools, based on data from European and Asian populations, may not be universally applicable. What signals disease in one population might be normal in another. This also raises important considerations for treatment strategies. Interventions like anti-inflammatory drugs, exercise regimes, or specialised diets may yield varying results depending on cultural, genetic, and environmental backgrounds. A one-size-fits-all approach to managing inflammation in ageing may not be effective globally. Furthermore, the study highlights a broader issue in medical research: much of what we know about human health is based on data from wealthy, industrialised nations. Applying these findings globally can lead to oversimplified or inaccurate conclusions. The researchers emphasise the need for more diverse, inclusive studies that reflect the full range of human experiences and environments. This research offers a powerful reminder that biology does not operate in isolation from lifestyle and environment. What we have long accepted as an inevitable part of ageing might actually be a consequence of how we live. As the researchers note, this is just the beginning. Further studies are needed to explore inflammation at the cellular level and to broaden the diversity of populations included in ageing research. At the very least, the study challenges a long-held assumption and opens the door to a more nuanced, globally informed understanding of how we age. Also Read: Is stress causing your neck pain? Simple tips to find relief
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.
Obesity is uncommon among Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, Tsimane forager-farmers in Bolivia, Tuvan herder-farmers in Siberia, and other people in less-developed nations. But it's widespread among those of us in wealthy, highly industrialized nations. Why? A major study published this week in PNAS brings surprising clarity to that question. Using objective data about metabolic rates and energy expenditure among more than 4,000 men and women living in dozens of nations across a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions, the study quantified how many calories people from different cultures burn most days. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. For decades, common wisdom and public health messaging have assumed that people in highly developed nations, like the United States, are relatively sedentary and burn far fewer daily calories than people in less-industrialized countries, greatly increasing the risk for obesity. But the new study says no. Instead, it finds that Americans, Europeans and people living in other developed nations expend about the same number of total calories most days as hunter-gatherers, herders, subsistence farmers, foragers and anyone else living in less-industrialized nations. That unexpected finding almost certainly means inactivity is not the main cause of obesity in the U.S. and elsewhere, said Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University in North Carolina and a senior author of the new study. What is, then? The study offers provocative hints about the role of diet and some of the specific foods we eat, as well as about the limits of exercise, and the best ways, in the long run, to avoid and treat obesity. - - - Is diet or inactivity causing obesity? 'There's still a lively debate in public health about the role of diet and activity' in the development of obesity, Pontzer said, especially in wealthy nations. Some experts believe we're exercising too little, others that we're eating too much, and still more that the two contribute almost equally. Understanding the relative contributions of diet and physical activity is important, Pontzer noted, because we can't effectively help people with obesity unless we first tease out its origins. But few large-scale studies have carefully compared energy expenditure among populations prone to obesity against those more resistant to it, which would be a first step toward figuring out what drives weight gain. So, for the new study, Pontzer and his 80-plus co-authors gathered existing data from labs around the world that use doubly labeled water in metabolism studies. Doubly labeled water contains isotopes that, when excreted in urine or other fluids, allow researchers to precisely determine someone's energy expenditure, metabolic rates and body-fat percentage. It's the gold standard in this kind of research. They wound up with data for 4,213 men and women from 34 countries or cultural groups, running the socioeconomic gamut from tribes in Africa to executives in Norway. They calculated total daily energy expenditures for everyone, along with their basal energy expenditure, which is the number of calories our bodies burn during basic, biological operations, and physical activity energy expenditure, which is how many calories we use while moving around. - - - A new theory of how our metabolisms work After adjusting for body size (since people in wealthy nations tend to have larger bodies, and larger bodies burn more calories), they started comparing different groups. Anyone expecting a wide range of energy expenditures, with hunter-gatherers and farmer-herders at the high end and deskbound American office workers trailing well behind, would be wrong. Across the board, the total daily energy expenditures of the 4,213 people were quite similar, no matter where they lived or how they spent their lives. Although the hunter-gatherers and other similar groups moved around far more throughout the day than a typical American, their overall daily calorie burns were nearly the same. The findings, though counterintuitive, align with a new theory about our metabolisms, first proposed by Pontzer. Known as the constrained total energy expenditure model, it says that our brains and bodies closely monitor our total energy expenditure, keeping it within a narrow range. If we start consistently burning extra calories by, for instance, stalking prey on foot for days or training for a marathon, our brains slow down or shut off some tangential biological operations, often related to growth, and our overall daily calorie burn stays within a consistent band. - - - The role of ultra-processed foods The upshot is that 'there is no effect of economic development on size-adjusted physical activity expenditure,' Pontzer says. In which case, the fundamental problem isn't that we're moving too little, meaning more exercise is unlikely to reduce obesity much. What could, then? 'Our analyses suggest that increased energy intake has been roughly 10 times more important than declining total energy expenditure in driving the modern obesity crisis,' the study authors write. In other words, we're eating too much. We may also be eating the wrong kinds of foods, the study also suggests. In a sub-analysis of the diets of some of the groups from both highly and less-developed nations, the scientists found a strong correlation between the percentage of daily diets that consists of 'ultra-processed foods' - which the study's authors define as 'industrial formulations of five or more ingredients' - and higher body-fat percentages. We are, to be blunt, eating too much and probably eating too much of the wrong foods. 'This study confirms what I've been saying, which is that diet is the key culprit in our current [obesity] epidemic,' said Barry Popkin, a professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an obesity expert. 'This is a well-done study,' he added. Other experts agree. 'It's clear from this important new research and other studies that changes to our food, not our activity, are the dominant drivers of obesity,' said Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston. The findings don't mean, though, that exercise is unimportant, Pontzer emphasized. 'We know that exercise is essential for health. This study doesn't change that,' he said. But the study does suggest that 'to address obesity, public health efforts need to focus on diet,' he said, especially on ultra-processed foods, 'that seem to be really potent causes of obesity.' Related Content He may have stopped Trump's would-be assassin. Now he's telling his story. He seeded clouds over Texas. Then came the conspiracy theories. How conservatives beat back a Republican sell-off of public lands
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.
Obesity is uncommon among Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, Tsimane forager-farmers in Bolivia, Tuvan herder-farmers in Siberia, and other people in less-developed nations. But it's widespread among those of us in wealthy, highly industrialized nations. Why? A major study published this week in PNAS brings surprising clarity to that question. Using objective data about metabolic rates and energy expenditure among more than 4,000 men and women living in dozens of nations across a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions, the study quantified how many calories people from different cultures burn most days. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. For decades, common wisdom and public health messaging have assumed that people in highly developed nations, like the United States, are relatively sedentary and burn far fewer daily calories than people in less-industrialized countries, greatly increasing the risk for obesity. But the new study says no. Instead, it finds that Americans, Europeans and people living in other developed nations expend about the same number of total calories most days as hunter-gatherers, herders, subsistence farmers, foragers and anyone else living in less-industrialized nations. That unexpected finding almost certainly means inactivity is not the main cause of obesity in the U.S. and elsewhere, said Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University in North Carolina and a senior author of the new study. What is, then? The study offers provocative hints about the role of diet and some of the specific foods we eat, as well as about the limits of exercise, and the best ways, in the long run, to avoid and treat obesity. - - - Is diet or inactivity causing obesity? 'There's still a lively debate in public health about the role of diet and activity' in the development of obesity, Pontzer said, especially in wealthy nations. Some experts believe we're exercising too little, others that we're eating too much, and still more that the two contribute almost equally. Understanding the relative contributions of diet and physical activity is important, Pontzer noted, because we can't effectively help people with obesity unless we first tease out its origins. But few large-scale studies have carefully compared energy expenditure among populations prone to obesity against those more resistant to it, which would be a first step toward figuring out what drives weight gain. So, for the new study, Pontzer and his 80-plus co-authors gathered existing data from labs around the world that use doubly labeled water in metabolism studies. Doubly labeled water contains isotopes that, when excreted in urine or other fluids, allow researchers to precisely determine someone's energy expenditure, metabolic rates and body-fat percentage. It's the gold standard in this kind of research. They wound up with data for 4,213 men and women from 34 countries or cultural groups, running the socioeconomic gamut from tribes in Africa to executives in Norway. They calculated total daily energy expenditures for everyone, along with their basal energy expenditure, which is the number of calories our bodies burn during basic, biological operations, and physical activity energy expenditure, which is how many calories we use while moving around. - - - A new theory of how our metabolisms work After adjusting for body size (since people in wealthy nations tend to have larger bodies, and larger bodies burn more calories), they started comparing different groups. Anyone expecting a wide range of energy expenditures, with hunter-gatherers and farmer-herders at the high end and deskbound American office workers trailing well behind, would be wrong. Across the board, the total daily energy expenditures of the 4,213 people were quite similar, no matter where they lived or how they spent their lives. Although the hunter-gatherers and other similar groups moved around far more throughout the day than a typical American, their overall daily calorie burns were nearly the same. The findings, though counterintuitive, align with a new theory about our metabolisms, first proposed by Pontzer. Known as the constrained total energy expenditure model, it says that our brains and bodies closely monitor our total energy expenditure, keeping it within a narrow range. If we start consistently burning extra calories by, for instance, stalking prey on foot for days or training for a marathon, our brains slow down or shut off some tangential biological operations, often related to growth, and our overall daily calorie burn stays within a consistent band. - - - The role of ultra-processed foods The upshot is that 'there is no effect of economic development on size-adjusted physical activity expenditure,' Pontzer says. In which case, the fundamental problem isn't that we're moving too little, meaning more exercise is unlikely to reduce obesity much. What could, then? 'Our analyses suggest that increased energy intake has been roughly 10 times more important than declining total energy expenditure in driving the modern obesity crisis,' the study authors write. In other words, we're eating too much. We may also be eating the wrong kinds of foods, the study also suggests. In a sub-analysis of the diets of some of the groups from both highly and less-developed nations, the scientists found a strong correlation between the percentage of daily diets that consists of 'ultra-processed foods' - which the study's authors define as 'industrial formulations of five or more ingredients' - and higher body-fat percentages. We are, to be blunt, eating too much and probably eating too much of the wrong foods. 'This study confirms what I've been saying, which is that diet is the key culprit in our current [obesity] epidemic,' said Barry Popkin, a professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an obesity expert. 'This is a well-done study,' he added. Other experts agree. 'It's clear from this important new research and other studies that changes to our food, not our activity, are the dominant drivers of obesity,' said Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston. The findings don't mean, though, that exercise is unimportant, Pontzer emphasized. 'We know that exercise is essential for health. This study doesn't change that,' he said. But the study does suggest that 'to address obesity, public health efforts need to focus on diet,' he said, especially on ultra-processed foods, 'that seem to be really potent causes of obesity.' Related Content He may have stopped Trump's would-be assassin. Now he's telling his story. He seeded clouds over Texas. Then came the conspiracy theories. How conservatives beat back a Republican sell-off of public lands
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.
Obesity is uncommon among Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, Tsimane forager-farmers in Bolivia, Tuvan herder-farmers in Siberia, and other people in less-developed nations. But it's widespread among those of us in wealthy, highly industrialized nations. Why? A major study published this week in PNAS brings surprising clarity to that question. Using objective data about metabolic rates and energy expenditure among more than 4,000 men and women living in dozens of nations across a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions, the study quantified how many calories people from different cultures burn most days. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. For decades, common wisdom and public health messaging have assumed that people in highly developed nations, like the United States, are relatively sedentary and burn far fewer daily calories than people in less-industrialized countries, greatly increasing the risk for obesity. But the new study says no. Instead, it finds that Americans, Europeans and people living in other developed nations expend about the same number of total calories most days as hunter-gatherers, herders, subsistence farmers, foragers and anyone else living in less-industrialized nations. That unexpected finding almost certainly means inactivity is not the main cause of obesity in the U.S. and elsewhere, said Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University in North Carolina and a senior author of the new study. What is, then? The study offers provocative hints about the role of diet and some of the specific foods we eat, as well as about the limits of exercise, and the best ways, in the long run, to avoid and treat obesity. - - - Is diet or inactivity causing obesity? 'There's still a lively debate in public health about the role of diet and activity' in the development of obesity, Pontzer said, especially in wealthy nations. Some experts believe we're exercising too little, others that we're eating too much, and still more that the two contribute almost equally. Understanding the relative contributions of diet and physical activity is important, Pontzer noted, because we can't effectively help people with obesity unless we first tease out its origins. But few large-scale studies have carefully compared energy expenditure among populations prone to obesity against those more resistant to it, which would be a first step toward figuring out what drives weight gain. So, for the new study, Pontzer and his 80-plus co-authors gathered existing data from labs around the world that use doubly labeled water in metabolism studies. Doubly labeled water contains isotopes that, when excreted in urine or other fluids, allow researchers to precisely determine someone's energy expenditure, metabolic rates and body-fat percentage. It's the gold standard in this kind of research. They wound up with data for 4,213 men and women from 34 countries or cultural groups, running the socioeconomic gamut from tribes in Africa to executives in Norway. They calculated total daily energy expenditures for everyone, along with their basal energy expenditure, which is the number of calories our bodies burn during basic, biological operations, and physical activity energy expenditure, which is how many calories we use while moving around. - - - A new theory of how our metabolisms work After adjusting for body size (since people in wealthy nations tend to have larger bodies, and larger bodies burn more calories), they started comparing different groups. Anyone expecting a wide range of energy expenditures, with hunter-gatherers and farmer-herders at the high end and deskbound American office workers trailing well behind, would be wrong. Across the board, the total daily energy expenditures of the 4,213 people were quite similar, no matter where they lived or how they spent their lives. Although the hunter-gatherers and other similar groups moved around far more throughout the day than a typical American, their overall daily calorie burns were nearly the same. The findings, though counterintuitive, align with a new theory about our metabolisms, first proposed by Pontzer. Known as the constrained total energy expenditure model, it says that our brains and bodies closely monitor our total energy expenditure, keeping it within a narrow range. If we start consistently burning extra calories by, for instance, stalking prey on foot for days or training for a marathon, our brains slow down or shut off some tangential biological operations, often related to growth, and our overall daily calorie burn stays within a consistent band. - - - The role of ultra-processed foods The upshot is that 'there is no effect of economic development on size-adjusted physical activity expenditure,' Pontzer says. In which case, the fundamental problem isn't that we're moving too little, meaning more exercise is unlikely to reduce obesity much. What could, then? 'Our analyses suggest that increased energy intake has been roughly 10 times more important than declining total energy expenditure in driving the modern obesity crisis,' the study authors write. In other words, we're eating too much. We may also be eating the wrong kinds of foods, the study also suggests. In a sub-analysis of the diets of some of the groups from both highly and less-developed nations, the scientists found a strong correlation between the percentage of daily diets that consists of 'ultra-processed foods' - which the study's authors define as 'industrial formulations of five or more ingredients' - and higher body-fat percentages. We are, to be blunt, eating too much and probably eating too much of the wrong foods. 'This study confirms what I've been saying, which is that diet is the key culprit in our current [obesity] epidemic,' said Barry Popkin, a professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an obesity expert. 'This is a well-done study,' he added. Other experts agree. 'It's clear from this important new research and other studies that changes to our food, not our activity, are the dominant drivers of obesity,' said Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston. The findings don't mean, though, that exercise is unimportant, Pontzer emphasized. 'We know that exercise is essential for health. This study doesn't change that,' he said. But the study does suggest that 'to address obesity, public health efforts need to focus on diet,' he said, especially on ultra-processed foods, 'that seem to be really potent causes of obesity.' Related Content He may have stopped Trump's would-be assassin. Now he's telling his story. He seeded clouds over Texas. Then came the conspiracy theories. How conservatives beat back a Republican sell-off of public lands
Washington Post
15-07-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.
Obesity is uncommon among Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, Tsimane forager-farmers in Bolivia, Tuvan herder-farmers in Siberia, and other people in less-developed nations. But it's widespread among those of us in wealthy, highly industrialized nations. Why? A major study published this week in PNAS brings surprising clarity to that question. Using objective data about metabolic rates and energy expenditure among more than 4,000 men and women living in dozens of nations across a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions, the study quantified how many calories people from different cultures burn most days.
