" Carbohydrates and saturated fats with vegetable oils could save 1 million lives per year "  

According to research carried out by the American Heart Association,

 The association between eating a diet high in saturated fats and heart disease is well documented.

The relationships between different types of fats and their consequences on health are a little more complex.

New research and analysis, carried out on a global scale, shows how changes in diet are necessary throughout the world if lives are to be saved.

In all, the team investigated diet and food availability information from 186 countries. They also reanalyzed and collated previous longitudinal studies looking at how specific fats impact heart disease.

For the first time, the global burden of heart disease has been measured in relation to the consumption of too many saturated fats compared with too little polyunsaturated fats.

Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, senior study author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian explains the findings: 

The benefits of polyunsaturated fats

Not all fats are necessarily evil; none should be eaten to excess, but the physiological profiles of saturated, polyunsaturated and trans fats are different and need to be treated in different ways.

It is important to remember that fats are essential for the body to function. Fats are not only used as an energy source for cellular and physical activity, they also influence the inflammatory response, mood and are vital for intercellular communication.

Polyunsaturated fats are predominantly found in plant-based foods and oils. Consuming these oils can actually improve cholesterol levels in the blood, decreasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. There is also evidence that polyunsaturated fats can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Polyunsaturated fats can be found in a myriad of foods, including soybean, sunflower oil, tofu, nuts, seeds and fatty fish (for instance, omega-6 oils).

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 An irregular heartbeat, also known as atrial fibrillation, appears to be a stronger risk factor for heart disease and death in women than in men, according to research published in The BMJ.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a higher risk of stroke and death generally, with an estimated 33.5 million people affected globally in 2010, and an age-adjusted mortality rate of 1.7 per 100,000 people.

The prevalence is increasing in both developed and developing countries.

Evidence is now emerging that women and men experience risk factors, such as diabetes and smoking, differently for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

This could have significant implications for estimating the AF burden, targeting treatment to manage it and for future research into gender differences.

An international team of researchers set out to estimate the association between AF and CVD and death in women and men and to compare the genders.

In a meta-analysis of 30 studies published between January 1966 and March 2015, they analyzed data for over 4 million participants

12% higher risk of mortality for women with AF

All the studies had a minimum of 50 participants with AF and 50 without, which reported sex-specific associations between AF and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, stroke, cardiac events - including cardiac death and non-fatal myocardial infarction - and heart failure.

They took into consideration the differences in study design and quality in order to minimize bias.

AF was linked to a 12% higher relative risk of all-cause mortality in women and a much stronger risk of stroke, cardiovascular mortality, cardiac events and heart failure. The reason for the gender differences is not known.

With respect to clinical care, the results support the development of a specific risk score for AF in women and more aggressive treatment of risk factors in women, as recently recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA).

In relation to public health policy, the researchers say estimation of the global and regional burden of AF should be independent of sex, while "allocation of public health resources for prevention and treatment of AF should also consider the differential effects of AF by sex."

Finally, they say future research should aim to determine the underlying causes of the observed sex differences. 

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IVF patients in the UK are to be offered a groundbreaking treatment that allows fertilization to take place inside the body, rather than in a lab.

Conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment involves removing eggs from the ovaries, fertilizing them with sperm in a laboratory, selecting embryos and returning them to the womb to continue the treatment process.

Previous studies have suggested that babies born as a result of IVF treatment have a lower birth weight. While not a problem in itself, low birth weight has been linked to long-term health, which researchers are keen to improve.

Prof. Nick Macklon, of the Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton, UK, believes long-term health in babies born through IVF could be improved by spending a shorter time in the laboratory. He was involved with the development of the new device, which is called AneVivo.

The technique involves putting egg and sperm cells inside a tiny capsule, which is then placed painlessly into the womb for 24 hours. During this time, embryos begin to develop.

Doctors then remove the device, which is around 1 cm long and 1 mm wide. After 2-4 days, they select the embryos that are healthy enough to be implanted back into the lining of the womb, in the hope of achieving a pregnancy.

Fertilization in the natural environment

Prof. Macklon believes that the device signals "a real breakthrough in IVF treatment," as it enables women to care for an embryo in its earliest stages of development for the first time.

Psychologically, it brings parents-to-be closer to the fertilization process and early embryo development. It could provide health benefits for the baby, as fertilization will occur in the natural environment of the womb with access to nutrients and signals from the mother. It will also reduce exposure to the synthetic culture fluids used in the laboratory.

Martin Velasco of Anecova, the company that manufactures the device, says that it will allow free passage of fluids, nutrients, endometrial cells and other cellular and non-cellular components to enable interaction between the embryos and the maternal environment.

The AneVivo device was approved by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in September 2015.

 

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